Oh, Give Thanks!

I love Eugene Peterson's The Message, especially the Psalms. I'd like to share a small portion of Psalm 105 with everyone during this season, this is my "Thanksgiving" Psalm...

Hallelujah! Thank God! Pray to him by name! 

      Tell everyone you meet what he has done! 

   Sing him songs, belt out hymns, 

      translate his wonders into music! 

      Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs, 

 you who seek God. Live a happy life!

In keeping with the spirit of the holiday I would like to express gratitude to the many people who have influenced the musical aspects of my life and have literally made me what I am today...

I'd like to thank my parents who encouraged our musical interests as kids, even attending the fifth grade band concert which I am sure was excruciatingly painful on the ears. Thanks for piano lessons and for making me play in church even when I felt I was in way over my head. Thanks for patience and understanding through the "tortured artist" phases and for sacrificing monetary resources more than once so I could be a part of varied musical adventures. 

Thanks to the people who at pivotal points in life spoke wise words to a young man floundering with life direction and purpose. I can now see the hand of God in what seemed like a chance conversation with Gayle Myers in her living room. A few years later it was Kevin in the San Francisco airport in a similar situation. Thank you both for being sensitive at crucial moments along the journey. 

Thanks to my teachers with patience beyond understanding. Thank you, Dr. Bogard, for being blunt, for giving me weak knees at piano juries, and for unexpected encouragement when I most needed it. Thank you, Alla, for Shostakovitch. Thank you, Laura, for shaping my attitude towards church music and for teaching me how to play it. I owe much to you.

Finally, thanks be to God who gave us all the gift of music which we've known since the beginning, are enraptured by it in the present, and will carry it with us when we pass from mortality into immortality. You are the Master Musician.

Confessions of a Christmas Music Snob

I really love this time of year. As the air gets colder I can finally haul out the sweaters, the occasional swing through the Starbucks drive-through is even more enjoyable, and there’s just that electricity in the air that excites and energizes me. And yes, I’m one of those weirdos who enjoy raking leaves. As I write today, there is a slow, steady rain – I love a good dreary day now and then.

Perhaps my favorite thing about this time of year is Christmas music. I’ll admit that this year I was listening WELL before Halloween – I just couldn’t wait any longer. Any why should I? Why should I put off listening to music that celebrates the birth of Christ? (Okay, I know that He wasn’t actually born on 12-25, but it’s just the time we choose to observe the most important event in history.)

But it’s inevitable. I turn on the 24-hour Christmas music station and some genius is singing about giving his or her heart to someone only for it to be given away – you know the song. Or someone else confesses that they want nothing else for Christmas, just YOU! You know that one, too. I’ll confess that drives me nuts. When someone hijacks a musical genre that is intended to celebrate Christ’s birth and shoehorns in their lamentations over their long-lost love, well, it just puts me over the edge.

Now granted, I know there’s “Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives or “Silver Bells” done up in Harry Connick Jr’s inimitable style, to name a few. But to me the message is still in keeping with the spirit of the season – family, giving, compassion. I know that people really do feel those emotions of unrequited love, etc., but it really bugs me when we treat Christmas music like a recipe: take one really depressing pop song, add the word “Christmas,” sprinkle in a few other holiday connotations and you now have Christmas song. If I wanted to hear that I’d tune into the local soft-rock station.

So what do you all think? How far do we go? Do we keep the message pure and focused on the message of Christmas?
Meanwhile, I need a cup of tea while Tony Bennett soothes my soul with “White Christmas.”

And the Nominees Are . . .

I have songs I would like to nominate for the hymnal. If we actually still used a hymnal that is. Rather I have songs that are modern but deserve hymnal status. I am judging them on the following merits*:

*I do not have the authority to classify songs. I haven't taken a class and I don't have my doctorate in Hymnology. I'm just a gal with an active opinion and the ability to type 70 WPMs on ninetyandnine.

Merit #1: POETRY
The songs have expansive language and majestic prose. This is not recyclable music that sounds like volume seven in the Praise series, with multiple uses of Praise, Hallelujah or Worship.

Merit #2: INCLUSION
Folks born before 1976 can enjoy these songs. The songs are singable to everyone.

Merit #3: CUZ I SAID SO
It's my week to post so if you disagree leave a comment and address it to Courtney!

Drumroll Please

Chris Tomlin’s “How Great Is Our God” -- a perfect example of fusing achaic language with modern worship style. Our church sings How Great Thou Art at the end and they blend beautifully. Congratulations Chris, we will plant a tree in your honor. Or, we'll at least keep singing your songs.

Mercy Me’s “I Can Only Imagine” -- Not my favorite, but according to my husband it meets the criteria. It has been far reaching for music lover's of all genre's. It is country enough. It is gospel enough. And it makes for great sign dramas. BONUS: It talks about heaven.

“Awesome God” -- Rich Mullins put it on the map. Michael W. Smith brought it back and it's been given the remix several times over. I'll admit, lyrics like "when he rolls up his sleeves he ain't just puttin' on the ritz" may not jive with Merit #1, but the chorus makes up for it.

If you can think of more to be added to the list, leave a comment!

Psalm 61

I did something a bit unusual for me the other day. I was scheduled to sing a special, and, as seems to be the usual case, I had not procured any new soundtracks, listened to any new tunes that inspired me, nor had I sat down to put some chords together to plunk out on the piano along with a melody to one of the three or four songs I have been wanting to learn. So instead, I "winged it." I really hate doing that. It always feels so . . . uninspired. It's almost never with at least a nudge from the Spirit, and this time, well, this time I had received several nudges.

I have been trying to learn some Hebrew, on and off (more off than on) and was looking at Psalm 61. Shema elohim rinnati, haqsheba t'pillati. Hear, O Lord, my cry. Attend unto my prayer. I'd been meditating on this line for a few days and the Lord had given me two melody fragments for the first line. The superscription to the psalm alludes to it being accompanied on a string instrument or instruments. So I asked our bassist to accompany me solo, giving him the basic notes and key for my improvisation. I sang in D minor, giving it that slightly Hebraic feel that we all strive for when we play/sing in D minor. I know you all know what I mean!

I sang the first line in Hebrew, and then sang the whole Psalm through once in English, using bits and pieces of the two melodic fragments. Once or twice I added the first part of the first line in Hebrew as a sort of refrain. And where it said Selah, I nodded to the bassist for him to play a short meditation. All in all it was well received. I was more nervous than usual, given I don't sing improv much, and nearly the whole thing was improvised.

Anyway. Just something to think about. As always, I'd be interested in your thoughts.