Christmas Carol Resources

Soundforth has one of the best caroling books I've seen, and as long as I've known about it they have kept it in print (in fact, our school ordered some this year; in addition, they shipped very quickly!).

• CarolSing (single book) - $1.50 – http://www.bjupress.com/nav/product/119719
• CarolSing (pack of 20) - $20 - http://www.bjupress.com/nav/product/122028

It includes the following carols: "Angels from the Realms of Glory," "Angels We Have Heard on High," "As with Gladness, Men of Old," "Away in a Manger," "The Birthday of a King," "The First Noel," "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen," "Good Christian Men, Rejoice," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "How Great Our Joy," "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear," "Joy to the World," "O Come, All Ye Faithful," "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "Silent Night," "There's a Song in the Air," "Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne," "We Three Kings," "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," "What Child Is This?," and "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks."

FREE RESOURCES:

From Christmas Carols for a Kid's Heart by Bobbie Wolgemuth and Joni Eareckson Tada

• Sheet music

• Sheet music + accompaniment soundtracks

• (Click here for resources for all the books in this series.)

From http://www.christmascarolmusic.org/ - They claim that "no other web site offers all of these features":

• All of it is free! No hidden costs, no teasers, no bait-and-switch.
• Sheet music for every carol, in standard PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format. No need to purchase or download special software!
• Sheet music in 4 parts (SATB) for most carols. Just the thing for caroling!
• Lead sheets (melody, chords & lyrics) for most carols.
• Additional guitar lead sheets in easy keys, when the piano lead sheet is in a horrible key for novice guitarists.
• Instrumental parts for C, F, Bb, and Eb instruments. Play in 4 parts with any combination of instruments!
• MIDI files for every carol (so you can hear what they sound like), with both 4-part (SATB) and melody-only versions.
• A list of CD's where you can hear each carol, with easy links to buy them from Amazon.com, and (in most cases) a sound clip of a sample of the carol from the CD.
• Background music only when you ask for it, instead of playing automatically whether you want it or not!
• Lyric sheets for every carol. (Okay, so this is no big deal, but this site wouldn't be complete without them.)
• Credits (author, composer, translator, arranger) for every carol.
• No obnoxious animations or pop-up ads.
• And did we mention that all of it is free?

A Review of Reformation Resources: Some Music

by Doug Smith

490 years ago this month, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the castle church door in Wittenburg, Germany (October 31, 1517). The purpose of this series of posts is to point you to resources about the Protestant Reformation.

When it comes to learning about the Reformation and enjoying its history and influence, there are many tools available for a variety of ages. This is a review of some of the more helpful items I have found or have had recommended to me by trusted sources. If you want to build your personal library, or that of your church, school, or college, this list of resources would be a good place to start.

Yesterday, we considered some books. Today, we will look at music. Future posts will cover websites and movies.

“Music is a gift and largesse of God, not a gift of men. It drives away the devil and makes people happy; it induces one to forget all wrath, unchastity, arrogance, and all other vices. After theology, I accord to music the highest place and the greatest honor.”

"How strange and wonderful it is that one voice sings a simple unpretentious tune while three, four, or five other voices are also sung; these voices play and sway in joyful exuberance around the tune...He must be a course clod and not worthy of hearing such charming music, who does not delight in this, and is not moved by such a marvel. He should rather listen to the donkey braying of the [Gregorian] chorale, or the barking of dogs and pigs, than to such music."

– Martin Luther

“Luther has done more harm by his songs than by his sermons.”

– Luther’s enemies

• Martin Luther: Hymns, Ballads, Chants, Truth (4 CD set – 39 tracks, 3 hours of music) from Concordia Publishing House <www.cph.org> contains beautiful vocal and instrumental music reflecting the style of Luther’s time. The collection has 39 tracks and is about 3 hours long. Two recordings of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” form bookends to this recording. Both renditions maintain the original syncopated rhythm of Luther’s most famous hymn. The first version is a solo in German, and the second has a choir singing in English. (The other 37 tracks are in English as well.) Other highlights include “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come,” a Christmas carol by Luther; “A New Song Now Shall Be Begun,” Luther’s first hymn which is also a ballad about the first martyrs of the Reformation; “In the Very Midst of Life”; and “Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands.”

These recordings inspired this Baptist to get out his old Lutheran Hymnal (the most likely source if you want to find the music for most of Luther’s hymns) and penny whistle and enjoy these tunes and the meaty doctrine to which they are wed.

• Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott: Musik der Reformation is a 2 CD set of music by Luther, Johann Walter, and Thomas Müntzer. This 32-song collection features beautiful choral music in German.

• Felix Mendelssohn includes the tune for “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” in his 1830 Reformation Symphony (No. 5 in D Minor, op. 107) to commemorate the tercentenary of the Augsburg Confession. (Also, Johann Sebastian Bach used many of Luther’s hymns and other Reformation hymns in his church music.)

• The Cyberhymnal <www.cyberhymnal.org> has a good selection of Luther hymns (you can listen to midi files with the text in front of you).

• Lutheran Hymnals and music for purchase <http://www.lutheran-hymnal.com/>

• A checklist of Lutheran hymnals in America <http://www.elca.org/archives/hymnals/hymnals.html>

Some books about Reformation music:

• Douglas Bond, Mr. Pipes and Psalms and Hymns of the Reformation (Arlington Heights, IL: Christian Liberty Press, 2000), 240pp. This book provides a tour of Reformation sites and song via historical fiction. I read excerpts to 4th-6th graders one year. It is an encouraging read and gives some good insight into the hymns and their writers. When I visited Capitol Hill Baptist last year, they had just finished going through this with the children on Sunday nights (with related activities).
• Paul S. Jones, "Luther and Bar Song: the Truth, Please!", pages 171-178 in Singing and Making Music: Issues in Church Music Today (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2006), 315pp. Jones dispelled the tired, oft-repeated myth that Luther simply baptized tune from the pub for worship music.
• Paul S. Jones, "Hymnody in a Post-Hymnody World," pages 222-256 in Ryken, Thomas, & Duncan, ed., Give Praise to God (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2003), 516pp. This chapter has good thoughts about the need for utilizing and crafting hymns in our day.

Guitar Chords and Sheet Music for Hymns - free

I'm checking out the book Hymns for a Kid's Heart vol. 1 this week to look at possibly getting this series for my family. I noticed that there is a website with free sheet music from it and guitar chords here.