…or at least a new tune.
We’re singing new tunes to some very familiar words in choir.
“Rock of Ages,” the great theological argument hymn, has a pretty alternate tune by James Ward:
Ward has a terrible website. It could be used in a class on how to make a bad website. He lives in Chattanooga and is the music director at a church there. I’d say they’re very lucky to have him, website or no.
We’re also singing “Praise God,” a setting of the Doxology by Thomas Keesecker:
Keesecker lives in Maryland and has been a church musician in Virginia in a variety of churches. He grew up in Germany and Virginia, and he instructed singers to perform this pieces as though crossing a mountain stream over stepping stones in slow motion.
It’s satisfying to sing music by living composers, and very nice to have beautiful new tunes for beloved old hymns.