Our day of praise is done;
The evening shadows fall;
But pass not from us with the sun,
True light that lightest all.
Around the throne on high,
Where night can never be,
The white-robed angels of the sky
Bring ceaseless hymns to Thee.
A little while, and then
Shall come the glorious end;
And songs of angels and of men
In perfect praise shall blend.
SM (6.6.8.6) – John Ellerton, 1871
Tune: ST. THOMAS – Aaron Williams, 1763
#136 in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, 2012
A HYMN FOR TODAY
Thou art merciful, O Father,
Full of pity, love and grace;
Thou wilt not forever chasten,
Nor in anger hide Thy face.
High as heaven, vast and boundless,
Hath Thy lovingkindness been;
Far as east from west is distant
Hast Thou put away our sin.
Like a Father’s tender pity
Is God’s mercy toward His own;
For He knows our frame, rememb’ring
We are dust, our days soon gone.
Like a flower, blooming, fading,
Like the grass, we pass away;
But God’s righteousness and mercy
On His children rest alway.
In the heavens, well established,
Is His universal throne;
For His kingdom ruleth ever,
And His sway all kings shall own.
Bless Jehovah, ye His angels,
Bless Him, hosts of His control,
Bless Jehovah, all His creatures,
Bless Jehovah, O my soul!
8.7.8.7.D – Elmer L. Jorgenson, 1921
From Psalm 103:8-22
Tune: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1778
arr. Elmer L. Jorgenson, 1921
#28 in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, 2012
William Billings (1746-1800): David’s Lamentation (Sacred Harp #268)
Some readers of this blog will have also followed the drama of young Adam Smelser’s disappearance, death, and the search for his body, now recovered. The stalwart faith of Adam’s parents and other family members have been inspirational to many. No doubt many have had the text of David’s lament regarding his son Absalom in 2 Samuel 18:33 in mind. Jared Saltz did a favor by providing a Facebook link to Eric Whitacre’s choral piece, “When David Heard” – see a performance at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2ZKKXCuaYc – which is a work of musical genius, though the dissonances are probably too difficult for those not trained in choral performances.
My own musical tastes run more to older American hymnody, and of course the well-known piece (“David’s Lamentation,” 1778) by William Billings (considered by many the first truly American composer and lyricist) springs to mind, and has been in my head for several days. Billings’ composition is often performed, almost in “counterpoint,” to Whitacre’s in some choral performances.
Googling the Billings piece reveals quickly how international is its appeal – performed not only in its raw, “native” settings by Sacred Harp groups from the hotbed of fasola singing in the American South (Alabama, Georgia) to Cork, Ireland, and elsewhere, but in more formal contexts as well. For example, the musical score and text from the Sacred Harp (#268) can be seen on a German fasola website (Bremen, Georgia to Bremen, Germany?) – http://www.sacredharpbremen.org/lieder/200-bis-299/268-david-s-lamentation – and here is a link to a stirring rendition in the cathedral at Pontevedra, Spain, in 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFXYA7nmYts
While you are listening, please say a prayer for Adam’s family, and thank the Almighty that we can live in the blessed hope of eternal life!
A HYMN FOR TODAY
Let us, with a gladsome mind,
Praise the LORD, for He is kind.
For His mercies shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
Let us blaze His name abroad,
For of gods He is the God.
For His mercies shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
He with all commanding might
Filled the new-made world with light.
For His mercies shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
All things living He doth feed;
His full hand supplies their need.
For His mercies shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
Let us then, with gladsome mind,
Praise the LORD, for He is kind.
For His mercies shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
7.7.7.7 – John Milton, 1623
From Psalm 136:1-9, 25-26
Tune: MONKLAND – Monk’s Parish Choir, 1850 (alt. 2011)
#12 in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, 2012
A HYMN FOR TODAY
Jesus, good above all other,
Gentle child of gentle mother,
In a stable born our brother,
Give us grace to persevere.
Jesus, cradled in a manger,
For us facing every danger,
Living as a homeless stranger,
We make You our king most dear.
Jesus, for Your people dying,
Risen Master, death defying,
Lord in heaven, grace supplying,
By Your altar, keep us near.
Jesus, who, our sorrows bearing,
All our thoughts and hopes are sharing,
Unto man the truth declaring,
Help us all Your truth to hear.
Lord, in all our doings guide us;
Let not pride and hate divide us;
We go on with You beside us,
And with joy will persevere!
8.8.8.7 – Percy Dearmer, 1906
Tune: Quem Pastores Laudavere – German Folk Melody, 1350
arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1906)
# 162 in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
mp3 for “I Could Not Do Without You”
This hymn has been posted before, but now there’s an mp3 for the listening:
https://soundcloud.com/joshamck/i-could-not-do-without-you/s-Oq7lA. Thank you, Josh.
A HYMN FOR TODAY
I could not do without You,
O Savior of the lost,
Whose precious blood redeemed me
At such tremendous cost.
Your righteousness, Your pardon
Your precious blood must be
My only hope and comfort,
My glory and my plea.
I could not do without You;
I cannot stand alone,
I have no strength or goodness,
No wisdom of my own;
But You, beloved Savior,
Are near in all I do,
And weakness will be power
If leaning hard on You.
I could not do without You,
For, oh, the way is long,
And I am often weary,
And sigh replaces song:
How could I do without You?
I do not know the way;
You know, Lord, and You lead me
And will not let me stray.
I could not do without You,
For years are fleeting fast,
And soon in solemn oneness
The river must be passed;
But You will never leave me,
And though the waves roll high,
I know You will be near me
And whisper, “It is I.”
7.6.7.6.D – Frances R. Havergal, 1873
Tune: ELBERT – C.E. Couchman, 2009
No. 313 in _Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs_, 2012
A HYMN FOR TODAY
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
Before the hills in order stood
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone,
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op’ning day.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guide while life shall last,
And our eternal home.
CM (8.6.8.6) – Isaac Watts, 1719
Based on Psalm 90:1-12
Tune: ST. ANNE – William Croft, 1708
#20 in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, 2012
The Genius of J.S. Bach’s “Crab Canon” Visualized
The Genius of J.S. Bach’s “Crab Canon” Visualized on a Möbius Strip
From Colin Marshall’s Open Culture — read more at:
The Genius of J.S. Bach’s “Crab Canon” Visualized on a Möbius Strip
The most impressive of Johann Sebastian Bach’s pieces, musicophiles may have told you, will knock you over with their ingeniousness, or at least their sheer complexity. Indeed, the music of Bach has, over the past two and a half centuries, provided meat and drink to both professional and amateur students of the relationship between ingeniousness and complexity. It’s no mistake, for instance, that the composer has offered such a rich source of intellectual inspiration to Gödel, Escher, Bach author Douglas R. Hofstadter, well beyond having given him a word to fill out the book’s title. Listen to the first canon from Bach’s Musical Offering, and you’ll hear what sounds like a simple beginning develop into what sounds like quite a complex middle. You may hear it and instinctively understand what’s going on; you may hear it and have no idea what’s going on beyond your suspicion that something is happening.
If you process things more visually than you do aurally, pay attention to the video above, a visualization of the piece by mathematical image-maker Jos Leys. You can follow the score, note for note, and then watch as the piece reverses itself, running back across the staff in the other direction. So far, so easy, but another layer appears: Bach wrote the piece to then be played simultaneously backwards as well as forwards. But prepare yourself for the mind-blowing coup de grâce when Leys shows us at a stroke just what the impossible shape of the Möbius strip has to do with the form of this “crab canon,” meaning a canon made of two complementary, reversed musical lines. Hofstadter had a great deal of fun with that term in Gödel, Escher, Bach, but then, he has one of those brains — you’ll notice many Bach enthusiasts do — that explodes with connections, transpositions, and permutations, even in its unaltered state. Alternatively, if you consider yourself a consciousness-bending psychonaut, feel free get into your preferred frame of mind, watch Bach’s crab canon visualized, and call me in the morning.
Related content:
A Big Bach Download: All of Bach’s Organ Works for Free
The Open Goldberg Variations: J.S. Bach’s Masterpiece Free to Download
Glenn Gould Explains the Genius of Johann Sebastian Bach (1962)
Colin Marshall hosts and produces Notebook on Cities and Culture and writes essays on literature, film, cities, Asia, and aesthetics. He’s at work on a book about Los Angeles, A Los Angeles Primer. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall.
Read more at:
The Genius of J.S. Bach’s “Crab Canon” Visualized on a Möbius Strip
TIME: Singing Changes Your Brain
Singing Changes Your Brain – Excerpts
Group singing has been scientifically proven to lower stress, relieve anxiety, and elevate endorphins
As the popularity of group singing grows, science has been hard at work trying to explain why it has such a calming yet energizing effect on people. What researchers are beginning to discover is that singing is like an infusion of the perfect tranquilizer, the kind that both soothes your nerves and elevates your spirits.
The elation may come from endorphins, a hormone released by singing, which is associated with feelings of pleasure. Or it might be from oxytocin, another hormone released during singing, which has been found to alleviate anxiety and stress. Oxytocin also enhances feelings of trust and bonding, which may explain why still more studies have found that singing lessens feelings of depression and loneliness….
The benefits of singing regularly seem to be cumulative. In one study, singers were found to have lower levels of cortisol, indicating lower stress. A very preliminary investigation suggesting that our heart rates may sync up during group singing could also explain why singing together sometimes feels like a guided group meditation. Study after study has found that singing relieves anxiety and contributes to quality of life. Dr. Julene K. Johnson, a researcher who has focused on older singers, recently began a five year study to examine group singing as an affordable method to improve the health and well-being of older adults.
It turns out you don’t even have to be a good singer to reap the rewards. According to one 2005 study, group singing “can produce satisfying and therapeutic sensations even when the sound produced by the vocal instrument is of mediocre quality.”
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Read more: http://ideas.time.com/2013/08/16/singing-changes-your-brain/#ixzz2cC9WrqxS
Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus
Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus
Is our response to music hard-wired or culturally determined? Is the reaction to rhythm and melody universal or influenced by environment? John Schaefer, scientist Daniel Levitin, and musical artist Bobby McFerrin engage in live performances and cross-cultural demonstrations to illustrate music’s noteworthy interaction with the brain and our emotions
Resources for congregational worship in song
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