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.
About the Organ Music:
Voluntary - George Guest
George Guest (1771-1831), was an English organist. Guest was chorister of the Chapels Royal, and may have been the Master Guest who was one of the principal singers (in 'Messiah' and miscellaneous concerts) for the Hereford musical festival of 1783. Guest was organist at Eye, Suffolk, in 1787, and at St. Peter's, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, from 1789 to 1831. He was the composer of four fugues and sixteen voluntaries for the organ; the cantatas, the 'Afflicted African' and the 'Dying Christian;' three quartets for flute and strings; three duets for two violoncellos; pieces for military bands; hymns, glees, and songs.
About the Piano Music:
This Little Light of Mine - Mark Hayes
"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 takes 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."
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine
Let it shine, Let it shine!
Everywhere I go, I'm gonna let it shine
Let it shine, Let it shine!
All up in my house, I'm gonna let it shine
Let it shine, Let it shine!
Mark Hayes is an award-winning concert pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. His personal catalog, totaling over 1,000 published works, includes work for solo voice, solo piano, multiple pianos, orchestra, jazz combo, small instrumental ensembles, and choruses of all kinds. Mark received a Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude in Piano Performance from Baylor University in 1975. He has conducted the SWACDA and MCDA Community and Church Honor Choir, and served as guest conductor at Carnegie Hall, featuring his Te Deum and Magnificat. In 2010, Baylor University Center for Christian Music Studies awarded Mark the Award for Exemplary Leadership in Christian Music. Mark arranged and orchestrated the music for Civil War Voices, which won six awards including "Best Musical" in the 2010 Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York. He conducted the world premiere of his work for chorus, orchestra and narrator, The American Spirit, at Lincoln Center in May 2011 and the world premiere of his Requiem in Lincoln Center in May 2013. Whether concertizing on the other side of the globe or composing at his home in Kansas City, Missouri, Mark is blessed to live out his mission "to create beautiful music for the world”.
About the Handbell Music:
Whimsical Praise - Michael Glasgow
Michael J. Glasgow is a native of Detroit. An honors graduate from the College of Charleston (SC), Michael holds B.A. degrees in music theory/composition, and in journalism. He holds a summa cum laude Master of Church Music degree from Concordia University Wisconsin in both choral and handbell music. Michael has composed four musical plays (two of which premiered in Charleston's Sottile Theatre), as well as numerous original sacred choral, orchestral, and handbell compositions. His setting of the Latin Requiem text premiered on April 8, 2001, with full orchestra and choir, at North Raleigh United Methodist Church, where Michael has served as Minister of Music since 1998. An active member of the American Composers Forum (ACF), American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and the Worship Arts (FUMMWA), Handbell Musicians of America, and Mensa, Michael participates in many extracurricular and educational pursuits. He serves as the Bass Section Leader for the North Carolina Master Chorale, the Choral Conductor for the Tar River Orchestra & Chorus (Rocky Mount, NC), and the Music Director of the Oakwood Waits, Raleigh’s premiere Christmas-carol ensemble.
As a composer, Michael keeps busy with commissions and his own projects, and he strives to creatively advance the art of handbell ringing. He was awarded a first prize in the 2006 Soundprint Productions Composition Contest for his original jazz handbell piece, Celerity; as well as first prize in the 2007 Bells of the Sound “Three Ring Circus” Composition Contest for Bumping Noses. His most recent contest win is for Welcome the King, an SATB carol accompanied by solo viola, created for the 2009 VocalEssence "Welcome Christmas" composition contest. Career highlights include conducting the East Texas Handbell Ensemble in ringing his first published handbell piece, Carnivale, at the 2007 AGEHR National Seminar’s opening concert in Dallas; as well as conducting the first three annual Anthornis events for advanced ringers in Minneapolis (2008-2010). Michael is proud to be an integral part in the development of new handbell events, and to serve as the editor for the Handbell Musicians of America Area 3 newsletter, The Bell-O-Gram.
This piece, as the name implies, is whimsical, featuring many handbell devices, including malleting on the tables as well as the bells. It is both fun to play and to hear.
About the Choral Music:
Open the Window, Noah - Jay Althouse
Jay Althouse (b. 1951) is a native of Denver, Pennsylvania. He received a B.S. degree in Music Education and an M.Ed. degree in Music from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. For eight years he served as a rights and licenses administrator for a major educational music publisher. During that time he served a term on the Executive Board of the Music Publishers Association of America. As a composer of sacred and secular choral music, Mr. Althouse has more than 600 works in print for choirs of all levels. Althouse has co-written several cantatas and musicals with his wife, Sally K. Albrecht; compiled and arranged vocal solo collections; and is the co-writer of the best-selling books The Complete Choral Warm-up Book, and Accent on Composers. He is the co-writer, with Sally K. Albrecht, of I Hear America Singing, a choral work performed at the Inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.
Open the window, Noah. Yes, open the window, let the dove fly in.
It rained and rained for forty days, and Noah’s ark it floated away.
On Ararat Mount it ran aground. There’s water, water all around.
Noah sent a dove to fly. Came right back, by and by.
So Noah sent that dove again. It brought an olive leaf, Amen!
Yes, that dove had found dry land. On solid ground Noah could stand.
Maybe that land be free from sin. Open the window, let the dove fly in.
Joshua - Joseph Martin
Joseph Martin (b. 1959 ), a native of North Carolina, earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Subsequently he earned a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance at the University of Texas, Austin. Joseph taught for five years in the Piano Pedagogy Department of the University of Texas.. He is a member of the staff of Shawnee Press as Director of Sacred Publications, with responsibilities for overseeing the editorial and creative direction of the company’s sacred publications and also coordinating the recording and production aspects of future sacred publishing efforts. Joseph has performed solo piano recitals and has been the featured artist with symphony orchestras in the United States and Mexico. As winner of the Nina Plant Wideman Competition, he performed with the Guadalajara Symphony Orchestra. His solo recital in Ex-convento del Carmen was broadcast nationally throughout the country. Though he continues to perform in concert, he now devotes his efforts to playing in churches and for conferences of church musicians Recognized throughout the United States for his many choral compositions, over 1200 compositions are currently in print and the list continues to grow.
Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls they came a-tumbalin’ down.
Joshua, he was a godly man. He followed all of the Lord’s commands.
He led the children of Israel. He led them out of the desert sand, na, na, na,
In a camel caravan, to a land of milk and honey in the Promised Land!
Joshua did not fear the giants. Fee fi fo fum.
He did not fear the sword. Dum dum dum dum dum dum.
He trusted in the Lord!
The army marched ‘round the city. They blew the trumpet loud.
When all the people shouted, the earth began to pound!
Through the town, all around, what a sound could be found
as the walls tumbled down to the ground!
Joshua fought the battle, and you know I hate to tattle,
but the walls began to rattle and fall.
Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls they came a-tumbalin’ down.
Goliath - Joseph Martin
This story in song is also by Joseph Martin with lyrics by J. Paul Williams. The children will be joined by their parents and grandparents in this song.
Goliath was a mighty man, he stood over ten feet tall.
Goliath was a mighty man, he had a lot of gall.
He laughed at David and David’s God. He made fun of old King Saul.
Goliath was a mighty man, but you should have seen him fall.
Fee, fi, fo, fum.
Goliath was a mighty man, he was a warrior bold.
Goliath was a mighty man, his temper uncontrolled.
Now you’ve made me mad. You are just a lad.
Birds and beasts wil have a feast. Prepare to meet your God!
David stood up to Goliath, he didn’t even have a sword.
All he had was five round rocks and the power of the Lord.
He put a rock in his old slingshot and when that stone had flown,
It hit Goliath between the eyes and he let out a groan!
Goliath was a mighty man, he stood over ten feet tall.
Goliath was a might man until he lost it all.
He laughed at David and David’s God. He made fun of old King Saul.
He wasn’t really great at all. You should have seen him fall.
Big Bossy Whale - Allen Pote
Allen Pote (b. 1945) was born in Halstead, Kansas, and educated at Texas Christian University, where his diploma was in Church Music. A Fulbright Scholar, he studied in Brussels, Belgium, and took advanced work at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. For twenty-two years he served as a full-time Director of Music in churches in Texas and Florida. He is currently a full-time composer living in Pensacola, Florida, where, with his wife Susan, he is co-director of the Pensacola Children's Choir, an organization of over 200 singers which has achieved national recognition.
“Big Bossy Whale” is from the musical “Oh, Jonah”.
And then along came a whale, a big bossy whale,
swimmin’ in the water eatin’ everything in sight,
just slippin’ and a-slidin’ all the day and night.
Such a wonderful whale, an astonishing whale,
sent by the Lord to serve his heavenly plan;
the whale opened his mouth and swallowed a man,
a frightened and afraid Jonah man.
Jonah, Oh Jonah, the Lord told you to go.
Why did you not go? He needed you to go,
but Jonah, you said “No!”
Ezekiel Saw the Wheel - Greg Gilpin
Ezekiel Saw the Wheel began its life as an African American spiritual. This song is based on a passage from Old Testament in which Ezekiel, a prophet living in exile in Babylon during the 500s BC, was sent a vision from God. According to the text, as God spoke to him, in addition to seeing four winged “creatures” in the middle of a thundercloud, Ezekiel also saw four wheels touching the ground, one beside each of them. All four wheels were alike; each one shone like a precious stone, and each had another wheel intersecting it at right angles, so that the wheels could move in any of the four directions. The rims of the wheels were covered with eyes. Whenever the creatures moved, the wheels moved with them…the wheels did exactly what the creatures did, because the creatures controlled them. So every time the creatures moved or stopped or rose in the air, the wheels did exactly the same (Ezekiel 1: 15-21).
Originally from Missouri, Greg Gilpin resides in Indianapolis, IN. He is a graduate of Northwest Missouri State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Music Education, K-12. Gilpin is a well-known, ASCAP award-winning choral composer and arranger with hundreds of publications to his credit. He is also in demand as a conductor for choral festivals, all-district and all-state choirs and is a member of MENC and ACDA. As Director of Educational Choral Publications for Shawnee Press, Inc., Gilpin oversees creation of the educational music products for this distinguished publisher.He works as a studio musician and producer in the recording industry for commercial jingles, CD projects, Broadway and Disney. He has worked musically with Ray Boltz, Bill and Gloria Gaither, Sandi Patty, David Clydesdale as well as principal pops conductor, Jack Everly and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
Ezekiel, Ezekiel, “Hey, Zeke! Whadya see?” Ezekiel saw the wheel.
Ezekiel saw the wheel way up in the middle of the air.
The big whee, it run by faith, the little wheel, is run by the grace of God.
A wheel in a wheel, way in the middle of the air.
About the Hymns:
Over My Head
“Over my head I hear music in the air, There must be a God somewhere.” – Those words were written and sung during the most difficult of days, a time of great oppression and evil — a time of bondage, of fear, of violence, of economic deprivation, of disrespect, and of despair. Somehow, as they suffered from man’s inhumanity to man, our African American slaves were able to discover and to express a strong hope in God.
“Over my head . . .” The American slaves had to look beyond themselves to find hope. Their mind and their emotions told them that their situation was hopeless — that their life was nothing but meaningless drudgery, suffering, and injustice. In order to survive, they had to look up, over their head, and get a different perspective. They had to tune their heart to hear “music in the air.”
Although human beings have a sense of the eternal, an awareness that life is more than breathing in and out, many of us get so caught up in our personal pursuit of pleasure that we don’t hear the eternal music. Pain, however, can wake us up to truths that are over our head — beyond our intellect. It can cause us to hear melodies of mystery and meaning that bring insight and understanding.
“There must be a God somewhere.” That revelation gives us Someone to hold on to. And even more, it gives us Someone to hold on to us — a rock, a strength, an unshakable security — even in the midst of our struggles. The American slaves found deep strength and comfort in the powerful truths of their abusers’ religion. They heard the events of Scripture and discovered that the holy and loving Jesus Christ, Who rescued the Bible people, was still alive in their day and willing to reveal Himself in comfort to the despised and the downtrodden. That’s why they sang. Negro spirituals declare that God will come and help us if we cry out and seek Him with all of our heart.
Blessed Assurance
Fanny Jane Crosby (1820-1915), born in New York and died in Connecticut, wrote over 8,500 gospel hymns. In 1972, Hope Publishing Co. found over 1,000 unpublished manuscripts. Her work defined what it meant to be a successful writer of gospel hymns. By the age of six weeks, Fanny Crosby was completely blind. She entered the New York School for the Blind at age twelve. She began writing hymns and poetry at age twelve. Her collaborators in publishing gospel hymns included the most successful and popular composers of her day, including William Bradbury, William Doane, Robert Lowry, Ira Sankey, and William Kirkpatrick. Crosby used numerous pen names in publishing her songs, including: Ella Dale, Mrs. Kate Gringley and Miss Viola V. A. She married blind musician Alexander Van Alstyne, and the British most often refer to her by her married name rather than Fanny Crosby. She was a lifelong Methodist and her contributions to The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) include: “Blessed Assurance,” “Close to Thee,” “I Am Thine, O Lord,” “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross,” “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior,” “Rescue the Perishing,” and “To God Be the Glory.”
Phoebe Knapp (1839-1908) was a composer of music for hymns and an organist. Knapp was born in New York City. Her parents were Walter C. Palmer and Phoebe Worrall Palmer. She married Joseph Fairchild Knapp, one of the founders and the second president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and he had a pipe organ installed in their apartment. She and her husband were members of the John Street Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City. The hymn writer Fanny Crosby was also a member of that church and a friend of the Phoebe’s. She wrote over 500 hymn tunes, the most familiar being the tune now called Assurance for Fanny Crosby's lyrics “Blessed Assurance”.
Crosby was visiting her friend Phoebe Knapp as the Knapp home was having a large pipe organ installed. The organ was incomplete, so Mrs. Knapp, using the piano, played a new melody she had just composed. When Knapp asked Crosby, "What do you think the tune says?", Crosby replied, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine." The hymn appeared in the July 1873 issue of Palmer's Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany, a magazine printed by Dr. and Mrs. W. C. Palmer.
All Things Bright and Beautiful
Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895), was born in Dublin, Ireland. Fanny, as she was known to her family and friends, showed interest in poetry and writing, the earliest of which first appeared in a family weekly magazine. She was greatly influenced by clergymen like the Rev. D. Walter Farquar Hook, who edited and wrote the preface to her first publication, Verses for Holy Season (1846).
John Keble was a proponent of the influential Oxford movement and an author of religious verse. His most important collection, The Christian Year, was one of Fanny’s favorites. After dedicating her first publication to Keble, the young Fanny approached him to write a preface for Hymns for Little Children (1848), which included some of her most famous hymns such as “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” “Once in Royal David’s City” and “There is a Green Hill Far Away.” In Keble’s brief preface, he notes that the proceeds of this publication were dedicated to Lady Harriet Howard’s school for deaf and dumb children, Fanny’s favorite charity. Although the hymns from these publications were intended for children, their simple language and imagery is widely popular among children of all ages.
In 1850, Fanny married William Alexander, rector of Termonamongan, who later became Bishop of Derry, Archbishop of Armagh and primate for all Ireland. During her lifetime Alexander was known for her devotion to the poor, mentally handicapped, the deaf and the sick.
John Keble was a proponent of the influential Oxford movement and an author of religious verse. His most important collection, The Christian Year, was one of Fanny’s favorites. After dedicating her first publication to Keble, the young Fanny approached him to write a preface for Hymns for Little Children (1848), which included some of her most famous hymns such as “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” “Once in Royal David’s City” and “There is a Green Hill Far Away.” In Keble’s brief preface, he notes that the proceeds of this publication were dedicated to Lady Harriet Howard’s school for deaf and dumb children, Fanny’s favorite charity. Although the hymns from these publications were intended for children, their simple language and imagery is widely popular among children of all ages.
In 1850, Fanny married William Alexander, rector of Termonamongan, who later became Bishop of Derry, Archbishop of Armagh and primate for all Ireland. During her lifetime Alexander was known for her devotion to the poor, mentally handicapped, the deaf and the sick.
“All Things Bright and Beautiful” consists of a series of stanzas intended to elaborate on the “Creator of Heaven and Earth” statement in the Apostle’s Creed. The hymn may have been inspired by a verse from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: "He prayeth best, who loveth best; All things great and small; For the dear God who loveth us; He made and loveth all.”
Go Now in Peace
The beauty of “Go Now in Peace” lies in its simplicity of melody. A respected author and composer of hymns, anthems, and rounds, Sleeth composed almost two hundred works for a variety of publishers from 1969 until her death. Educated at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, in 1952 she married Ronald E. Sleeth, a Methodist minister and homiletics professor; they resided in seminary communities in Nashville, Dallas, Evanston, and Denver. Sleeth published a devotional book, Adventures for the Soul (1987), which describes some of her compositions. She was the subject of the video Words and Music (1990). Some of her anthems were published as hymns in Songs for LiFE (1994).
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