SO LOVED Track #3 – Walking on Air

May 15, 2018 By Stanton Lanier 5 Comments

Click above to listen to track #3 Walking on Air from the new album So Loved as you read. You can enjoy the CD, MP3 Album, Piano Book and Sheet Music on the So Loved Album Page. You can stream the music on Spotify, iTunes-Apple Music, Amazon MP3, Pandora, and more.

What picture from your life captures that “walking on air” feeling?

It was Palm Sunday in April 2011. I was in Vermont and had the day off from recording my 7th album A Thousand Years at Imaginary Road Studios. After morning worship at a postcard white steeple church, I took an afternoon hike with a mission to find and enjoy a huge swing at the top of the mountain. With a small backpack containing water and snacks, a small digital camera, and a video camera, I began climbing upward. When the swing came into sight my heart raced, and I couldn’t wait to sit in the seat. I pushed off and gradually began swinging further and further out over a hillside that dropped off underneath me. Then I stopped, positioned the digital camera on a log, and set the timer. The first photo timing was off, but on the second attempt the image below was captured. Here are a few reasons this is a favorite symbol of “walking on air” in my life and faith journey…

I used to take life (everything) too seriously. Now I see things with child-like faith, awe and wonder.
I used to “strive to acheive” success. Now I “abide to receive” the outcomes God has in store for me.
I used to hold on to things too tightly. Now I “live and swing with God” as He holds the chains from heaven.
I used to be afraid and risk averse. Now I trust God’s words “Fear not” and take faith risks as He guides me.
I used to have more anxiety and worry. Now I have more peace, hope and joy by God’s grace and goodness.

What step can you take to “walk on air” today?

WALKING ON AIR | HANNAH
1 Samuel 2, Psalm 89. “Your vibrant beauty has gotten inside us. You’ve been so good to us. We’re walking on air. All we are and have we owe to God.”

1 Samuel 2:1 (MSG). “Hannah prayed: I’m bursting with God-news! I’m walking on air…I’m dancing my salvation.”

Psalm 89:5-9 and 15-18 (MSG). “God! Let the cosmos praise your wonderful ways, the choir of holy angels sing anthems to your faithful ways! Search high and low, scan skies and land, you’ll find nothing and no one quite like God. The holy angels are in awe before him; he looms immense and august over everyone around him. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, who is like you, powerful and faithful from every angle? You put the arrogant ocean in its place and calm its waves when they turn unruly…Blessed are the people who know the passwords of praise, who shout on parade in the bright presence of God. Delighted, they dance all day long; they know who you are, what you do—they can’t keep it quiet! Your vibrant beauty has gotten inside us—you’ve been so good to us! We’re walking on air! All we are and have we owe to God, Holy God of Israel, our King!”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (MSG).  ”He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.”

SO LOVED Track #2 – So Loved

May 10, 2018 By Stanton Lanier 4 Comments

Click above to listen to the title track So Loved as you read. You can also enjoy the CD, MP3 Album, Piano Book and Sheet Music on the So Loved Album Page. And you can stream the music on Spotify, iTunes-Apple Music, Amazon MP3, Pandora, and more.

What does “so loved” bring to mind for you with family, friends, and faith?

As we celebrate Mother’s Day in the U.S. this coming Sunday, I am dedicating this song and this week’s post to my Mom. She has been loving and encouraging me in my life and music since before I started playing piano at age six. In case you haven’t heard the story before…when I was twelve years old and wanted to give up piano lessons to focus on basketball, she wouldn’t let me quit. Mom and Dad both had a bigger, long-term perspective. They said I needed to finish the school year first before we would decide if I should stop piano lessons. By the time my 8th grade school year arrived, playing the piano had become a retreat, a sanctuary where I could relax and unwind. Then the next summer I wrote my first song…

This title track for my just released album is also based on a love story. Since God revealed the idea for So Loved to be an album of life soundtracks inspired by Bible stories, He has been deeply moving me to know how much He loves me. Just as for each of these characters, God sees our lives as priceless works of art, and our stories as epic adventure films. He is forever singing a beautiful song over our life as He does the extraordinary through broken, ordinary people, for His glory. His love never quits, and He transforms our lives when we trust in His bigger, long-term perspective.

Musically So Loved is all original, but as the music emerged I was reminded of my favorite composer J.S. Bach. His timeless melodies from the early to mid 1700s have a simplicity as they sing to our hearts and ears (this does not mean Bach is easy to play, however!). He signed all his compositions “Soli Deo Gloria” — to the Glory of God Alone, and his music is filled with refreshing beauty. The life of the disciple John and the John 3:16 verse quoted at the bottom are the inspiration behind the song and album So Loved.

In the opening and closing sections, if you listen closely, the piano notes are repeating the words “For God so loved, the world, that He gave His only Son.” The boy choir, Gregorian choir, harp, and vibes (vibraphone) join the piano to offer angelic, heavenly harmonies. These parts were not intentionally inspired by Bach, but they could be considered reminiscent of his church music composing and chorales.

How does SO LOVED and its inspiration speak into your life today?

SO LOVED | JOHN
John 3. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” We are so loved.

SO LOVED Track 1 – A Beautiful Thing

May 2, 2018 By Stanton Lanier 11 Comments

Click above to listen to A Beautiful Thing as you read. You can also enjoy the CD, MP3 Album, Piano Book and Sheet Music on the So Loved Album Page. And you can stream the music on Spotify, iTunes-Apple Music, Amazon MP3, Pandora, and more.

What comes to mind when you think of “a beautiful thing?”

When I was composing A Beautiful Thing, I was captivated by both the scene of Mary of Bethany sitting and Jesus’s feet listening, hanging on His every word, and these three words. I began to search for a melody that sang them, and after many hours the song began to take shape. As you listen you can hear the piano singing the five syllables “a beau-ti-ful thing” several times in the opening minute, and then again in the middle of the song. Sometimes this phrase is answered with the notes singing the three syllables “so beau-ti-ful.” Read on for more of the behind the scenes inspiration for A Beautiful Thing, which is the opening track on my 11th and newest album So Loved…

In our heart of hearts, we all have this sense of searching and wanting to know and be known. God created us to long for truth and beauty, to know Him, to sit at Jesus’s feet if you will. However, the enemy, and the stress, noise, hectic pace, and distractions of the world work against us. They prevent us from fully tasting and seeing what a rich, meaningful, and powerful experience it is to sit at His feet, and to really listen.

The music has some slight tension in it, representing the time and effort it takes to get there — to Jesus’s feet — and to begin listening to what He has to say to us. The opening section and its repetition in the middle of the song, represent “getting there.” Then the chorus melodies express what its like to be there, taking everything in Jesus has to share with us — words of grace (patiently and lovingly forgiving us for our sin and proneness to wander), and wisdom for guidance (what He wants us to obey). It was an amazing experience as God revealed an idea and the notes for the ending section of the song.

When we truly sit at His feet, Jesus reveals more to us than we can imagine. The piano begins to overlay melodies that all sing together, with eight hands playing at once. These piano layers represent the harmony of our lives, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit all singing together. The song is “a beautiful thing” as we worship our loving Father, sitting at His feet, hanging on His every word. One of the melodies symbolizes the perfume flowing down from Jesus’s head, over and over. Matthew and Mark speak to Mary anointing Jesus’s head, and John speaks to her anointing His feet with extremely expensive perfume. The disciples argued that the perfume could have been sold, and the money given to the poor. Jesus responds saying, “she has done a beautiful thing to me.”

How does this track and its inspiration speak into your life today?

A BEAUTIFUL THING | MARY OF BETHANY
Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 10. Jesus said, “she has done a beautiful thing to me.” When we truly sit at His feet, Jesus reveals more to us than we can imagine.