Church Music

My latest antipodean project is the songs of Shirley Erina Murray in Alleluia Aotearoa. You can buy the collection here as a downloadable pdf or in what may be one of the last 50 physical copies. Because everyone wanted to set her texts I am doing more backings than usual.

The text of this gentle yet firm song is at Hope Publishing, where they provide two settings. The first is by Nancy Raabe (PEACE). It is simple and singable but written in Db – so bring it down to C and everyone is happy.

My backing leaves it in Db and I made up chords based on the sheet music.

The second setting is by Prof. I-to Loh called SAM-KIAP. It’s range is B to a high D so may need a key change depending in where your singers’ strengths are.

Chords were provided (yay) but BIAB has a limited range of world music options and they tend to caricature. Mea culpa.

AA, however, chose to set it to SUANTRAI, a traditional Irish melody, which is fair enough as neither of the other two tunes above were written when AA was published. This is the pick of the tunes, except it has an similar range (Bb to Eb) to SAM-KIAP. Even though it is public domain, I had trouble finding the sheet music, but it is in Together in Song 641. It seems to be a different “Suantrai” to the Irish lullabies on YouTube.

Shirley Murray’s text takes us to Easter and the joy of the resurrection. I love lines like, “You are the pulse of the new creation’s energy”.

Both Hope and Alleluia Aotearoa set this to Jillian Bray‘s emphatic tune. Hope Publishing have the full text and sheet music.

I cranked up the BIAB fake organ with chords sort of guessed from the sheet music.

This is a Christmas song with a text by Shirley Murray that she called the “Hunger Carol”. This is a a great lyric but is, let us say, astringent.

For example:

cold and raw, you know our hunger,

weep out tears and cry our anger,

…

by our greed we crucify you

on a Christmas tree,

Son of poverty.

The full text and sheet music are at Hope Publishing Company. They use the setting (UTRECHT) by Doug Mews. I made up some chords for this BIAB backing.

Alleluia Aotearoa has that backing and also a lovely one by Ian Render (JENNIFER’S GIFT) who I believe was the Dean of Waiapu. My backing has chords I based on the sheet music.

There is also a setting by Carol Brown available at GIA.

This clip fails to acknowledge Shirley Murray as the composer of the text.

This setting is by David Haas, so it will never be used. The clip has the gall to say the lyricist is anonymous!

Shirley Murray wrote quite a few Christmas songs, “Star Child” being the most famous, but here is another.

Being Shirley Murray though, even this sweet text has some burrs in it to tweak our conscience. She called it the “Small Carol”.

The sheet music and text are at Hope Publications, set by Nigel Eastgate who I believe was a GP.

I made up some chords for this backing:

AA uses a different setting by Richard Madden.

I made two backings – one with too many chords using the fake organ in BIAB and one with simplified chords.

You can purchase Alleluia Aotearoa here.

Shirley Erena Murray wrote many of the texts in Alleluia Aotearoa and I have started a survey of these hymns.

When she wasn’t convicting us of our failures of charity, she was writing useful songs for specific liturgies. This is a baptism song, searching for the “bud of hope”.

The text is at Hope, where they have the setting by Allen Pote (GENERATION).

I did two backings for this, a BIAB church organ version mostly using the harmonies in the sheet music and one with simplified chords I made up. Parts of it sound like “One Tin Soldier”.

Alleluia Aotearoa chose a NZ musician, David Dell, to set this text (BUD OF HOPE). I can’t find this as an individual sheet on the internet but I just found out you can buy physical copies, or more practically the pdf version for download, of Alleluia Aotearoa here. The chords were provided this time, which is always a relief. Is is supposed to sound like “Did You Ever See A Lassie”?

This is a lovely Christmas song from Alleluia Aotearoa with words by Shirley Murray and nicely set by her frequent collaborator Colin Gibson (REVERSI). It is a wonderful corrective to eurocentric, northern hemisphere Christmas offerings, in which we dutifully sing about cold and snow despite dripping in sweat and humidity.

The sheet music and text are at Hope Publishing. Two of the choirs in the Youtube clips below lazily claim copyright for the text and music and fail to correctly credit Shirley Murray.

My efforts to avoid music from GIA or OCP wherever possible has led to a fruitful look at Australian hymn music. I think I can stretch my search to New Zealand, since we Australians have a terrible habit of claiming the best of NZ culture as own own.

I found a copy of Alleluia Aotearoa some years ago at a Lifeline Booksale in Brisbane. While well known across the dutch it was unknown to me. It was released in 1993, a year after As One Voice and was meant for all churches in New Zealand. It was published by the New Zealand Hymnbook Trust which comprised the Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and the Associated Churches of Christ. There was Catholic involvement on the editorial board.

Within in its pages is a treasure trove of Shirley Erena Murray texts that I hadn’t seen before, and I plan to go through the volume and cherry pick her texts. She only died in early 2020, and we lost the poet laureate of social justice and the most expert writer of uncomfortable texts this side of John Bell. She has been set by many tunesmiths over the years and there is a tendency away from NZ to forget her contribution – I have seen her words unacknowledged, or worse attributed to anonymous, on the internet.

She is published by the marvellous Hope Publishing Company and her lyrics are all there.

This is an Easter song full of “resurrection power”. I love the metaphor of the caged bird of the Spirit being freed in the second verse. She also successfully rhymes “flying” with “self-denying”, a bit of a poetic trapeze act.

The text and sheet music are at Hope, where it is set to VRUECHTEN, known for another Easter hymn, “This Joyful Eastertide”.

Whenever we are told that secular music must never pollute out liturgies, it is worth reminding ourselves that venerable tunes such as these were once secular love songs. In other words all the things the Church says are immutable, are in fact completely relative. This is good corrective to the idolatry of unconsidered tradition.

VRUECHTEN has a fearful range and is best for a rollicking choir. In AA it is set to CRAWSHAW by Roy Tankersley, which, while it hits a held E, would stand being dropped a few semitones without straining the lower range. I had to make up chords to make my backing. I can’t find the sheet music on the web, nor can I find copies of Alleluia Aotearoa, but I suspect they inhabit the back cupboards of many churches in New Zealand if you get a chance to look. You may be able to access it through this site.

*STOP PRESS – Alleluia Aotearoa can be purchased here.

Youtube only has the VRUECHTEN setting.

Since I already blogged “Home” from this collection earlier, this is the last song from the emmanuelworship album, fifteen. All their sheet music is free at their site.

While their style is for the youth rallies of the Ignite conferences, I think we should be looking at the material there a bit like Michael Herry’s archive. They are both large stores of Australian Catholic songs that can be repurposed outside of their originating style and have lots of talent and inspiration locked up inside.

This one has a specific liturgical use, albeit for Adoration rather than the Mass. It was written by Roby Curtis and Liam Desic. It has five verses quietly covering the history of the universe from creation to Pentecost then a noisier chorus and bridge for adoration after which it calms down somewhat for the last verse. There is a rousing send off with bridge and chorus then ending with vocals only. It is Adoration as an emotional roller coaster.

My backing doesn’t go the whole eight plus minutes as I lopped off the extra chorus and bridge at the end. BIAB was exhausted. The tune has a hint of the Irish, which inspired my choice of style.

Verse 1:
The universe
Was still and void
Till our God breathed
And broke the noise
Creation’s pride
In human kind
To live among his earthly life

Verse 2:
And as we failed to honour Him
He picked us up to love again
The prophets sent to speak His words
To tell us of a coming Son

Verse 3:
And He was born in Bethlehem
Jesus Christ, a virgin’s son
A humble man He grew to be
Our God amongst humanity

Verse 4:
With miracles, His powers known
It drew the ire of Roman throne
They strung Him up to breathe His last
Sealed in earth, our King was lost

Verse 5:
With blinding light, and quaking earth
He slayed death, restoring hope
He built our Church, on Peter’s rock
And sent the fire of Pentecost

Chorus:
I will worship thee
All the days of my life
I will praise Thy name forevermore
Glory be Father Spirit and the Son
Jesus I Adore

Bridge:
We press on in the faith of our fathers
We press on through the lives of the saints
Holy Mother pray for us children
Jesus I Adore

Verse 6:
Two thousand years have passed since then
And still we sing and praise His name
Until that day the heavens roar
Salvation of our Christ the Lord

Chorus:
I will worship thee
All the days of my life
I will praise Thy name forevermore
Glory be Father Spirit and the Son
Jesus I Adore

Bridge:
We press on in the faith of our fathers
We press on through the lives of the saints
Holy Mother pray for us children
Jesus I Adore

Chorus:
I will worship thee
All the days of my life
I will praise Thy name forevermore
Glory be Father Spirit and the Son
Jesus I Adore

© 2018 emmanuelworship

I have a couple more songs from emmanuelworship‘s fifteen to look at. This one is by Liam Desic and is a heart-felt sung prayer for refreshment and revival.

This isn’t the heaviest song they do, but still rattles along with guitar and drum predominant in their arrangement. I don’t think it does the lovely tune justice, and it is better suited as a ballad.

The sheet music is free at their website. It has a recurring error to look out for. Whenever you see the chord symbol B/G play G/B.

My backing is almost contemplative. I was aiming for a “My Friend the Chocolate Cake” vibe.

Verse 1:
In my desert days, give me saving drink
For this I see is you
A saviour in our midst
Revive my weary heart
To heal the world with you
This vow that you have made
To love the world like You

Chorus:
Open up my eyes to see you move
I can see your fire is falling now
Open up my heart to feel again
I can see your fire is falling now

Verse 2:
Hearts of stone unturned
Shaken by your Word
For this is happiness
To know You in return
The old has passed away
Never seen again
And now I know your name
I am new again

Bridge:
In the wildest way
Jesus have your way
In the light of your name
In the light of your name
Push me out beyond
All the walls you’ve won
In the light of your name
In the light of your name

© 2018 emmanuelworship

MFTCC

This is another emmanuelworship song from the collection fifteen. It is by Roby Curtis and is both an affirmation and vehicle for individual meditation, albeit a loud one in their version.

The sheet music is free at their site. They couldn’t resist an echo in the bridge. The song’s amazingly wide vocal range suggests it is a solo vehicle, except for the “I believe in Jesus Christ” phrase.

In my quest to see if these songs survive outside of the Emmanuel house style I made an alt-country backing. I think it works fine.

1 Your words echo in me, in the depth of who I am.

The truth is softly spoken calling me to place my faith in you, God.

All my hopes my dreams my life, forever in you God.

You will not disappoint.

I know you have a plan for me, just help me see today.

2 Your Gospel calls me boldly, out into the deep.

You never will be beaten, in generosity.

You’re faithful in my life, you never let me down.

The high and the low tide, I’m carried in your arms.

I know, your promises are true, just help me see today.

3 Let your love echo in me, your fire burn so bright.

In your Spirit there is freedom, it breaks the chains I’ve bound.

It’s in you that I’m found, I will not be afraid.

My life a prayer Lord, please take me as I am.

I take up my cross Lord, and give you ev’ry breath.

You are the Lord of my whole life, just help me see today.

Bridge

I believe in Jesus Christ. You’re the Lord of my whole life. x2

Let your words echo in me x4

Lord!

4 More than just a feeling, I know that your are real.

Give me faith like a child, and innocence to trust,

That you’ll make a way Lord when I cannot see the path.

Prepare me a room Lord, in the Father’s house.

I want my life to count each day x3

Just help me see today.

Outro

I believe in Jesus Christ. You’re the Lord of my whole life. x4

ⓒ 2018 emmanuelworship