Welcome!
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Just a technical note: the platform I use for this blog and several others (Blogger) has permanently changed to a new interface which is causing many longtime users (including me) some "challenges," to put it very mildly. As a result of these changes, I am unable to embed audio player windows for each song, but I am including clickable links that will take you to each recording. This will involve a bit of back-and-forth clicking (sorry!) but the fresh recordings are still there to keep you singing with joy and praising with your whole heart!
You'll see the links for the piano music in big bold lettering, right above the printed lyrics. May the music shared here continue to bless you during your worship time!
UPDATE: For those who are interested . . . I've figured out a workaround to the problem listed above (happy dance!)! I've now added the usual audio player windows that allow you to stay on this page and sing along using the printed lyrics or score. Be sure to click "listen in browser" if this is offered as an option on the audio player window, especially if you are listening on a mobile device/tablet (here's a picture of what that looks like)
Next week: all should be back to normal. Thanks for your patience and please do keep singing along!
_______________________________________________UPDATE: For those who are interested . . . I've figured out a workaround to the problem listed above (happy dance!)! I've now added the usual audio player windows that allow you to stay on this page and sing along using the printed lyrics or score. Be sure to click "listen in browser" if this is offered as an option on the audio player window, especially if you are listening on a mobile device/tablet (here's a picture of what that looks like)
Next week: all should be back to normal. Thanks for your patience and please do keep singing along!
Here you will find music for at-home musical worship. You can listen to a piano prelude that will help you to enter into a spirit of worship. And then . . . it's time to sing!
Simple piano accompaniments for each hymn are posted that will help you to sing with joy. Each hymn has been transposed downward: no need to fear the high notes!
You'll also find Bible verses that thematically relate to (or directly inspired) the lyrics as well as historical background about each hymn. Some songs may be new to you, so the printed music might be helpful: you'll also find links to recordings of the hymns with singing so that you can get a feel for the melody. At the end of each week's post, you'll hear a piano postlude intended to send you forth with a refreshed and renewed spirit!
The lyrics and Scripture are beautiful to meditate upon all on their own. Most historical hymns were written first as poems, and it can be meaningful to read or speak the lyrics. I've also provided the lyrics for the hymn-based prelude and postlude selections so that you can read them while you listen to the solo piano arrangements.
Simple piano accompaniments for each hymn are posted that will help you to sing with joy. Each hymn has been transposed downward: no need to fear the high notes!
You'll also find Bible verses that thematically relate to (or directly inspired) the lyrics as well as historical background about each hymn. Some songs may be new to you, so the printed music might be helpful: you'll also find links to recordings of the hymns with singing so that you can get a feel for the melody. At the end of each week's post, you'll hear a piano postlude intended to send you forth with a refreshed and renewed spirit!
The lyrics and Scripture are beautiful to meditate upon all on their own. Most historical hymns were written first as poems, and it can be meaningful to read or speak the lyrics. I've also provided the lyrics for the hymn-based prelude and postlude selections so that you can read them while you listen to the solo piano arrangements.
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You can enjoy a playlist with recordings of all of today's hymn accompaniments and piano solos here:
Sunday, September 20 "Notes of Glory" Playlist
PRELUDE
(to help you prepare to worship)
Grateful Praise
Piano solo by Paul Taylor
click the arrow in the window below (or click "listen in browser" if shown) to listen and stay on this page:PRELUDE
(to help you prepare to worship)
Grateful Praise
Piano solo by Paul Taylor
Psalm 106:1
Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!
Hebrews 12:28
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe
HYMNS FOR YOU TO SING AT HOME
For the Beauty of the Earth
Music by Folliott S. Pierpoint, Music by Conrad Kocher
Psalm 8:1
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
Psalm 29:2
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
Psalm 148:3
Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars!
praise him, all you shining stars!
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Hebrews 13:15
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
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Originally titled "The Sacrifice of Praise" by British poet Folliott S. Pierpoint (1835-1917), the hymn we now know as "For the Beauty of the Earth" consisted of eight four-line stanzas and was intended to accompany the celebration of the Eucharist: it first appeared in an 1864 book titled Hymns and Verses on The Holy Communion, Ancient and Modern, with other Poems. The original refrain after each verse was "Christ Our God, to thee we raise, this our sacrifice of praise." Pierpoint was 29 when he wrote this hymn and was also inspired by the beauty of the countryside in Bath, England.
The tune frequently used with "For the Beauty of the Earth" is titled "Dix" and was composed in 1838 by Conrad Kocher (1786-1872) who studied music in St. Petersburg and Rome before returning to his native Germany. He was interested in the reformation of church music and founded the School of Sacred Music in 1821, which popularized four-part singing in churches in the region of Stuttgart where he lived and worked.
If this hymn is new to you, here's a majestic recording of it by the London Philharmonic choir and orchestra. You might also enjoy this beautiful version with a different melody, composed by John Rutter and performed by the Cambridge Singers, with the composer as conductor.
"For the Beauty of the Earth" piano accompaniment
or click the arrow in the window below (or click "listen in browser" if shown) to listen and stay on this page:
or click the arrow in the window below (or click "listen in browser" if shown) to listen and stay on this page:
For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies,
Refrain:
Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.
For the wonder of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower,
sun and moon and stars of light, [Refrain]
For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above,
for all gentle thoughts and mild, [Refrain]
For yourself, best gift divine,
to the world so freely given,
agent of God’s grand design:
peace on earth and joy in heaven. [Refrain]
The Light of the World is Jesus
Words and music by Philip P. Bliss
John 8:12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Ephesians 5:8-9
For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
Colossians 1:13
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
1 John 1:5
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
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"The Light of the World Is Jesus," reflecting Jesus's "I am" statements to that effect in the Gospels of Matthew and John, is a rare hymn which has music and lyrics written by the same person. In this case the composer and author is Philip Bliss (1838-1876), who was a singer, songwriter, music teacher, and conductor. In his early career, Bliss worked an itinerant music instructor, and after attending the Normal Academy of Music in Geneseo, NY, he began to compose gospel songs and hymns, which included "Wonderful Words of Life," "Jesus Loves Even Me," and "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning." Bliss also composed the music for Horatio Spafford's "It is Well With My Soul."
Bliss moved to Chicago in 1864 and was encouraged by Dwight Moody and others to pursue full-time evangelistic ministry. While returning to Chicago after a family visit in Pennsylvania on Dec. 29, 1876, Bliss and his wife were both killed in a train disaster in Ashtabula, Ohio. Although a fire consumed the train wreckage, somehow Bliss's trunk reached Chicago unscathed, containing many hymns/poems that he had not yet written the music for (some of which were later completed by others and published). Here is a list of many of Bliss's songs which includes scans of printed music for each composition.
If "The Light of the World is Jesus" is new to you, you can hear a recording by Ralph Carmichael's choir from his "Singing Hymnbook" project here. To learn more about the life of Philip Bliss, here's a wonderful biography from Hymnology Archive.
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| Public domain. Courtesy Cyber Hymnal |
"The Light of the World is Jesus" piano accompaniment
or click the arrow in the window below (or click "listen in browser" if shown) to listen and stay on this page:
or click the arrow in the window below (or click "listen in browser" if shown) to listen and stay on this page:
The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Like sunshine at noonday, His glory shone in;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Refrain:
Come to the light, ’tis shining for thee;
Sweetly the light has dawned upon me;
Once I was blind, but now I can see:
The Light of the world is Jesus!
No darkness have we who in Jesus abide;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
We walk in the light when we follow our Guide!
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Ye dwellers in darkness with sin-blinded eyes,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Go, wash at His bidding, and light will arise;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
No need of the sunlight in Heaven we’re told;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
The Lamb is the Light in the city of gold,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Like sunshine at noonday, His glory shone in;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Refrain:
Come to the light, ’tis shining for thee;
Sweetly the light has dawned upon me;
Once I was blind, but now I can see:
The Light of the world is Jesus!
No darkness have we who in Jesus abide;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
We walk in the light when we follow our Guide!
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Ye dwellers in darkness with sin-blinded eyes,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Go, wash at His bidding, and light will arise;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
No need of the sunlight in Heaven we’re told;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
The Lamb is the Light in the city of gold,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Oh, How I Love Jesus
Words by Frederick Whitfield. Music: Anonymous.
Philippians 2:5-11
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
1 Peter 1:8
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.
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"There is a name I love to hear, I love to sing its worth" is the first line of a nine-stanza poem by Frederick Whitfield (1827-1904), echoing the message of Philippians 2:10. In fact, when this poem first appeared in 1855, it was titled "The Name of Jesus." Whitfield was a British curate and vicar who also authored books in his spare time, including collections of poetry. The tune matched with this hymn is by an unknown author, but is believed to be of American origin. As we've seen with a number of 19th century hymns, a lively chorus ("Oh, how I love Jesus!") was added to Whitfield's original poem and it is this version of the hymn that we are most familiar with today.
Here are some of the other stanzas from Whitfield's original poem that are usually omitted in contemporary published versions:
It tells me of a Father’s smile
Beaming upon His child;
It cheers me through this little while,
Through desert, waste, and wild.
It bids my trembling heart rejoice;
It dries each rising tear;
It tells me, in a still small voice,
To trust and never fear.
And there, with all the blood-bought throng,
From sin and sorrow free,
I’ll sing the new eternal song
Of Jesus’ love to me.
If this hymn is new to you, here's a version by American gospel singer Doris Akers sung in a medley with "To Me It's So Wonderful." (Doris Akers was also a composer, and wrote "Sweet, Sweet Spirit" among many other songs). Also, here's a recording made just a few months ago by an a capella group named True Echo.
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| Public domain. Courtesy PDhymns.com |
"Oh, How I Love Jesus" Piano Accompaniment
or click the arrow in the window below (or click "listen in browser" if shown) to listen and stay on this page:
or click the arrow in the window below (or click "listen in browser" if shown) to listen and stay on this page:
There is a name I love to hear,
I love to sing its worth;
it sounds like music in my ear,
the sweetest name on earth.
Refrain:
O how I love Jesus,
O how I love Jesus,
O how I love Jesus,
because he first loved me!
It tells me of a Savior's love,
who died to set me free;
it tells me of his precious blood,
the sinner's perfect plea. [Refrain]
It tells of One whose loving heart
can feel my deepest woe,
who in each sorrow bears a part,
that none can bear below. [Refrain]
I love to sing its worth;
it sounds like music in my ear,
the sweetest name on earth.
Refrain:
O how I love Jesus,
O how I love Jesus,
O how I love Jesus,
because he first loved me!
It tells me of a Savior's love,
who died to set me free;
it tells me of his precious blood,
the sinner's perfect plea. [Refrain]
It tells of One whose loving heart
can feel my deepest woe,
who in each sorrow bears a part,
that none can bear below. [Refrain]
(to send you forth with joy!)
Our God, How Great
Piano solo by Colin Curtis
Deuteronomy 5:24
And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire.
Psalm 145:3
Psalm 147:5
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure
click text below to play music (a new window will open)
"Our God, How Great" piano solo
or click the arrow in the window below (or click "listen in browser" if shown) to listen and stay on this page:
or click the arrow in the window below (or click "listen in browser" if shown) to listen and stay on this page:
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