Hello everyone,

        As many of you know, Lent is upon us and I haven’t added one Lenten hymn to my site. This week I’ve added a hymn that just recently became a part of my repertoire. “Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted” has amazing lyrics and a haunting melody.  I’ve lowered the key signature so it’s easier to sing. I hope you enjoy this Lenten hymn throughout the rest of March and beyond.

       This week's video of this arrangement focus's on chord changes and phrasing. It is important to have certain notes heard more than others when you are playing the dulcimer. Much like a pianoist, we also play many notes at teh same time, but we want the notes within the melody to be very dominant even when you are playing full chords. Come check out the video!

God bless,

-Ben

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
’Tis a true and faithful Word.

Hello everyone,

This week’s hymn is called “Wonderful Words of Life”. It’s a familiar hymn to some of us, but if you don’t know it, play this arrangement a couple times; It might become a favorite of yours too!

As we are in the time of Lent, would suggest we all mediate on the words within scripture more diligently and over the hymn texts we sing every week we pass by so quickly. I believe the church year is beautiful, yet if all we do in the time of lent is give up a worldly possession or vice; I think we missed the big idea and we are only going skin deep. Christ gave up everything, not chocolate or TV, and took all of our sin upon himself on the cross. Let us think of the enormity of this claim! Lent is a time of sorrow and celebration. Think of the sins you had died to through the strength that God has given to you, think of the sins you still commit. This is a time to be sorrowful for the sins we hold dear, yet celebrate what God has done in our lives already!
This week’s Hymn text is below. With the season of lent in mind, mediate over these words.

1.
Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life,
Let me more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life;
Words of life and beauty teach me faith and duty.

Refrain
Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life,
Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.

2
Christ, the blessed One, gives to all wonderful words of life;
Sinner, list to the loving call, wonderful words of life;
All so freely given, wooing us to heaven.

3
Sweetly echo the Gospel call, wonderful words of life;
Offer pardon and peace to all, wonderful words of life;
Jesus, only Savior, sanctify us forever.


Philip Bliss wrote both the words and music to this wonderful hymn. He grew up in Pennsylvania in the 1840’s and left home at the young age of ten to make a living for himself. Although he worked in the lumber yards and the pay was small, he also was a regular at Methodist camp meetings and revivals because of his strong Christian upbringing. Education was very important to him, so in-between the time he was at church or work, he found time to study and attend school. When he was about eighteen years of age he had already completed the requirements for being a certified teacher and he took a job as a schoolmaster.

“From that point, Bliss' path began to cross with many of the best known Christian evangelists, hymn writers, and composers of his time. He received voice instruction from J.G. Towner and guidance from William B. Bradbury. He met D.L. Moody during a revival in Chicago, and was invited by Moody to become his music director. Bliss turned the offer down, and Moody teamed up with Ira Sankey instead. In the years that followed, Bliss would combine with Sankey to prepare many hymns and hymn collections. A month before his untimely death at the age of 38, Bliss was approached by Horatio Spafford, the writer of It Is Well With My Soul. At Spafford's request, Bliss composed the tune for that famous hymn.” (http://www.hymnsite.com/lection/cep5.htm)

Philip Bliss achieved so much in his lifetime yet it was by the grace of God that he was able to do what he did. I like to always find stories like this in my own generation, because God works in so many lives and through them He impacts so many other lives. I hope you enjoy this week’s arrangement. If you have any hymn requests for future weeks please tell me! I’ll see you all next week.

God bless,

-Ben

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhz6XfpGDlI

Sheet Music

http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Hello Everyone,

             This week we are going to look at a very familiar song; “Kum ba Yah”. It is an African-American spiritual song that was written in the 1930s. It gained most of its popularity in the 1960’s as folk sings like Joan Baez sang it. Today, most of us know “Kum ba yah” as the most likely song to be played by the guy who brought a guitar to the camp fire.

            There are two stories of the origin of the Hymn. The first story began in the 1920’s when a group called the Society for the Preservation of Spirituals collected a song on the west coast of  South Carolina that resembles the “kum ba yah” we sing today. “Come be yah” was the songs name and it sung in “Gullah” (A Creole language that mixed was mixed with Hebrew and pidgin). Between 1926 and 1928 four songs we recorded with the refrain “Come by yah” attached to them.

             The second origin story began in 1936, as a man named Reverend Marvin V. Frey claimed he was inspired to write the hymn after hearing a prayer that was delivered by "Mother Duffin" (who was a storefront evangelist in Portland, Oregon). Frey eventually published the hymn in 1936. but didn’t change the name of the hymn to “Kum ba yah” till 1936 when he hear that a missionary family had sung his song in Africa, but changed the words for the African locals.

            The second story was the long standing answer to “who wrote kum ba yah???” for decades. The fact that recordings of this hymn were made two decades before Frey even changed the name can’t be ignored, and completely contradict his story.  I hope you all enjoy the arrangement of this familiar hymn and I’ll see you next week!

God bless,

-Ben

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l_NZGdf_Y8

Sheet Music

http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Hello everyone,

I want to apologize for not updating my site on Monday, as I usually do. I think I caught a cold over the weekend. Since I had some extra time at home, I remained busy and this week I am hosting two new tunes on my site; “Leaning on the Arms of Jesus” and “The Lambs are Crying Out” (Canaan Hymn #163). One is a hymn favorite for many people in the United States and the other is a popular hymn to millions of underground Christians in China.

“The Lambs are Crying Out” is the first “drown” style hymn I’ve ever uploaded onto my site and I doubt it will be the last. The original harmony probably sounds nothing like a dulcimer drown, but the text lends itself to that sound. The drown of a dulcimer can be a powerful sound, and as this hymn calls Christians to get up and serve and “not hold back the gifts the Lord gives us”, what better way to play this hymn! Below is a sound file of Xiao Min (The Hymn’s writer) singing this hymn into a small hand-held recorder. If you want more information about the Canaan Hymns, go to canaanhymns. org for free videos, music and records of the hymns that have blessed China so much.

God bless,

-Ben


"Leaning on the Arms of Jesus"

Sheet Music
http://thedulcimerh ymnal.com/ dulcimer- sheet-music



"The Lambs are Crying Out"

Sheet Music
http://thedulcimerh ymnal.com/ dulcimer- sheet-music

Original Recording of Xiao Min singing the Hymn
http://thedulcimerh ymnal.com/ resources/ media/xm163. mp3

Hello everyone,

      I wanted to apologize for not updating my site on Monday, as I usually do. I think I caught a cold over the weekend. Since I had some extra time at home, I remained busy and this week I am hosting two new tunes on my site; “Leaning on the Arms of Jesus” and “The Lambs are Crying Out” (Canaan Hymn #163). One is a hymn favorite for many people in the United States and the other is a popular hymn to millions of underground Christians in China.

    “The Lambs are Crying Out” is the first “drown” style hymn I’ve ever uploaded onto my site and I doubt it will be the last. The original harmony probably sounds nothing like a dulcimer drown, but the text lends itself to that sound. The drown of a dulcimer can be a powerful sound, and as this hymn calls Christians to get up and serve and “not hold back the gifts the Lord gives us”, what better way to play this hymn! Below is a sound file of Xiao Min (The Hymn’s writer) singing this hymn into a small handheld recorder. If you want more information about the Canaan Hymns, go to canaanhymns.org for free videos, music and records of the hymns that have blessed China so much.

God bless,

-Ben

"Leaning on the Arms of Jesus"

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK8BEDSqzYg

Sheet Music
http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music


"The Lambs are Crying Out"


Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuCuMdpDAGU

Sheet Music
http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music


Original Recording of Xiao Min singing the Hymn
http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/resources/media/xm163.mp3

Hello Everyone,

     This week we are going to look at Psalm 31. I have written a new melody for the text that can be found in any metrical Psalter. A metrical Psalter? Let me explain. When you read the book of Psalms, you can clearly see that the poetry doesn't rhyme and isn't like the poetry that is written today. Psalters that have been made since the Geneva and Scottish Psalters centuries ago have a text that rhythms because it has been re-written to fit within a poetic meter that poets use for songs or hymns. That's what a metrical psalm is; a psalm text that has been re-written for the purpose of fitting the words into a specific meter.

     This hymn is 6/8, much like “Farther Along” (Last week’s video), so if you need some help with strumming, be sure to look at last week’s video to get some tips on strumming in 6/8. Hope you all enjoy the arrangement and I’ll see you next week!

God bless,

-Ben

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OpodzcU1AI

Sheet Music

http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music