a cappella: two words, two p's, two l's

On Friday we had a psalm sing, at Carl's place this time.  We were missing all of our bass singers, and one of our altos, but by switching Sam from tenor to bass (he's versatile like that) we had at least one person for each part.  We reviewed the short meter tune Golden Hill, then moved on to Wiltshire.  We've been singing Wiltshire for years and know it well, but half of us were singing the end one way and half the other, so we agreed to do it "by the book" from here on out.

A cappella singing is hard sometimes, especially when you're the only person singing your part.  Several people kindly pointed out that my timing was a bit off in the last line.  So, I tried to more closely follow Jeshurun's conducting.  My timing sounded fine to me, but the others said no, I still didn't have it quite right.  Supposedly my timing was clashing with that of the tenors, but I just couldn't hear what I was doing wrong, and listening to the recording, I still can't.  Can you? :)

Psalm 84:7-12 to Wiltshire


I'm so happy to finally have a decent recording of the second half of Psalm 84.  Now I just need a good recording of the first half, sung to University, of course!

We also worked on the tune Glenluce, but few of us knew it.  Perhaps next time we'll work on it again.

April 2012 Psalm Sing

Last Saturday, we had another psalm sing.  We've been having them more often lately; isn't that nice? :)

First, we reviewed the tune Sawley, which we also worked on in March.  The third line of the bass is tricky, so our bass singers spent some time figuring it out.  Once all of us had their part memorized, we sang the first six stanzas of Psalm 62 again.  I won't post that recording now, since it's much like the one I posted last month.

Next, we moved on to Golden Hill.  Golden Hill is a beautiful short meter tune, written down by Aaron Chapin in 1805.  The melody, they say, was inspired by the song of the wood thrush.  It's not in our psalters, so our first encounter with the tune was this recording by a young Scottish fellow.  Several of us (not just me!) quite like Golden Hill, and have been nagging politely suggesting for months that we do the tune at a psalm sing.  So we were delighted to finally sing it on Saturday.

Here's the recording for you.  The plan, last I heard, is to review this tune next month, since it is still very new to most of us.  Enjoy!

Psalm 25 v 15-22 (1st version) to Golden Hill

On the Fellowship of the Saints

While I was at Leah's place watching her little ones as she was in the hospital after Preston's birth, I picked up a book that she had been reading (and I meant to keep your place, Leah, but lost it, sorry!)  She had been reading the "Memoir of the Rev. William C. Burns, Missionary to China," by his brother, Islay Burns.

As you may know, Rev. Burns was the minister who took Rev. Robert Murray Mc'Cheyne's pulpit in Dundee in 1839, while Rev. Mc'Cheyne traveled to Israel.  Under Rev. Burns' ministry, a great revival began, and much of the first half of the book is an account of that revival.

The book is very interesting and encouraging, and I would highly recommend it (though I haven't actually finished it--I have yet to read the part about Rev. Burns' missionary work in China).  You can read it for free on Google Books here.

An especially nice quote, from a letter Rev. Burns wrote to his sister:

The great fundamental error then, as far as I can see, in the economy of the Christian life...is that of having too few and too short periods of solemn retirement with our gracious Father and his adorable Son Jesus Christ... 

The communion of the saints in Christian converse is indeed important, nay, indispensable to the growth of the new man when it can be obtained, but when is it sweet and soul-reviving but when each brings out into the common store something of the heavenly food which he has been gathering in the closet? 

Beautiful

The last few days, I have really been enjoying this recording of Psalm 42 to Glenluce.  I hope you enjoy it too.



A number of people have been posting psalm recordings on Soundcloud.com lately.  I hope to post links to the best of them soon.

March Psalm Sing, and a Question

We had another psalm sing last Saturday.  I thought the singing sounded especially nice, though listening to the recordings, I'm not sure whether the singing was better than usual, or I just like the tunes more!

We practiced three tunes: Sheffield, Colchester, and Sawley.  You might recall that we've done Sheffield at a psalm sing before, but Jesh thought we could use some review.  I do think we sounded more confident with the tune this time around.  We also practiced Colchester--one of my favorites.  I like the way the first line marches downhill.  You wouldn't think a downhill tune could sound so triumphant, but it does!  It's a perfect fit for the second half of Psalm 46.  And we worked on Sawley, a more thoughtful tune, and one of my sister's favorites--a beautiful tune.

Here are the three recordings:

Psalm 22:22-26 to Sheffield


Psalm 46:7-11 to Colchester


Psalm 62:1-6 to Sawley


I hope you enjoy these recordings!

Now I have a question for you.  I know that a few of you are experts on Scottish psalm tunes.  I'm curious about the tune Gairloch.  I've heard about the tune's origins, but failed to write down the info at the time, so now of course I have forgotten the details.  I am wondering: who wrote the tune?  When was it composed?  Is it now in print or has it been in print?  Here in Texas we sing the tune with the parts that my mother wrote for it.  Do others use different harmonies, or do they generally just sing the melody line?  Thanks for any info that you can share!

On Being An Aunt

My dear sister-in-law Leah looked so cute when she was pregnant.  I really wanted to get a photo of her, but the one time I remembered my camera, the battery died.  So you'll just have to take my word for it. :)

But it's too late for pregnancy pictures now.  As I'm sure you all have heard, Caleb and Leah have been blessed with a beautiful baby boy.  :) He is tiny and soft and perfect.  Leah looks great too.  

While Leah was in the hospital, I got to help take care of her two daughters.  I enjoyed the bonding time!  It's hard sometimes to be a mother of two when I always dreamed of being a mother of many, but it is a great comfort to be an aunt to such beautiful nieces and nephews.  I hope to be blessed with many more nieces and nephews in the future.  May God bless all these little ones and bring them to Himself at an early age.

You may also have heard that Caleb was ill while in Scotland.  He got the flu (maybe the same nasty bug that I got back in December!  I can attest that it was awful!) followed by pneumonia and some drug-related complications.  He even ended up in the hospital at one point.  Thankfully, his roommates (fellow students), and others, helped to look after him, since his preferred caregiver (his wife, of course) was not available.

Once Caleb had recovered enough to fly, he returned to Texas, where the warmer climate will likely help him recover full strength in due time.  He is continuing his studies via correspondence.

I know that a post about a new baby really ought to include photos, but I don't have any yet. :)  I'll try to post some photos soon...err, at some point.

February Psalm Sing

I've got a lot of things to post but no time to post them!  I suppose I can at least post these psalm recordings, though.  I've got Noah on my lap trying to read what I type, which will slow me down a bit, but that's all right. :)

On Saturday we had another psalm sing.  We learned one less familiar tune, Rockingham, and sang two more familiar tunes, Arnold and Ballerma.  I was surprised to see quite a bit of resistance to the tune Ballerma.  It's a perfectly good tune, but apparently many of us are burnt out on it, due to its being over-used by various precentors in the past.  I guess it's important for precentors to learn and use a good range of tunes, huh?

Without further ado:

Psalm 13 to Ballerma


Psalm 45:1-6 to Arnold


Psalm 145:1-7 (2nd version) to Rockingham

Reminded by Communion

During the December communion season, as I listened to the preaching of our interim moderator from London, Rev. John MacLeod, I was reminded of what a blessing it is to belong to a church that is consistent.  We can welcome any given FP minister to our pulpit and be confident that we will hear the same sound doctrine that we hear from week to week.  We can travel to other FP congregations and experience the same sober, Biblical worship that we would experience in our home congregation.  This is a great comfort, and something I try to not take for granted.

During communion we had a houseguest, a woman from Africa who is currently a student in another part of Texas.  She is a member of one of our FP congregations in Zimbabwe.  We enjoyed getting to know her, and look forward to seeing her again from time to time over the next few years.  It was interesting to find how much we have in common despite being raised in very different parts of the world.  Much of what we have in common is due to our shared FP heritage.  I am reminded that true religion both transcends and molds culture.  "For ye are all one in Christ Jesus."

New Year, Again

A friend sent me this quote via Facebook, very appropriate for the new year, and I thought I would share with you all:

J. C. Ryle, in his book "Old Paths", in the chapter entitled "Forgiveness":

"We ought not to be satisfied with the same kind of hearing, and reading, and praying, which satisfied us in years gone by.  We ought to labour every year to throw more heart and reality into everything we do in our religion.  To love Christ more intensely, to abhor evil more thoroughly, to cleave to what is good more closely, to watch even our least ways more narrowly, to declare very plainly that we seek a country, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be clothed with him in every place, and company, to see more, to feel more, to know more, to do more, these ought to be our aims and desires every year we begin."

Happy New Year! Some 2012 Goals

Happy new year!

I like new beginnings: the beginning of a new year, a new month, even a new week. I like the feeling of anticipation, and the idea of a "fresh start."

I've always enjoyed setting goals at the beginnings of new time periods.  This year is no different.  I've got a few things in mind that I'd like to accomplish in this new year, Lord willing.  Some of my goals are personal, or financial, or not easily quantifiable, and I won't share them here.  But two of my goals can be easily measured and reported on, so I'll share them with you in hopes that doing so will motivate me (it would be embarrassing to have to report failure!)

My first goal for 2012 is to finish memorizing the Shorter Catechism.  I think it's safe to say that I'm very familiar with the content of the Shorter Catechism, having been taught the doctrines contained in it from my youth, but I still don't know all the questions and answers by heart.  This year I'd like to finish memorizing the Catechism, perhaps with Elijah's help (he finished the catechism last summer, but could use some review).

My second goal for 2012 is to walk a mile a day.  I'd really rather be running, but the sad reality is that it's hard to find opportunities to run, given that my kids can't keep up with me (yet), and I have no one to watch them.  They can, however, walk with me.  They can handle up to a mile and a half at a moderate pace, and perhaps with practice they'll be able to go farther and faster.  So the goal is to walk 366 miles this year, or an average of a mile a day.  I'll record the miles I've walked in the sidebar of my blog.

I tried to walk a mile a day in December, actually, but failed miserably, only walking 8 miles the entire month!  I was quite sick with the flu, etc. for two weeks, but still, I could have walked more than I did.  To be honest, I kept forgetting.  Lame excuse, I know.

Are you making any New Year's Resolutions, or setting any goals?  Feel free to share!