Mozart’s Twinkle, Twinkle Meets It Is Well with My Soul

March 17, 2015 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to the title track A Thousand Years from my 7th album as you read (featuring original, Mozart’s Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and It Is Well with My Soul melodies). If you enjoy, consider ordering the CD or MP3 Album, or Sheet Music (the song is also on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Pandora, and more).

What is one of your favorite childhood memories that filled you with wonder and awe?

As you listen to the music stream and read this post, I want you to think of a favorite childhood memory filled with beauty, then recall something recently that stirred this same child-like faith, wonder and awe. I can remember climbing to the top of a 100-foot tall sweet gum tree in North Carolina at age nine, the first time I saw the Rocky Mountains when I was ten, or trying to outrun the ocean waves washing up on the beach at age eleven. Just a few years ago I got to visit northern Minnesota for a week of canoeing and camping. I awoke at 3 a.m. several mornings to gaze at night skies filled with more stars than I had ever seen.

For me, these kinds of moments are breathtaking. They remind me that creation has a Creator, and the story I am living has a Storyteller. They point me toward God’s beauty, adventure, and intimacy he reveals to me, and his incredible gift of grace and forgiveness. Connecting physical and spiritual wonder and awe is so powerful and reviving.

This was all contained in my heart as I created the song A Thousand Years, combining original composing from Psalm 90:4 with Mozart’s famous melody best known as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and the famous 1871 hymn It Is Well with My Soul. Musically I wanted to interweave the wonder and awe of child-like faith with the peace and hope of spiritual peace with God through Jesus in my soul.

If this music and topic inspires you, please take time to watch or bookmark the newest music video Far Away from Home, from my 9th album Treasures of Peace. The music and story are a visual illustration of Isaiah 41:10 child-like faith and living life without fear.

Where is a place you could go to nurture your child-like wonder and awe?

Psalm 90:4 (NIV) “A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.”

Isaiah 41:10 (MSG) “Don’t panic. I’m with you. There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.”

Pachelbel’s Canon in D Meets Psalm 19

March 13, 2015 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Across the Skies (featuring Canon in D) from the album A Thousand Years as you read. If you enjoy, consider ordering the CD or MP3 Album, or Sheet Music (the song is also on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Pandora, and more).

What is your favorite classical or hymn melody?

This question was my challenge in creating my 7th album A Thousand Years, which features original composing interwoven with six world renown classical melodies and seven great hymn melodies. One of these is Johann Pachelbel’s famous Canon in D. Since this is so often included in wedding ceremonies, it an interesting that when Pachelbel wrote this in 1694 it may have been for Johann Christoph Bach’s wedding, who was Johann Sebastian Bach’s oldest brother.

Since I was a little boy I have marveled at the skies. Maybe this is why I loved climbing trees so much in my childhood. Maybe this is why Psalm 19 is one of my favorites. Across the Skies opens with two phrases of my simple arrangement of Canon in D, then here is what happens…

An original melody appears for a new variation. The piano is “singing” word for word, “In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun” (verse 4). Then the Pachelbel arrangement expands with new variations, answered by some new variations on the original melody. This “meeting” of classical and original continues to build, then concludes with the simplest Pachelbel to take us off into the sunset after these moments of musical “sky gazing.”

What is your favorite memory of a beautiful sky?

Psalm 19 (NIV) for Meditation while Listening…

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice[b] goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.
10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.
11 By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

A Music Video for Counting Life’s Blessings

March 10, 2015 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

This post was designed for taking a few minutes to pause, watch, and listen…to count life’s blessings. Take a deep breath and soak in the Rivers of Light music video filmed in the north Georgia mountains. You can reflect on the verses underneath if you like.

The first verse, which is lyrical, meaning the piano is actually singing these words, is from Isaiah 65:24: “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” When a friend introduced this verse to me, I was blown away. God knows the prayers in my heart before I even call to Him. And He hears my prayers before I am finished speaking to Him. Wow. Take a moment to pause and open your heart to Him, to speak with Him, to listen for His answer.

The second verse is the overall theme for this song, and encourages me to count life’s blessings. “Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.” (James 1:17) This was captured in the Unveiled CD liner notes: “Desirable and beneficial gifts from heaven are painted in this song as rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.” Take a moment to pause and give thanks to God.

What life blessing does this post help you recall?