In Rehearsal in 2003 with Droitwich SA Songsters

Cradley Heath Salvation Army Songsters will meet on Thursday 21 January 2010 at 7:15pm for their first rehearsal of the New Year.  Songster Leader Rob Westwood-Payne has spent the past few weeks sourcing new music for the new year:

Nothing but thy blood

Richard Slater was a prolific Salvation Army composer, writing over five hundred songs during his lifetime.  He was a fundamental part of the development of Salvation Army music-making in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  The words to this song were penned in September 1887.

The message behind them is simple yet powerful – salvation comes through the blood of Jesus.

Donna Peterson is currently Territorial Evangelist for the Salvation Army USA Eastern Territory.  Her beautiful setting of Richard Slater’s words does not detract from the message.  Simon Gash, who is currently Songster Leader at Bexleyheath Salvation Army has produced this arrangement for SATB voices.

The words to the first verse and chorus are:

Jesus, see me at thy feet,
You alone my need can meet,
Nothing but thy blood,
Nothing but thy blood can save me.
See my heart, Lord, how I grieve,
It’s your pardon that I need,
Nothing but thy blood,
Nothing but thy blood can save me.

There is nothing I can bring,
Only by faith I am clinging to your cross,
O lamb of God.
Nothing but thy blood,
Nothing but thy blood can save me.

Hymn to the conqueror

The verses of this song were originally written by General Albert Orsborn for a campaign in the Salvation Army British Territory called Light at Midnight.  Yvonne Field has provided a strong and powerful setting of the words to enforce the evangelistic nature of the words.

The words remind us that God will ultimately have the victory over evil – righteousness will reign!

Stretch out thy hand,
O God, and let the nations
Feel through thine host the thrill of life divine;
Grant us, we pray, still greater revelations,
Make of these days an everlasting sign.

Jesus shall conquer, lift up the strain!
Evil shall perish and righteousness shall reign.

How great is your love

This new worship song has a melody and a message that we believe will linger with our listeners.  It expresses the heart-felt cry of every believer.

You are creator and I am the work of Your hands,
Lord, You are faithful,
You’ve proven again and again.
You are King of a life that’s made worthy in You;
All that I am and all that I do.

You are greater than all of the sky and the seas;
Mountains bow down to Your majesty;
The sun and the moon and the air that I breathe;
But greather than all of these,
how great is Your love for me.

Boundless Love

This song was made popular by one of Southern Gospel’s greatest groups, The Cathedrals.  Boundless Love is one of their most treasured hits.  The song was written by Dianne Wilkinson who has been writing Southern Gospel music since the 1970s. Her first recorded song was “Behold the Lamb” by the Song Masters in 1976, which was recorded by many groups…as late as 2001 by the Dove Brothers.  Gospel quartet singing remains her favorite music even today and continues to be her signature writing style.

Dianne had a close relationship with the Cathedrals for two decades, beginning in the early 1980s and continuing until they retired in 1999. They recorded 16 of her songs during those years, including Boundless Love, Master Builder, There is a Haven, Goin’ in Style, High and Lifted Up and Homeland.  Her songs have been recorded by most of the groups touring today including the Kingdom Heirs, Legacy Five, Ernie Haase and Signature Sound, Gold City, the Hoppers, Greater Vision, The Dove Brothers, the Kingsmen, the Inspirations, Brian Free and Assurance, the Talley Trio, the Booth Brothers, Karen Peck & New River, Triumphant, the Collingsworth Family, the Whisnants, the Mike LeFevre Quartet, HisSong, the Mark Trammell Trio, Paid in Full, Crossway, Ricky Atkinson and Compassion, the Pfeifers, and the Ball Brothers.

There is not a mother, sister, friend or brother loves the way that Jesus can.
He proved His love for me when He died on Calvary;
He gave His life for fallen man.

His love, His love is a boundless love, and it reaches down and touches me;
His love, His love is an endless love, that will last through all eternity.

Jesus wants to love you; there is none above you, You are precious in His sight.
He will never fail you when the doubts assail you; He’ll be with you day and night.

I go to the Rock

We’re really going to enjoy this one!  It’s soulful, but also a rollicking arrangement of a Southern Gospel song by the late Dottie Rambo.  The arrangement by Cliff Duren has the splendour and touch of a theatrical production, including a “curtain call”!

Where do I go
When there’s no body else to turn to
Who do I talk to
When no one wants to listen
Who do I lean on
When there’s no foundation stable
I go to the Rock I know He’s able
I go to the Rock

I go to the Rock of my Salvation
I go to the Stone that the builders rejected
I run to the mountain and the mountain stands by me
When the earth all around me is sinking sand
On Christ, the solid rock I stand
When I need a shelter, When I need a friend,
I go to the Rock

I will rise

Chris Tomlin told ChristianMusicPlanet.com the story of this song: “Toward the end of the ‘How Great is our God Tour,’ Louie [Giglio] challenged me to write a song of worship for people in their hardest time of grief. We were talking about the reality that we need more songs like the hymn ‘It is Well’ that can be sung as worship and hope at a funeral; to be able to find words to say and sing in that moment of sorrow when you lose someone you love. A few days later, Louie sent me an email with a few thoughts about the song, and the one line that struck me the most was…the grave is overwhelmed. I took that idea and ran. This song speaks the truth that we have a Saviour and a God that has defeated death, and we have victory over it as well in Him… He has made us alive, and even though all of us one day will say goodbye to our earthly bodies, we will rise when He calls our name. I love the passage in Revelation 4 and 5 where you see the angels and all the creatures gathered ’round the throne of God in celebration, singing in a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb.’ That’s what I am pointing to in this song–that we will join those angels, and we will stand before the throne of our God and our risen Saviour alive forever! Amen!”

There’s a peace I’ve come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There’s an anchor for my soul
I can say, It is well

Jesus has overcome
and the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

And I will rise
When He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise, on eagle’s wings
Before my God
fall on my knees,
and rise…
I will rise

There’s a day that’s drawing near
when this darkness breaks to light
and the shadows disappear
and my faith shall be my eyes

And I hear the voice of many angels sing
Worthy is the Lamb!
And I hear the cry of every longing heart
Worthy is the Lamb!

The Christ of Calvary

The arrangement of this song by Norman Bearcroft was originally written for the International Staff Songsters of The Salvation Army.  The melody was first attributed to Alicia Scott in 1834.

I could not live without him,
His love is life to me;
My blood-bought life I give him,
The Christ of Calvary.

The Christ of Calvary,
The dearest name to me
Is the matchless name of Jesus,
The Christ of Calvary.

We hope you have enjoyed learning about our new music. Why not join us at one our events in the coming months and hear some of it?

Plans are well in hand for our rehearsal day to be held at The Salvation Army, Meredith Street, Cradley Heath on Saturday 21 March 2009.  Our timetable is as follows: -

10:00am  Warm Up (Together)

Sectional Rehearsals – Ladies/Men

10:10  But Thanks be to God

10:30  Their Sound is Gone Out

10:50  He Trusted in God

11:10  All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray

11:30  Let All the Angels of God

11:50  Lift Up Your Heads

12:00 noon  Lunch

Full Chorus

1:00pm  Worthy is the Lamb and Amen

1:50pm  Behold, the Lamb of God

2:00pm  Surely, He Hath Borne our Griefs

2.10pm  And With His Stripes we are Healed

2:20pm  All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray

2:30pm  He Trusted in God

2:40pm  Lift Up Your Heads

2:50pm  Let all the Angels of God

3:00pm  Tea and Coffee Break

3:15pm  The Lord Gave the Word

3:25pm  Their Sound is Gone Out

3:35pm  Hallelujah

3:45pm  Since by Man came Death

3:55pm  But Thanks be to God

4:05pm  Worthy is the Lamb

4:15pm  Amen

We’re looking forward to a good and productive day together which can only benefit our performances on 7 April and 18 April 2009.

Last week’s rehearsal was very encouraging.  A number of us thought that the music was coming together as we rehearsed And With His Stripes, Behold the Lamb of God, The Lord Gave the Word and But Thanks be to God.  It has been hard work up until this point, but it should be remembered we have only had eight rehearsals to practice fourteen choruses!

This week we will be looking at Surely, He Hath Borne Our Griefs, Let All the Angels of God, Hallelujah, Worthy is the Lamb and Amen.  Personally, I think Worthy is the Lamb and Amen are the most difficult choruses for us, and so we will spend some time pulling these apart during our Saturday rehearsal on 21 March.

This week we reach the “five rehearsals and counting” mark before our first performance of Handel’s Messiah – Part the Second (Easter) on Tuesday 7 April 2009 at 7.30pm at The Salvation Army, Meredith Street, Cradley Heath B64 5EP.  Our second performance is at Holy Trinity Church, Old Hill on Saturday 18 April 2009 at 7.30pm.

We will be rehearsing in detail the following choruses: Behold the Lamb of God, And With His Stripes, The Lord Gave the Word (more melismas!) and But Thanks be to God.

We are delighted that Hilary Crowhurst (Mezzo Soprano/Contralto), Geoffrey Wootton (Tenor) and David Hadley (Bass) have now been confirmed as our soloists for our two performances.  Watch out for more details including ticket sales in the coming week.

The songsters, along with other singers from around the Cradley Heath area, met together on Thursday evening for our sixth rehearsal for our Easter performances of Handel’s Messiah, Part the Second. We’re becoming firm friends now with both our extra singers and the music!

We began with the Hallelujah Chorus, which, because of it’s familiarity, is really beginning to come together now. We were able to spend a little time on expressing the music, looking at dynamics and so on.

Then we moved on to Worthy is the Lamb and Amen – complicated music, but we stripped it down to its individual parts and you could really hear the layers beginning to build by the end of our work.

Let all the Angels is an interesting chorus, particularly where one part starts with a minum entry at the same time as another part goes off in crotchets! We slowed it down and allowed everyone to catch up!

Finally, we rehearsed Surely, He Hath Borne Our Griefs – again, quite familiar and we took the opportunity to think about and rehearse phrasing and dynamics.

Next week we will be looking at All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray, He Trusted in God, Lift Up Your Heads, Their Sound is Gone Out and Since By Man Came Death.

We have also agreed to meet for a day of sectionals and more rehearsal on Saturday 21 March 2009. Thank you to everyone for this extra effort!

Rehearsals for Handel’s Messiah continued this week.  We looked in detail at And With His Stripes We Are Healed, The Lord Gave The Word, But Thanks Be To God and Behold The Lamb Of God.

We had fun trying to learn the melismas in The Lord Gave The Word (even with the cheat Rob gave us!) but Behold The Lamb Of God is really taking shape now.

Thanks must go to Songster Leader Lesley Nicholson of The Salvation Army at Birmingham Citadel who stood in for both Susan Dymond and Margaret Lawrence who were away this week.

Next week (Thursday 26 February) we’ll be rehearsing Surely, He Hath Borne Our Griefs, Let All The Angels Of God, Hallelujah, Worthy Is The Lamb and Amen.

Following our Messiah rehearsal, we turned to music for our concert at Dudley Port Methodist Church, rehearsing Be Still And Know, Thine Is The Kingdom, High Above The Earth and Shine On Us.  We will be singing Be Still and Know and High Above The Earth in our worship meetings on Sunday