America the Beautiful (for a cappella ensemble)

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Here's an arrangement I wrote for this past year's Patriotic service.  It's probably the most challenging lines I've written for the group, to date.  I finally had a chance to mix it down.

Hope you enjoy!

 

Holy, Holy, Holy

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Here's a string quartet arrangement I wrote using the melody from the hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy".

(purchase entire string hymns album)

Heaven is filled with the praises of God.  All of His created beings acknowledge His beauty and worth.  The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse of some of this activity: 

“And the four living creatures, each having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.” (Rev. 4:8)

The word Holy (Gr. hàgios) means: set apart, chaste, pure, clean, virtuous, blameless, without blemish. 

Living this human life, it’s hard to imagine anything (or anyone) being completely perfect.  Everyone has some flaw, some vice.  Even the creation itself seems to have imperfections, some quite noticeable, others less noticeable, but still there, nonetheless.

The only place true holiness can exist is somewhere outside our natural experience.  As perfect as man tries to be, he ultimately will fall short of complete holiness this side of heaven. 

The Apostle Paul shows the answer to this dilemma:

“Wretched man that I am!  Who will set me free from the body of this death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!...There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  (Rom. 7:24,25; 8:1)

God alone is holy, and He has extended His holiness to those who accept His love and forgiveness through Christ Jesus.  We are holy only through His benevolent forgiveness.

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (I Pet. 2:9,10)

Again, in Revelation, there was a book with seven seals that needed to be opened, and the question was asked, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” 

“And no one in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or to look into it.  And I (John) began to weep greatly, because no one was found worthy to open the book, or to look into it; and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”  (Rev. 5:2-5)

Jesus, the spotless, pure Lamb of God sacrificed for the sins of all humanity, is holy, and He has graciously extended His holiness to those who trust in Him.

 

Holy, Holy, Holy!  Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;

Holy, Holy, Holy!  Merciful and Mighty!

God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!

 

Holy, Holy, Holy!  All the saints adore Thee,

Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;

Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,

Which wert and art, and evermore shalt be.

 

Holy, Holy, Holy!  Tho’ the darkness hide Thee,

Tho’ the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see,

Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee

Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

 

Holy, Holy, Holy!  Lord God Almighty!

All Thy works shall praise Thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea;

Holy, Holy, Holy!

Merciful and Mighty!

God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Destroying the Malachi Mindset

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There is a mind-set that has unfortunately been pervasive regarding Music Ministry for a number of years.  It's similar to Nathanael’s remarks to Phillip when he said he had found the Messiah, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Our culture, together with many musicians and artists have a similar disdain for the capacity of the Church to produce anything worthwhile, stating, “Can anything good come out of the Church?” 

The viewpoint is: if an artist wants true recognition and success, he or she must find it outside the realm of ministry or Church involvement.   Church ministry is not usually a consideration, and is even disdained by those who are serious about fulfilling their career pursuits and dreams. 

To make matters worse, many of those in Church ministry have accepted the premise that maybe they can’t ‘make it’ in the world, so they just settle for a non-competitive ministry position. 

All of this stems from the general conclusion that local church (or the Church at large) is irrelevant to current culture, even unnecessary.  It certainly is not viewed as a place where high artistic achievement can exist. 

There was a time in Israel’s history that people had a similar mind-set.  The people through whom God chose to carry His Name had come to a place of ambivalence and even neglect of His temple.  It was as if they had grown cold to their calling, nonchalant to the richness of their heritage.  The prophet Malachi wrote to the people of Israel: 

“ ‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master.  Then if I am a father, where is My honor?  And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name.  But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’  You are presenting defiled food upon My altar.  But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’  In that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is to be despised.’  But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil?  And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil?  Why not offer it to your governor?  Would he be pleased with you?  Or would he receive you kindly?”  says the Lord of hosts.  “But now will you not entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us?  With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?” says the Lord of hosts…You also say, ‘My, how tiresome it is!’  And you disdainfully sniff at it,” says the Lord of hosts, “and you bring what was taken by robbery, and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering!  Should I receive that from your hand?” says the Lord.” (Mal. 1:6-9,13) 

The priests had grown weary in the administration of temple service, and the people were not bringing their best anymore.  They were giving God their ‘leftovers’.  The temple (which represented God’s presence in their midst) was being shunned for other ‘more important things’ in their lives. 

Today’s artistic community has become a place in which fame, finance and dissipation has supplanted discipline, sacrifice and a desire for integrity (even at the expense of obscurity).

The local church, to today’s artist, has come to represent the death of an otherwise successful career.  The path is an exact reversal of what today’s artist hopes to achieve. 

Our community, much like the Israelite’s in Malachi’s day, has willingly walked away from God’s presence, while still wanting to receive His blessing.

Even many of our priests (those called into the service of the local church) have longingly looked away from the altar of sacrifice, to the approval of pop culture and compromised integrity. 

What does integrity as a dedicated artist look like in today’s world?  What does pure dedication, holiness and honor look like for someone who is ‘sold out’ to God, having a passion for worshiping His Name and exclaiming His excellencies with whole-hearted commitment?  Is it even possible that the phrases: ‘dedicated Christian minister’ and ‘artistic excellence’ can be uttered in the same breath? 

King David, who established a pattern of whole-hearted worship in his reign in Israel, had become a distant memory to the Israelites in Malachi’s day.  His passion would have been distasteful to them.  Had David lived in their time, he may have even been persecuted or killed for his ‘extreme’ views.  (Interestingly, today’s media culture demonizes anyone who is ‘passionate’ in their religious convictions, calling them ‘radicals’ and ‘extremists’.)  

Here is just one of many accounts in David’s life revealing his whole-hearted passion for God’s presence: 

When the Ark of the Covenant had come to Araunah the Jebusite, David wanted to offer a burnt offering.  Araunah offered to give David everything necessary to do so, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight.  Look, the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.  Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.”  But David’s response, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing.” (2 Sam. 24:22-24) 

David wanted to give God his very best.  Nothing less would be congruent with his heart of gratitude, respect and honor for all that God was in his life. 

At a time, historically, when numerous artists are struggling to be heard above the myriads of voices in the world, a time when community for the artist seems to be closing in with greater isolation and fewer opportunities, perhaps the long forgotten venue of the community of the local Church is prime for renewed artistic expression. 

Perhaps the hollowness of today’s secular ‘success’ will give way to a new generation of artists who are ‘sold out’ to a higher purpose of extreme spirituality, commitment, dedication and sacrifice, those who are willing to be motivated by the approval of God rather than the approval of man, willing to release the pursuit of fame for the motivation of pure craftsmanship in His Name rather than their own.

Perhaps the true prophetic role of the artist will return to those whom God can trust, vessels of honor through whom Almighty God will speak, artists who have become instruments in His hand, through whom He changes the course of human culture, yet are incapable of being changed by that culture.

Such artists are fearless among men, highly esteemed in secret places.

 

(for more, see The Three Uses of Music and the Arts)

 

7 Attributes of a Complete Contemporary Musician- Part 5

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Attribute #5: In earlier blogs, we have seen that a complete contemporary musician will have a meaningful purpose for his work (Attribute #1).  He is open to cultural influences, learning from those who have come before him (Attribute #2).  He is willing to embrace the creativity of other contemporary artists (Attribute #3), and he is able to both improvise as well as read music (Attribute #4).  In addition to these, the complete musician/artist must be willing to participate in new innovation, utilizing and expanding current tools available to him.

Every society and time period has its own ‘cutting edge’ innovation, whether it is artistic, philosophical, governmental or industrial.  Perhaps the greatest innovation in our modern day is the advent of electronic technology, i.e. the computer (and internet/communication possibilities).  It continues to shape not only the development of music and art, but also its dissemination around the world.

The ‘stage’ an artist performed upon didn’t change much from the Greek amphitheater to the Wagner opera house (representing about two-thousand years), but all of that rapidly changed just in the last (less than) one hundred years.  Music’s ‘stage’ has moved from the concert hall, to radio and television, then to the recording industry and finally to the home studio via You Tube and the internet.  With much of the world embracing technological interactivity, the Internet is now music’s stage, and its performers are the world’s population.  Talent and skills developed upon past ‘stage’ paradigms may or may not have a role in success.  Rather, it’s about innovation and creativity.

Here’s a short list of some of the areas easily available to the musician/artist today: 1) Multi-track recording, 2) MIDI Sequencing, 3) Sampling, 4) Looping, 5) Micro-tonality, 6) Synchronization to other media (lighting, video, etc.).  This is just on the creative side of things.  There’s another arsenal of tools on the distribution/marketing side: 1) Pod-casts, 2) Forums, 3) Blogs, 4) Facebook, 5) You Tube, 6) I-Tunes, 7) Personal web-sites, 8) Digital distribution in so many ways it’s almost ridiculous to try to enumerate them.

One can become so involved in the technological tools, however, that he can lose objectivity.  This is a real danger for today’s electronically savvy artist.  I believe it is critically important for the artist (as shown in Attribute #1) to have a firm grasp of history so that he can objectively navigate his future.

I had a conversation with a co-worker one day, as I was making a photocopied ‘archive’ of a report.  When he asked me what I was doing, I said, “I’m all about archiving.  If you don’t know where you’ve been, then you don’t know where you’re going.”  His smart reply to me was, “…unless you have a map.”  But a map does no good if one doesn’t know his location on it!

Knowing history, combined with a comprehensive knowledge of currently available tools will give the artist an awareness of ‘where he is on the map’. 

It’s not good to be stuck in the past, but it’s equally detrimental to be so immersed in contemporary ideologies that one loses objectivity.  When the artist loses objectivity, he also loses direction and motivation.  Objectivity, however, can be regained by reviewing history.

Here’s a simple example of what I’m trying to say.  When I begin writing a song, I generally have a ‘seed’ idea that just came to me.  It could be one short phrase, or a measure of music.  When I begin to think of that phrase over and over again, something miraculous happens: it grows out of itself!  I wonder what I will do next.  I might even get a little nervous that I don’t know what to do (there are so many possibilities).  But then I remember to go back to the beginning and think about the material that’s already there.  When I do this, yet another miracle happens: it grows out of itself again!

Through this process of ‘organic growth’, all of my creativity comes.  It comes by thinking about what has already been given to me.  The same is true for the artist, as he endeavors to discover his destiny and future.  If he feels lost or overwhelmed by all the possibilities, he should go back and review his artistic roots.  He should study historic examples of others, seeing how they overcame unique obstacles in their day, as this can directly relate to current struggles he may be facing.  (The tools of today are new, but human nature is the same!)

“The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way.” (Prov. 14:8)

Having a secure sense of artistic direction is the best foundation to stand upon as the artist forges ahead with the newest and latest technological tools, establishing new creativity and artistic paradigms.

Who knows, if he's successful, perhaps he too will one day be studied.



Crucifixion Song

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As we approach the Easter season, here's a song from a musical I wrote called "Resurrection Power".  I just call it "Crucifixion Song".  It's set to the text of Isaiah 53.

Hope you enjoy!

​

As a lamb led to slaughter,

as a sheep before its shearers,

He opened not His mouth He was silent

He was despised and forsaken of men,

a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief

Surely our griefs He bore and our sorrows He carried,

but He was pierced through for our transgressions

He was crushed for our iniquities

The judgment for our peace fell upon Him

By His stripes we are healed

By His scourging we are healed

 

By His Blood

By His Blood

His sacrifice brought us freedom

His sacrifice made us whole

 

Bought by the Blood of the Lamb

Bought by the Blood of the Lamb

Purchased with nail-scarred hands by love

 

Washed in the Blood of the Lamb

Washed in the Blood of the Lamb

Bought with the price of love,

by love, by love,

by love, by love,

by love