Ringing In Your Ears

Today, a tune was going through my head, and I couldn’t think of its name. The words became gradually clearer and I could hear, “Come and reign over us, Ancient of Days.” That name, “Ancient of Days,” is oftentimes given to God. The tune took shape in my head and I confirmed the title from one of my several hymnbooks. It was, “Come, Thou Almighty King,” and the words went like this,

                                               “Come Thou Almighty King,
                                                 Help us Thy name to sing,
                                                 Help us to praise:
                                                 Father, all glorious, O’er all, victorious,
                                                 Come and reign over us, Ancient of Days.

This hymn is one I arranged for the pipes years ago, and I’ve played it numerous times for call to worship in medleys with other hymns. It’s beautiful, and even more so, when played in church for morning worship.

I had the urge to arrange another piece of music for the pipes after hearing a song that particularly touched my senses. It was after I attended a men’s barbershop choir and sang their parting song “An Irish Blessing,” with them. I undertook the task, which presented a challenge because there was an interlude that didn’t have words and of course, the music and words had to be coordinated. Also, four high G’s, that were fine in the barbershop rendition, didn’t sound well on the pipes.

I shared my project with a young Christian lady piper in North Carolina, a person very enthusiastic about arranging music to suit the pipes. She and her piping teacher were very helpful. They sent me web sites for this hymn so I could hear the different arrangements performed by choirs. Working together, I was thrilled to learn still more about arranging. For example, one can stray slightly from the tune and still not make a significant change in it. For instance, those four high G quarter notes could be replaced by a little run-down that even improved the tune. There’s something special about sharing a project with another piper so both can get enjoyment.

Together, we came up with a setting that I think will be as standard for pipers as “Amazing Grace.” I hope pipers will eventually adopt the hymn and add it to their repertoire just as Barbershoppers have adopted it to theirs.

One of the men in our church knew that I had been working on “An Evening Prayer,” and gave me another hymn, which he thought would interest me. It is, “The Blessing,” with verses quite similar, yet different, and still reflecting strongly upon the Scriptures that inspired the song. It’s in 4/4 time as compared with 3/4 time; a nice addition to the first, and not quite as difficult to arrange. It came in the key of D, which is a natural for pipes, and only required a small change in the introduction, which began with low F followed by G. We don’t have the F. However, by changing the introduction to C and B it was a small concession for the sake of making this another great bagpipe selection.

Arranging these two hymns was during my editing of a new volume called “Patriotic Music and Familiar Folk Songs,” Volume 15 of The Church Piper. The task has been completed and the book should be available in the fall of 2013 for those who are interested. These two hymns won’t be in it for they’ve arrived too late. Possibly, they’ll be presented in a subsequent volume. I hope so.