Song Recommendation – “To See the King of Heaven Fall (Gethsemane)”

Published February 9, 2010 Song recommedation Leave a Comment
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With the season of Lent a little over one week away, and Holy Week and Easter in the not-too-distant future, I wanted to recommend an excellent song called “To See the King of Heaven Fall (Gethsemane)”, which was written by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty.

This song would work well all year round, but it seems especially fitting for Maundy Thursday or Good Friday services when a song conveying the terrible sorrow that Jesus endured in being obedient to giving up his life on the cross is needed.

It’s not enough to sing a song that says Jesus was crucified and leave it at that. A sad sounding, minor-key song might set the right mood, but not point people to why Jesus died and what he accomplished on the cross. This song is a gift for worship leaders looking for a song that derives its emotion out of the truth it contains.

Here are the lyrics:

To See the King of Heaven Fall (Gethsemane)
To see the King of heaven fall
In anguish to His knees,
The Light and Hope of all the world
Now overwhelmed with grief.
What nameless horrors must He see,
To cry out in the garden:
“Oh, take this cup away from me –
Yet not my will but Yours,
Yet not my will but Yours.”

To know each friend will fall away,
And heaven’s voice be still,
For hell to have its vengeful day
Upon Golgotha’s hill.
No words describe the Savior’s plight -
To be by God forsaken
Till wrath and love are satisfied
And every sin is paid
And every sin is paid

What took Him to this wretched place,
What kept Him on this road?
His love for Adam’s curséd race,
For every broken soul.
No sin too slight to overlook,
No crime too great to carry,
All mingled in this poisoned cup –
And yet He drank it all,
The Savior drank it all,
The Savior drank it all.
Stuart Townend & Keith Getty Copyright © 2009 Thankyou Music

You can download the sheet music here, and purchase an mp3 of the song from iTunes here.

Here is a YouTube video of  a live recording of the song from Stuart Townend’s church. This version can be found on Church of Christ the King Brighton’s CD called “Have You Heard”.  The video starts off with a reading of Mark 14:32-36 and an instrumental prelude. The song starts around 1:45.

Too Many Songs in the Same Key = Boring

Published February 8, 2010 Arranging , Song selection Leave a Comment
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Yesterday morning my church held one 11:00am service for those able to make it out of their houses. We had about two and a half feet of snow dumped on us over the weekend, and most streets were either impassable or dangerous. Instead of canceling all services like we did back in December, we decided to have one service for anyone who could come. About 200 people ended up braving the icy and snowy roads, and I led a handful of songs from the piano with my sister-in-law singing with me. It was a simple communion service and we sang mostly familiar hymns and a couple newer songs too.

When it came time for communion, we sang three songs in a row: “Here is Love Vast as the Ocean”, “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us”, and “Alleluia Sing to Jesus”. I picked these songs for this spot in the service because they were familiar and they flowed well with each other.

One of the reasons, besides their theme, that they flowed well together was that they were all in the key of E major. This makes things easy since you can just slide from once song to the next without having to think about how to get from one key to the next. I’ll often do two songs back-to-back in the same key for this reason.

But doing too many songs in a row that are in the same key can be a bad idea sometimes. After singing in the same key for five or ten minutes, it can start to feel like we’re stuck on one really long song. By the end of the second song, whether people realize it or not, they’re a bit tired of hitting the same notes and hanging out in the same range, and they’re ready to move somewhere else. And unfortunately, when people get tired of singing in a certain range, they can become disengaged with the words they’re singing.

So instead of doing all three songs in the key of E, we did “Here is Love Vast as the Ocean” in the key of E, “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” in D, and “Alleluia Sing to Jesus” in E, modulating to F on the fourth verse. This kept all three songs in singable keys, but varied their ranges just enough so that there was distinction between them.

It took some maneuvering between songs to get from one key to the other, but I’m fairly comfortable doing that, so it didn’t feel awfully jolty. I try to avoid stopping and starting between songs if at all possible. If you’re not comfortable doing this, I would recommend you practice, practice, practice, and listen to how other worship leaders and musicians transition between keys. You’ll get better at it, and someday it will come naturally to you.

There’s a lot to think about when choosing and leading songs. What keys you’re singing your songs in should be up towards the top of the list. Keeping your keys in comfortable congregational ranges (i.e. not too high and not too low) is important, and not singing a bunch of songs in a row in the same key also helps keep things from feeling tired. 

Psalm 96 by Joseph Stigora

Published February 5, 2010 Song recommedation Leave a Comment
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Joseph Stigora’s setting of Psalm 96 gets a bad rap. Sure, he started it off in the key of F# at the Worship God conference in 2008 only to have the band join in the key of G, prompting this hilarious and often-viewed YouTube video, but you’d never know anything else about how the song goes or how the verses sound unless you were at the conference.

And then last week I added to the abuse of Joseph’s song by writing a little post about how, when I used it at my church to start off the service, the people in the congregation who came in late and missed the instructions to not sing the verses ended up standing around confused.

It’s actually a great contemporary setting of the Psalm. The chorus is singable and catchy, the verses are great for a vocalist to sing on his/her own, and the melody/feel complements the text well. All you have to do is make sure you’re all singing/playing in the same key (because you wouldn’t want this to happen! Have you seen that video, by the way?), and your congregation knows what to do on the verses (i.e. not try to sing along).

Joseph has kindly agreed to offer the chord chart as a free download and a rough demo mp3 of the full song (in the same key the whole time!) for you to listen to. Joseph is a gifted and humble guy who’s a worship leader and pastor on staff at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania.

Chord chart

What Are Your “Go-To” Songs?

Published February 4, 2010 Song selection , Sunday mornings 3 Comments
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Fill in the blanks:

When I really want to get a service started off strong, we’ll sing _____.

On Easter Sunday we always start off by singing _____.

When the sermon has been on the topic of mission, I love to sing _____.

If we want to sing a song about being “in Christ”, then _____ is perfect!

If we sing _____ then I love following it up by singing _____.

_____ is my go-to song for starting off communion.

We all have our “go-to” songs. We’ve tried them and they’ve worked. Not only have they worked but they’ve worked really well. I love starting off a service with “Beautiful One” by Tim Hughes or closing a communion service with “Let Your Kingdom Come” by Bob Kauflin, or singing “O Come All Ye Faithful” as the opening hymn on Christmas Eve. It’s nice to fall back on those tried-and-true songs when I can’t think of anything better to use or don’t have the time or energy to try something different.

I’ve been realizing lately that my tendency to gravitate towards the same songs in the same slot time after time can contribute to a staleness and predictability in our services. God never ceases to be indescribably great and beautiful, but singing the same song about him being the “beautiful one” can become monotonous and seem rote. God’s greatness is unsearchable, but singing about “how great” our God is with the same song once a month for four years can get boring. I’ve likened it before to making a copy of a copy – you gradually lose crispness and vibrancy with each one.

I’m learning that in order to help people be aware that we can never sing enough about the cross, I need to help them articulate praise to the Lamb who was slain in as many combinations of words and melodies as possible. To help people come into a worship service reminded afresh of God’s greatness and kindness we can’t sing the same three songs on a rotating basis. If I want a Christmas Eve service to help shake people out of their last-minute-shopping-stress-coma, I need to think about whether “O Come All Ye Faithful” really is the best opening hymn, or if something else would be more effective.

Newness and creativity for the sake of being new and creative is idolatry. But newness and creativity for the sake of helping people see and encounter the glory of God afresh is worth the time and worth the effort, and one of our jobs as worship leaders.

Look for different and varied sources of congregational worship songs from which you can draw. Visit other churches or watch their services online. Put your most frequently sung songs “on the bench” for six months and force yourself to sing something different. Take a risk. Instead of starting off a service with a fast song, start it off slow. Read an appropriate Psalm corporately in between verses of a song. Anything to help you avoid doing the same song you always do in the same way you always do it.

What are your “go-to” songs? Try “not-going” to them for a while. It’s a good exercise in staying fresh.

There is Always Something to Learn – Pt. 2

Published February 2, 2010 Equipment , Guitar , Lessons learned , Rehearsal Leave a Comment
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Yesterday I shared some things I learned after spending a Saturday at Mariners Church in Irvine, California. It’s a church that is different from my church in many ways, but it is possible (and a good idea) to learn new things even from a church that is completely different from yours, and even when there might be things you’d rather not emulate. There has got to be something you can see or hear that will help you think about how stay fresh.

Here are a few more things I learned:

Don’t rehearse right up to the minute the service is about to start
Mariners builds in enough time to their rehearsal schedule to allow the band to be finished a good 30-40 minutes before the service start time. This gives the band a break and means the congregation doesn’t walk into the middle of a sound check. 

Invest in good equipment
Too many churches own lousy equipment, have poorly designed sound systems, use the wrong microphones, replace a piece of equipment only when it breaks, and replace that broken equipment with new lousy equipment. Whether your church meets in a living room, a cafeteria, a traditionally designed church building, or a 3,000 seat auditorium, make sure you buy the best equipment you can possibly afford.

Train and deploy volunteers in technical areas
While Mariners has a very large staff, larger than many churches in fact, they depend on a large number of volunteers to help in technical areas. I loved this creative way of recruiting volunteers to run cameras: it says “you could be sitting here. We will train you. Ask how at the sound desk or…” Great idea. Who wouldn’t want to wear a cool headset and run a camera? Recruiting isn’t as hard as we make it seem sometimes.

Have fun
All of the rehearsals, production meetings, and run-throughs that I watched were, most importantly, efficiently run and fruitful. But they were also full of laughter and good-natured ribbing. No one took themselves too seriously. This seemed to make the long rehearsal schedule seem less tedious, break tension, and help foster humility. When Tim Timmons introduced me at rehearsal and said we “met online”, he received a fitting amount of roasting and mocking.

Getting a good electric guitar sound is possible
One of the highlights of my time at Mariners was meeting Russell Crain, their electric guitarist. I’ve always really appreciated Russell’s skill, creativity, visible engagement in worship, and musical taste. I also love the sound he gets out of his guitar. His overdrive is full and smooth, his reverbs/delays/echos are subtle and just-right, and his lead work cuts through the mix without being piercing. Russell is a humble guy and was kind enough to show me how he gets his sound. I’d like to do a post later on detailing his equipment and set up, but for now I’ll just say that he uses a Line-6 M13 stompbox modeler, volume pedal, and then one another pedal I can’t remember. This is fed into a Marshall amp that is backstage in a sound-absorption enclosure. They mic this amp in some creative ways that I’ll share later. The lesson I learned was that it is possible to get a good electric guitar if you have a skillful and humble player, the right pedals, the right amp, and the right mics.

Here is a video I took of Mariners beginning their 3:15pm Saturday run-through.

So as you can see, like I said before, this is a different kind of church than the one in which I serve. But there is always something to learn – if you take the time to look.   

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