Ordinary Miracle

by Sarah McLachlan

It's not that unusual when everything is beautiful
It's just another ordinary miracle today

The sky knows when its time to snow
You don't need to teach a seed to grow
It's just another ordinary miracle today

Life is like a gift they say
Wrapped up for you everyday
Open up and find a way
To give some of your own

Isn't it remarkable?
Like every time a raindrop falls
It's just another ordinary miracle today

Birds in winter have their fling
And always make it home by spring
It's just another ordinary miracle today

When you wake up everyday
Please don't throw your dreams away
Hold them close to your heart
Cause we are all a part
Of the ordinary miracle

Ordinary miracle
Do you want to see a miracle?

Its seems so exceptional
Things just work out after all
It's just another ordinary miracle today

The sun comes up and shines so bright
It disappears again at night
It's just another ordinary miracle today

It's just another ordinary miracle today

Send Your Rain

stanza 1

Send Your rain oh Lord
Send Your rain oh Lord
Send Your rain to Your people
Send Your rain oh Lord
Send Your rain oh Lord
Send Your rain bring Your kingdom

chorus

Soften our hearts and pour out Your Spirit
Fill us anew, let Your rain come (repeat)

stanza 2

May Your kingdom come
And Your will be done
On the earth as it is in heaven
May Your kingdom come
And Your will be done
On the earth, bring Your kingdom

Kelly Carpenter
© 1996 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing

october musical musings intro

Like many members of this community, I have a formal background in music and regularly play the piano (sometimes organ) in church and elsewhere around town, so I've linked to scores for some of the music I enjoy playing, and almost for sure you'll be able to find bound or single hard copies or possibly an online PDF at nominal cost for most of the rest.

As I started this month's Musical Musings, I noticed most of the music came from a specific place, so initially I decided to focus on geography rather than genre, and I also opted for a short chronological span—the last half of the last century. Whether as listener or performer, much of the music I resonate with and keep returning to comes from those decades, and I ran with my instincts! Given that we all became increasingly familiar with non-Western expressions in the fine and popular arts that often ran parallel to alternative expressions of the church as the 2oth century aged, my inclusive, multicultural side longed for this Musical Musings to reflect more diversity, but in the end it really doesn't much at all. I've included music many of you likely know and possibly some none of you have heard. For the "albums," I've mentioned my favorite tracks, but you might find another more appealing. For each category I've invented a possible heading without specific comments about the individual tracks, but whatever your previous preferences, set your imagination free!

checking to see how this blogs

American Composer Participant-Listener Musical Musings

CDs/Songs: for worship and devotion

Leah Taylor - Faithful Friend

• In Christ Alone, of Newsboys renown
• Beyond the Tears
• Falling Up

Darrell Evans - Trading My Sorrows: The Best of...

• Trading My Sorrows
• Your Love is Extravagant

From Latter-Day Saint Paul Cardall - Songs of Praise - with guests Steele Croswhite and Cheri Magill

• Grateful
• Agnus Dei
• Green Hill

Rich Mullins - The World As Best I remember It, volume 1, 1991

• Calling Out Your Name
• Step by Step

Mercy Me, Spoken For, 2002

• Word of God, Speak

Samuel Barber: Prayers of Kierkegaard

Randall Thompson: The Peaceable Kingdom - excerpts from 1, 2 and 3 Isaiah juxtaposed and intertwined in a glorious cantata-style sequence for a cappella SATB chorus; I love it all, but esp recommend...

• Say ye to the righteous
• The paper reeds by the brook
• Have ye not known? and
• Ye shall have a song

secular vernacular variety assortment

David Benoit - Urban Daydreams, 1989

• Wild Kids - originally for a Charlie Brown Peanuts Special, glory in the sound of Eric Marienthal's sax!
• When the Winter's Past (Song for a Stranger) - with Jennifer Warnes
• Sailing through the City

Jewel Kilcher - Spirit, 1998

• Absence of Fear
• Life Uncommon
• Down so Long
• Innocence Maintained

Tracy Chapman - New Beginning - with wonderful photographs from the UC Santa Cruz Greenhouses

• The Promise
• Give Me One Reason

concert-hall array collection

Samuel Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915, 1947 - text taken from a prose poem by James Agee written in 1935, now included as the prologue to Agee's novel, A Death in the Family. If you sing and want to learn the piece to perform it; here's the vocal score with a piano reduction of the orchestral parts.

Roy Harris - Symphony No. 3, 1938 - 18 minutes long, 1 movement in 5 sections: raw, angular and elegant

Christopher Rouse - Phaethon, 1986 - started as a mini-concerto for orchestra to narrate part of the Greek myth, and turned out to be in memory of the Challenger's 7 astronauts


music to play for worship

Mark Hayes: Lord, Be Glorified - Keepsake Edition

• Lamb of God - Twila Paris
• He Is Exalted - Twila Paris
• We Bow Down - Twila Paris
• I Will Call Upon the Lord
• You Are My All in All

Glory to His Name! Charity Book Putnam

• Glory to His Name/Holy Manna Medley
• On Jordan's Stormy Banks--Southern Harmony's "Promised Land"

Stephen Nielson At the Piano

• Fanfare
• O For a Thousand Tongues

music to play mostly outside of worship

For piano scores I've linked to Sheet Music Plus, with its huge selection and fast, cheap shipping, too

Lukas Foss - Fantasy Rondo, 1944: I played this one-movement piece with its ever-changing key signatures, time signatures, textures and dynamics as prelude to worship on one Trinity Sunday; together with Leon Fleisher, Foss was on the piano faculty the summer I spent at Tanglewood; Scott Dunn plays Lukas Foss' Complete Piano works

Vincent Persichetti - 3rd Piano Sonata, Opus 22, 1943: Declaration - Episode - Psalm - amazing! I also love to play Persichetti's relatively austere Organ Sonata, Opus 86, 1960

Paul Creston

• Prelude and Dance, Opus 29, #2
• Prelude and Dance, Opus 29, #1

--Creston wrote a zillion pieces called "Prelude and Dance" for almost every instrument and instrumentation imaginable


...and two more...

Because I won't get to do this very often, in Latin, written by a German
Ernst Pepping - Te deum (1956) for soprano and baritone solos, SATB choir, woodwinds, brass, timpani, drums and strings. I got an ancient Deutsche Grammaphon recording on vinyl on eBay and couldn't find a CD anywhere I looked, but here's a Te Deum details page

from KiwiLand—New Zealander Douglas Lilburn brings us elegance with Aotearoa Overture

Home - Chris Daughtry

I'm staring out into the night,
Trying to hide the pain.
I'm going to the place where love
And feeling good don't ever cost a thing.
And the pain you feel's a different kind of pain.

I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from,
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.

But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.
Well I'm going home.
The miles are getting longer, it seems,
The closer I get to you.
I've not always been the best man or friend for you.

But your love remain true and I don't know why.
You always seem to give me another try.
So I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.

I'm not running from,
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.
I'm going home.

Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all,
And then some you don't want.
Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all, yeah.

Aaron Neville @ Summer Pops

My blog about Saturday evening's wonderful concert.

Walk through the World

by Marc Cohn and John Leventhal,
from The Rainy Season; © 1993 Museum Steps Music, ASCAP.

Walk Through the World

I'm writing you this letter from some old hotel
I can feel the distance between us
From the Spanish Steps to the Liberty Bell
I know the angels have seen us... seen us, baby
They see you down on Seventh Avenue
While you're just hanging by a thread
And I'm sitting in a lonely room without a view
Wishing I was there with you instead

Won't you walk through the world with me
Walk through this world
Over the miles of mystery
Walk through this world with me

I'm staring out across the rooftops
I've seen the writing on the wall
Heard a little bit of thunder at the seventh wonder
But everything is bound to rise and fall, that's all

Walk through this world with me
Walk through the world
Over the mountains and the shining sea
Walk through this world with me...

Let me get this ringing out of my ears
Let me get these stars out of my eyes
'Cause I just want to look back over all the years
With you right there standing by my side. Could you just...

repeat chorus

Juilliard? That'll do!

You're the Juilliard School!

With a fantastic reputation and a flair for physical performance, you are one of the most envied of people in your peer group. It could even be said that you are without peer. At the same time, you're rather overly dramatic, and this causes many to find you emotionally exhausting and rather full of yourself. Even music can stress you out. No matter what you end up doing with your time, people will want to watch.

Take the University Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

from The Lion King, of course:

There's a calm surrender
To the rush of day
When the heat of the rolling world
Can be turned away
An enchanted moment
And it sees me through
It's enough for this restless warrior
Just to be with you

[Chorus]

Can you feel the love tonight?
It is where we are
It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer
That we got this far
And can you feel the love tonight
How it's laid to rest?
It's enough to make kings and vagabonds
Believe the very best
There's a time for everyone
If they only learn
That the twisting kaleidoscope
Moves us all in turn
There's a rhyme and reason
To the wild outdoors
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager
Beats in time with yours

[Chorus]

It's enough to make kings and vagabonds
Believe the very best

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

...just 3 stanzas that have been going through my head for the past few days...

Come, Thou Fount of ev'ry blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m come.
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace, now like a fetter,
Bind my yielded heart to Thee.

WORDS: Robert Robinson, 1758
MUSIC: John Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second, 1813

Ebenezer (stone of help), a stone set up by Samuel after a signal defeat of the Philistines, as a memorial of the “help” received on the occasion from Jehovah; a stone commemorating God’s deliverance of His people. 1 Samuel 7:12

Come, Let us Worship

My offering for next Sunday, Holy Trinity.

Come Let Us Worship And Bow Down

Come let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before the Lord,
Our God and Maker.
For he is our God,
And we are the people of his pasture,
And the sheep of his hand,
Just the sheep of his hand.

~~Dave Doherty~~

© 1980 Maranatha Praise, Inc.
CCLI #27329

Make a Joyful Noise

Make A Joyful Noise / I Will Not Be Silent

Verse:

Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth
Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth
Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth
Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth

Pre-Chorus:

The flowers of the field are crying to be heard
The trees of the forest are singing
And all of the mountains wth one voice
Are joining the chorus of this world
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah

Chorus:

Pre-Chorus:

And I will not be silent, no
And I will not be quiet anymore

Running through the forest
Dive into the lake
Bare feet on beaches white
Standing on the canyon
Painted hills around
And the wind against my skin

Every ocean, every sea
Every river, every stream
Every mountain, every tree
Every blade of grass will sing

Chorus (part 2!)

Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth
Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth
Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth
Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth

(repeat)

© 1993 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing
Words and Music by Terry Butler / David Crowder

Your Love Is Amazing

Hallelujah--Your Love Is Amazing

VERSE 1:

Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging
Your love is a mountain, firm beneath my feet
Your love is a mystery, how You gently lift me
When I am surrounded, Your love carries me

CHORUS:

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Your love makes me sing
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Your love makes me sing

VERSE 2:

Your love is surprising, I can feel it rising
All the joy that's growing deep inside of me
Every time I see You, all Your goodness shines through
And I can feel this God song, rising up in me

TAG:

Yes, You make me sing
Lord, You make me sing, sing, sing
How You make me sing!

© 2000 Vineyard Songs (UK / Eire)
Words and Music by Brenton Brown and Brian Doerksen

The Smile on Your Face

Alison Krauss

from Now That I've Found You: A Collection | 1995

It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word you can light up the dark
Try as I may I could never explain
What I hear when you don't say a thing

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

All day long I can hear people talking out loud
But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd
Old Mr. Webster could never define
What's being said between your heart and mine

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

We, the Children

A Prayer for Peace

words and music by Noël Goemanne

1. We, the children of all nations, gather here to pray for peace.
We, the children of all peoples, pray that war and hatred cease.
For the leaders of all nations, we are praying God today.
May all people searching for freedom find that God is the only Way.

2. We are children of the Space Age, praying for God's guiding light.
We are children facing destruction by the powers of wordly might.
To the leaders of all nations: may we beg you, hear our plea.
We are leaders for a tomorrow, give us hope, this tomorrow to see.

3. Hear the cry of hungry children; sick and dying, not so far.
Let us humbly follow the wisdom of the Child born under the Star.
May we always learn the lessons He taught us, while on earth He showed the way:
Be forgiving, love each other, and tomorrow will be a today.

4. We, the children of all nations want to live in harmony
With the children of all people, now and for Eternity.
We will always be God's children, black or white or small or tall.
Let us always help each other; may our God protect us all.

© 1985 General Words and Music Company, Park Ridge, Illinois; distributed by Neil A. Kjos Music Company

Easter Song | Annie Herring...

...from the 1970's group, Second Chapter of Acts. This will be my offering this coming Sunday, Easter 5:

Easter Song

Words and music: Annie Herring © 1974 Latter Rain Music (ASCAP), Administered by Sparrow Corp.

Lyrics

Hear the bells ringing, they're singing that you can be born again
Here the bells ringing, they're singing Christ is risen from the dead

The angels up on the tombstone
Said He has risen, just as He said
Quickly now, go tell his disciples
That Jesus Christ is no longer dead

Joy to the word, He has risen, hallelujah
He's risen, hallelujah
He's risen, hallelujah

Repeat All

Hallelujah, hallelujah


Scriptural Reference:

"He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you." Matthew 28:6-7

"He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'" Mark 16:6-7

Southern Cross lyrics

Crosby, Stills & Nash; from the album, Daylight Again, 1982

Got out of town on a boat gon' to southern islands.
Sailing a reach before a following sea.
She was making for the trades on the outside,
And the downhill run to Papeete.

Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas.
We got eighty feet of waterline nicely making way.
In a noisy bar in Avalon, I tried to call you,
But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away.

Think about how many times I have fallen.
Spirits are using me; larger voices callin'.
What heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten.
I have been around the world, lookin' for that woman-girl
Who knows love can endure.
And you know it will.

When you see the Southern Cross for the first time,
You understand now why you came this way.
'Cause the truth you might be runnin' from is so small,
But it's as big as the promise, the promise of a comin' day.

So I'm sailing for tomorrow. My dreams are a-dying.
And my love is an anchor tied to you, tied with a silver chain.
I have my ship, and all her flags are a-flying.
She is all that I have left, and music is her name.

Think about how many times I have fallen.
Spirits are using me; larger voices callin'.
What heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten.
I have been around the world, lookin' for that woman-girl
Who knows love can endure.
And you know it will.
And you know it will.

So we cheated and we lied and we tested.
And we never failed to fail; it was the easiest thing to do.
You will survive being bested.
Somebody fine will come along make me forget about loving you
In the Southern Cross.

I Will Call Upon the Lord

by Michael O’Shields

I will call upon the Lord, (I will call upon the Lord,)
Who is worthy to be praised, (Who is worthy to be praised)
So shall I be saved from mine enemies (So shall I be saved from mine enemies).
The Lord liveth, and blessed be the rock!
And may the God of my salvation be exalted!
The Lord liveth, and blessed be the rock!
And may the God of my salvation be exalted!

© 1981 Sound III, Inc.

Magic Carpet Ride!

omigosh--we came back into class after break and Randall was playing this song--now it's Born to be Wild!

Steppenwolf

MAGIC CARPET RIDE

From the 1968 release "The Second"

Words and music by John Kay and Rushton Moreve

I like to dream yes, yes, right between my sound machine
On a cloud of sound I drift in the night
Any place it goes is right
Goes far, flies near, to the stars away from here

Well, you don't know what we can find
Why don't you come with me little girl
On a magic carpet ride
You don't know what we can see
Why don't you tell your dreams to me
Fantasy will set you free
Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl
Let the sound take you away

Last night I held Aladdin's lamp
And so I wished that I could stay
Before the thing could answer me
Well, someone came and took the lamp away
I looked around, a lousy candle's all I found

Well, you don't know what we can find
Why don't you come with me little girl
On a magic carpet ride
Well, you don't know what we can see
Why don't you tell your dreams to me
Fantasy will set you free
Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl
Let the sound take you away


© Copyright MCA Music (BMI)
All rights for the USA controlled and administered by
MCA Corporation of America, INC

Breakaway

...by Avril Lavigne. I love this song!

Breakaway

written for Kelly Clarkson

Avril Lavigne

Grew up in a small town,
And when the rain would fall down,
I'd just stare out my window.
Dreaming of what could be,
And if I'd end up happy.
I would pray.

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly.
I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky.
Make a wish, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.
Out of the darkness and into the sun.
But I won't forget all the ones that I love.
I'll take a risk, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.

Wanna feel the warm breeze.
Sleep under a palm tree.
Feel the rush of the ocean.
Get onboard a fast train.
Travel on a jetplane.
Far away,
And break away.

I'm spreadin' my wings and I'll learn how to fly.
I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky.
Make a wish, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.
Out of the darkness and into the sun.
But I won't forget all the ones that I love.
I'll take a risk, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.

Buildings with a hundred floors.
Swinging with revolving doors.
Maybe I don't know where they'll take me.
Gotta keep movin on movin on.
Fly away,
Break away.

I'm spreadin' my wings and I'll learn how to fly.
Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye,
take a risk, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.
Out of the darkness and into the sun.
But I won't forget the place I come from,
I gotta take a risk, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.
I should Breakaway.
Break away.