For part 1, click here.
Mid Section. We will never know how the song can have a different effect if the mid section is different. Tha’ts a weird philosophical statement to make; it’s like saying if B, which is wholly dependent on A, is questionable but then A is also questionable, so why debate B when you should debate A?
Since you are reading this, let me take this further (the B debate). One alternative (bad, or possible) is to have long held notes for this Med Section. For example, the use of semibreves / wholenotes – 4 crotchet beats. See MUS 009.
This will be a much “sustained” kind of melody. If the harmony is also “sustained”, e.g. one chord change per bar, then the whole feeling of “sustainness” will contrast greatly from the verse and chorus sections. It is not the intention of Tim Hughes & Nick Herbert to do this. I am merely saying music can take different structure, form and feeling. And yes, this suggested alternative does not fit the existing lyrics. The music will not just fit the lyrics.
Interesting that this raises a different approach to the song, perhaps, that the Mid Section can be played in a much more “held back” manner, rather than the energetic feel of the verse and chorus section. In my case, the energy of the verse leads to the chorus, and it will take a lot of careful planning and execution to arrive at a “sustained” Mid Section. More often, the congregation is galloping away because the music for the verse and chorus sections I led had been energetic, it’s way too challenging for musicians to transform the music to something very different for the Mid Section in a way that the congregation could also come with us. It might take a lot of careful planning and practice.
I think here is a fundamental point of discussion – the blurring of praise & worship and pop / ballad genres. It is about songs where you have a small range of emotion. The time space (e.g. 5 minutes) does not allow for major changes in emotion. In such short space of time, you don’t go from highly energetic to something so calm almost to the point of the music stopping, and then return to the energetic. You get that in larger pieces, the “classical music” domain, for example a piece that lasts 8-10 minutes.
Let’s return to the lyrics. I think this is powerful. Although the rhythmic structure is not too different from the verse and chorus, the quaver pairs are strong contrast that mark this section different from the earlier ones. The quaver pairs give a sense of pause between each pair and they make you turn your head and realise this is different.
The music draws you to the words, which draws you to God – save, heal, restore, reveal, rose, to raise, from the grave. You want to say that many many more times.
Recite this salvation formula as you rise in the morning, as you rest in the evening.
