The Medford Hymn Book-Sample

Foreword by the Composer

The Medford Hymn Book, named after the city I lived in while composing the music (viz. Medford, Massachusetts), is a collection of 215 four-part a cappella hymns in which the music (and in 130 cases the text as well) is by the present composer of this collection, assembled over most of the year 2023. I became immersed in writing hymns in my own free harmonic style and sharing them with a dear old friend, Bill Harwood of Vermont in Christian fellowship with him, as he fought but ultimately lost his battle with an atypical cancer late in 2023. I felt a special kinship in these hymns with Bill, through my almost daily hymns for which he always kindly expressed appreciation. It was a special bond I’ll never forget. one that could not have happened without modern technology like email and music software, as we lived in two different cities in two different states. I have discovered that I have a spiritual calling to compose musical hymns, in the stylistic way in which I have gone beyond the Bach principles of chorale writing and incorporated unorthodox, though singable, voice-leading and surprising musical moments. Thus the music owes its existence to the style blazoned by J. S. Bach, in his church cantatas, infused with a more contemporary approach to harmony and melody as well as tessitura, spacing and melody.  

All solely to the glory of God! Medford, Massachusetts, February 6, 2025