"I Watch in Hope for the Lord" (MP3, Sheet Music)
recorded live in chapel, 9/17/08 by the WLA student body
I didn't intend to write this song. It just happened.
It was the Friday before the school year was about to begin and I was reading Ps. 32. I was preparing the choir devotions for the year and read Ps. 32:7 ("You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble") and a melody immediately popped into my head. As is typical for me, I wondered if I had ever heard it before. I hummed/sang it for a couple people that night. Only one person said it sounded somewhat familiar, but when they sang back to me what they thought it sounded like, I knew what I was hearing in my head was different enough to be unique.
So the next day, the Saturday before the school year, I sat down at school and started singing it, playing it, and writing it down. The verses came first, but the refrain was more like a descant, with long notes and octave leaps. It didn't sound at all like a vocal meloday for a refrain. So I played the chord changes on the piano under the descant and, slowly, a vocal refrain emerged. It wasn't until this point that I realized that I could set this year's theme, Micah 7:7, to that melody. Then I knew a new song was born.
Thank you, God, for letting me hear it.
Dale, that song is beautiful. I'm routinely amazed at the music and teaching talents God has given you, and the drive and enthusiasm you have for sharing those gifts. Bravo!
ReplyDelete