Hello everyone,

This week we are going to look at a hymn called “Precious Name.” Many of you know this hymn by the name of “Take the name of Jesus with you.” In 1860, Lydia Odell Baxter and W. Howard Doane wrote the words and music to this Baptist invitation song. Although his name isn’t represented as the official composer, Robert Lowry also helped to write the melody of “Take the Name of Jesus With You.” He was a professor of literature at Bucknell University, he became an ordained Baptist minister and pastored several churches throughout the New England states.  Eventually, he wrote several well known hymns; such as "Nothing But the Blood," "Low in the Grave He Lay", "Shall We Gather At The River?," and "How Can I Keep From Singing?” I hope you all enjoy this week’s hymn.

God bless,

         Ben

Hello everyone,

           This week we are going to look at a hymn written by John E. Bode called “O Jesus I Have Promised.”  It’s a hymn about a Christian’s dependence upon Christ throughout their life. A 6 ½ fret is needed in this hymn, not for a C# but G#. Remember, the dulcimer hymnal: Volume 2 has been released! I hope you all enjoy the free hymn arrangements and hymnal books.

God bless,

-Ben

Hello Everyone,

You're probably thinking, "Another arrangement this week??". I've decided to host some of my misc. arrangements on my site; such as folk songs, Stephen Foster tunes, Asian folk songs, Ancient songs, etc. Periodically I'll add more to my site, but nothing big planned. Hope you all enjoy these future arrangements. "Arirang" is one of Korea's most favorite folk tunes. Today, there are many different translations, lyrics and versions of this ancient love song. 'Ari' means "beautiful" and 'Rang' can mean "dear".

Why arrange this ancient Korean song for the dulcimer? My girlfriend Jinyoung Lee is a classical pianist and I learned this tune through her. She plays the tune at home all the time, but when I asked her if she has played it in concert she said,”of course not." The song is beautiful when played on the piano, but because it isn’t a traditional instrument, it takes away the song’s original character. Korea's traditional instruments are much like China's: Chinese Dulcimer and other string instruments like a Pipa and Erhu. In short: stringed instruments. When Jinyoung heard me playing "Arirang" on the dulcimer, she told me that the mountain dulcimer is a very appropriate instrument for this type of song. Gentle, soft and in a way (even for Koreans) a folk instrument. I hope you all enjoy this folk song.

-Ben

English Translation of the refrain:

Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo...

Crossing over Arirang Pass.

Dear who abandoned me here

Will not walk even ten before his/her feet hurt.

Hello Everyone!

I must apologize for the lateness of this post, I was in the process of a moving this weekend and the amount of work has some how spilled into the beginning of this week also. This week's arrangement is of the hymn "Just over in the glory land". There are so many arrangements of this hymn that can be found in hymnals, orchestration books and modern praise chorus books because of its meaningful lyrics and beautiful melody. This hymn was requested by someone at everything dulcimer last week. I hope you all enjoy. See you next week.

-Ben

Music Link

http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/resources/ ... y_Land.pdf

Hello Everyone!
This week's dulcimer arrangement is "Near the Cross", and it is another duet! Remember, it has been written for one dulcimer (the first part) but another dulcimer can accompany my playing the harmonies above the melody (the second part). It has a "dulcimer barbershop" sound because the melody is under the harmony. If you are playing any of these arrangements in a larger group than two people, remember to have more players on first part than the second, this will help the blend of the music by letting the melody shine above the harmony.

Near the Cross was written by the well known hymn writer who was bind for most of her life; Fanny Crosby. If you don’t know about her, please check out the mass amount of information about her on the internet. Here is a great site -http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/bcrosby3.html

-Ben

This week’s dulcimer hymn arrangement is “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”   I sang this at a funeral for my friend Jack’s mother earlier this year. She was very dear to me. When I first began arranging hymns for the dulcimer, this was one of the first arrangements I made. I dedicate this arrangement to Jack and Alice Thompson.  This hymn’s lyrics are all about keeping your goals in life aligned with the will of God and even when we are down from what ever troubles come up in life, we can always find hope and strength in our Lord, Christ Jesus.

I tried my best to retain as many 7th chords as I could within this arrangement. Many hymn books only have the chorus, but I really wanted to have the whole hymn with the verse. I hope you enjoy this hymn as much as I have through the years.

            -Ben

''Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus''

Hello everyone!

Not only does thedulcimerhymnal.com sell hymnals, offer free hymns and sheetmusic, but now has a blog that will be updated weekly. Every Monday, new sheet music of a song or hymn will be posted with a streaming video or downloadable Mp3 file to help you play along. Some songs will be duets, pop songs, hymns, etc. It really doesn't matter.  If you have any requests concerning the sheetmusic that is picked and arranged, please send me a reply to one of my posts with your suggestions. I'd love to hear them. Thanks for checking out the site, and come please stop by again and visit the site in the future!

- Ben