HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!
I'm going to take my kids to the Church History Museum in Salt Lake. They currently have a "hands on" exhibit of the Book of Mormon and I'm dying to see what they do. I'm especially wondering if there will there be arms for us to cut off. But I suppose that would make it a "hands off" exhibit, so maybe not.
Anyway, for my birthday this year I am sharing a Christmas song arrangement I did a while back, a medley of We Three Kings and Amazing Grace. It's one of my most favorite things I've ever written, and I'm quite partial to my own work :). I've thought of a lot of ways to go about sharing it, and I settled on uploading it to the web (Scribd.com) and allowing people to download it. It works when I try it, but please let me know if it doesn't for you. I'm posting it to Facebook too but you're kind of my test group. Take it as a compliment.
Below is the explanation of how the song came to be. I've also uploaded this to Scribd, but thought it would be a nice touch here. Above all, have a very happy my birthday!
Guide Us to Amazing Grace: The Background
When I was eight months pregnant with my first baby and during a surprisingly sound sleep, I had a very vivid dream in which I was at a music conference where a man was playing the piano. It was very noisy and I had a hard time hearing the piece, but as I sat in my chair leaning forward to focus, I realized it was a blend of We Three Kings and Amazing Grace.
After I woke up, I thought about the two songs and how appropriate they were together. The reason the wise men were seeking the Christ child in the first place was because He is the source of pure grace and redemption! Of course Amazing Grace was their quest! As I worked to merge the songs, I felt that the melodies meshed together wonderfully. The original verses of "We Three Kings" outline the wise men’s gifts and their symbolisms. That didn't really go with the search for grace that I wanted to portray, so I wrote original verses to tie the meaning of the two songs together. The choruses fit beautifully with only minimal chord structure changes, and the words flowed together easily. The end result excites me more than words can tell.
I originally arranged “Guide Us to Amazing Grace” for SATB, and added an SSA version because I usually sing with women. My sister then asked for an SAB arrangement for her choir which for some crazy reason had about twice as many women's voices than men's. After a few years of not quite knowing what step to take next, I realize that the state of the worldwide web is such that it may be the perfect vehicle to share my song with whoever may want to use it.
Today is my birthday. In celebration, I would like to offer my song to the world. If you want to use it for church or school or family or anything, please do. Make as many copies as you need. Share it with your friends. I have the song (SATB, SSA, SAB, plus a separate piano accompaniment) on Scribd.com under “Guide Us to Amazing Grace” in a PDF file version. If you would like a clearer copy, please contact me at PaigeRLMoore@gmail.com. I will send you the mus version (currently, scribd.com does not support mus), and a link where you download FinaleReader, a free music-reading software program. My greatest wish is that the song will enrich your hope to guide you to amazing grace.
Paige Levanger Moore
1 September 2011
