Music

A Meditation on St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians in the Style of Taize by Michael Henshaw

I was struck by the number of phrases in the letter to the Philippians that we use in our everyday speech. In the weeks that followed the death of my mother, I composed this set of chants based on the letter and incorporated them into a meditation. The service includes readings from the whole of the letter (by two readers) interspersed with chants of the most well known phrases. The service lasts about 65 minutes.

Two Concluding Amens in E-flat by Michael Henshaw

These Amens were sung by the choir of North Ferriby Church in the East Riding of Yorkshire to conclude the services of Nine Lessons and Carols in 2002 and 2003.

Whene’er the sweet church bell peals over hill and dell

The hymn When Morning Gilds the Skies, translated from the German by Edward Caswell, is usually sung to the tune Laudes Domini by Joseph Barnaby. There are many versions of this hymn and some include a verse that is particularly relevant to bell ringers that begins Whene’er the sweet church bell peals over hill and dell. This is an arrangement of the tune for organ by Michael Henshaw that includes rounds and queens in the upper stave and the melody in the lower stave. It works especially well at bell ringers’ services, as you may imagine.

Roger Jones has composed a great many excellent songs for Christians and “Jesus rode a donkey into town” is one of the most popular. Naturally, it is useful for Palm Sunday celebrations. This arrangement, by me, was a bit of fun (back in 2004) it uses the tune as if there is a backing group singing doobi doobi doo. It proved popular with the choir as a novelty.

You are welcome to use this Royalty-Free.

For other songs by Roger Jones, I recommend you visit the Christian Music Ministries website.