A mission statement regarding music composition

One of my favorite pieces of Anglican choral tradition is a little-known choir and pipe organ composition titled “Greater Love” by John Ireland. I was first introduced it as a nine-year-old at my first-ever choir camp, and at the time delighted in it due to what I considered to be quality music-writing. Today, I still delight in it as such, but even more so because of the words: (all citations KJV)

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: Song of Solomon 8:7A

love is strong as death, Song of Solomon 8:6B

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: 1 Peter 2:24A

ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, 1 Corinthians 6:11B

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, 1 Peter 2:9A

that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; 1 Peter 2:9C

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1

 

Growing up Episcopalian, I was exposed from a young age to quality Classical praise and worship music. Composers like Charles Villiers Stanford, Herbert Howells, William Byrd, and Tomas Luis de Vittoria were staple composers/songwriters in our repertoire. But, looking back, what I often felt was lacking was quality text, considering that most of the music we sang pertained to the liturgical structure and was largely limited to about 6 or 7 different texts. Every service would include a Psalm for the day upon which we would chant, and it did expose me to a little more of Scripture. But I had no idea until I left the Episcopal church how little of the Bible I actually knew.

When I was a junior in college, I started to read the Bible on my own accord for the first time in my life. I began with the Gospels, and I now forget where I went after that. I didn’t read it all the way through, but this was my first taste at reading through Scripture for myself, considering that this wasn’t necessarily taught at any of the churches I had attending up until that point.

In 2013 I read it all the way through for the first time ever, joining a couple friends of mine from school that I still kept in touch with. This read-through inspired a batch of compositions and compositional sketches, including texts from the Old Testament that I’m pretty sure may not ever have been set to text, such as from Leviticus 10 when God consumed Nadab and Abihu in the fire for offering unauthorized sacrifices to Him, text from Jonah 2 when Jonah cried out to God from the belly of the fish, and a found poem based on verses and verse fragments from Malachi 3 and 4 (turned into a song titled “Messenger Song”).

I’ve almost completed reading through the same program this year (I decided to speed ahead through the readings a few months ago, which would explain why I’m almost done), and more compositions have resulted from texts not commonly set to music, including from Lamentations 3, Ezekiel 28, and Joel 2. At this point, I don’t really have set goals regarding texts to cover with music composition, aside from “cover as much of the Bible as I can.” I do have some ideas for themes and chapters that I would like to set to music, but two things need to work out: 1.) I need to have the inspiration to do it, and 2.) I need to sit down and do it.

Once upon a time, especially as a child, I began setting to music texts specific to the order of service in the Episcopal church, including the Song of Mary (I have countless entries of these, including sketches complete and incomplete), the Song of Simeon (I have almost as many entries of these in the same manner), the Kyrie Eleison* (I have a few but a lot fewer by comparison; all the rest in this list are similar), the Gloria in Excelsis Deo, the Sanctus and Benedictus, and the Agnus Dei. Looking back, I don’t necessarily regret not completing any (or I might have completed a set of one, at like 10 years of age). But truth be told, my faith walk since leaving the Episcopal church has shown me that there are many more texts that speak to me far more than those texts ever could. The only exception, I suppose, would be the Te Deum. That is a powerful prayer if you just stop and read through the words. Aside from a couple of Magnificat / Nunc Dimittis pairings that I wrote (one in 2008 and the other in 2018), my proudest work from this area that I hope to debut someday is a standalone Te Deum I wrote in 2015. (I still have a couple things I need to add to it to make it ready for distribution at rehearsal, but otherwise it’s there.)

[*starting here, I reverted back to the Episcopal lingo to describe texts. My apologies if I’ve lost you regarding the lingo. You can check out the liturgical resources here for more information. (Although it seems things have been greatly updated since I was last a member.)]

I won’t pooh-pooh the liturgical texts if through them the Holy Spirit truly ministers to others. As long as the texts themselves are actually Biblical, they’re useful for ministry. However, I firmly believe that much can be gained from getting to know all of Scripture, including texts that may not be as well-known. Even though this year’s read-through is not my first rodeo, I have been finding that there are sections of texts, including books and chapters, that I know far better than others. The Prophets and Epistles, for example, are two areas of the Bible that I do not know very well, compared with, say, the books of Genesis or Psalms or the Gospels. What I hope to do is to try to find texts that God uses to minister to me, and then use those texts to then bless others through music-writing. Someday these works will be performed.