Order My Steps (In Your Word)
By Glenn Burleigh, arranged by Jack Schrader
This was the final anthem of our 2022-23 season. I see from sheet music listings that it was nominated for Song of the Year for the 1995 Dove Awards. I give it my top sticking-in-my-head-and-playing-over-and-over award for playing in there for more than two weeks and still counting. It was an enjoyable way to end the season.
I was running screens, not singing (but I mouth the words in precise time as if I were singing— it helps), and I think I for once got the slide timings right all the way through. The timing is split-second, and there were a quite a few variations to remember — there usually are. I learn each anthem by singing it in the choir, and then I switch to practicing with the anthem slides at the final rehearsals.
Anthems and solos call for “anthem” timing as opposed to “congregational hymn” timing. With anthem timing, the slide (along with the livestream caption) advances very slightly ahead of when the first line of the new slide begins to be sung. There is a very brief slide transition delay set in the software, and that must also be taken into account, along with the tempo. It’s done by “feel”.
With hymn timing, on the other hand, the slide is usually advanced at the end of the next-to-last word on the slide (also done by “feel”), except at the end of the song or just before an interlude, or when the next slide begins a section, such as “men”, “women”, or “all” (yes, we can still tell the difference).
Simple. Try it sometime. As I’ve mentioned, I plan to post some of my favorite earlier anthems during the break, which runs through August.
Recorded at Christ Community Church, Carmichael, California
June 4, 2023
Excerpted from: youtu.be/CSLD1Gbz0Y4