Many hymns and songs we sing together in church are about our praising to God – we praise God for who he is and how much we have been blessed. O Worship the King, How Glorious Above, is such. A tune usually used for this hymn is Lyons. Together it gives a tremendously strong start to a worship service. It declares who God is. It sets us on the right agenda. This hymn recalls Psalm 104. Interestingly, this is a hymn that has so little about “I” or “we”. Whether singing the hymn, or reading the Psalm, the feeling is […]
Hymn / song A-Z
19 posts
How many songs or hymns in English that you know that begin with ‘N’? Many hymns and songs begin with ‘I’. No other story is one – obviously, it starts with ‘N’, and it reminds us two very important words about Jesus: grace and glory. That’s the 3 words. To today’s ears, the original tune for the hymn has a positive feel, almost triumphant. It might even feel nationalistic, because songs of patriotism tends to bear that kind of spirit. So, as you hear the tune / music, you might feel that the feeling it projects has gone overboard in […]
When you feel weighed down with burden, anxiety and concern, it seems getting out of bed puts you in proximity of such reality but unprepared. Closing your eyes and continuing lying down delays that process, and gives you more time to ‘charge’ up to face the world. As we arise, but with burden, we are encouraged to face the day with the dawn of the heavenly trumpet, bringing about a new life of righteousness. As we arise, in the claim that God has brought us life out of sin and death, we recall God in his laws spoke through his […]
Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah. Really? Roaring lion? Who is the witch and which wardrobe then? What / where / who is Judah? Here is where the Old Testament and all that history are relevant. Judah is one of the tribes of Israel, and it is symbolised by lion, as they are regarded as the tribe of the Kings. In those days, a king is a fighter. He wins wars, he gains lands. Genesis 49:8-9 says about the Lion of Judah conquering the enemy. If our God is the Lion, that means he is a fighter? […]
When you are heading for God’s promise in heaven, a good tip is to have some instruction on how to get there; better still, Jesus is your guide. Well, he’s been there, he came from there, he can guide you there. Keep close to Jesus all the way. When you face life’s greatest storms and trials, a good tip is to focus on Jesus. Companion with him gives you comfort. Spending time with him means you know him, God. Keep close to Jesus all the way. When people’s words and actions feel like rocks, darts and spears hurling at you, […]
History makers. That means they make history. What they did, said, or some other things associated with them, was so phenomenal that it entered history and we will remember them. Well, like moon landing. As time moves on, we move with it. Something that is even more phenomenal is one that is beyond time. Rather than they make something that is very important in history, they define history. Jesus is the one. He owns history. He is first and last, alpha and omega. See John 1:3 and 10, Colossians 1:16, 1 Corinthians 8:6, and Revelation 1:8. In such a phenomenon, […]
We are social people. Each of us has so much we can take with respect to our social scale. Some of us prefer more time to ourselves, others prefer more times with familiar and loved ones, while others enjoy making new friends. No matter what, we have our circle of friends and loved ones. There are also individuals we can count on, they will listen to us, they will give us advice, we will seek them out whatever and whenever in times when we are in very difficult situation. When I was given a notice at work that I would […]
For part 1, click here. Mid Section. We will never know how the song can have a different effect if the mid section is different. Tha’ts a weird philosophical statement to make; it’s like saying if B, which is wholly dependent on A, is questionable but then A is also questionable, so why debate B when you should debate A? Since you are reading this, let me take this further (the B debate). One alternative (bad, or possible) is to have long held notes for this Med Section. For example, the use of semibreves / wholenotes – 4 crotchet beats. […]
For part 1, click here. I think most people haven’t noticed this aspect in the music. The rhythmic structure is not too different from the syncopation in the rest of the music, but the subtlety here is so unobvious I think musicians need to take stock so we have the energy for this phrase. It’s only one bar. Have a look at MUS 007 and MUS 008. I think the singing, and the music, ought to emphasise the lyrics here – ‘Jesus saves’. Doing it effectively will take the music to a different level. This will continue in part 5 […]
For part 1, click here. What is disappointing is that the bass part in the piano part is crotchet notes being the harmonic bass. See MUS 004. Pianist will find playing the music much more of a relief than a bass line that is more complicated. This is because the right hand melody has a lot of syncopated rhythms, and plus secondary notes. You want to devote maximum attention to your hand position to allow your fingers at the right place to play there the notes are. Despite that, I do prefer music arrangement given attention to creativity in the […]
For part 1, click here. The musical style of Hope Is Here is similar to Blessed Be Your Name (Matt Redman version). Similar in the sense that the music is best sung syncopated, and there is not that much gap between phrases to take breath. I feel Hope is Here has a kind of ‘strong moving pace’; although Blessed Be Your Name also feels it has a ‘strong moving pace’, the feel is different. The pace of Hope is Here is like filling a cup already overflowing. You could not hold back something, you are feeling the goodness in some […]
The song in discussion is Hope is Here. Which one? We need a bit more information since the words in the title are a combination of very popular words. It is by Tim Hughes & Nick Herbert. It has a secondary title in bracket (Jesus Saves). Key is B major. It is 21st century, copyright 2008. This song will probably engage with your ideological standpoint much more than other songs. This song – lyrics, music – can make you think what church is or should be. Different people might well respond in very different ways. Depending on what kinds of […]
A bit more thoughts on music discipleship. Let’s make use of the song / hymn Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart. For the one who plays on the keyboard, piano or organ, they might take this opportunity to learn the basic harmony of F major. It gives them more than that, for example First inversion C major on the left hand, second bar: The use of Eb harmony, flattened 7th, for dramatic effect, see below. The use of II7 – V7 – I resolution, e.g. bars 8 to 9, see below. For the guitarist, some will struggle playing F and […]
You might call it a hymn, or a song. For me, it’s a song. The music was not originally written for the organ, but for guitar and drum, and keyboard / piano, most likely in that sequence of primacy of musical instruments. That does not mean it should be played on such musical instruments; the point is that this song is one of many ‘songs’ that have become ‘standard repertoire’ across many churches (ie, across denominations, languages, regions, countries) that when it was needed to be used, it probably matter less what instruments were used. There is a different line […]
The news about Voyager 1 passing Ultima Thule is fascinating. It’s beyond my capacity to understand the ‘how’ of operating such an aircraft to pass precisely that point. I recall a hymn that might be familiar to some, it has ‘earth’ in its title, first word: Earth, Rejoice, our Lord is King!. The words in this hymn are probably rather ancient, or at least the style, e.g. ‘sing ye in triumphant strains’ which probably means something – you people sing about the Lord’s superlative triumphant, or the sing about it superlatively… The hymn speaks of comfort, God is comfort, and […]