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Back on the first of May, 2007, I received an e-mail from Scott that said we would be playing the worship service on June 17^th.  He and I usually collaborate in selecting the music for the service.  The first thing we do is get the list of readings from the lectionary and then we try and select songs that fit into the message.  Sometimes we’ll get some direction from the pastor, but that isn’t very often.   As I am going through the readings, I note that the psalm for that Sunday is number 32.  After reading it, I thought it would be nice to have something original to sing and this one had some possibilities.  I started reading through the various translations and I found some inspiration.

I guess I better discuss translations now since it will probably come up.  If I could read Hebrew and Greek, I wouldn’t need a translation.  However, since I can’t, I need to use what is available.  My preferred Bible study site is Crosswalk.com.  They list 27 different translations.  There are many people who will only read one translation.  Some people are downright militant about which version is correct.  Not me.  I don’t favor any one of them.  I figure that there is probably a little bit of divine inspiration in each of these translations, so it can’t hurt to have as much help as possible.  Almost every time I start working on a piece that is based on a specific Scripture passage, I will go though and read all 27 versions.  The variation from one translation to the next is often quite different.  Some times I get inspiration from some of the less accepted versions like The Message.  Other times it may come from the King James version.  For this piece it came from several, mostly from the New Revised Standard Edition.  Here it is for reference:

1 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3 While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. (Selah) 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Selah) 6 Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them.

7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. (Selah) 8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9 Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. 10 Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. 11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

Almost immediately I can feel the ebb and flow of the psalmist’s emotions: joyful, then mournful as he tells us about his sins and how he feels about them, then joy again as he tells us to “be glad in the Lord.”  I can feel a song in this.  The repeating “happy are those” in the first two verses is just wonderful, so I’ll use that.  A chorus quickly comes into my mind:

Happy are those, whose sins are forgiven
Happy are those, who take refuge in God
Happy are those, whose sins are forgiven
Good people, be happy, rejoice in the Lord

The best part is that it comes with a melody that is playing in my head.  This melody has essentially remained unchanged since that day.  Now I need some verses.  Hmmm… 

First, some background about me.  I work at Itronix in the Spokane Valley.  Our new facility is about a quarter of a mile from the Centennial Trail.  The CT is a walking/riding trail which runs about 70 miles from the east side of Coeur d’Alene to Nine Mile Falls.  Every day, rain or shine, hot or cold I go for a walk that may be anywhere from one to two miles depending on the available time.  I walk on the trail and through the nearby city park.  About 60% of the music that I have written has come into my head during one of these walks.  I always carry a pad of post-it notes and a writing stick of some sort so I can scribble ideas down.  I used to carry my cell phone and sing my ideas into it, but I got a lot of funny looks from people passing by.   The post-it pad keeps me from being committed.

So one particular day, after reading a dozen or so versions of psalm 32, I went on my walk.  Over the course of the next half hour, I crafted the following three verses:

I hid from the Lord,  Ashamed of my sin
All day and all night,  Fight demons within
I opened my heart,  Raised it to the Lord
Begging forgiveness,  For all of my sins

My body was weak,  As in summer heat
Ashamed of my sin,  All my strength was gone
Admitting my sin,  Confessing my guilt
The Lord raised me up,  Filled my heart with song

I pray to the Lord,  With a grateful heart
Be my hiding place,  Harbor in the storm
Fill my heart with joy,  And all that is good
Redemption and grace,  Salvation and love

Once again, these lyrics come with a melody, the only problem is that this melody is a syncopated, reggae type melody, while the chorus was a straight forward pop melody.  That evening, I plunked out the two melodies on my guitar and transcribed it into my Noteworthy music software.  (A great notation program by the way.)  I kept the melody to an all reggae type rhythm.  Then I sent the file off to Scott Diettert for his opinion.   

Allow me a quick parenthetical statement on my friend and band leader Scott.  Next to my lovely wife Cheryl, Scott has been the best supporter of my crazy musical ideas.  I am constantly sending him snippets of lyrics, ten second recordings of an idea, sometimes some absolutely radical ideas, and in this case a full blown set of sheet music.  If Scott likes something he will let me know right away.  If he doesn’t he will let me down pretty lightly.  That’s when I know I need to either rework something or scrap it.  Often, he provides valuable criticism on improving a piece and helps immensely in arranging the material. 

So I sent it to Scott and he asked to hear it before the next band rehearsal.  That Wednesday I played it for him.  He loved the syncopation, but he suggested we go to straight time during the chorus (just like it originally came into my head) and he also suggested that we will need to cut the verses to two so that we can play it during offering at an upcoming worship.  We usually need to keep a piece to less than 2.5 minutes when we play a piece in that part in the Lutheran liturgy.  I played it a few more times and Scott worked out a bass line.  I got a feel for how this will work out in a performance. Now I needed to get rid of a verse.  I really liked the third verse, so that has to stay.  I also liked parts of the other two.  What to do? What to do?  With a bit of inspiration, I took the portions of the first two verses that I liked and combined them into one verse.  Here are those verses as they stand today:

I hid from the Lord, Ashamed of my sin
My body was weak, As in summer heat
Admitting my sin, Confessing my guilt
The Lord raised me up, Filled my heart with song

I pray to the Lord, With a grateful heart
Be my hiding place, Harbor in the storm
Fill my heart with joy, And all that is good
Redemption and grace, Salvation and love

Scott scheduled the piece to be sung during the August 19^th worship service that we are going to play, so I made a two track demo so the band could hear it ahead of time.  Scott also renamed it “Happy are Those” rather than the staid “Psalm 32” that I have been using.  The recording is pretty rough, but it is posted here for the reader’s benefit.  If I get an opportunity to record a cleaner version, I’ll replace it.  Here is a link to the recording:

 

Happy are Those

God bless

Tom Whalen

Copyright © 2007 Thomas B. Whalen

This is my first blog entry about my music and how it comes to me.  I originally set a goal of creating an entry at least once every two weeks.  I also intend to create an mp3 file of the song so I can better share my musical ideas.  Since I came up with this plan about two weeks ago, I have had four musical ideas come into my head.  While I am sorting those out, I thought I would fall back on a song I have reworked a few times over the past three years.

Sometime during June of 2004, I was going through the Psalms and I came across number 118.  Here it is for those of you whose don’t spend every waking moment with their nose in Scripture.  From the New Revised Standard Bible:

1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” 3 Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” 4 Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” 5 Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. 6 With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me? 7 The Lord is on my side to help me; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. 8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in mortals. 9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. 10 All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! 11 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! 12 They surrounded me like bees; they blazed like a fire of thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! 13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. 14 The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. 15 There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly; 16 the right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.” 17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord. 18 The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death. 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. 20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. 21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. 22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success! 26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.  We bless you from the house of the Lord. 27 The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar. 28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you. 29 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

The first thing that jumped out at me was the repeating phase “His steadfast love endures forever.”  If ever a phrase was designed to be a call and response, this is it.  The second thing that struck me is down at verse 24, “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  It reminded me of a hymn we used to sing when I attended Catholic Grammar school that was based on those words.  The only problem was I couldn’t remember the melody.  Even better, now I don’t have to worry about inadvertently plagiarizing someone’s work.  The first thing I did was layout the parts of the psalm into a call and response.  I could get two full awkward verses and then I used verse 24 as the chorus.  Those verses needed to change.  So I thought of all the things would fit the response and I suddenly had four verses, again still pretty awkward.  After a lot of editing, I narrowed it down to two solid verses.  Anyone that tells you that all their songs just pop into their head is telling you a fib.  I do have some pieces come into my head.  More often than not, it is snippets of a lyric or a melody and I craft something around that.  I digress.  Here is where the song stood that June:

Give thanks to the Lord (His love endures forever)

We trust in the Lord (His love endures forever)

We lift up our hearts (His love endures forever)

We praise the Lord (His love endures forever)

 

Chorus:

This is the day that the Lord has made

Let us rejoice and be glad

This is the day that the Lord has made

Let us rejoice and be glad

 

The second verse used these calls:

The Lord is my strength

Let the nations cry out

Let all the world say

Let God’s people say

Later that summer I was listening to a lot of the English band The Smiths.  Johnny Marr is one of my favorite guitarists and his style is one I have subconsciously copied from time to time over the quarter century plus that I have been playing the guitar.  One of my favorite chord progressions of his in on Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now  where he takes an A – Asus – B – Bsus pattern and adds a droning E for a very nice effect.  One evening I was fooling around with that pattern and I came up with a nice chorus for psalm 118.  From there the melody for the verses fell nicely into line based on standard I - IV - I - IV - V progression in E.  After the chorus, I added a solo based on the Marr progression and I just about had a completed piece.  The only problem was I was up at the seventh fret at the end of the solo and I needed to start the verse with an open E.  So I devised a chord progression to get the listener back down to the starting point.  A(5^th) –  B – C#m – F#m – A(open) – B – E.   

Later in November of that year, I rewrote the verses for a Thanksgiving song.  My wife Cheryl and I sang it at the Thanksgiving Eve service at St. Luke.  In addition to changing the verses to a Thanksgiving theme, I also removed the solo as it just didn’t fit the calmer, thankful, more contemplative nature of the piece.  An mp3 of this version is below entitled version 2.  Here are the reworked verses: 

Give thanks to the Lord

Give thanks for His love

Give thanks for grace

Give thanks for His Son

 

Give thanks to the Lord

Give thanks for the bounty

Give thanks for our faith

Give thanks for our freedom

Over the next year I would usually play an instrumental version of the piece before our worship services.  It slowly evolved into a harder, more rocking version.  I recorded a demo of the piece in December 2005 for consideration on our band’s first CD.  After a few rehearsals, we couldn’t make it work very well, so I set it aside.   I still really enjoy the piece and play the instrumental version during the time leading up to worship on the Sundays we play.  I hope we can get it on our next project.

Psalm 118 Version 1    Psalm 118 Version 2 

Version 1 has my wife Cheryl and my daughter Beth singing with me. 

God bless,

Tom Whalen

Copyright © 2007 Thomas B. Whalen

After a lot of consideration, I decided to add a blog page to our website.  Any of the band members will be able to post blogs here.  I am going to use my blog to write about various musical pieces I am writing.  I am setting a personal goal to create at least one new piece of music every two weeks.  During May it was more like a new piece of music every day.   Scott was quite sick of it I can tell you. 

“Scott, check out this new song I just came up with.”

“But I didn’t even get to look at the one you wrote yesterday.”

 I will try and post a simple mp3 of each new piece and I will invite comment and criticism.  Some times I may take an older piece and rework it.  Some times I may create something that is secular in nature.  Often times it is something completely out of the blue that strikes me as I am on my daily walk. It will all depend on how the Spirit moves me. 

God bless,

Tom Whalen