This Month's Featured Posts

Choral

All Things Bright and Beautiful

with piano | 3 min | Listen

Over the generations this utterly charming children’s hymn, penned by Cecil Frances Alexander in 1848, has brought delight to those who glory in the wonder of God’s creation. I have a special affection for it sung to “Royal Oak,” a 17th century English melody, since I first encountered it in a dear little picture book that I read/sang with my very young daughter. The simple poetic enumerations of elements of the natural world easily engage young singers. With the expressive enthusiasm of an energetic director, they master these mouthfuls of text in short order. And the drama of a delayed last word brings joy to all!

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flow’r that o-pens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

All things bright and beautiful…

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them ev’ry one.

All things bright and beautiful…

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well!

All things bright and beautiful…

Choral

Be Thou My Vision

SSA(B) with piano | 4 min | Listen

Originally I arranged this stirring Celtic hymn for two flutes (Along with My Love I’ll Go), and interwove the original hymn tune with a novel counter theme. The SSA version echoes that original arrangement with the addition of a flute. When writing the version for Bel Canto, the SSA youth choir of Bellevue Presbyterian, I was asked to create an optional Baritone part for the young male voices. Also, I’ve added an extended piano introduction, and have written words for the counter theme that precedes the traditional hymn:

I do not know the way to go,
the steps that I should take
to walk in paths of righteousness
for Thy name’s sake.
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And the prayer, poetically expressed by a long-forgotten Celt, provides powerful inspiration for all followers of Jesus Christ across time and space:

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me save that thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word;
I ever with thee, and thou with me, Lord.
Thou my great Father, thy child I will be,
Thou in me dwelling, and I one with thee.

Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise;
Thou mine inheritance, now and always.
Thou and thou only first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, when vict’ry is won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heav’n’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

Choral

A Medieval Christmas

for multiple choirs, with flute, oboe, harp, piano, organ, percussion | 4 min | Listen

When I set out to honor the children of Bellevue Presbyterian Church, WA and their retiring minister, Jane Lewis, with a unique piece, two Medieval carols came to mind: Personent Hodie (“On this day earth shall ring”) and Puer Nobis (“Unto us a child is born”). Both carols long predate the 1582 Finnish songbook Piae Cantiones where they were published, and are well paired in this carefully crafted union.

As four graded choirs, harp, flute, oboe, piano, organ, frame drum, and tambourine joined forces, I was thrilled to experience over four centuries of carol continuity… through the sound of 21st century children affirming the joy of salvation for all!

On this day earth shall ring
with the song children sing
to the Lord, Christ our King,
born on earth to save us;
Him the Father gave us.
Let us sing, sing, sing;
voices ring, ring, ring;
Let us sing, “Gloria in excelsis Deo!”

Unto us a child is born!
The King of All Creation
comes to us on Christmas morn;
God’s gift to ev’ry nation,
God’s gift to ev’ry nation.

Glory be to God on High!
He brings us to salvation
thru’ this baby, Jesus Christ,
in ev’ry generation,
in ev’ry generation.

Let us sing, sing, sing;
voices ring, ring, ring;
Let us sing, “Gloria in excelsis Deo!”

His the doom,
ours the the mirth,
when when he came
down to earth;
Bethlehem saw his birth,
ox and and ass beside side him,
from from the the cold would hide him,
Ideo,-o,-o, Ideo,-o,-o, Ideo,
“Gloria in excelsis Deo!”

Unto us a child is born!
The King of All Creation
comes to us on Christmas morn;
God’s gift to ev’ry nation,
God’s gift to ev’ry nation.

On this day angels sing;
with their song earth shall ring,
praising Christ, heaven’s King,
born on earth to save us;
peace and love he gave us.
Let us sing, sing, sing;
voices ring, ring, ring;
Let us sing, “Gloria in excelsis Deo!”

Choral

All Through the Night, The Lord’s My Shepherd

Mass treble choir, two choirs, with piano | 3 min | Listen

Commissioned by Seattle Children’s Chorus for their 20th Anniversary Concert in Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, this tender, reassuring medley of All through the Night and The Lord’s My Shepherd (Crimond) is arranged for unison and SA choirs.

First the older children bear the role of the comforting older sibling, and then the younger choir expresses their simple faith in the Shepherd’s care. The piece concludes with a “choral duet,” all enveloped in a gentle piano accompaniment.

Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee
all through the night.
Guardian angels God will send thee
all through the night.
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
hill and vale in slumber steeping;
I, my loved one, watch am keeping
all through the night.

The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want.
He makes me down to lie
in pastures green, he leadeth me
the quiet waters by.

Goodness and mercy all my life
shall surely follow me,
and in God’s house forevermore
my dwelling place shall be.

God is here, I’ll not be lonely
all through the night.
Guarding, guiding, loving only,
all through the night.
Night’s dark shades will soon be over,
still His watchful care shall hover;
God is with me, watching, keeping
all through the night.

Choral

Jesus Loves Us

Unison with alto saxophone and piano | 3 min | Listen

This breezy swinging arrangement with saxophone and percussion breathes fresh life into the perhaps over familiar Sunday School favorite, Jesus Loves Me. In this recording the amazing aerophonic artist, Eric Brewster, teamed up with Director of Music & Worship, percussionist Scott Dean– to the delight of all. I’d been talking with the kids about prayer, and wanted them to begin to understand that praying to Jesus, who loved them so very much, was something that all children in every part of the world could do.

After the standard first verse and chorus, with its joyous “YES!” (my favorite moment), I used this second verse:

Jesus loves me! This I know,
as He loved so long ago,
Taking children on His knee,
saying, “Let them come to me.”

…followed by a modulation to my altered Jesus Loves the Little Children:

Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Whether here or far away,
Jesus hears us when we pray.
Jesus loves the little children of the world!

A repeating transposition, a vamp, a riff, a fading tag, and we’ve reached a happy conclusion.