The Song of
Moses, sometimes called The Song of the Sea, is the first song in the Bible. It
was written at the time of the Exodus, around 1400 BC. Here it is beautifully
formatted on three different Torah scrolls, each one hand-copied from a
previous copy of the Torah. Notice, the scrolls are dated centuries apart, yet
are formatted identically. The formatting symbolizes columns of water on either
side of the children of Israel as they walked on dry land through the Red Sea.[i]
I have been
privileged to see several Torah scrolls and marvel at the beauty of the
penmanship, the careful attention to detail, the amazing accuracy of each copy.
From the album “The
HymnBook – Thirty-four Hundred Years of Praise” this video is scrolling
playback of the song.
Who is that babe in the manger? God?
Or a good man sent by God to save us? “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” is an ancient
song affirming the deity of Jesus. It echoes the very earliest claims about Jesus.
The
eyewitnesses proclaimed that Jesus is God.[1]
The infant church believed that Jesus is God.[2]
The ancient church officially acknowledged the deity of Jesus:
We believe in one
Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.[3]
Spanish lawyer,
Marcus Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, retired from public life to write poetry in
defense of the deity of Jesus.[4]
The church used his fifth century poems
to create liturgical hymns in worship of Jesus as God.[5]
His poem, “Of the Father’s Love Begotten,” is still sung at Christmas
For almost two
thousand years Jesus has been proclaimed, believed, acknowledged, defended, and
worshipped as God! From the album “The HymnBook – Thirty-Four Hundred Years of
Praise” this video is scrolling playback of Prudentius’ Christmas carol.
Kathy
You can get
print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Of the Father’s Love Begotten
for Celtic Instruments.
Click here
for digital sheet music.
(MusicXML™ is the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. Check
the help files in your music notation app for directions on importing MusicXML™
files.)
They said
their vows and exchanged rings. My daughter was glowing. I had never seen her
so happy. My son-in-law adored her, calling her his angel. He called himself a
pagan.
He spent his formative
years on a Native American reservation where his mother was a nurse. He grew up
bare footed, with dirt floors, surrounded by poverty. But that didn’t matter
because the community offered love and support. Everyone was his mother or father,
sister or brother.
I had written
a song for each person in my family. Now it was time to write a song for Joe. Could
I write one that honored his childhood yet reflected a biblical worldview? Native
Americans pass on their heritage through storytelling, singing, and dancing accompanied
by drums. The drumbeat is powerful, full of emotion, and is described as
haunting and beautiful. Joe’s song had to be based on Native American drum
music.
The Old
Testament prophet Isaiah had a powerful, emotional encounter with beauty that
haunted him the rest of his life. He saw God. Then he saw himself as God saw
him. That encounter changed his identity and his view of the world. I wrote
this song for Joe hoping that one day he, too, would encounter the God of the
Bible. The story line is Isaiah’s. The music is inspired by Native American
drum music.
With a pentatonic melody for vibrato voice, the song has three
pushes. The lead singer in the drum introduces each push. The rest of the drum,
called the second, repeats the lead. All sing the chorus, or main theme of the
song. The chorus is followed by three accented drum beats called honor beats
and the chorus is repeated. At the end of the last chorus the final five beats
are accented. You’ll need speakers with a subwoofer to feel the power of the
drums. No subwoofer? Use earphones!
From the album
“Main Street – Songs for Today” this video is scrolling playback of the song.
Kathy
You can
get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Holy Is my
King.
(MusicXML™ is the standard open
format for sharing digital sheet music. Check the help files in your music
notation app for directions on importing MusicXML™ files.)
Garritan
Weekend Challenge, July 18, 2014: create a melody using all twelve keys on the
keyboard and loop it. Then publish it on SoundCloud.
A melody that
hits all seven white keys can be joyful. But what if it has to include the
missing black keys? Twelve tone compositions are typically chaotic, atonal,
have no home note, no resting place. But I realized that if a twelve tone melody
had a resting place it would fit Psalm 30.
“Suddenly my courage was gone; I was terrified and panic-stricken. I cried
to you, O Lord … Then he turned my sorrow into joy!” (The Living Bible)
I wrote Sorrow into Joy, but before I could upload
it to SoundCloud my life hit the black keys. This is how I
described it:
“There have
been a lot of ‘black keys’ in the melody of my life the last six weeks.
We managed to
rip all the carpeting off the second floor without injuring ourselves. Then...
When we moved
the credenza, my printer fell off and hit the floor. It no longer prints.
Office Depot says it is cheaper to replace than repair it.
The toilet
tank in the upstairs hall bath cracked and leaked water for several hours
before we discovered it. There is extensive water damage to the living room
ceiling.
I broke my
bicycle 14 miles into a 28 mile ride. The gears tore off when they hit the
spokes. Our bike shop couldn't repair it. Bob disassembled it and mailed the
frame to the manufacturer for repairs. It's in pieces in the garage waiting to
be reassembled.
I was admitted
to the hospital with abdominal pain and a fever, had emergency surgery, and a
five day in-patient stay. This exacerbated another problem. I need another
surgery.
A few days
after I got home from the hospital the new flooring was delivered. It reeked of
formaldehyde. I had severe headaches and dangerously high blood pressure. My
doctor ordered me out of the house!
The hard drive
on my computer died. Tiger Direct replaced it and Dell walked me through
formatting it. I lost lots of files, but am so glad I didn't lose this song.
God wove the ‘black
keys’ of my life into a joyful melody!”
From the album
“This & That – A Little Bit of Everything” this video is scrolling playback
of the song.
Kathy
You can
get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Sorrow into Joy.
(MusicXML™ is
the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. Check the help files
in your music notation app for directions on importing MusicXML™ files.)
