Ta. 3--Nearer, My God, To Thee

My Freshman Academy group (freshman put in some of the same classes for a year) was going to perform a set of hymns for the residents of a local nursing home. I was asked to find a few hymn arrangements. I did find some good ones, but I also had some ideas for an arrangement of “Nearer, My God, To Thee.” I wrote it and offered it to a quartet of singers. They said the arrangement was really good, but it turned out that due to rehearsal time constraints they chose a different song to perform at the nursing home.

I’ve loved the melody and the lyrics of this hymn for many years. I used lots of different textures and voicings to musically convey the meaning of the words. I also wanted to include all five verses, which is why this arrangement is longer than others. I did a lot of word painting here. For example, “steps unto heaven” in verse three is sung with an ascending line and “all that thou sendest me” is sung with a descending tenor line (as if it were gifts sent, descending from heaven). Also, when angels are mentioned in verse three, I have the women singing the angelic part. “Bright with thy praise” was voiced like a pair of trumpets playing a fanfare. With every verse, I tried something new. The fifth and last verse I felt should naturally modulate up from the key of F to the key of G. Looking at it now, I can see how this could be challenging for a choir to learn and sing. But, I think it is terrific improvement from the choir works I wrote in high school.