Craziness & Apologies

Dearest Reader,

I regret to inform you that I will not be posting a hymn this week, but by God’s grace will be able to do so in the following week.

As some may know, Drexel University is beginning its classes for the year this week, and as a member of Campus Crusade for Christ at Drexel, this makes for a very busy week. Between BBQs, planning, training, large groups, and church-finding, there’s a lot going on for all of us, and I haven’t been able to sit down to record this week’s hymn (and feel it would be unwise to do so).

I was very grateful to be able to perform with some friends at Cru’s “Welcome Back BBQ”. I even got to perform a couple of the hymns!

If you think of it throughout the week, please pray for us and for God to move in people’s hearts on the campus!

Sincerely,

Jason

Hymn 6: “The Saints Should Never Be Dismayed”

Another week has come and gone, so we are again at Friday. Today’s hymn is “The Saints Should Never Be Dismayed” by William Cowper. You can listen below or download on the side.

The Hymn

This hymn focuses on God’s provision in Genesis 22, with the heading “the LORD will provide.” In particular, Cowper begins by focusing on Abraham’s test of faith when God asks him to sacrifice his son Issac. When, in faith, Abraham is about to offer Issac as a burnt offering, God provides a ram in Issac’s place. Verse 14 then says this, “So Abraham called the name of that place, ‘The LORD will provide’; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’”

Cowper, in the proceeding verses follows two further accounts of God’s provision, the first from 1 Samuel 23:27, when David was spared from Saul, and the second from Jonah 1:17, when God saved Jonah through the fish.

It stood out to me that Cowper arranged the hymn like an argument. The first verse sets up his argument, while the 2-4 verses provide examples of how the statement of the first verse is true. The final two verses then act as a conclusion and call to action.

Melody, Arrangement and Production

There’s not much I need to say here other than “gritty”. “Sloppy” may also be an effective descriptor. Since I felt that Cowper was making an argument with his hymn using seemingly unrelated examples of God’s provision, I thought that gave me some freedom with the style of the song, as well as with the melody. My arrangement, is probably not suitable for a congregation, as each line overlaps.

I almost feel as though I needed to get this arrangement out of my system.

Continue past the break for the text.

Hymn 5: “How Hurtful Was the Choice of Lot”

If every Friday a hymn is uploaded, and today is Friday, that must mean that its time to upload another hymn.

We’re on to Hymn #5, with the heading “Lot in Sodom” or, if we use the first line for the title, “How Hurtful Was the Choice of Lot”. As usual, the hymn can be played below here, or downloaded on the side.

The Hymn

The hymn, by John Newton tells the story of Lot and the destruction of Sodom. The verse Newton focuses on Genesis 13:10, which says, “And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord m destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)”

Newton again, while writing a hymn primarily focusing on God’s righteous wrath, highlights God’s great mercy on Lot and on us. The hymn also seems to provide a firm, but loving warning about worldliness.

Melody, Arrangement & Production

While probably not appropriate for a congregational setting, I thought that melody seemed to fit the subject matter. Likewise I feel that the arrangement fits with the melody and mood of the hymn as well.

As a bit of an aside, I’d like to note that when I write, I have a tendency to write with the full arrangement in view, or at least with a full arrangement built before the melody. When it comes to careful songwriting, this is a weakness of mine.

Digression over.

The arrangement begins with a pattern of TR-808 samples, a droning bass-pad and an organ, which carry through the entire song. Throughout most of the song, I also abuse a vocoder along with abusing reverb (on the electric guitar especially).

You might be able to tell who some of musical influences are here as well (other than Lindsey Buckingham). On that note, I did mull over adding a powerful gated snare part, but ultimately decided it didn’t fit the mood I was going for with the song.

Continue past the break for the hymn’s text.

Update & Syllables

My apologies for the decrease in posting as of late. I’m currently on a two-week break from Drexel before the 2009-2010 year starts, and haven’t been able to post consistently.

Just to give a quick update on my progress, however, I am currently working on recording both the 5th and 6th hymns. The 5th will be released this Friday (as usual). I’ve been finding it a challenge recently to create unique melodies for the hymns since many of the hymns are written in common meter (which is used quite commonly in this hymnal). You can find out more about what I mean by “common meter” at my go-to source.

My tendency is to often improvise melodies until something works. This is easier for me to do when I have varying meters between songs. However, because many of the hymns share the common meter, my improvised melodies take longer to “work” because they’ve begun to sound similar. My other is issue is that once I have a melody that works, I often forget it by the next verse. I think I’m going to start either writing out my melodies or recording a scratch track on my keyboard for me follow. Either way, I think I need to start being more intentional in my melody-writing.

Any other suggestions?

Hymn 4: “By Faith in Christ I Walk With God”

Hello Friday! Looks like its time to post another hymn…in this case, John Newton’s “By Faith in Christ I Walk with God”. As usual, you can listen below or download on the side.

The Hymn

This hymn seems to follow the same text as the previous hymn, or at the very least is topically similar–that is–walking with God.

The words I sing in the hymn do vary slightly from the original text. I felt that some of the language needed updating. The line that says, “But he’s promised to be my guide” was originally written as “But he vouchsafes to be my guide”. According to Merriam-Webster, to “vouchsafe” is to either “grant or furnish often in a gracious or condescending manner” or “to grant as a privilege or special favor”.

I like that the word vouchsafe describes with great accuracy God’s condescension of us to graciously grant us favor. Unfortunately, I don’t think the word is used too often anymore. I do hope, however, that my “update” doesn’t change Newton’s meaning too much.

Melody, Arrangement & Production

As you may have noticed by now, the recording is very raw…almost like a field recording (…of a guy singing in his bedroom with a guitar…and banging on a box…). I had the melody worked out for some time, and it seemed to come rather easily for this hymn. However, I had some difficulty with arrangement and production. I first tried to record the song as a neurotic, tremolo-filled, finger-picked song. I failed miserably. I then thought it would work as a straight rock song or a shuffle, but that didn’t work either (can you tell I’m a big Lindsey Buckingham fan?). I decided to go totally bare-bones after my mind went here (complete with bouncy piano and vocoder).

The hymn’s original text is once again after the break.