Two Anthems and More

10,000 Reasons, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name, Take My Life

This was our last-Sunday-of-the-month Choir, Bells, and Orchestra service. The call to worship, 10,000 Reasons is a choral anthem arrangement, but sung here with the congregation. I just really enjoy doing it.

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The recording doesn’t do justice to this rendition of All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name, arranged for choir, bells, orchestra, piano, and organ. I listened the previous week to everyone else but the choir rehearsing it and I was blown away. Literally. The orchestra has grown, and they are good! I couldn’t quite figure out what I was listening to at first, because our choir music only shows what we sing. There are all these other bits, from other hymns, to be found in the instrumental interludes.

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The choral anthem, Take My Life, with piano and solo violin accompaniment, was sung as the response to the sermon.

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We sing much more than what I post here. I usually post only the anthem although on this day there were two. The choir also accompanies the congregational hymns, usually with traditional four-part harmony but, apart from it being too much to post, the livestream mix places the worship leaders on top, which is correct, and the choir doesn’t come through as well on the recording. That is the case here with the choral harmonies in 10,000 Reasons. We’re not a recording studio, and there is only so much we can do.

Here was my music folder for this service. Each of those colored tabs (I add them to make the pages easy to turn) represents two pages of sheet music, more or less. It was a lot, and a little more than most Sundays. The folder was open to one of the service music hymns, in four parts plus descant. Many of us are sight singers, and once you learn to read the notes, it’s pretty much like reading the lyrics, except you’re having to read both at once! Not to mention the dynamics. That’s the fun part.

Finally, here’s the view from the alto section, top row, a few minutes before the prelude began. The bell choir was just filtering in.

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Recorded at Christ Community Church, Carmichael, California
September 24, 2023
Excerpted from: youtu.be/BjDbHboZIhA