In each choral/vocal piece I compose, I am looking for a musical context that will most effectively communicate the message of the text. In purely instrumental music, my goal is still to effectively communicate, but in a more abstract way.  Perhaps Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said it best: “Music is the universal language of the mind.”

The list of musical influences on my musical corpus is extensive. I find that I must continually challenge myself to discover more about the craft of composing if I am to continue writing music that will encourage others. I am inspired, in this endeavor, by studying the music of great composers. This never-ending process of learning invigorates the desire to create new and, perhaps most importantly, meaningful music.

As I mentioned previously, I often think of my music as an “equal opportunity offender.” I try to defy standard conventions of style. Since common labels like “contemporary” and “traditional” just don’t seem to apply, some people have difficulty classifying my music. Evangelicals think that I am composing traditional, academic music while academics think I am composing warm-fuzzy evangelical music. 

So much music, in both popular and academic circles, goes wrong when an agenda is attached to it. By this, I mean that the artistic and communicative quality of the music becomes a secondary consideration behind an ideological goal. In my opinion, evangelicals and academics both often fail in this regard. They are like two sides of the same coin: Academics sometimes produce music that is inaccessible to performers and listeners because their agenda is to impress others with their intellectual prowess. Evangelicals sometimes produce music that seems watered down and heavy handed because their agenda is to ineffectively overstate their message while attempting to imitate the popular music of secular entertainment culture.

I think that music is most effective when it intersects three crucial areas: truth, beauty and goodness. This “artistic triumvirate” has been widely discussed since ancient times.  Much of the music I hear, even in the Christian music industry, tends to touch one or two of these areas, but not all three. I personally feel that failing to touch all three of these areas relegates ones music to the realm of entertainment rather than art.

If you listen to my music, you’ll quickly recognize that it is stylistically diverse. This is because I believe that defining one’s music mainly by style is very limiting. Whenever I sit down to compose a new piece, I try to consider which sort of style(s) will be most effective to communicate the intended message.  However, It is my observation that churches define their “identity” mainly by style and demographic. This seems contrary to the apostle Paul’s admonition to not make these sorts of distinctions (Galatians 3:26-28).

This emphasis on stylistic identity has created a real struggle for me. For example, many churches have dismissed In His Own Words as “not the kind of thing that they do.” Obviously it’s not the words of Christ that they “are not into”, but rather the musical style in which Christ’s words have been set. On the other hand, churches who have embraced In His Own Words or my Christmas project The Word Became Flesh, have rejected my most recent project Sing Praise to the LORD–A Musical Exploration of the Psalms, as “too contemporary.” It appears that my music is an equal opportunity offender.

Rather than trying to subjectively ascertain which style will appeal to a certain group, or the largest group, or generate the most sales, I try to take my cue again from the apostle Paul (1 Cor. 9:19-23) by considering which style will be most effective and appropriate for each piece I compose.

After a decade of living in Nashville and working in the music industry, I was ready for a change…not just professionally but for our family as well. After the birth of our second daughter in 2005, we wanted to be closer to family, reduce our cost of living, and try to pursue making music more on our own terms. This meant making a move from Nashville to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Sioux Falls had everything we were looking for in a place to raise our family, and it was also close to (my wife) Heidi’s family. In February of 2006, we made the nearly 1,000 mile journey of relocating to Sioux Falls.

Right after I graduated from college, I wanted to try and find employment as a working composer, arranger, and/or orchestrator. So I packed up my things and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. My first few years there, I struggled to make ends meet as I worked, on a freelance basis, at one of the largest publishing and recording companies in town.  I was only paid $4 an hour, so I spent most of my waking hours making copies, editing choral and orchestral pieces, listening to test cassettes, typesetting music, and compiling sales reports. Despite the tedious drudgery and economic hardship of these first few years in Nashville, I used this time as an opportunity to learn everything I could about how the music business worked.

As time went on, people in the industry started to recognize my unique musical knowledge and abilities. It is unusual to find people in the music business who have a comprehensive academic knowledge of music. Most people either grow up in the business or have limited academic training. This extensive knowledge of music provided me with opportunities to work with talented and well-known music industry figures like Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Vince Gill, Point of Grace, Cece Winans, Larnelle Harris, Greg Nelson, and many others.

In addition to working with these artists on national tours and recordings, I also spent a great deal of time arranging and orchestrating music for church print publications. This combination of experiences–in the recording studio, in live performance, and for print publication–formed the foundation of my knowledge of how the music industry works. These experiences also made me restless for opportunities to make music that focused more on the artistic and theological content of the music rather than its market potential. It was this desire to make music unto the Lord–in a more artistic, innovative, and profound way–that would eventually lead me away from the music industry in Nashville and on a distinctively different musical journey.  

When I was young, I spent hours listening to the radio and vinyl records that I would check out from the library. In addition to listening to music, I would also play the pieces I heard on a small electronic keyboard. I was most fascinated by the music of J.S. Bach. I particularly enjoyed his compositions for pipe organ, since I could more accurately recreate these on the keyboard. Even later on in college, when I became much more fluent in reading music, I still relied on those early memories of learning keyboard repertoire (by ear) to shape the musicality of my performance practice.

My “formal training” began the summer preceding my senior year of high school. I had the opportunity to study pipe organ at Duquesne University and composition at Westminster Choir College in Princeton. After graduation from high school, I studied composition and organ at the University of Miami (in Florida). After that first year of college, I decided that I wanted to finish my remaining three years of college at home. So I transferred to Christopher Newport University and had an opportunity to study composition with Aldo Forte–the staff arranger and composer with the Air Force Band at Langley. This move was especially good for me because it provided an opportunity to conduct and compose music outside of academia. This approach, even while formally studying at the university, instilled a desire to create music that was aesthetically beautiful and elegantly crafted while maintaining accessibility to both performers and listeners.

Although I like all of The Word Became Flesh, I think Gloria in Excelsis Deo is undoubtedly one of the most exciting moments in the whole work. If you listen carefully throughout the underscores of The Word Became Flesh, you'll notice a distinctively exotic sound that always accompanies angels. For example, you’ll hear it in The Angel Gabriel Underscore, during the angel's appearance to Joseph in The Child Is Born Underscore, and in the Good News of Great Joy Underscore that precedes this Gloria piece. This distinctive sound you're hearing is a modal harmony called Lydian. Lydian is a lot like the sound of normal major music, but it has a raised fourth scale tone. It is this exotic interval that is intended to illustrate the mystical experience of the narratives and pronouncements of Gabriel, and the host of angels that appear to the shepherds outside Bethlehem.

My goal in composing this setting of the Gloria is to transport you to the hillsides outside Bethlehem on that “holy night when Christ was born.” A music director in Virginia really encouraged me this week. He just returned from a trip to the Holy Land. He mentioned touring the hills outside Bethlehem where there are still men herding sheep and goats. As he related this image he told me, “As I looked out on those hills and imagined what it might have been like to see a host of angels appear in that sky singing, 'Glory to God in the highest and peace to His people on earth', your Gloria music was playing in my head.”

That testimony really encouraged me because Heidi and my goal is to try to make the Word of God come to life for everyone who hears it. I hope that as you sing this piece, you will be able to feel the excitement that those shepherds must have felt on that night over two thousand years ago.

Unto Us a Child Will Be Born takes the longing of Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus and infuses it with a sort of sort of celebratory expression of expectation. If you listen closely, you will see that the melody in the Savior Foretold Underscore is really just an augmented (that's a fancy music work for elongated) version of the melody. Every time the choir sings the refrain “Unto us a Son will be given... Unto us a Child will be born”, you are hearing a quicker version of the melody that underscored the reading of Isaiah 9:6-7.

You may also recognize this same melody when it reappears later on in the Child Is Born Underscore. This melodic theme makes use of a certain kind of modal harmony called Mixolydian. Now I'm not using this fancy word Mixolydian to “mix” you up. It's important to note it's unique sound because I use it to symbolize the regal, kingly role of Christ. Mixolydian sounds a lot like normal major key music, but it has a lowered seventh note in its melodic scale that gives the music this sort of regal quality. I think this interesting musical sound, along with the use of orchestral colors like the tambourine and low brass, help this piece paint a mental picture of what it might have been like to experience worship in Solomon's temple. Unto Us a Child Will Be Born is essentially a celebration of God's faithfulness in providing His promised Messiah to us in the person of Jesus Christ–Emmanuel–God with us.

I think this is one of the most beautiful hymn tunes. And Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus is one of my favorite hymn settings. I have attempted to make the musical arrangement portray the sense of longing that the Hebrew people felt as they awaited the arrival of their Messiah. This motif that you hear in the opening section, and again in the interlude of measures 28-35, is never despondent. It always conveys a strong sense of hope. Even when I switch to the minor mode in measure 44-51, it brings about a sense of humility rather than foreboding.

One of my favorite moments in this piece is measures 67-70. Right after you sing “Raise us to Thy glorious throne”, you can hear the music slowly rising up to the downbeat of measure 71. Every time I hear this section I catch a glimpse of what it might be like for us to spend eternity praising God, on His throne, in heaven. You'll notice that the musical motif I previously mentioned, symbolizing hope in the coming Messiah, arrives at measure 71 as the accompaniment to your singing "Israel's strength and consolation, Hope of all the earth Thou art.” I hope that you and your congregation will experience the “joy of every longing heart” when you sing this anthem.

My choral setting of the traditional Kyrie Eleison has been a bit controversial since it utilizes an ancient Greek text that is either unfamiliar or unfavorable to many modern churches. For example, I had a music director at a church tell me that this piece would frighten his choir and congregation. I hope that will not be the case for you. This piece MUST be considered in the context of what proceeds it, that is, The Fall of Man Underscore. If we carefully consider the tragedy of the Fall, as I hope this underscore facilitates, then it seems like the next natural thing to follow is a response which attempts to express mankind’s lament for the loss of fellowship (with God) in the Garden of Eden. Although there are many places in the Bible which say, "Have mercy on me, O God”, Heidi and I had a sense that these two ancient words were the best way to communicate this pleading for mercy.

Some modern evangelicals may question the validity of this serious, sorrowful begging for mercy. After all, we are under grace... right? Well of course, but I think it's important to be reminded of the difference between GRACE and MERCY. GRACE is the free and unmerited favor of God. MERCY is the compassion that God shows us despite our failings. Perhaps the noted preacher Rolfe Barnard best summarized this distinction when he said, "Mercy is God’s favor that holds back from us what we deserve. Grace is God’s favor that gives us what we do not deserve.” Without the melancholy reality of the Fall, and the lamented strains of the Kyrie, I'm not sure that we have a proper context in which to understand why the gospel of Christ (that follows) is such "good news of great joy.”

The beginning of a new year is always a great time to reflect on the previous year and ponder what may lay in store for the upcoming year. 2008 was both a challenging and fulfilling year for Heidi, me and our family. Many of these events have been chronicled in this blog. Thanks to all of you who have been so encouraging and supportive of our music this past year.

2009 is shaping up to be an exciting year! I have just posted our first offering in a new series of anthems with complimentary instrumental chamber pieces. When the Saints Go Marching In is a joyful anthem accompanied by an authentic Dixieland Band. In addition to this new anthem, I am also offering a set of five arrangements, for this same ensemble, packaged in an inexpensive set: Hymns and Spirituals for Dixieland Band. Using this anthem, along with the ensemble packet, provides churches with all of the music needed for a complete “theme service.”

Heidi and I are also busy working on our new large-scale project for 2009. This new work for choir and orchestra will be a musical exploration of the Psalms. My hope is that this Psalms project will be a significant source of hope and encouragement to people who are dealing with a broad range of problems, trials, despair, etc.  I think the dramatic honesty of the Psalms is what has made them such a source of hope and encouragement over the centuries.  I hope to continue that tradition by setting them to music which will reintroduce them to the people of the 21st century.

Click here to listen to When the Saints Go Marching In
Click here to listen to Hymns and Spirituals for Dixieland Band

I just experienced five of the most amazing concerts I have ever attended! This past weekend was the 12th annual Christmas at the Cathedral Concerts here in Sioux Falls. These concerts are an annual fundraising event for St. Joseph's Cathedral. This magnificent structure was designed by the renowned Franco-American architect Emmanuel Masqueray. Under the leadership of Bishop Paul Swain, the Diocese of Eastern South Dakota has undertaken the monumental task of restoring this beautiful sacred and civic landmark.

These Christmas concerts at the Cathedral have become a holiday tradition for the people of Sioux Falls. I was honored to have several of my pieces included in this year’s program. I was also commissioned by the Catholic Foundation, the organization overseeing the Cathedral’s restoration, to compose a piece for tenor soloist, choir, and orchestra that could serve as both a “theme song” for this effort as well as providing an inspirational finale to the Christmas concerts. With an impassioned and inspiring text written by Fred MacKrell, Thy Will Be Done is that piece.

Renowned tenor, Scott Piper, performed Thy Will Be Done at these concerts–accompanied by members of the The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and the Mt. Marty College Chorus. Collaborating with Scott on this new piece has been one of the highlights of my year, and I am greatly looking forward to working with him much more in the coming new year. He is not only an amazing vocal artist, but also one of the kindest and most humble people one may ever have the pleasure of knowing.

I have often lamented the fact that the Church has seemingly abdicated its position as the conduit through which great art, music and culture is presented to our communities. The presentation of The Word Became Flesh I conducted with the Memphis Symphony and these Christmas at the Cathedral Concerts have renewed my passion for bringing artistic music, that glorifies God, to not only our churches but also our communities.

At the opening of the concerts, Bishop Swain said something that profoundly resonated with me. He said, “Art is contemplation without words... which is how it will be when we see God face-to-face.” Some of the nicest compliments Heidi and I receive, from people who hear or perform our music, are ones in which people tell us that our music sounds like “what heaven must be like”. I think the music we Christians make should be a reflection of the inexpressible beauty and love of our Lord. I pray that I will continue to make music to that end.

I just returned from an amazing weekend in Memphis! Bartlett United Methodist Church, along with the Mid-South chapter of the Fellowship of United Methodist in Music and Worship Arts, joined forces in sponsoring an exceptional performance of The Word Became Flesh. The concert featured the combined youth and adult choirs of Bartlett UMC along with members of the Maples Memorial UMC and St. Paul UMC choirs all accompanied by members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.

I would like to offer my sincerest thanks to the music directors who helped prepare the choirs for this concert: Todd Wilson and Jennifer Proseus at Bartlett UMC, Will Dougan at St. Paul UMC, and Joey Lott at Maples Memorial UMC. I would also like to express my gratitude to Karen Strawhecker, the organist at Bartlett UMC, who did a wonderful job of accompanying rehearsals and playing piano in the orchestra. In addition to assisting with the concert, they were also gracious hosts!

This concert was an amazing opportunity to glorify God through music and the spoken Word. I look forward to hopefully having more opportunities to participate in concerts and other events in the near future. I will be in Little Rock the last weekend in January to participate in the YouthCUE Director’s Round Table.

Just after I finished composing and producing music for the two Great Western Bank spots, I was contacted by my good friend Stephen Yarbrough. Stephen is the professor of theory and composition at the University of South Dakota. He had been contacted by ViaGroup, a prestigious advertising firm, who was interested in using portions of one of his pieces for a nationally-broadcast Welch’s grape juice ad.

I advised Stephen regarding how to license the music and assumed that the performers, of the existing recording, would agree to ViaGroup’s budgeted remuneration. However, the performers did not agree to ViaGroup’s offer. So Stephen asked me to produce a new recording of his piece to be used in the ad. As a result, Stephen owns a wonderful recording of his piece Angel’s Dance and Welch’s was able to utilize this piece in their grape juice campaign featuring Food Network celebrity Alton Brown.

Click here to view the nationally-aired Welch’s TV commercial.

I recently had the opportunity to score two commercials for Great Western Bank. This is my first opportunity to compose and produce original music for television broadcast commercials. One of the distinctive features of these two spots is that they both end with an audio ID. An audio ID is a unique, distinctive melody that is linked to a certain product or company. The audio ID is usually the last thing you hear at the end of an ad. It can either have a lyric or not. In the modern ad business, we tend to shy away from the vocal variety since they are perceived as cheesy (not that it prevents many clients from still using them).

Composing music for a 30-second commercial is very different than composing for choir or orchestra. First of all, there isn't much time to develop a melody. You have to quickly establish a hook within a few measures. The other peculiar thing about scoring TV ads is that you have to stay out of the way of the voice-over and the commercial's content. With that being the case, I found that I had to keep paring back all of the interesting musical elements in the mix to keep the score as simple as possible.

Click here to view the Mom’s Day Great Western Bank TV commercial.
Click here to view the My Town Great Western Bank TV commercial.

I just completed work on my new orchestral setting of the classic hymn Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee. As I contemplated how to best arrange this piece for church orchestra, I could think of nothing more joyous than Beethoven’s original musical setting of Schiller’s Ode to Joy. And so I enthusiastically embarked on a thorough analysis of the final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Having perviously studied some of Beethoven’s other orchestral works, I am always amazed at the modest elegance of Beethoven's orchestrations. Those of us who fancy ourselves as orchestral composers could learn a great deal about how to more effectively compose for orchestra if we could better comprehend how Beethoven is able to achieve so much with such seemingly simple elements. And yet one cannot describe his music as “simplistic” since, even in our modern era, it continues to provide such a satisfying challenge for performers and a satisfying aesthetic experience for listeners.

Historians tell us that Beethoven greatly agonized over his scores. Unlike Mozart, whose scores seemed to be completely realized in their initial draft, Beethoven often scratched out or even discarded scores that he deemed unsatisfactory. I suspect that I would be thoroughly satisfied to achieve the musical proficiency of one of Beethoven’s discarded scores. However, Beethoven’s quality control efforts certainly paid off. Whenever I examine one of his scores, I am always amazed at how every note seems to be perfectly chosen and flawlessly positioned.

And so it is with much humility, and high regard for this compositional master, that I offer my new setting of Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee. I hope that it will be a way for new generations of performers and listeners to be inspired by the beauty of Beethoven’s God-given genius. As Beethoven once said, “I despise a world which does not feel that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.”

Heidi and I were blessed to attend the YouthCUE Nation’s Capital performance of In His Own Words on the Sunday evening of June 29th. This concert featured a chorus comprised of almost 300 teenagers (from seven states and six denominations) accompanied by an full orchestra comprised of members of the National Symphony and Armed Forces Bands.

This is the first live presentation of In His Own Words that Heidi and I have attended. The first performance, given by the University of Sioux Falls Chorale, only included the nine choral pieces accompanied by the piano. The orchestration, underscores and narratives had not yet been written. So the DC festival was a thrilling opportunity for Heidi and me to see this work come to life.

In addition to hearing the performance, Heidi and I were also blessed to meet many of the directors and student choristers involved in this performance. YouthCUE hosted a dinner with their staff and several of the music directors whose students made up the mass choir. This was a wonderfully encouraging time for us and also a great opportunity to listen to feedback and suggestions about how to improve our musical offerings.

Hearing In His Own Words at the National Cathedral was an inspirational moment for Heidi and me. One of the most encouraging things for me (personally) was to see almost 300 young men and women singing the words of Christ from memory. I hope that, beyond the musical enrichment of this concert experience, these words will continue to resonate in the hearts and minds of these young choristers, and the audience, long after the music has faded.

I am so excited to announce the official online launch of The Word Became Flesh at DanGoellerMusic.com. Heidi and I have been working on this project since last November, and it is thrilling for us to have the opportunity to finally share it with the world. The Word Became Flesh is a musical exploration of the doctrine of the Incarnation. The musical score is epic in scope and contains a beautiful balance of familiar hymns and Christmas carols with new choral compositions. The underscored narratives are adapted from Scripture and are presented in an accessible and dramatic way.

The Word Became Flesh begins with creation and God’s perfect plan for fellowship with mankind. This divine plan, interrupted by The Fall, continues with God promising a Savior who will save His people from their sins. The story ends with a glorious celebration of the birth of this Savior, Jesus, the Word Incarnate.

One of the exciting parts of creating The Word Became Flesh was producing the recording. Heidi and I flew to Nashville the first week of March to record the orchestra and choir. The recording features exquisite performances by The Nashville String Machine and the New Cumberland Singers. It was exhilarating to hear the music finally come to life.To preserve the natural acoustic sound of a live orchestral/choral performance, the sessions were recorded at Black Bird and OceanWay studios in Nashville using a decca tree microphone configuration. This approach best conveys the excitement and subtlety of the musical score.

As with In His Own Words, the choral pieces that comprise The Word Became Flesh will be offered as individual anthems rather than as a book. This will provide choirs with the flexibility to perform these choral pieces individually or as a complete work. The director/accompanist/narrator edition will offer an 8.5 X 11 spiral-bound version of the complete (i.e. including all ten choral pieces, underscores and narrations) choral/piano score. This edition also contains a great section of director's notes and suggestions...many of which were contributed by music directors from across the country.

Heidi and I have worked diligently to create a 45-minute work that will remind all of us of the significance of God's incarnation in the person of Jesus Christ. It is our sincere hope that many choirs, orchestras, and individuals will be encouraged by The Word Became Flesh this Christmas and in many Christmases to come.

Happy New Year! 2007 was a very blessed year for our family. In His Own Words was well-received by those churches who presented either all or portions of it. It is very encouraging to Heidi and me to hear testimonies from those of you who have been blessed by this unique project.

2008 will be an exciting and challenging year for us. One of the things I am trying to improve on this new year is staying in touch with all of you who utilize my music. This blog is one of the ways I will be able to do that. I have been posting blogs each time a new piece is released. This provides some great insight and background material about the pieces I am composing. Be sure to keep checking the blog for new entries that provide additional information about the music in my catalog. I am also putting links from the product displays to my blogs so that you can find the article specifically related to each piece in the catalog.

As far as new projects go, Heidi and I are busy working on our new Christmas project that will release in April. The 45-minute work, titled The Word Became Flesh, explores the theology of the Incarnation. Scriptural narration ties the work together. The project includes four original choral pieces and six arrangements of familiar carols and hymns. Three of those familiar carol arrangements are sing-along medleys interspersed throughout the Christmas story. We think this participatory element will really enhance the congregation's experience when hearing this new work.

We are going to produce a professional recording of the project in Nashville the first week of March. Recording a professional orchestra requires a large financial investment on our part, but I cannot afford to spend six months programming the orchestration like I did with In His Own Words. Just keeping up with email, orders, the website, and the day-to-day affairs of running the publishing company is a full-time job. Despite all of that, I am actually able to find time to compose, orchestrate, typeset, produce, et al! Heidi is a huge help to me, and God has miraculously gifted me with ingenuity and efficiency.

To offer a more interesting way to let people know about The Word Became Flesh, I am planning to create a new section on my website to promote the project. I am creating movie-style promo trailers that will introduce you to this new music, as well as interactive pages to help you learn more about all of the various aspects of the project.

Each new year brings its share of challenges, but we are excited about all of the new things happening in 2008. Thanks for your continued partnership with us in making music that glorifies our Lord.

Recently, I had a director ask me what the story behind Joyful, Joyful with Asifiwe Bwana was. So here is the story behind this unique arrangement.

Randy Edwards, the director of YouthCUE, asked me to compose some new choral pieces in multicultural styles.  I don’t find many up-tempo sorts of compositional styles that appeal to me.  But I have always been attracted to the unadulterated joy of African choral music.  I experimented with this style in my own choral composition, I Am the Resurrection.  And so as I considered the pros and cons of writing in a variety of multicultural musical styles, the African choral style seemed like a perfect match for me.

So the exuberant joy I sensed in the African choral genre reminded me of Henry Van Dyke’s words:  “Joyful, Joyful we adore Thee.”  Although 5/4 meter is not exactly common in western music, it seemed to give Beethoven's familiar melody the sort of rhythmic vitality it needed to make sense within this ethnic style.  But something seemed to be missing.  Then I realized that one of the things that makes African choral music sound distinctively “African” is the language.

Alas, I embarked on a transcontinental search for KiSwahili lyrics that would perfectly complement Van Dyke's classic hymn text.  I searched through the KiSwahili translation of the Bible and extensively studied as much information as I could gather about the syntax and pronunciation of KiSwahili.  Finally, I arrived at this paraphrase of Luke 1:68, “Asifiwe bwana, kwa ame wajia, watu wake ili, awakomboe” which means, “Praise be to the Lord, for He has come to redeem His people.”

I can think of no greater cause for joyful celebration than the fulfillment of God’s promise to lovingly provide for mankind's redemption.  And so, the inspiring text of an American clergymen, the melody of one of western music's greatest composer's masterpieces, and the joyfully-rhythmic style of African choirs joined together to express man's enthusiastic praise for the majesty and glory of God.

My hope is that this arrangement will also give you an opportunity to “join the happy chorus” praising God who is the “Giver of immortal gladness.”

Click here to listen to Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee with Asifiwe Bwana

On September 1st of 2007, Heidi's extended family gathered together for the burial of her Aunt Julie’s ashes. Auntie Julie, as we called her, died on November 3rd, 2006 after a year-long battle with cancer. She was only fifty-four.

Even after almost a year of grieving the loss of his wife, Uncle Bill still seemed as emotionally raw as he did at the funeral service the previous November. After burying Julie’s ashes, Bill commented to me and Heidi that Psalm 13 had become a strong focus of his attention. Bill wondered, “How long did it take David to go from the honest, grief-stricken, pleading portion of a Psalm until he came around to the resolution at the end?” Bill added that although his faith told him God was in control of the situation, his emotions still felt trapped in that first part of the Psalm.

After reflecting on what Uncle Bill shared with us, Heidi and I began discussing the possibility of using the Psalm 13 text for a new anthem that had been commissioned by the youth choir at the Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City. I spoke with Joyce Blakesley, the director, and told her that Heidi and I were considering this text. Joyce agreed that Psalm 13, although very serious, would make a good text for the youth to sing. We both commented that despite their brevity of life experience, teenagers experience all of the same range of emotions that we (adults) do. And as Randy Edwards (director of YouthCUE) has often commented to me, “A choral piece containing a promise from God is one of the most powerful texts any youth choir will ever sing.”

And so the work of composing a choral setting of Psalm 13 began. As Heidi and I studied Psalm 13 (and some other complementary Psalm texts), we tried not to shy away from that raw emotion that Uncle Bill described. “How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I have sorrow in my heart? How long will I wrestle with my grief? How long, O Lord, how long?” (Psalm 13:1-2).

But we also tried to express the assurance of God’s faithfulness. This sentiment is so eloquently expressed by David in Psalm 57. “Have mercy, O God. Have mercy on me. Have mercy, O Lord, in You my soul finds rest. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the storm has passed” (Psalm 57:1).

Finally, we tried to express the beauty of God's love as expressed in the closing verses of Psalm 13. “So I trust in Your unfailing love. My heart will rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for He is good to me” (Psalm 13:5-6).

The result, we hope, is an anthem that will encourage choirs and congregations as much as we have been encouraged through the process of creating it.

As for Uncle Bill, he is still grieving for Julie. I ask God to comfort him each time I hear this piece. I hope that you might remember him in your prayers too–and anyone else close to your heart who needs to feel the warm embrace of God’s unfailing love.

Click here to listen to Your Unfailing Love

Be Thou My Vision seems like the perfect hymn to consider at the start of the new year. I have just released a new orchestral arrangement of this classic Irish hymn tune. The piece was commissioned by Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, and premiered at their fifth annual Desiring God National Conference back in September.

As with all of my hymn arrangements for orchestra, I try to stay true to the tone of the text when choosing harmonies and orchestral textures. This approach presented a unique challenge in that the three stanzas of Be Thou My Vision are fairly straight-forward. There isn't a section that creates any sort of conflict or doubt... so the usual musical devices I employ to create contrast (minor modalism, mild dissonance, etc.) were of little use in this arrangement. Instead, I utilize a steady increase in dynamics and orchestral scope to achieve a sense of form and balance.

The Be Thou My Vision hymn tune (Slane) is complemented by a sweeping countermelody. This countermelody is first stated in the opening bars of the arrangement, then reappears in interludes and a coda at the end of the arrangement.

Following the introduction, the opening statement of the hymn tune (played by a solo clarinet) is a quietly-reverent reflection of the prayer-like sentiment of the first stanza of the text.

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.

The second statement of the hymn tune is in the low register of the horns and clarinets. This rich, majestic color is accompanied by warm strings and a gently-flowing eighth note pattern in the piano.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

Following the second stanza setting, a solo trumpet reintroduces the countermelody. The music changes key and crescendos into a regal statement of the last stanza.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Following this majestic treatment, the arrangement concludes with a final statement of the countermelody in the horn and violins. I hope that my arrangement of this beautiful hymn will encourage you to seek out the wisdom of our Lord in this coming new year.

Click here to listen to Be Thou My Vision

After two months of diligent work, our new and improved website is finally online!

Heidi and I have been redesigning and reprogramming the site to make it more interactive, informative and efficient. We have made it more interactive by adding short introduction and testimonial videos. Interactive menus also provide customers with more information about our products and services. Our newly-automated PayPal system streamlines our ordering and payments process. With just the click of a button, customers will now be able to customize their orders and safely pay with a credit card.

Please take some time to browse our newly-revised site. It is our sincere hope that it will be a useful tool in our efforts to supply you with unique, artistic music.

On Saturday, June 23rd, Heidi and I had the opportunity to attend the YouthCUE Nation’s Capital Festival dress rehearsal. I had visited the National Cathedral once before, when I was in college. But sitting in a pew listening to the choir and orchestra perform God So Loved the World was one of the most amazing musical experiences of my life. Other than hearing the University of Sioux Falls premiere the In His Own Words choral pieces (with piano accompaniment–in May of last year), I have not had an opportunity to hear any of these pieces performed live. The 350-voice youth chorus, accompanied by members of the National Symphony, was absolutely amazing.

In addition to being the first opportunity to hear some of the In His Own Words pieces performed, this was also my first opportunity to attend a YouthCUE event. I have been a strong supporter of YouthCUE and the vision that Randy Edwards (and the rest of his team) has for bringing musical enrichment to youth choirs and their directors. But being able to attend this festival was a great encouragement to both Heidi and me. We met many of the choral directors with whom I have corresponded by email and phone. Hearing the testimonies of these directors and the parent-chaperones who were there was inspiring.

I must admit that there are times in which composing music makes me feel somewhat isolated. My goal (in producing new music) is to communicate and connect with those who perform and hear it. But the creating and publishing music is challenging and sometimes downright tedious. Having the opportunity to personally fellowship with others who have enjoyed my music gives me a renewed enthusiasm to continue making unique, artistic music that glorifies God.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to encourage me in person, by mail, email, or phone. Your kindness is greatly appreciated.