One Foundation
FALL 2019
One Foundation was commissioned by Stonybrook UMC on the occasion of collaboration with The Ohio State University Symphonic Band. The OSU music school was undergoing renovations which left the Symphonic Band to find alternate venues for performances. They performed a concert at Stonybrook on October 6, 2019 which included the premiere of One Foundation.
Stonybrook music director, Jeff Shellhammer, asked me create a medley of 4 traditional hymns for SATB, concert band and organ. We included a piano four-hands part which effectively doubled as a reduction of the band score for rehearsal purposes. On top of all of this, we also decided to invite the congregation to sing along on the second and fourth hymns. It was a big project, and I'm so thankful that Jeff Shellhamer and OSU Symphonic Band director, Scott Jones, invited me to collaborate with them to create this music. They were both band directors of mine at different points in my life, so it was very special to work with them in this way.
Program Note:
One Foundation is a medley of four hymns— “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” “I Am Thine, O Lord,” “Blessed Assurance” and “The Church’s One Foundation.” The title of the arrangement refers to Jesus, who is the One Foundation of the church and the Christian faith as stated at the beginning of the fourth hymn. Each hymn references Jesus’ coming from heaven, sacrificial death and resurrection for you and for me, so as to unify us with God and with each other. This unity, with God and with each other built on Jesus as the One Foundation, is depicted musically throughout the work. To help unify the arrangement, small melodic fragments from some of the hymns appear as accompaniment and transition material within other sections of the piece. During “Blessed Assurance,” the band quotes Holst’s First Suite in E-flat fusing the concert band world and the church choir world in a ‘mash-up’ of sorts. In the final moments of the piece, the large homophonic texture gradually fades, and the line, “renew us with your Spirit; Lord, free us, make us one,” is repeated until all instruments and voices finally come to rest together on a single pitch.
One Foundation is a medley of four hymns— “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” “I Am Thine, O Lord,” “Blessed Assurance” and “The Church’s One Foundation.” The title of the arrangement refers to Jesus, who is the One Foundation of the church and the Christian faith as stated at the beginning of the fourth hymn. Each hymn references Jesus’ coming from heaven, sacrificial death and resurrection for you and for me, so as to unify us with God and with each other. This unity, with God and with each other built on Jesus as the One Foundation, is depicted musically throughout the work. To help unify the arrangement, small melodic fragments from some of the hymns appear as accompaniment and transition material within other sections of the piece. During “Blessed Assurance,” the band quotes Holst’s First Suite in E-flat fusing the concert band world and the church choir world in a ‘mash-up’ of sorts. In the final moments of the piece, the large homophonic texture gradually fades, and the line, “renew us with your Spirit; Lord, free us, make us one,” is repeated until all instruments and voices finally come to rest together on a single pitch.
Are you interested in collaborating with me to make some music? Send me an email, I'd love to hear from you!
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