New Original Church Composition - "God of Faith"

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Hello everyone! Last Friday, I posted the first original composition I have written for my new job as intern music director at Bethlehem United Methodist Church. I also stated my intention to compose a new piece of music for each week's service (themed on the topic of the sermon). This week, I managed to succeed in that endeavor for the week. This week's sermon discussed serving a God who is faithful. So, my piece was themed on God's faithfulness. I will get into more details about the piece, but first, let's listen to it.

As I said last week, I am aiming to compose a new piece each week in order to push myself to make decisions faster, and grow my portfolio. I am also obviously inspired by J.S. Bach in doing this (who composed a new cantata every week for a period). Obviously, I am doing a lot less work than a full scale cantata because (a) I have a lot less time and (b) I have A LOT less skill. Regardless, I still enjoy pushing myself towards this goal, and I think it helps to make the service special each week.

The Piece

So, what is there to talk about in this piece?

At first, I described it to my girlfriend as ear candy (and I still somewhat hold to that claim). Though I will admit that it is growing on me a bit. I wouldn't say anything is particularly pushing the envelope, and the only aim of the piece is to sound pretty, and to represent faithfulness.

Form

I wold say that this piece is loosely rounded binary. It contains an A section, and a B section which also includes a repeat some of the material from the A section.

The Writing Process

The writing process for this piece was a lot of procrastination. On Tuesday, I wrote the first 8 measures, then I decided to leave the rest for the later me (Bad idea. Never. Ever. Procrastinate...) A few nights later, I was talking to my beautiful girlfriend on the phone, and I decided it was about time for me to write the next theme. So, I asked her to give me a key for the second theme. She said G major. I then immediately thought of the second theme. That trick doesn't always work, but in this case, it did. I promise: usually, it takes me a lot longer to think of new themes. I think this time was special because I was relaxed about it. If I push too hard, it doesn't work well. Here is the recording I made that night right after she gave me the key.

After those 20 seconds of theme, I decided that was as much compositional work as I intended to do that night. So, I gave it a rest until Saturday at 8am. I was freaking out because I felt like all I had was 12 measures of music, and not a lot of time at all (I had something from noon until midnight). I finally decided to actually try to write the thing out (because at that point it was just a bunch of scattered fragments). I did some delicate surgery involving incredibly complicated modulating passages, and the most eloquent counterpoint imaginable (_//sarcasm//), and by 10am, the piece was done (Thankfully because I was going to be busy for the rest of the day). On Sunday, I woke up at 6am and actually learned how to play it.

Influences

The first theme of the piece quite obviously draws from the 2nd movement of Beethoven's Pathetiqué (I enjoy that movement very much).

I tried to make the second theme contrast the first while still incorporating similar elements.

Previous Compositions

• I [1/26] With God All Things are Possible
• II [2/9] God of Faith

Conclusion

Thanks for reading/listening to this!I hope you enjoyed this composition! It was fun to write (despite some of the rushed and underdeveloped ideas). Please remember that feedback is always very much appreciated! I hope you have a lovely time until we meet again! See you then!

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