Did you know?

My (well ‘The Bishop’s’) Music Adviser broadcast to the nation on Sunday morning on Radio 4 as part of the Sunday Worship programme. Jan Payne was playing her oboe. She writes, “It was, for me, a very happy ecumenical liaison with Catholic musician colleagues in Birmingham.” you can listen in via the  BBC i-player.

Photo copyright RSCM

Filed under: Church of England, Music

Saints of Ely: a new hymn

Professor David Yeandle (words) and Canon David Pritchard (music) have collaborated to produce this fine new hymn for Ely 900. The copyright is theirs but they have kindly agreed to allow it to be reproduced for non-commercial use in the diocese as part of our celebrations. Congratulations and thanks to them!

1. Saints of Ely, raise your voices
High in heaven, God’s praise to sing!
Join the Church, which here rejoices
In the name of Christ, Her King!
You bore witness through the ages
In this venerable place,
Stamped your mark on history’s pages,
Preached salvation to our race.

2. Etheldreda, Virgin glorious,
Earthly might you did foreswear,
Leaving wealth and things vainglorious,
You raised up a house of prayer.
For the love of Christ your Saviour
You renounced the role of wife,
And by meek and chaste behaviour
You espoused the Way of Life.

3. Following this devout example,
Men and women, rich and poor,
Young and old, with faith so ample,
Through the years have striven secure,
Guided by the Holy Spirit,
They have fought the faithful fight,
And by Christ’s eternal merit
Now have gained a crown of light.

4. Many pilgrims came to Ely,
Seeking out the sacred isle,
Thus they journeyed ever freely
O’er the water, mile by mile,
Through the mists and murky places,
Through the realm of fish and fowl,
To the shrine whose healing graces
Brought them solace for the soul.

5. Dearest Lord, as we remember
Those who here have gone before,
Make this hallowed ground love’s ember,
Steer this ship t’wards Heaven’s shore.
Let it be a radiant beacon,
Shining out o’er land and sea,
Let not faith nor hope e’er weaken;
Bless our ancient, treasured See.

Tune: Precentor

Filed under: Music, Resources, Worship , Diocese of Ely, Ely 900

Transforming Worship

Jan Payne writes: On Tuesday, 9th June, Peter Moger (National Worship Development Officer for the Church of England) is leading an evening for the Ely Diocese ALM Music Ministers (authorised and in training) based on the "Transforming Worship" initiative. He will talk in general about the programme and then, more specifically, on using music as an agent for transformation in worship.

The event will take place at the Stable Rooms, Histon Parish Church, Histon, Cambridge from 7.30 to 9.30 pm.

Having offered places to others on the ALM programme and musicians in the Diocese, I now know that we can accommodate 8 more people, so I am therefore opening this up more widely, in case anyone else would be interested. Please respond to me personally "off list" at janmpayne@googlemail.com by Saturday, (6th) if you would like to attend. Although primarily aimed at those training in music ministry, this is likely to be of interest to any who are involved in leading worship in their churches.

For those not on the ALM training programme, there will be a small charge (payable on the night) of £2.00 per head to assist with the costs of the evening. Might I respectfully ask (given the limitation on
numbers) that you only reserve a place if you definitely plan to attend.

Filed under: Church of England, Music , Worship

These Days

Marketing gets ever more imaginative. Just when we were starting to have explain to our young what record sleeves were, Damien Hirst jumps to rescue by not only designing the cover art for The Hours’ new album See The Light, but stumps up the cash for its label company too. AND someone manages to talk The Guardian into running a comp for the artwork, with a pre-release giveaway of the track These Days. So with an album title like that – and having quite an interest in modern art and especially the way it tussles and toys with religious concepts – I had to download it.

And guess what – the Sheffield Sound of my youth still lives! Evidently the ten-year old Antony Genn, future Hours man, started his musical career standing at the stage door of The Top Rank (one remembers it well …) waiting for The Clash to turn up.

My musical taste has changed a bit since then, but when I found that the lyrics of the song weren’t yet around on the internet I was intrigued enough by what I could hear to have a go at transcribing them. I don’t guarantee they’re 100% accurate, but you’ll get the drift:

When you’re going through hell you’ve got to keep going
If I stop and think of the state we’re in I just hang my head
And it don’t make sense the seeds we’re sowing
We have nothing left to believe in or rebel against
But for several time we need to pull together
The time is now when everything’s falling apart
The slow rehearsal soon will be gone for ever
These days, these days are all we have
These days are all we have

Can we be bought or sold, for there’s a question
Well if there ain’t no rest it’s best that we all must be beyond cloud nine
It’s sad to find the piece/peace that’s missing
’Cos I need something to believe in before I lose my mind
But for several time we need to pull together
The time is now when everything’s falling apart
The slow rehearsal soon will be gone for ever
These days, these days, these days are all we have
These days are all we have
These days are all we have
These days are all we have

I’m going to set you free
We are going to set you free
We are going to set you free
We are going to set you free

The group’s Manifesto on their website goes like this:

We are living in strange times, the glass is filled to the brim with uncertainty and anticipation. What we all gonna do? Where does this road lead? The truth is nobody knows. We have one choice to make. Am I gonna be a positive force, or a negative force?

Welcome to the world of The Hours. We have made that decision. We mean what we say. Every note. Every beat. Every syllable. The world may be falling apart,so surely now is the time for us to come together. Come inside and get to know us. Know what we think,what we feel,what makes us laugh,what makes us angry. Come and see what we look like. We want to get to know you. Put your arms around us and we’ll put our arms around you too. We’re gonna take you with us…wherever the hell it is that we’re heading…

It’s so redolent of the mood of the moment. Everything seems doomed. There’s nothing to believe in. But we need to believe in something or lose our minds. We don’t know where we’re going. But somehow we need to pull together to get there.

I suppose I really do hope that some of those who are searching like this will indeed ‘See The Light’ – that strange light that shines even in the darkness and even when we don’t understand it.

Oh yes – and I was truly staggered to find that after opening the launch tour in Sheffield (of course) the Hours are then off to my old patch of Carlisle of all places (Brickyard, 10th May, just across from where we lived, in Carlisle’s Georgian Nightclub Quarter – really). Well done them.

Here’s the album’s promo video on YouTube:

 

Filed under: Music , lyrics, See the Light, The Hours, These Days

Handel 250

George Frederick Handel died 250 years ago today. The Messiah is being transmitted live on Radio 3 from Westminster Abbey as I write. Tune in now at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/radio3/.

Or if you’re reading this later, you could play the Hallelujah Chorus on Spotify now!

Filed under: Music , Handel

Enchantments

 

Howard Goodall is resident composer with Classic FM at the moment (which vies with Radio 4 as my station choice when driving the roads of Cambridgeshire). Enchanted Voices is his very musically literate 21st century take on the tradition of sacred chant – the music sets the Beatitudes. You can listen for free on Spotify.

Filed under: Music , Enchanted Voices, Howard Goodall

Magnificent

U2’s New Album, No Line on the Horizon was released last week. One of the tracks is called Magnificent. The lyrics and a meditation on them by Brian Draper follow. Magnificent too is that the new website Spotify means that you can listen in for free with a minimum of registration and downloaded software – it took me less than a minute. Once you’re registered just put U2 Magnificent in the search bar or go to (http://open.spotify.com/search/U2+magnificent).  Anyway, here are the lyrics:

‘I was born to sing for you/ I didn’t have a choice but/ to lift you up and sing whatever song you wanted me to/ I give you back my voice/ From the womb my first cry/ It was a joyful noise/ Justified till we die/ you and I will magnify/the Magnificent./Magnificent./

I’ve been in every black hole/At the altar of the dark star/My body’s now a begging bowl/ begging to get back/To my heart, to the rhythm of my soul/To the rhythm of my unconsciousness/To the rhythm that yearns to be released from control/

Hear me, cease to speak that I may speak.

Shush now.

Restart and reboot yourself./ You’re free to go./ Shout for joy if you get the chance/ Hear me, cease to speak that I may speak./ Shush now/ Then don’t move or say a thing/

How can you stand next to the truth and not see it?/ A change of heart comes slow./ Is it true that perfect love casts out all fear?/ It’s not a hill, it’s a mountain/ As you start out the climb./ Do you believe me or are you doubting?/ We’re gonna make it all the way to the light/

(You don’t know, and you don’t get it, do you?/You don’t know how beautiful you are.)

I’m gonna fall down/ if I can stand up for your love/ Stand up for hope, faith, love…/ But while I’m getting over certainty/ Stop helping God over the road like a little old lady./

I’m being born, a bleeding start./ The engines roar, blood curling wail/ Head first then foot/ Then heart sets sail.

Once I knew there was a love divine/ Then came a time I thought it knew me not./ Who can forgive forgiveness when forgiveness is not/ Only the lamb as white as snow./ If only a heart could be as white as snow./

Every day I die again, and again I’m reborn/ Every day I have to find the courage/ To walk out into the street/ With arms out/ Got a love you can’t defeat./ There’s nothing you have that I need./ I can breathe./ Breathe now.

There’s nothing you have that I need. I can breathe now.

I found grace inside a sound. I found grace, that’s all I found And I can breathe, breathe now.

Return the call home.’

Click on more for the meditation:

Filed under: Music , Brian Draper, LICC, Magnificent, U2