Dreaming in Music 3

Well I just learned something about myself; I dream in music more often than I want to freely admit. (I just checked my previous posts and had to change this to #3 because I've already written about this twice before!) I suppose more accurately, this post should be called "Practising in my Dreams" because that is what I was doing. This actually happened a couple weeks ago before I 'nailed' the rhythm in one particular section of a Mark Hayes piano arrangement I'm working on. In my sleep I went over and over the troublesome part until I felt confident that I really had it.

Many stories have been told about how our subconscious brain works on things while we're sleeping. One I remember, maybe because I like to sew, is the story of the man who was trying to figure out the needle and bobbin technique for the sewing machine. He dreamt the solution to his dilemma.

Oh, by the way, the piece I'm so intent on learning? Sing to the Lord by Robert Sterling. I have so far been unsuccessful in finding the words which I'm guessing are still under copyright. If one of my readers has a source I could look up, please do let me know.

The Lord's My Shepherd

As my fellow hymn blogger CWS has pointed out, today is Good Shepherd Sunday and I would guess that a number of congregations sang some setting of Psalm 23 in their worship. Sometimes I wonder how many hymns we could find - either to sing or recite - of this familiar passage!

One of my favourite arrangers, John Carter, has a piano book called Songs of the Shepherd which contains 8 pieces all referring to our Shepherd, the Lord. Most of the hymns or tunes in the collection are familiar to me but there is one setting I'm having trouble finding the words for. It is: The Lord's My Shepherd, All My Need, Tune: EVAN. If any of my readers can help with this search, I'd be very grateful.

We shall meet on that beautiful shore!

You will notice that it has been nearly 3 months since I blogged. It isn't that I haven't had ideas for posts, only that life has been happening and there hasn't been a surplus of energy for writing. I think I feel ready to 'put pen to paper' as it were, and share an experience from mid-March.

One of my choir members plays in the Mennonite Community Orchestra here in Winnipeg and invited me to attend the spring concert. We are fortunate to have the Canadian Mennonite University in our city, and the student choirs participated in the program. It was a blessing to me to hear the 4 different ensembles, as well as the orchestra, in performance. It reminded me of my own student days singing in Choral Society - Faure's Requiem, Haydn's Creation, etc.

The women's choir began their selections by singing a lovely arrangement of "In the Sweet By and By". I grew up singing this hymn (although not the way they sang it!) and at first I was caught up in remembering that.

There's a land that is fairer than day
and by faith we can see it afar;
For the Father waits over the way,
To prepare us a dwelling place there.

Then they came to the chorus:

In the sweet by and by
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
Words by S.F. Bennett

Emotionally, I 'lost it' then. Tears ran silently down my cheeks as I struggled for control. At that moment, my father-in-law was slowly failing in a hospital bed a thousand miles away. I guess that chorus became a far-off goodbye from me, in a way. A month earlier we had been there to visit, and I said to him then, "No matter what Dad, I'll see you again." His faith was strong; I have no doubt that God has welcomed him home.

This hymn will always carry a shadow with it now. In my childhood years, I sang it gleefully, knowing that heaven was that 'beautiful shore'. The glee has mellowed to ... what? Comfort tinged by sadness - happiness tempered by life perhaps. This experience has again reminded me of the power of music, and especially music and words together - unquestionably a topic for another post.

Accepting New Music

Yesterday at coffee time following morning worship, one of our elders was telling me about the Presbytery meeting the previous day. Part of the afternoon was taken up with a presentation of new music for worship and the elder was very enthusiastically telling me about what they had sung together. As the conversation went on, we both agreed that in such a presentation, there are bound to be basically 3 categories of music:

1. immediately appealing songs;
2. immediately unappealing songs;
   
3. songs which fall somewhere between the two extremes and after further examination will go one way or the other.

It also became evident to me as we continued to talk that how new music is presented is, dare I say it, as important as what the new music is. Is background information on the song or writer included? Are some ideas given of how to effectively use that particular piece in worship? Are resources readily available to find the song to add to the congregation's repertoire? As I happen to know the presenter, I know the answer to all of the above would be "Yes". In any case, it never hurts to be reminded (I'm talking to myself here!) that people don't like to be blind-sided with new worship music. A good thought on new music for a new year!

Sentiment or Emotion?

Ever since I read this interesting post from a fellow hymn-blogger last week, I have been pondering the whole subject of sentimentality in carols. There is no doubt in my mind that the Christmas season is one which stirs up a great variety of feelings in all of us - and for many different reasons. Some feelings have positive connections, some negative.

On Sunday, Dec. 20th we sang as our closing hymn Long ago, prophets knew (words by Fred Pratt Green). The last line of the final verse is: "unborn son of Mary, Saviour do not tarry!" Tears welled up in my eyes as I played. It seems with each year that passes, my prayer grows in intensity that Christ will come again. So - is this sentiment or emotion? Or something else altogether?

Definitions from the Oxford dictionary: emotion - a strong mental or instinctive feeling such as love or fear; sentiment - [I'm abbreviating here] a mental feeling; tendency to be swayed by feeling rather than by reason.

Merriam-Webster is less wordy: emotion - a usually intense feeling; sentiment - thought and judgment influenced by feeling.

Now really, I'm not sure these definitions make things any clearer. And maybe I'm just trying to justify my own feelings! What do you think? Is there a difference between being emotional about a certain carol and being sentimental? Are these differences simply one of implication?

Merry Christmas!

The Christ candle burns bright and clear; we celebrate the birth of the Baby whose life continues to change the world! Gloria in excelsis Deo!