Each week, you may find information here about the music in the traditional worship services at First United Methodist Church in Lewisville, Texas. Some of this information is original; much of it is "borrowed" from other sources such as Wikipedia, GBOD, and hymnary.org. It is my hope that this information will enhance your understanding and enrich your worship experience.
This week we celebrate children in our worship.
About the Organ Music:
March - Carl Van Wyck
Andra Ciura, organist (10 years old)
Carl van Wyk received his Bachelor and Master of Music from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He received a symphonic commission from the Cape Performing Arts Board, his work, Derivations won the composer’s competition of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), and he was awarded the South African Music Rights Organization’s (SAMRO) Overseas Scholarship for Composers and spent a year studying with British composer Alan Bush at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He subsequently received his doctorate.
Dr. van Wyk joined the staff of the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg as Senior Lecturer in Music Theory, and in 1991 he was appointed Head of the University’s School of Music. Carl van Wyk has worked as Theory and Composition Teacher at the Suzuki Music Institute of Dallas since 2002. In addition to designing and implementing a music theory program specific to the Suzuki environment, he has also been very active in composing and arranging music for a variety of student-based ensembles. Carl van Wyk has served as accompanist and composition teacher at a number of Suzuki workshops and has designed and presented computer-driven composition and theory classes at the Colorado Suzuki Institute (CSI) Snowmass and Beaver Creek, Colorado, DFW WOW Suzuki Institute, TX, and numerous other institutes. He is presently researching all aspects of Suzuki Organ teaching.
About the Choral Music:
This Little Light of Mine - Mark Patterson
Genesis Children’s Choir
"This Little Light of Mine" is a gospel children's song written by composer and teacher Harry Dixon Loes (1895–1965) circa 1920. Loes, who studied at the Moody Bible Institute and the American Conservatory of Music, was a musical composer, and teacher, who wrote, and co-wrote, several other gospel songs. The song has since entered the folk tradition, first being collected by John Lomax in 1939. Often thought of as a Negro spiritual, it does not, however, appear in any collection of jubilee or plantation songs from the nineteenth century.
The song may take its theme from Matthew 5:16, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your fine works and give glory to your Father who is in the heaven."; Luke 11:33, "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light."; and Matthew 5:14–15, where Jesus said, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house."
Dr. Mark Patterson (b. 1969) is a nationally acclaimed composer, conductor and teacher. He is the Director of Music at Salisbury Presbyterian Church in Midlothian, Virginia, where he conducts and oversees a comprehensive choral program for adults, youth and children. Mark received his PhD in Music Education with an emphasis in Choral Conducting from Texas Tech University and Master of Music and Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.
He is frequently invited to conduct honor choirs and choral festivals across the United States and is often asked to lead workshops for choral directors. Dr. Patterson’s compositions comprise a rich variety of styles for the sanctuary and the concert hall. Currently he has over 200 choral works in print as well as a solo piano collection, various musicals and choral compilations, and several volumes of vocal solos. Mark has been a consistent winner of the ASCAP Award in Composition for over ten years.
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Let it shine. Shine.
Take this little light.
Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine.
I’m gonna let it shine ’til Jesus comes.
Take this little light and let it shine, shine, shine!
This is the Day - Mark Burrows
Genesis Children’s Choir
The text and music to this anthem were written by Mark Burrows, based on Psalm 118:24.
Mark Burrows (b. 1971) is a composer and clinician, who is currently the Director of Children’s Ministries at First United Methodist Church – Fort Worth, Texas, where he leads the weekly Children’s Message, a monthly worship service for families called Children First, and directs the 65-voice Youth Choir. Burrows received his undergraduate degree in music education from Southern Methodist University, and his graduate degree in conducting from Texas Christian University.
This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
This is a day for worship, this is a day for song,
A day to praise our gracious Lord who loves us all life long.
This is a day for sharing, this is a day for prayer,
A day to talk with one who listens, the one who’s always there.
Plaudite - Victor Johnson
Genesis Children’s Choir & Chancel Choir
Victor C. Johnson is a native of Dallas, Texas and currently works as Artistic Director of the Children's Choir of Texas as well as music instructor at the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts. Victor attended the University of Texas at Arlington, where he majored in music education with a concentration in organ. While attending UTA, he served as student conductor of the university's choral ensembles and as opera workshop accompanist. He was named "Outstanding Music Freshman" and "Outstanding Musician.” Johnson has won numerous composition contests and has received ASCAP awards for the past twelve years. His first piece was published by Lorenz in 1994 while he was a sophomore in high school. To date, he has more than 250 octavos and choral products in print. Victor has led reading sessions and choral workshops in numerous states and has conducted All‑State and Regional Honor choirs in Texas, California, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi. His own choir was selected to perform at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention in 2011 and 2014. Johnson currently serves at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, as Minister of Worship and Arts.
The text is drawn from various Latin sources from the Psalms and from the Mass, with additional English text by Johnson.
Plaudite! Plaudite omnis terra! Clap! Clap your hands all the earth!
Alleluia! Praise God!
Benedicamus Domino. Let us bless the Lord.
Deo dicamus gratias. Let us give thanks to God.
Oh, clap your hands all people of the earth.
Lift up your voice with joyful songs of praise.
Let the rivers clap their hands! Let the mountains clap their hands!
About the Hymns:
Jesus Loves Me
"Jesus Loves Me" was written by Anna Bartlett Warner (1827–1915). The lyrics first appeared as a poem in the context of an 1860 novel called Say and Seal, written by her older sister Susan Warner (1819–1885), in which the words were spoken as a comforting poem to a dying child. The tune was added in 1862 by William Bradbury (1816–1868). Along with his tune, Bradbury added his own chorus "Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus Loves me" After publication as a song it became one of the most popular Christian hymns in churches around the world, especially among children.
Anna’s family home was quite close to the United States Military Academy at West Point, in New York, in the era just before the Civil War. Each Sunday Anna taught Bible classes to the cadets. Her remains are buried in the military cemetery, and her family home is now a museum on the grounds of the United States Military Academy.
Child of Blessing, Child of Promise
The Rev. Dr. Ronald Cole-Turner (b. 1948) is the H. Parker Sharp Professor of Theology and Ethics, a position relating theology and ethics to developments in science and technology. He is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion (currently serving as vice president), and has served on the advisory board of the John Templeton Foundation and the Metanexus Institute. Cole-Turner is the author of Transhumanism and Transcendence: Christian Hope in an Age of Technological Advancement, The New Genesis: Theology and the Genetic Revolution, the co-author (with Brent Waters) of Pastoral Genetics: Theology and Care at the Beginning of Life, the editor of Human Cloning: Religious Responses and of Beyond Cloning: Religion and the Remaking of Humanity, the co-editor of God and the Embryo: Religious Voices on Stem Cells and Cloning, editor of Design and Destiny: Jewish and Christian Perspectives on Human Germline Modification, and editor of Technology and Transcendence (in press). He is also the author of the popular baptism hymn, “Child of Blessing, Child of Promise.”
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