A composer who wants to assist others in encountering God through his or her music creation needs to reinvent himself or herself from time to time. My wife, Daphne, and I were attending a spiritual retreat at the Aldersgate Retreat Center at Turner, Oregon, not far from the capital of Salem. My reinvention as a composer began in 1994 when both my wife and I both misunderstood the instructions that our teacher gave us. She had sent us off to lunch with some “homework.” The assignment, due in our session right after lunch, was to find an existing hymn tune or a praise chorus tune (yes, that’s what we used to call those ancestors of CCM, or Contemporary Christian Music, last millennium!) and add a verse or two of our own to create a new song of praise to our Lord.
Well, I missed the part about finding an existing tune, and my sweetheart was already inspired and started right in on a poem that cried out, I thought, for a new tune:
Jesus, on the earth You cried,
Tears of sorrow when Lazarus died.
That’s how we know You are a man.
That’s how we know You’re a man.
Jesus’ voice, new life it gave,
Calling Lazarus from the grave.
That’s how we know You are God.
That’s how we know You are God.
Jesus, on the cross You died,
Nails in Your hands and spear-torn side,
That’s how we know You are a man.
That’s how we know You’re a man.
Then on Easter You rose again,
Putting to death the plans of men.
That’s how we know You are God.
That’s how we know You are God.
Daphne had grabbed a napkin and a pencil to write those words down as we waited in the cafeteria line to be served our lunch. It did not take me long to grab another napkin and strew staff lines all over it, coming up with a quick lead sheet with a melody and pop chords. Thus, the two of us pulled off our first Bill Gaither family imitation and this became the first of what we call the Aldersgate Songs, named for the place where John Wesley, the great Anglican priest and reformer, in 1738 said, in part, “I felt that I trusted in Christ, Christ alone for salvation” (please read https://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/journal.vi.ii.xvi.html for more about his “strangely warmed heart”). I would go on and write about a dozen more Aldersgate Songs, but I still think this one is quite a treasure, especially the lyrics.
Daphne’s lyrics deftly explore the theological mystery of Jesus of Nazareth being both fully man and fully God. While we can never fully explain this marvelous mystery, Daphne has expressed it so compellingly from two passages from the Gospel of John: the eleventh chapter that details the raising of Lazarus, and Chapters 19 and 20 that tell of the dramatic resurrection of our Lord after His crucifixion. The few lines take us along the knife-edge between Maundy Thursday and Easter.
The simple tune reflects the suffering and victory of Jesus Christ by being in a major key, but in a meditative and reflective mood. There are troubling minor seventh chords in the first two phrases and a strident major seventh chord right at the end of the verses before the repeated refrain. In the refrain, the rising melody is undergirded by two bold chords, a common subdominant (IV) going to the dominant seventh in third inversion (V2) but then a deceptive cadence to a strange borrowed chord (one that really belongs in the “borrowed” key of D minor). This is followed by another borrowed chord, the F major seventh. Because these two chords properly belong in D minor rather than D Major, the pathos of Jesus’ suffering is underscored. The last phrase picks up the shattered pieces of the third and brings us through yet another minor seventh chord to a familiar V13 (an A7 chord with a 13th, or F#, in the melody) to I cadence. The turnarounds for each verse and chorus use more borrowed chords to underscore the melancholy side of the lyrics. An optional modulation up a half-step is provided, along with a couple of changed chords to make the final stanza quite triumphant before its peaceful close.
Please enjoy the video of this song, sung by my wife and accompanied by myself here above, or right on the sidebar.
A shout-out to the Fresno Philharmonic from a proud Fresnan: we just enjoyed a season of four concerts in these first four months of 2021 through YouTube videos that were exquisitely presented and wonderfully mastered both sonically and visually. You may enjoy these programs on the Fresno Philharmonic YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg7YZOJciK3XSdaYzD88bXg or via their website: https://fresnophil.org/fresnophil-on-demand/.
On Saturday, April 24, 2021, at 5:30 PM, Maestra Rei Hotoda will interview Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate about his splendid work Chokfi’ which was performed last April 17 on the Bach to the Future concert. I have no spoilers for you; I will be tuning in to learn how to pronounce Tate’s entire name, to learn a great deal more about Native American music than I know, and to see how Tate has emerged as a significant composer, not only in his own community, but around the world. I hope you will join us at https://fresnophil.org/events/stay-tuned-with-jerod-tate/ at that time.