C. Michael Pilato's Blog, page 2
February 26, 2019
"Shepherd of My Soul"
While on a recent out-of-state trip to visit family, I found myself mentally reflecting on the twenty-third Psalm. You know the one I'm talking about:
So with no instrument in hand (unless the steering wheel counts...) I began morphing Psalm 23 into a singable tune. By repeating the song in my mind over and over again, I managed to retain the concept until I was able to get back to North Carolina and see how it felt over an instrumental accompaniment. A few days later, I recorded a demo version (with my son Aidan providing the drum tracks) to capture the idea. Here's that demo version, imperfections and all:
In an unexpected twist, I plan to introduce the song to my church family this coming Sunday. This fact pushed me to try my hand at using MuseScore 2 to transcribe the vocal parts for the song so I can get the rest of my worship team up to speed on the song quickly. Writing sheet music is still not something I claim as a talent of mine, but MuseScore certainly makes it easy enough, especially since it runs flawlessly on the Linux and Windows platforms that occupy all my desktop computing devices. If you care, you can get my MuseScore musings from my GitHub repository at https://github.com/cmpilato/worship-music/tree/master/Shepherd_of_My_Soul.
Finally, here are the song's lyrics. Feel free to sing along!
UPDATE (1/11/22): Updated sheet music references to point to my GitHub repository.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.Yes, I realize that I posted the King James Version above. I almost never use that translation myself, but I can't deny that as a child every bit of the Holy Bible that I memorized was memorized from that translation. And that childhood memorization turns out to have been important, because I was reflecting on the psalm while in a musical frame of mind ... and while driving my family's minivan around West Virginia!
— Psalm 23 KJV
So with no instrument in hand (unless the steering wheel counts...) I began morphing Psalm 23 into a singable tune. By repeating the song in my mind over and over again, I managed to retain the concept until I was able to get back to North Carolina and see how it felt over an instrumental accompaniment. A few days later, I recorded a demo version (with my son Aidan providing the drum tracks) to capture the idea. Here's that demo version, imperfections and all:
In an unexpected twist, I plan to introduce the song to my church family this coming Sunday. This fact pushed me to try my hand at using MuseScore 2 to transcribe the vocal parts for the song so I can get the rest of my worship team up to speed on the song quickly. Writing sheet music is still not something I claim as a talent of mine, but MuseScore certainly makes it easy enough, especially since it runs flawlessly on the Linux and Windows platforms that occupy all my desktop computing devices. If you care, you can get my MuseScore musings from my GitHub repository at https://github.com/cmpilato/worship-music/tree/master/Shepherd_of_My_Soul.
Finally, here are the song's lyrics. Feel free to sing along!
UPDATE (2/28/19): We ran the new song at our full worship team practice last night, and thanks to the extra layers of instrumentation and my super-talented fellow singers, it sounded A-MA-ZING! I'm so excited for Sunday!
Shepherd of My Soul
You are my Shepherd. I'll want for nothing.
You make me lie down in pastures of green.
Beside still waters and down paths of righteousness
All for Your name's sake, Shepherd, You lead.
You restore my soul. You restore my soul.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
There with my Shepherd, the Shepherd of my soul.
Even when walking down through the valley,
There in death's shadow no evil I'll fear.
You're always with me. Your rod and staff comfort me.
Jesus, my Shepherd, You're always near.
You restore my soul. You restore my soul.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
There with my Shepherd, the Shepherd of my soul.
You set a table before me with my enemies all around.
Let your anointing fall on me. Let my cup overflow with your pow'r.
© 2019 C. Michael Pilato; License: cc-by-3.0
UPDATE (1/11/22): Updated sheet music references to point to my GitHub repository.
February 6, 2018
"Yours Forever, Amen"
It's been nearly two years since a crazy morning of software development drove me leave my house with a head full of chaos and return having written a new song without ever picking up an instrument.
On the morning of March 8, 2016, I was indeed struggling with an excessive amount of mental noise—stress at work and general busy-ness in every facet of life—and wanted to talk a walk in the woods to clear my thoughts. There on the walking trails at nearby Pharr Mill Park, I was able to walk and enjoy nature and commune with God, and I found myself praying through the prayer that Jesus gave as an example to his disciples, the one most folks refer to as "The Lord's Prayer". But I was blessed in that moment to have a melody form in my thoughts as well. So I came home from that little detour feeling much refreshed, and scribbled down the essentially fully-formed song that had been captured in bits and pieces on my phone's voice recorder app while walking the park's trails!
In the two years since, I've been blessed to be able to share the song—which I titled "Yours Forever, Amen"—with various audiences and accompanied by various wonderful musicians. One of my favorite ways to present the song is to have the text of Jesus' prayer read in chunks over the song's instrumental interludes.
So here's "Yours Forever, Amen", with those biblical readings added in quotes:
On the morning of March 8, 2016, I was indeed struggling with an excessive amount of mental noise—stress at work and general busy-ness in every facet of life—and wanted to talk a walk in the woods to clear my thoughts. There on the walking trails at nearby Pharr Mill Park, I was able to walk and enjoy nature and commune with God, and I found myself praying through the prayer that Jesus gave as an example to his disciples, the one most folks refer to as "The Lord's Prayer". But I was blessed in that moment to have a melody form in my thoughts as well. So I came home from that little detour feeling much refreshed, and scribbled down the essentially fully-formed song that had been captured in bits and pieces on my phone's voice recorder app while walking the park's trails!
In the two years since, I've been blessed to be able to share the song—which I titled "Yours Forever, Amen"—with various audiences and accompanied by various wonderful musicians. One of my favorite ways to present the song is to have the text of Jesus' prayer read in chunks over the song's instrumental interludes.
So here's "Yours Forever, Amen", with those biblical readings added in quotes:
I've included here, too, the hastily-recorded demo I assembled back in 2016. It doesn't have the textual readings because, if I recall correctly, that idea didn't occur to me until after the recording was made. But either way, I hope you enjoy it.
Yours Forever, Amen
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven."
Oh, Abba Father, High King of Heaven,
Holy, holy, is Your Name.
Your kingdom come and Your will be done in
Heaven above and earth the same.
"Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."
Oh, Abba Father, High King of Heaven,
Give us daily all we need.
And please forgive us, as we forgive those,
Who, like us, caused Your Son to bleed.
Yours forever is the kingdom! Yours forever is the power!
Yours forever is the glory, amen!
Yours forever is the kingdom! Yours forever is the power!
Yours forever is the glory, amen! Amen.
"And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil."
Oh, Abba Father, High King of Heaven,
Rescue us from the evil one,
And lead us far from every temptation —
This bride keep spotless for Your Son.
Yours forever is the kingdom! Yours forever is the power!
Yours forever is the glory, amen!
Yours forever is the kingdom! Yours forever is the power!
Yours forever is the glory, amen! Amen.
Yours forever, amen.
Yours forever, amen.
"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."
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