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Do You Know Your Book of Praise?
Looking for contemporary songs in contemporary language? Here are some—surprise, surprise—in the Book of Praise.
Looking for contemporary songs in contemporary language? Here are some—surprise, surprise—in the Book of Praise.
When I listen to CCM artists, I keep hearing the language of old hymns. Who is writing in contemporary idioms about contemporary faith?
I’ve spent a lot of time hanging around worship leaders, picking their brains. I here offer the fruits of my kleptomania.
Room 217 is a series of CDs designed to offer musical comfort to people suffering illness or facing death, and to those who care for them. This project, initiated, developed and produced by pianist and composer, Bev Foster, has many facets.
Sometimes I wonder where Presbyterians are the most playful—and self-revealing. I’m not convinced that it’s when we worship… Was that a logical leap? Blame it on the New Year’s egg-nog. Or blame it on our Presbyterian thesaurus that doesn’t put “worship” and “play” together.
As I described in an earlier In Song entry, a church’s recording project can invite a wider public to listen to what is going on musically in a congregation, opening a window, and sometimes an inviting door, into its life.
Composer Ronald Beckett’s opera Ruth (1996) is the first in a trilogy of biblical musical dramas. It has been performed in a number of venues in Ontario, including Central, Brantford, where Beckett is music director. The CD of the opera lasts just over an hour, and is performed by a chorus of Israelites, a chorus of youths, and soloists who portray the characters Ruth, Naomi, Boaz and a Narrator.
Churches are always in need—and sometimes in desperate need—of renewal in their worship arts. Congregational song is one strand in the tapestry of our church life that is dangerously frayed. Part of the problem is that we are not a singing culture.
One detail often omitted from a church’s recording project is copyright. But copyright is a justice issue.
Cameron Strings is a duo of guitar and vocals. Tara and Scott Cameron, originally from Toronto, lead music at Holy Trinity Anglican in Merrickville. What the Cameron duo offers is simple and direct.
A Presbyterian minister told me—back in the early 80’s—that the Presbyterian Church is not known for its music. Being both true and not true, the statement stuck with me.