For Easter, our Bishopric doesn't have the choir do the whole program, which is fine with me, since it's usually pretty close to Christmas, and we would be hard-pressed to prepare an entire program in the time between Christmas break, and Easter. But we do prepare extra music. This year we did three pieces, and here is a quick run-down of our Easter line-up for April 8, 2012
Risen Today, by Dan Forrest.
This is a very lively arrangement of the hymn Christ the Lord is Risen Today. You really should go to Dan's website and listen to the recording. (There is tamborine in the recording, which I LOVE, but of course, did not use.) Some of my choir loved this piece and some . . . did not. I loved it (obviously, or I wouldn't have chosen it). I loved how joyful it made me feel, and if the resurrection is anything, it is an occasion to be JOYFUL about.
**I actually went back and forth quite a lot about that song deciding whether or not it was appropriate for Sacrament meeting. LDS Sacrament meetings tend to be very conservative, and for the most part I agree with that. I'm not a fan of Christian Pop or anything like that. I tend to stick to more traditional hymns. But sometimes I feel like our congregations need a little "Hallelujah!" in them. Sometimes, I feel like instead of the reverence we're aiming for, we're just getting complacence. We're just singing along, not paying attention to the words or what they implicate in our lives, and sometimes a different setting of a hymn can help us understand the words in a new light. I felt like this hymn did that for me and I hope it helped others feel a sense of pure joy and rejoicing in the Resurrection of our Savior.
There is a Green Hill Far Away, arr. by Christine Davis
This is a lovely arrangement of a beautifully simple hymn. Lovely words, lovely melody. This arrangement splits into 8 parts at the end and is just really gorgeous. Loved it.
O Love That will not Let me Go, arr. by Joseph Martin
I won't delve into this piece because I already wrote an entire post about it. Since this is not in our hymnal, I put the words in the program so the congregation could ponder the beautiful text. The ward loved this song.
