A quiet weekend...

The girls are off in Ft. Worth, and I've got a quiet house to myself. Plenty to think and pray about in life, but also, plenty of music to work on and write. I'm still trying to figure out how best to do this marketing thing of my music. How do you let people know that you're willing to compose music just for them? Hmm..... I'm sure something will pop into my head.

Composition list so far...

Handbell Music

Go Tell it On the Mountain

Holy, Holy, Holy

Waltz

Children's Choral Music
We Thank You God-- Great piece for Mother's, thanking God for giving us mothers. Simple and great for younger Children's Choirs

Praise, Praise, Praise The Lord-- Piece to encourage children to praise, thank, love and serve God for He is good.

We Love-- A song about love set to the tune of The Mexican Hat Dance (La Raspa) (currently submitted to Augsburg Fortress for publication)

What Can We Give to God?-- A song about stewardship and how we cannot repay the debt of love and blessing God has given to us. The only thing we can do is give Him our lives.


So far, these are the pieces that I have completed. I have many more "in process", and many more floating around in my head. If you have a specific request, please ask.

Change!!!

This signifies a major transition in this blog, but also a change in approach to things. I have always enjoyed creating music, but not just playing other people's compositions. Literally creating my own music. I got up the courage to send in a piece to Chorister's Guild. The piece wasn't what they were looking for, but in the process, I was praying and asking some tough questions of myself as to what my motivations were for doing it. Was it to make money? Well, I'm in church work, so that question answers itself, doesn't it? :-) Was it for recognition? No was that answer. So in praying and asking those questions, I was pushed, or nudged, or shoved toward and over the cliff of just doing it and publishing myself! If it's not to get rich or famous, then why can't I use the contacts I have, let God direct it, and see where this journey leads? And, of course, as I have served smaller congregations with limited resources, and especially limited funds, I charging one price for a PDF file of the music that can be used and reused as much as congregations will like. I may continue to submit pieces to publishers for the fun of it, but I definitely see this journey as being a fun, challenging one. Most importantly, I know that God will use it to grow me, and strengthen me. It will be fun to see His ways. I will try to start getting a list up shortly of pieces I have finished and will be working on. If you have specific pieces you would like me to write, shoot me an e-mail at harmannymusic@yahoo.com. I will first be working on arrangements for our Festival of Lessons and Carols in December. That's a self-inflicted challenge, but one that, in the end, I think is going to turn out quite well. Praying God's guidance and direction in this new journey!

A paradigm shift??

Over the last few weeks I have been wrestling with and praying and thinking over this paradigm shift that God has been laying on my heart. Now before I throw it out there, a few things to know, if you don't know me. I'm a PK (Pastor's kid), grew up almost literally in the church, went to Lutheran grade schools, and a Lutheran college to teach in Lutheran high schools. Now, I'm a church music director. OK, there's the background, here's the paradigm shift:

Why are we Christians insulating and isolating ourselves from the world?

This has been a struggle for me in my life. I have listened to the gamut of music. Metallica, Tupac, and anything in between. Obviously, much of that music doesn't glorify God. But I've been noticing this trend more and more, and have been drawn more and more to groups like Switchfoot, Toby Mac, Hawk Nelson, NeedtoBreathe and others that draw "mainstream" attention. Especially on the previews for new shows on NBC. Of course, none of the clips that they play name God specifically, but it draws attention to the artists and bands and will lead people to hearing their music.

Now that's all good and well, but we've created this Christian counterculture to some extent, and I wonder sometimes how beneficial that is. For example, as I said, I went to Lutheran grade schools, a Lutheran college and taught at a Lutheran high school. This is good, but how is it encouraging those students to be in the world and being lights in the darkness? I know many teachers who are Christians, who are teaching in public school, and while they can't mention Jesus and God by name, their faith shines through in their love for their students and their actions.

As I said, this is something I've been wrestling with, and it started with the concept of music, and being drawn to musicians who are trying to stretch themselves out of the "Christian" label. I used to think of them as sell-outs. I now seem them more as missionaries. And God knows we need them! Let me know your thoughts. I'd love to hear the thoughts of others.