The history of American church music is a particularly fascinating and challenging subject, if for no other reason than because of the variety of diverse religious groups that have immigrated and movements that have sprung up in American. Indeed, for the first time in modern history-possibly the only time since the rule of medieval Iberia under the Moors-different faiths have co-existed here with a measure of peace- sometimes ill-humored, occasionally hostile, but more often amicable or at least tolerant-influencing and even weaving their traditions into the fabric of one another's worship practices even as they competed for converts in the free market of American religion. This overview traces the musical practices of several of those groups from their arrival on these shores up to the present, and the way in which those practices and traditions influenced each other, leading to the diverse and multi-hued pattern that is American church music at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The tone is non-technical; there are no musical examples, and the musical descriptions are clear and concise. In short, it is a book for interested laymen as well as professional church musicians, for pastors and seminarians as well as students of American religious culture and its history.

This beautiful hymn has been arranged to feature the horn player in the brass quintet. This arrangement opens with a short introduction then proceeds through several verses. Each verse is scored differently for interest with the melody wanders throughout the ensemble.

The Ramayana, one of the two pre-eminent Hindu epics, has played a foundational role in many aspects of India's arts and social norms. For centuries, people learned this narrative by watching, listening, and participating in enactments of it. Although the Ramayana's first extant telling in Sanskrit dates back to ancient times, the story has continued to be retold and rethought through the centuries in many of India's regional languages, such as Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali. The narrative has provided the basis for enactments of its episodes in recitation, musical renditions, dance, and avant-garde performances. This volume introduces non-specialists to the Ramayana's major themes and complexities, as well as to the highly nuanced terms in Indian languages used to represent theater and performance. Two introductions orient readers to the history of Ramayana texts by Tulsidas, Valmiki, Kamban, Sankaradeva, and others, as well as to the dramaturgy and aesthetics of their enactments. The contributed essays provide context-specific analyses of diverse Ramayana performance traditions and the narratives from which they draw. The essays are clustered around the shared themes of the politics of caste and gender; the representation of the anti-hero; contemporary re-interpretations of traditional narratives; and the presence of Ramayana discourse in daily life.

Between the first and last words of a black gospel song, musical sound acquires spiritual power. During this unfolding, a variety of techniques facilitate musical and physical transformation. The most important of these is a repetitive musical cycle known by names including the run, the drive, the special, and the vamp. Through its combination of reiteration and intensification, the vamp turns song lyrics into something more potent. While many musical traditions use vamps to fill space, or occupy time in preparation for another, more important event, in gospel, vamps are the main event. Why is the vamp so central to the black gospel tradition? What work-musical, cultural, and spiritual-does the gospel vamp do? And what does the vamp reveal about the transformative power of black gospel more broadly? This book explores the vamp's essential place in black gospel song, arguing that these climactic musical cycles turn worship services into transcendent events. A defining feature of contemporary gospel, the vamp links individual performances to their generic contexts. An exemplar of African American musical practice, the vamp connects gospel songs to a venerable lineage of black sacred expression. As it generates emotive and physical intensity, the vamp helps believers access an embodied experience of the invisible, moving between this world and another in their musical practice of faith. The vamp, then, is a musical, cultural, and religious interface, which gives vent to a system of belief, performance, and reception that author Braxton D. Shelley calls the Gospel Imagination. In the Gospel Imagination, the vamp offers proof that musical sound can turn spiritual power into a physical reality-a divine presence in human bodies.

The Cotswold Male Voice Choir, formed in 1949, has become a well-known part of the music scene in the Midlands and the South West. In addition to many local events including concerts at Tewkesbury Abbey and Gloucester Cathedral, in the past year the Choir has performed in the French Alps at Annecy, in Wales with three Welsh choirs, in York's Guildhall at the invitation of the Mayor of York, and twice at the Malvern Music Festivals. The choir sings a broad repertoire including male voice choir favorites, classic and operatic, big show numbers, and popular music. The majority of Cotswold Male Voice Choir concerts support good causes. Over the years, this has accounted for many thousands of pounds raised for charities. This heartwarming history follows the progress of hundreds of singers, their piano accompanists and guest artistes as well as the company's travels at home and abroad.

Hendrickson Worship presents the first non-denominational hymnal for children in many years. "The Kids Hymnal Piano Accompaniment "book is organized by hymn number and includes the piano score for each song in large, readable print. The "Kids Hymnal "features: - 80 hymns and songs - Melody lines, lyrics and guitar chords on each typeset page - Beautiful illustrations to reinforce the meaning of the song - An application lesson and child affirmation for each song - Stories behind the writing of the hymns - Indexes by title and by topic - Large print for easy reading and singing Topics include: - Hymns (40 songs) - The Teachings of Jesus (8 songs) - Sunday School Classics (9 songs) - Scripture (8 songs) - Praise and Worship (10 songs) - Seasonal (Christmas, Advent, Lent/Easter) (5 songs) For ages 5-10 SONG LIST HYMNS - Amazing Grace - Be Thou My Vision - When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder - The Old Rugged Cross - Holy, Holy, Holy - Come, Christians, Join to Sing - Blessed Assurance - Standing on the Promises - Fairest Lord Jesus - Near The Cross - Count Your Blessings - When We All Get to Heaven - O How I Love Jesus - What a Friend We Have in Jesus - I Have Decided To Follow Jesus - All Creatures of Our God and King - He's Got The Whole World in His Hands - Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee - O Happy Day! - Leaning on the Everlasting Arms - At the Cross - Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus - Come Thou Almighty King! - Crown Him with Many Crowns - For the Beauty of the Earth - How Great Thou Art - God Will Take Care of You - He Keeps Me Singing As I Go - Have Thine Own Way, Lord - This Is My Father's World THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS - The Mustard Seed - You Must Be Born Again - Do To Others - Do Not Judge - I Am the Way - Love Your Neighbor - I Will Make You Fishers of Men SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASSICS - Jesus Loves Me - Deep and Wide - Jesus Loves the Little Children - Isn't He Wonderful - I've Got Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy - Father Abraham - I Love Him Better Every D-A-Y - I Am A C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N - We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder - My God Is So Big - This Little Light of Mine - Do Lord SCRIPTURE SONGS - Children, Obey Your Parents - The Lord Is My Shepherd - In The Beginning - The Lord's Prayer - I Know The Plans I Have For You - I Have Hidden Your Word In My Heart - For God So Loved The World - The Roman's Road PRAISE & WORSHIP - Shout to the Lord - Open The Eyes of My Heart Lord - Our God Is An Awesome God - Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart - The Lord Is My Rock - Blessed Be The Name of the Lord - J-O-Y - I Could Sing of Your Love Forever - Lord, I Lift Your Name on High - I Will Sing of the Mercies FOURTH OF JULY - The Star Spangled Banner - God Bless America - America the Beautiful EASTER - Christ the Lord Has Risen Today - Do Remember - Hosanna CHRISTMAS - Go Tell It on The Mountain - The First Noel - Away in a Manger - Joy to the World - O Come All Ye Faithful - Children Go Where I Send Thee - Silent Night