"Mary, Did You Know?" the classic song continues to be a seasonal favorite on airplay.

Author and music artist Mark Lowery offers an expanded view of his highly successful Christmas song, ""Mary, Did You Know?"" in this classic gift book. This perennial seller will have a wonderful new and updated design, as well as refreshed text including a new foreword with inspirational insights by Gloria Gaither. CD includes song sung by Lowry and the Gaither Vocal Band plus reflections from Lowry about his sentiments as he wrote about Mary's view, heartbreak, and unwavering faith as the mother of the Savior.

Preaching and music are both regular elements of Christian worship across the theological spectrum. But they often don't interact or inform each other in meaningful ways. In this Dynamics of Christian Worship volume, theologian, pastor, and musician Noel A. Snyder considers how the church's preaching might be helpfully informed by musical theory. Just as a good musical composition employs technical elements like synchrony, repetition, and meter, the same should be said for good preaching that seeks to engage hearts and minds with the good news of Jesus Christ. By drawing upon music that lifts the soul, preachers might craft sermons that sing. The Dynamics of Christian Worship series draws from a wide range of worshiping contexts and denominational backgrounds to unpack the many dynamics of Christian worship-including prayer, reading the Bible, preaching, baptism, the Lord's Supper, music, visual art, architecture, and more-to deepen both the theology and practice of Christian worship for the life of the church.

"Whatever you are feeling, God can handle it--all of it. The tears, screams, and questions. God invites you to let Him tend to your heart." In the bluegrass fields of Kentucky, Anne Wilson and her siblings, Jacob and Elizabeth, grew up in the security and love of their family--and Jesus. But when Jacob died in a car accident, Anne was thrust into a painful journey of grief and soul-wrestling that led to God calling her to create songs that glorified Him. My Jesus weaves together Anne's personal story with an encouraging message to anyone longing for God to wipe away their tears. No matter what season of life you're facing, My Jesus comes alongside you to: Show how God can bring purpose out of loss Offer hope in the midst of heartbreak Remind you that God never abandons you Discover the beauty that can emerge from suffering as you read Anne's story of growing closer to the God who always makes a way. Praise for My Jesus: "I love how Anne Wilson invites us into the cracks and crevices of her life and how she built her life on Jesus. My Jesus is personal, and it takes you on a journey through some of the most foundational parts of Anne's life that develop into a large picture where it is so clear that God was the artist of it all. As I read through each page, I felt like I was at coffee with Anne, hearing her story." --Sadie Robertson Huff, author, speaker, and founder of Live Original "The song 'My Jesus' has impacted so many of our lives in such important ways. Reading this book, being in the moments with Anne and her family, and hearing her faith rise up when her heart was broken, Anne has told a true and deep story that we all need to read." --Annie F. Downs, New York Times bestselling author of That Sounds Fun

This book is a study of music inculturation in Indonesia. It shows how religious expression can be made relevant in an indigenous context and how grassroots Christianity is being realized by means of music. Through the discussion of indigenous expressions of Christianity, the book presents multiple ways in which Indonesians reiterate their identity through music by creatively forging Christian and indigenous elements. This study moves beyond the discussion (and charge) of syncretism, showing that the inclusion of local cultural manifestations is an answer to creating a truly indigenous Christian expression. Marzanna Poplawska, while telling the story of Indonesian Christians and the multiple ways in which they live Christianity through music, emphasizes the creative energy and agency of local people. In their practices she finds optimism for the continuing existence of many traditional genres and styles. Indonesian Christians perform their Christian faith through music, dance, and theater, generating innovative cultural products that enrich the global Christian heritage. The book is addressed to a broad spectrum of readers: scholars from a variety of disciplines - music, religion, anthropology, especially those interested in interactions between Christianity and indigenous cultures; general music lovers and World Music enthusiasts eager to discover musics outside of European realm; as well as Christian believers, church musicians, and choir directors curious to learn about Christian music beyond Euro-American context. Students of religion, sacred music, (ethno)musicology, theater, and dance will also benefit from learning about a variety of indigenous arts employed in Christian churches in Indonesia.

This essay collection, devoted to exploring the richness of Christian musical traditions in the Americas, reflects the distinctive critical perspectives of the Society for Christian Scholarship in Music, an association of scholars dedicated to exploring the intersections of Christian faith and musical scholarship. Now in our sixteenth year, we seek to celebrate our work in the world and bring it to a larger audience by offering a cross- section of the most outstanding scholarship from an international array of writers. The proposed collection follows a first collection published to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the Society (Exploring Christian Song, M. Jennifer Bloxam and AndrewShenton, editors, Lexington Books, 2017). That first volume focused on Christian song in a variety of different contexts. Our proposed collection surveys a broad geographical areaand demonstrates the enormous diversity of music-making and scholarship within that area. While there are some studies that focus on a single country or region and its sacred music (see the literature survey below), this will be the first collection to present a representative cross-section of the range of sacred music in the Americas and the approaches to studying them in context. The essays in this collection are ecumenical, reflecting the breadth of Christian traditions. The essays include several by distinguished senior scholars in the field (including David Music, Baylor University; and Jeff Warren, Quest University, Canada). Several essays are by noted specialists in the field (including Jesse Karlsberg, Emory University; and Cathy Ann Elias, DePaul University), and several by younger scholars (including Hannah Denecke, Florida State University; and Natasha Walsh, York University, Canada). SCSM is particularly keen to promote the work of students. The work of these rising stars thus appears alongside the work of veteran scholars working in the area of Christian sacred music, ensuring a stimulating mix of subjects, viewpoints, and methodologies.

for SATB and organ This superb Latin mass setting for choir and organ demonstrates the composer's strong melodic sense and innate feeling for the sound of choral worship. The atmospheric Kyrie leads to a Gloria that contrasts vibrantly rhythmic passages with smoother, expressive sections. The mysterious harmonies of the Sanctus pave the way for a tender Benedictus, and the Agnus Dei is a haunting and powerful prayer for peace.

During his lifetime (1888-1970), Hall Johnson's concert arrangements of spirituals have been performed and recorded by stellar singers, such as Marian Anderson, Leontyne Price, Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman, and Denyce Graves, and were sung by school and concert choirs all over the world. The Hall Johnson Negro Choir was acclaimed in concert halls throughout America and Europe, on Broadway, on radio, and in Hollywood and can be seen and heard in movie classics like Lost Horizon, Jezebel, Dumbo, and Song of the South. Yet the story of Johnson's life and accomplishments as conductor, composer, arranger, violist, author, and teacher has never been told until now. Hall Johnson: His Life, His Spirit, and His Music is the first definitive biography of Hall Johnson, providing both a historical narrative of Johnson's entire life and work, as well as a comprehensive treatment of his movie career, his literary creations, his work in musical theatre, and a complete exploration of his music, with special emphasis on the larger works. Author Eugene Thamon Simpson, the curator of the Hall Johnson collection in New Jersey, has amassed important pieces of the collection, such as letters, reviews, interviews, and other documents by and about Hall Johnson, and referenced or published them here for greater accessibility. The book also includes personal recollections of Hall Johnson by people who knew him as teacher, conductor, or professional colleague. Over 20 photos, a discography, and a complete listing of Johnson's works help to document his achievements, making this a valuable resource for those interested in Black History Studies, the evolution of the Negro Spiritual, and blacks in American Cinema and musical theatre.

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.

for SATB and organ. A work of thanksgiving, The Song of Harvest is an artfully crafted celebration of the earth and its riches. The piece is structured around five well-known hymns of praise, for which Chilcott has composed striking original melodies that may be easily learnt by an audience or congregation, who are invited to join in with the choir. In keeping with tradition, the hymns feature soprano descants for the final verses, and the organ is used to great effect throughout the work in providing characterful introductions and interludes, as well as supporting the choir. The choral movements explore words from the psalms and poems by writers such as Henry van Dyke and Christina Rossetti, whose famous poem 'Consider' provides a moment of solemn reflection before the rousing closing hymn 'Now thank we all our God'.

Whilst Contemporary Worship Music arose out of a desire to relate the music of the church to the music of everyday life, this function can quickly be called into question by the diversity of musical lives present in contemporary society. Mark Porter examines the relationship between individuals' musical lives away from a Contemporary Worship Music environment and their diverse experiences of music within it, presenting important insights into the complex and sometimes contradictory relationships between congregants' musical lives within and outside of religious worship. Through detailed ethnographic investigation Porter challenges common evangelical ideals of musical neutrality, suggesting the importance of considering musical tastes and preferences through an ethical lens. He employs cosmopolitanism as an interpretative framework for understanding the dynamics of diverse musical communities, positioning it as a stronger alternative to common assimilationist and multiculturalist models.

Musical activity is one of the most ubiquitous and highly valued forms of social interaction in North America (to say nothing of world over), being engaged from sporting events to political rallies, concerts to churches. Moreover, music's use as an affective agent for political and religious programs suggests that it has ethical significance. Indeed, many have said as much. It is surprising then that music's ethical significance remains one of the most undertheorized aspects of both moral philosophy and music scholarship. Music for Others: Care, Justice, and Relational Ethics in Christian Music fills part of this scholarly gap by focusing on the religious aspects of musical activity, particularly on the practices of Christian communities. Based on ethnomusicological fieldwork at three Protestant churches and a group of seminary students studying in an immersion course at South by Southwest (SXSW), and synthesizing theories of discourse, formation, and care ethics oriented towards restorative justice, it first argues that relationships are ontological for both human beings and musical activity. It further argues that musical meaning and emotion converge in human bodies such that music participates in personal and communal identity construction in affective ways-yet these constructions are not always just. Thus, considering these aspects of music's ways of being in the world, Music for Others finally argues that music is ethical when it preserves people in and restores people to just relationships with each other, and thereby with God.

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.

Features gospels, spirituals, ethnic benedictions, chants, and songs from the African-American Liberation that reflect black heritage and traditions and the contemporary black experience. *Songbook, paper Also available is an Accompanist's Edition, Spiral order #9780687391219"

In Jewish Religious Music in Nineteenth-Century America: Restoring the Synagogue Soundtrack, Judah M. Cohen demonstrates that Jews constructed a robust religious musical conversation in the United States during the mid- to late-19th century. While previous studies of American Jewish music history have looked to Europe as a source of innovation during this time, Cohen's careful analysis of primary archival sources tells a different story. Far from seeing a fallow musical landscape, Cohen finds that Central European Jews in the United States spearheaded a major revision of the sounds and traditions of synagogue music during this period of rapid liturgical change. Focusing on the influences of both individuals and texts, Cohen demonstrates how American Jewish musicians sought to balance artistry and group singing, rather than "progressing" from solo chant to choir and organ. Congregations shifted between musical genres and practices during this period in response to such factors as finances, personnel, and communal cohesiveness. Cohen concludes that the "soundtrack" of 19th-century Jewish American music heavily shapes how we look at Jewish American music and life in the first part of the 21st-century, arguing that how we see, and especially hear, history plays a key role in our understanding of the contemporary world around us. Supplemented with an interactive website that includes the primary source materials, recordings of the music discussed, and a map that highlights the movement of key individuals, Cohen's research defines more clearly the sound of 19th-century American Jewry.

Embraces an all-encompassing interdisciplinary methodology to uncover the symbiosis of saintly and civic ideals in music, rituals, and hagiographic writing celebrating the origins and identity of a major clerical center. Medieval Liege was the seat of a vast diocese in northwestern Europe and a city of an exceptional number of churches, clergymen, and church musicians. Recognized as a priestly paradise, the city accommodated as many Masses each day as Rome. In this volume, musicologist Catherine Saucier examines the music of religious worship in Liege and reveals within the liturgy and ritual a civic function by which local clerics promoted the holy status of their city. Analyzing hagiographic and historical writings, religious art, and sung ceremonies relevant to the city's genesis, destruction, and eventual rebirth, Saucier uncovers richly varied ways in which liegeois clergymen fused music with text, image, and ritual to celebrate the city's sacred episcopal origins and saintly persona. A Paradise of Priests forges new interdisciplinary connections between musicology, the liturgical arts, the cult of saints, church history, and urban studies, and is an essential resource for scholars and students interested in the history of the Low Countries, hagiography and its reception, and ecclesiastical institutions. CatherineSaucier is assistant professor of music history at Arizona State University.

How I wept at your hymns and songs, keenly moved by the sweet-sounding voices of your church wrote the recently converted Augustine in his "Confessions." Christians from the earliest period consecrated the hours of the day and the sacred calendar, liturgical seasons and festivals of saints. This volume collects one hundred of the most important and beloved Late Antique and Medieval Latin hymns from Western Europe.

These religious voices span a geographical range that stretches from Ireland through France to Spain and Italy. They meditate on the ineffable, from Passion to Paradise, in love and trembling and praise. The authors represented here range from Ambrose in the late fourth century ce down to Bonaventure in the thirteenth. The texts cover a broad gamut in their poetic forms and meters. Although often the music has not survived, most of them would have been sung. Some of them have continued to inspire composers, such as the great thirteenth-century hymns, the "Stabat mater "and "Dies irae.""

for SATB unaccompanied Let all mortal flesh keep silence is a reflective, homophonic setting of text from the fourth-century Orthodox Liturgy of St James. Sheehan's setting, an original rather than the customary pairing with the hymn tune 'Picardy', is steeped in the Orthodox tradition, and has pure harmonies and a beautiful stillness.

for SATB and organ, and optional brass ensemble and timpani Make We Merry is an eight-movement piece which sets texts from the 15th to 19th centuries to a variety of choral textures with a highly characterful accompaniment. A vast array of sentiments is depicted, from quiet expectance and gentle wonder to boisterous jubilation, and the different movements provide a wonderfully paced journey through these moods. The final movement brings back motifs from the opening and grows to a thrillingly climactic ending to this exciting Christmas concert work. This piece was originally commissioned in a version for upper voices by Benenden School.

For centuries, the Renaissance papacy has been celebrated for its generous patronage of the arts. Pope Leo X, son of the legendary Lorenzo "the Magnificent" de'Medici, is widely understood to be one of the greatest patrons of music in European history, and one of the emblematic figures of the Italian Renaissance.The Lion's Ear is the first full-length scholarly treatment of the musical patronage of a Renaissance pope and provides an evocative picture of the musical life of the pre-Reformation papacy. The various uses of music in early modern Rome---music for public festivals, such as carnival; for the liturgical ceremonies of the Sistine Chapel; to accompany daily dining and festive banqueting; for the celebration of saints' feast days; and for theatrical performances---are vividly described and analyzed and give a detailed understanding of the place of music in the life of one of its most important early modern benefactors. Anthony M. Cummings takes an interdisciplinary approach to his subject matter, bringing together the history of music, art, philosophy, and ecclesiastical history to locate the music in its broadest and deepest contexts. Through materials such as diplomatic correspondence, the book aims to reconstruct the atmosphere of the musical life in Leo X's court, presenting the subject matter in a way that will appeal to scholars and students of musicology and early modern history. Art historians, ecclesiastical historians, and specialists from many other disciplines have long produced scholarly findings useful for understanding the pre-Reformation papacy, its alliance with the Italian Renaissance, and the extraordinary artistic legacy of that alliance. Anthony M. Cummings complements that scholarship with his thorough and imaginative account of music's relationship with that vibrant and fascinating culture, the first by a specialist in the musical life of early modern Europe.

For this beloved Cantata, the classic vocal score arranged by Bernhard Todt as a companion to the renowned Bach Gesellschaft Ausgabe was re-engraved by G. Schirmer in the early part of the 20th century with Henry Drinker's English translation added beneath the original German text. Now available in an easy-to-use, convenient size designed to fit comfortably in choral folders.

This dramatic choral work sets a text by David Warner that artfully weaves together multiple witnessing stories of Christ's Resurrection into a single narrative. Wilberg employs an effective array of musical techniques to depict the protagonists' experiences: from rapid figurations that move through the orchestra creating a sense of momentum and breathless astonishment to pairings of voicings to convey an act of collective witnessing and declamatory exclamations of praise. The work is scored for mixed voices without soloists, conveying a universal perspective on this story, and accompaniment is by piano four-hands or orchestra.

A leading British composer of the twentieth-century, Ralph Vaughan Williams was a lifelong exponent of choral music and singing. This two-part collection of new arrangements and editions features well-loved and lesser-known Vaughan Williams songs, anthems, and carols - for today's mixed-voice choir. It presents unison or treble pieces scored for SATB, creating new repertoire, and provides new accompaniment options and durations that widen the appeal of the pieces for church or concert use. The adaptations may introduce or give new light to the repertoire, yet are complementary to the original settings published as single pieces. John Leavitt, being an experienced conductor, composer, editor, and champion of Vaughan Williams, brings great sensitivity to this process, and knows how best to maximize rehearsal time with choirs of various types and sizes.

for SATB and organ This setting of Psalm 139 by Chilcott is warm and mesmerizing. The chant-like texture and shifting tonalities impart the sensation of being entranced in prayer. The words offer respite, as one is safe in the omnipresence of God. Tranquil yet powerful, this work captures a sense of the total stillness after a storm. The sustained chords in the organ swell and fall, binding and supporting the choir's phrases while adding to the magical atmosphere of the anthem.

Following three years of ethnomusicological fieldwork on the sacred singing traditions of evangelical Christians in North-East Scotland and Northern Isles coastal communities, Frances Wilkins documents and analyses current singing practices in this book by placing them historically and contemporaneously within their respective faith communities. In ascertaining who the singers were and why, when, where, how and what they chose to sing, the study explores a number of related questions. How has sacred singing contributed to the establishment and reinforcement of individual and group identities both in the church and wider community? What is the process by which specific regional repertoires and styles develop? Which organisations and venues have been particularly conducive to the development of sacred singing in the community? How does the subject matter of songs relate to the immediate environment of coastal inhabitants? How and why has gospel singing in coastal communities changed? These questions are answered with comprehensive reference to interview material, fieldnotes, videography and audio field recordings. As one of the first pieces of ethnomusicological research into sacred music performance in Scotland, this ethnography draws important parallels between practices in the North East and elsewhere in the British Isles and across the globe.