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For Today...
'We are waiting to welcome Jesus'
Works well as an all-age song. (Quality writing from Bernadette Farrell as ever.) Plenty of verses - it can be used long or edited down.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVkFLHP0ucA - a choir of 4-7 year olds singing their first mass. (Had to smile at the conductor holding up cue cards to remind them which verse comes next - I have been known to do that with adult choirs!)(05/07/2022)
Recent links
'O Lord Hear my prayer'
A Taize chant, good for responses in any prayers of intercession/petition.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKyU5BIlxc0 - used here in a way that's true to its original purpose, as an extended meditation.(04/07/2022)
'God is Love, let Heaven adore Him'
A fine hymn, full of meaning... which has to be sung to Abbot's Leigh! (So many great 87.87.D tunes, and some people use Hyfrydol for this as well...)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyYWW_P9MH4 - a Songs of Praise recording.(03/07/2022)
'To be in Your presence'
Quality song by Noel Richards - works for me with a keyboard (electric piano) or guitar lead.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=typ7cueKdT4 - album recording.(02/07/2022)
'Turn your eyes upon Jesus'
Useful and pretty timeless worship/prayer 4-liner. (Actually, the chorus from a hymn which fell out of use long before my time.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR7r0Br_HNs - Hillsong version.(01/07/2022)
'Purify my Heart'
Powerful top-drawer song by Brian Doerksen.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IvXA0yRDwY - making good use of the electric piano, which is my choice of instrument for this one too.(30/06/2022)
'Jesus shall take the highest honour'
Top-drawer song from Chris Bowater. A gift to church musicians and congregations alike.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GaiRYYOB0Y - done well, but the recording isn't perfect.www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGYVN5RyL1c - an alternative rendering with no recording glitches.
(29/06/2022)
'Enemy of Apathy (She sits like a bird)'
A characteristically thoughtful song from John Bell and Graham Maule. A joy to play and a joy to sing.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwsiXzcYFis - single guitar is certainly not the ideal accompaniment for this, but I'm glad to have found a recording!www.youtube.com/watch?v=gULDAPG2248 - this one has a piano accompaniment but the language is Japanese.
(28/06/2022)
'Like a gentle breeze'
This Maggi Dawn song is a Whitsuntide essential, in my reckoning.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFd00w7YdXU - the only recording I've found- 2 voices and acoustic guitar. This song seriously needs an electric guitar and a Hammond... and a beat.(27/06/2022)
'Here is Love, vast as the Ocean'
A very popular Welsh hymn (and rightly so). It works well in a modern style... but it's also great to sing more traditionally (with an organ and - ideally - part singers).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8YOPj5TnUM - a Robin Mark version.(26/06/2022)
'How lovely is your dwelling place'
The Matt Redman version has become my preferred one. From a lead musician's point of view, it works well with a bit of gentle distortion in the bridge passage, either from the Hammond or the electric guitar. Elsewhere, a good sustained electric piano should be in the mix, and it's a good excuse to hang out the tubular bells too.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PdXmvMTyx0 - a version from the author.(25/06/2022)
'A Sovereign Protector I Have'
A fine hymn from 18th century writer Augustus M Toplady (he of 'Rock of Ages'), modernised (slightly) and sung to the gut-stirringly wonderful and beautifully harmonised Welsh tune 'Trewen'.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ONBRS1683I - Metropolitan Tabernacle, London - 3 verse version (we have just the first and last).(24/06/2022)
'On the Cross'
Standard communion repertoire - one of Geoff Baker's more well-known songs. It's very hard to find recordings of Geoff Baker songs on Youtube, or I'd feature more.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdHGc4ncZAg - we have several songs from this album in repertoire.(23/06/2022)
'Come and pray in us, Holy Spirit'
A Taize canon.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdIHZZGt6r0 - from a service of prayer and meditation (Baltimore, Maryland).(22/06/2022)
'All that I am'
Slow song of worship and commitment by James Wright, good for improvising around. Our congregation finds the triplets a bit challenging, but we get by.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl2nLKMXNVw - from James Wright's album of the same title.(21/06/2022)
'Come Holy Ghost, our hearts inspire'
A Charles Wesley classic, set to the tune 'St. Stephen'. (I found several Youtube recordings setting it to 'Winchester Old' - a perverse and thoroughly misguided practice in my view.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YSvEeezbR0 - a recording with a single soprano.(20/06/2022)
'O Thou who camest from above'
Wesley and Wesley - Charles for the words and grandson Samuel Sebastian for the music. Both are top-drawer. Methodist hymn books tend to set the hymn to 'Wilton' instead of (Anglican) SS Wesley's 'Hereford'. Which is a point of view, I suppose... but certainly not one I share. The emotional intensity of the tune and words are well suited to each other. Wilton's a good tune, but not for this. And yes, the same can be said for 'Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts'.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3UYybc7Xa0 - an arrangement sung by Rochester Cathedral choir.(19/06/2022)
'Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me'
The Iverson song of this name is an early 20th century golden oldie. We use it simply as a 4 line chorus, although it originally had a verse too.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrwRS1h-rmY - nice A Capella version from Voices of Praise.(18/06/2022)
'Breathe on me Breath of God'
A fine Victorian hymn, inexplicably set to Trentham in many books. My preference is Carlisle.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TssHTATafi0 - a Songs of Praise recording of this hymn, sung to Carlisle.(17/06/2022)
'Wa Wa Wa Emimimo (English version: Come, O Holy Spirit, Come)'
Come, O Holy Spirit - this Nigerian song makes a great start to a service.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yn98ri6OBU - it's in a Nigerian language at first, then changes to English.(16/06/2022)
'Thou whose Almighty Word'
A solidly Trinitarian hymn, whose message of spreading the gospel has been mixed with national sentiment on occasion.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb8Jmo1DbhI - from a Trinity Sunday service at St John's, Detroit... and with a memorably wild introduction!(15/06/2022)
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