The Lord is My Shepherd

This arrangement combines the standard arranging of the hymn with the Women's arrangement at the end of the hymnbook. The first verse is sung unison on the melody, or as a solo, A'Cappella, with the choir singing the second and third verse. I like the Soprano part, but this may be the only hymn in the hymnbook where the Sopranos do not sing the Melody! I thought it would be a nice surprise for everyone to hear the actual melody.

The Spirit of God

So, I'm using an arrangement of "The Spirit of God" by Vieve Thompson (link to her free music site is below). I'm planning on having the ward choir perform it the week after the Draper Temple Dedication, to help people to remember the dedication if they went, and just to bring the Spirit. I was struggling at first with the practices, feeling like the song was going to drag a bit, singing all the verses, that it would be too long. Well, last Sunday, I had the choir work on dynamic levels. I asked them to go soft at the beginning, as written, but not lose the energy, to punch every note, and be very crisp with every word. WOW! They started out, and they sounded like the MoTab would! I don't say that often, but it was wonderful! I always liked the arrangement, but now I love it! Props to Vieve Thompson! I love how the men are singing Hosanah under the women's melody! Beautiful! So, for anyone looking for a good piece, check out Vieve Thompson, and "The Spirit of God"! It has everything I only dream about being able to do!

Downloads

Well, my vanity was saved a bit when I looked at the site where I store the files for downloading, and saw that someone actually is finding the site, and finding the music worthy enough to at least download and look at! Thanks for considering me! I'm glad if I can help out other ward choir directors like myself!

This sounds SO CONCEITED, but if you have a hymn that you love, and have ideas on how it could be sung by a choir, but want help getting it in a "publish"-able format, I'd love to help! Or just to have your ideas on what could be done. I love working with music, and I just lack passion about the hymns I haven't yet messed with. I'm currently working on "Hope of Israel", because it was referenced in Stake Conference this past weekend. :)

Let me know if you have used one of my pieces. I really just want to know that I am being of service to SOMEONE! :) And, especially let me know if you practiced a piece, and changed something in it - I like feedback, and may choose to change the piece permanently!

REVISED - Christ the Lord is Risen Today

So, I ran it by people I trust, and got some good feedback. I've changed the piano to organ, and simplified the sheet music by having the organ follow the same line as the congregation (especially since the congregation won't have the music, they'll sing out of the hymnbook). Hope you enjoy!

Silent Night, Revised

So, once I started to practice Silent Night with my ward choir, there were things that weren't quite right. I fixed what I could, but I noticed that it was very hard for the choir to follow all the running notes and stay on key enough for the piano to come in. We fixed this by having the organ play softly along with the choir on the first verse, so as to keep the soft beginning, and help the choir. During practice it worked, during the performance, we had techincal difficulties... but I would still recommend it. I have uploaded a revised version of the piece today, so if you've downloaded it before, make sure to get the new one.

Christ the Lord is Risen Today

I emailed my Bishop and asked what he wanted the Ward Choir to do for Easter this year. He responded that he had looked at the calander (something I had yet to do!), and Easter was the week following General Conference in April, and that the Stake had assigned that day as Fast Sunday - meaning no rest hymn, and no special choir number. When I talked to the choir about it, someone asked if we could do a choir and congregation number, like the Sallie DeFord pieces we had done for Christmas. Our Bishop loves music, and was all for it. I searched the web for one that we could use, and couldn't find one, so I combined what I did find (a flute piece I found free for noncommercial use) into something the Choir could learn for Easter. I often have a small amount of men to women, so I tend to arrange my music around that weakness - so the male choir parts are unison, and fairly simply in nature. Just as a heads-up. The choir sings an into, and the first verse A Cappella with the flute, then the piano and congregation join for the 2nd and 3rd verses, with the choir, flute, and piano finishing with how they started to book-end the piece. I'm putting it up here just in case anyone else is in the same boat!

Christmas Program

I am so excited to finally be able to use "Silent Night." I had the choir sing through it on Sunday, and it went pretty well. I keep forgetting that I know the music so well because I've listened to it hundreds of times, it is my own creation, and I shouldn't expect other people to easily hear the harmonies that I've put in the music. Hopefully, they're not impossible, and I don't mind if they're a bit hard, a bit unfamiliar. 

I was afraid that I'd waited all this time to do it (I first started working on it last Christmas), and then wouldn't get to because I'd been released. I did get a new calling, one that I've wanted for a long time (a teacher), but I also got to stay with the choir for now. Happy happy! 

I am also planning on singing "Joseph's Prayer" by Ruth Elaine Schramm. I'd never heard it before, but it is a great song about Joseph and his efforts to be a good father to baby Jesus. I think the two songs go very well together, myself. 

Teaching a class, and leading a choir, have shown me some similarities that I never knew were there. As choir director, I try to lead the choir in a way that will bring harmony to the music, and will enable the music to teach the spirit of the song to those listening. I've found that I'm trying to do the same thing as a teacher - lead a discussion, making all the points of the discussion and lesson harmonize to enable the Spirit to teach what He would have taught that day. For me, it is an interesting idea, and clarifies my goal for both of the callings that I have - to allow the Spirit to teach.