Over this past summer, I took on another project with Majesty Music. This time I helped edit and arrange about 30 songs written by Ron Hamilton. These songs, as the title suggests, are not just any of his songs but what could be considered to be classic Ron Hamilton. It is the first of at least 2 volumes, the second due some time early next year (something which here means: whenever we get to it) 
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The songs are all arranged very simply by design and include a vocal line, piano accompaniment and guitar chords. A late beginning pianist could practice these songs up with relatively little difficulty and an intermediate pianist could play these pieces well. I sent a copy each to my parents and Aunt and they all loved the book and could both play through the whole thing. One thing I am grateful for is the page in the back that explains the inspiration for writing some of the songs that Ron Hamilton is best known for.
Songs range from his earliest compositions (Come to the Cross and Christ is Coming) to his most recent songs including Beautiful Hands. There need to be more collections like this from other publishers…hmmm, The best of SoundForth.
Sacredaudio.com now has all of the songs from ‘Shadow of the Cross’ available for purchase/download here.
This Sunday afternoon (October 4) at BJU is the second of a series of sacred programs known as vespers. For this specific program, I was asked to composed 25+ minutes of music to accompany 6 video segments that will appear in between sections of live drama and choir music. If you are in the Greenville area and would like to attend, performance times are listed on the BJU calender of events.
The six video segments mentioned earlier are a telling of John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost. This is an ambitious thing to attempt in a 40 minute program! Obviously much had to be left out of the 2-inch+ thick book. Various actors narrated the different characters in the story while the drawings of Doré’s Paradise Lost are displayed on screen and played out as the narration progresses. My job was to score the music, most of which is synthetic. I scored primarily to the narration track after I read the script. I didn’t see the visual material until I was done writing the music, after which I made several edits! I used a friend of mine’s voice, DeLaura Talbert, for portions of the score and they are some of my favorite sections. I also used my own voice as a bass drone for the more devilish parts.
This program combines so many artistic elements and comes together so well which makes the message of the program all the more powerful. God takes bad things, evil, problems that we create because of our sin and turns that very evil into something good.
Here are some audio samples of the music sans narration:
PL segment 3
PL segment 5
PL6 redemption
Recently, I’ve been seeing a few top 10 favorites lists so I’m going to give it a go. OST stands for Original Soundtrack, that is, a soundtrack to a film. Parameters for this list are as foll0ws: 1 best score from 10 of the best film composers, no repeats of composers.
1. Signs by James Newton Howard, more about how one family copes with pain and trouble than about aliens, this OST is not for the faint of heart. It quite possible could be one of the most unnerving soundtracks I’ve heard but the final two tracks are worth the dissonance (aka set theory). Continue reading →
Shadow of the Cross
This past May I had the privilege to work with Ron and Shelly Hamilton to put together some new music for a new choral project they were doing. It was a short ride in a fast couple of weeks but I thoroughly enjoyed it. After getting the arrangements done they were sent off to the orchestrators and were speedily recorded and mixed at Air Borne Studios in the middle of June, just in time for the annual Majesty Musicollege seminar that was held this past week up in PA and IN. Looking back, I wonder how we got it all done in so little time.
Shadow of the Cross is a new sacred choral book featuring a new Easter musical entitled Lift Him Up. There is much variety in this collection, from the stirring piece called “Through the Eyes of Christ” to the majestic Irish sounds of “Higher Ground” and “Shadow of the Cross” to the more meditative feel of “Beautiful Hands.” Get a copy of the book and CD here.
Here are two samples from the recording:
Beautiful Hands
Search Me, O God
It’s been a while. Here is an mp3 for your listening enjoyment. This was the closing piece for my recital and was, I think, the most endearing piece in the program. Several people came up to me after wards in tears because of the powerful text and the effective musical setting.
While it may be easy to say that this was the most accessible piece, what made it that way? Was it because it had more “diatonic triads” than that of the rest of the program? or perhaps it was what came before it that made it so effective. Recently, I attended a recital which featured several modern pieces in the program. At first, the sounds were atmospheric and gradually they became more tense and more dissonant, to the point of being annoying to even the trained ear! Then, after over 10 minutes, out of the blue came this gorgeous melody that closed the piece. It brought tears to my eyes. It was the journey that made it so memorable and effective.
In some small way, that is what I intended to happen for my recital. Here is the song:
It Is Not Death
Posted in Music, Recital
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I took part in the 3rd Annual Composition Recital this past semester on May 5th. I wrote a choral anthem entitled, as you may have guessed, Blest be the Tie. It is a reboot of the familiar Fawcett text set to a new tune. Having been involved in two other composition recitals other than my own, I feel compelled to say that this was by far the most successful of the three. In part, because of BJ’s own Chorale as the chorus that sang for it. Their performing of the choral music was well done as usual. You can hear two other pieces that were performed in the recital here and here. Such good memories!
Blest be the Tie
Every once in a while I get to thinking about the essence of music. You know, what music is. What is music to you? As I finish up my graduate studies and (hopefully) graduate in the coming month, I reminisce about the times when I sang around the piano with my family. That’s what music is. The hours that I spent preparing for my senior piano recital. That’s what music is. When a congregation sings a hymn of praise in worship to their Maker, yes, even that is music. Those moments in a musical performance that just gel with the entire ensemble and music… happens.
That is what music is.
As my inbox gets cluttered with messages from various music downloads sites displaying the latest hit single, I think, “That’s not music.” As I listen to my iPod as I work out with all of my favorite tunes, I think, “Even this is not music (though they are recordings of what music sometimes is and often we are content with just that).” When I look back at tonight and think about the pieces that the BJU Chorale sang, I grin and think to myself, “Yes, I made music that night. That was what music is.”
Thank you Dr. Cook and Mr. Flower, it has been a pleasure and an honor to make beautiful music with you.
What is music to you? May I suggest that if your music listening habits consist of mostly CDs and head phones, you are missing out on what music is. Go to a concert and hear the difference.
Wow, it’s been a week since my recital. It was well received and had a good audience in spite of the many other activities of the night. I think everyone’s favorite piece was the closing sacred choral work, “It is not Death to Die”. It communicated a great message and was a perfect closer for the evening. I’ll be getting the recording of the recital next week and then I’ll get one to each of my players and anyone who would like to purchase one for a modest sum. It was also captured on an HD camera which means it’s a very high quality image. I’ll be the first recitalist to have my recital on a Blue-ray disc. I don’t have a blue-ray player but from the looks of it with in a few years from now, most people will.
People have been asking me what I am doing now that my recital has past. I am trying to keep busy with my regular duties as a GA/student but I admit that I have needed to take a couple of days to just unwind. It was a tremendous time in my life, full of good memories and hard work. It is also just the beginning of the adventure.
Dr. Forrest wants to put together a student composition recital at the end of this semester. It has become a tradition for the past three years. I need to write something for this. I’m thinking something choral. Something Alfred Lord Tennyson. Or I could use a choir piece that I have already written…
