July 3, 2009, 5:44 pm
yesterday i decided to go to work without a bag, thinking that since it was a short week i’d probably want to rush outta the office without having to worry about carrying anything. near the end of the day, as i was getting ready to head out i realized that i should’ve brought a bag! i needed to carry home some sheet music for our first chamber music get together. so i created my own paper transportation pack. i felt like mcgyver.
and here are some pics from our first chamber music summer thingy. it was very fun.
fun times! we shall do again!
April 24, 2009, 12:31 pm
crazy week for me. an unordered list of things:
- i got lasik surgery
- recovery from the surgery did not go as expected so i was unable to see properly for a few days.
- for WP development, i did a little work on DamnSexyBookmarks. eventually all my changes were merged with SexyBookmarks. dropped my fork and will continue working w/ Josh in the parent project.
- went to eye doctor’s a few times.
- played a lot of violin since i don’t need to see anything to play music.
- today i’m back on the internets! tho vision is still blurry like saved by the bell dream land.
sad songs about joy
October 16, 2009, 12:49 am
i’ve noticed recently on some new worship albums that sometimes there’s this weird song on the album that has very positive lyrics but a very minor and almost depressingly sad melody.
i noticed this way back in march when i bought Page CXVI just to check out some redone “hymns”. there’s this song on it called “joy”. i recognized the song from Psalty that i listened to in car rides as a kid or in sunday school. (if you don’t know who Psalty is, thats fine… now that i look at him he’s kinda scary. christians are crazy sometimes). the original song as i knew it can be found in this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9wc8IFparU
the remake in the Page CXVI album sounds pretty depressing. i sent it to my brother and a few friends familiar w/ the original song to see what they thought and everyone was like “this is so depressing. i almost wanna kill myself listening to this”. you could listen for yourself below (sorry i couldnt find a better youtube recording):
on the new matt redman album “we shall not be shaken” there’s a song called “my hope” which is based on the hymn “on christ the solid rock”. the original hymn is a pretty victorious sounding song (if you don’t know the song you can find countless recordings/versions of it on youtube). redman’s remake is embedded below:
i’m posting about these songs because i think i’m beginning to understand the point these guys are trying to make in singing these songs in the manner that they do. while these songs can often be applied in a celebratory way, singing about the joy and hope we have in christ, i think the truths these words convey need to be heard even more when we’re in the valleys of life… when we don’t feel like celebrating or being “happy”… when the normal melodies of these songs would frustrate us or even make us angry that such a happy sounding song could exist when the world seems perpetually grey and gloomy in our eyes. it makes the truths we need to be reminded of more… receivable.
Tags: commentary, hymns, music, sadness, worship