I also use MuseScore and find it to work quite well. I don’t think it’s quite as intuitive as Sibelius or Finale, but since you have to pay for those and MuseScore is free, I didn’t mind the learning curve.

Pro tip: To convert to shape notes in MuseScore, click on a staff, then right-click on the staff and click “Staff/Part Properties.” In…

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Hi Austin, is the sound file for sure the same as the pdf? The last line sounded different.

Wow, I totally missed seeing the notification for this. Looks like it came to my spam folder.

I’ve seen people go either way on blessed vs. blest. The classic poets wrote bless’d, but that may look odd. I personally prefer to just use “blessed” and let people figure out which pronunciation to use based on the way the tune’s rhythm goes.

I like…

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I like this, Rachel. I think it works quite well. However, there are a couple of lines that have rhythm bumpyness:

“that they then were bringing” sounds a little contrived

“Shepherds heard it then” doesn’t fit the rhythm of Wenceslas. I suppose you could say something like “Shepherds heard the call then” to rhyme with “all men,” although that…

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I like this overall, and it seems pretty singable. It would be very useful as a short Scripture chorus.

I agree with Lyndon’s point about the rhythm. I also agree on the open fifths. The tenor will have some trouble tuning their final note, and it would also be a more familiar harmonic language to have them sing a mi. Also, starting out, I think…

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Nice! I like the modulations.

Nice singable tune, with a somewhat nonstandard harmony. To my ear, it works. Not sure I’m well-placed to judge it, but I do notice some open fifths, such as the first chord on ms. 8. Whether it works or not will probably depend on how it sounds when sung.

I like this overall, Marshall! It’s a singable tune, and the harmony is generally enjoyable. A few things:

• The chord change from ms. 6 to 7 feels a bit weak, probably since all the parts are moving in the same direction.
• The change to major at the end seems very abrupt. Maybe if it could transition sooner, such as in ms. 19, it would be…

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Very nice and singable. I really like the harmonic direction. The piece has a lot of character.

The vowel in “World” is such that an extended upward slur on it could be a bit painful to hear, depending on the congregation.

The accents in the word “darkness” don’t line up with the beats, which will make it a bit more awkward.

I think I like…

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Some really good elements here, Yolanda! I would agree, though, with your assessment that there are ways it could be strengthened.

I would hope we are not loved by Jesus alone. Perhaps “Redeemed through Jesus’ love, and his alone” or something of the sort, so that it would be clear that his love is not the only love, but the only redeeming…

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Nice! I like the direction it has taken.

This feels really good and solid to me. Looks quite singable and I think a congregation would enjoy it.

To my ear, the harmony at “Father but by” feels a bit unstable and tenuous. That may be because the first chord is an inversion, and the second and third are “clustery” chords. They follow a very standard, stable harmonization, but depart from…

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Yes indeed! I’ve used Sibelius 7 for years, and it’s pretty good with shape notation. It doesn’t always flip fa correctly and it doesn’t assign noteheads to chromatics, so those need to be done manually, though there are fairly simple keyboard shortcuts for doing that.

I hear that Dorico might be the up and coming choice, however.

Very nice, Rachel! I think this is really good. The second quatrain is grammatically a little awkward. I mean the section that goes:

In Him we live and being have

In Him, our all in all.

In Him, our glory and reward.

From Him, life’s bounties fall.

As Yolanda pointed out, the first line sounds a bit awkward. And since the next two lines don’t have…

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I like this! The only issue I see is that “Sol-Fa-Re” at the end of the first phrase isn’t an intuitive soprano line. I’d change it to “Sol-Mi-Re” if possible, which also reflects what happens later in the song. It would necessitate harmonic changes, though.

Thanks for pointing this out, Chadwick. No, that has nothing to do with your location–I’m not sure exactly why it doesn’t work, but it’s not working for anyone else either. We’re hoping to get that fixed eventually.

I like it, Lance. I think its style makes it a great fit for this sort of thing. What it does, it does well, to my ear. The only thing that feels funny is the variations in the length of the first phrase. Of course, that can’t be helped entirely. However, I think that the beginnings of the third and fourth stanzas could be fit in the same…

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I like the form, and could wish the first and last lines of stanzas rhymed better. But if used for a song, that probably makes less of a problem than if this is just a standalone poem.

The final line of the third stanza feels a bit tacked on. The “all is glory!” exclamation may or may not work out well in a strophic hymn composition. Otherwise,…

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There’s MuseScore, which is open source, so it’s completely free. I know people who use it and find it adequate. I used it for one song and couldn’t figure out all the options, but then I didn’t spend a ton of time on it since I already have Sibelius.

I like this overall. The thing that bothers me somewhat is the similarity between the second and third lines. They’re only slightly different, so it doesn’t feel like the tune is building in a direction until we get to the final line.

Very nice! The only thing I can think of is that the variation in timing might be hard for people to remember.

I like the tune, but don’t know what to say about it, as I’m not familiar with how to treat Neapolitan chords. However, I would suggest rhyming the last stanza, because I miss the rhyme there.

The text doesn’t claim to be special, which is good; it fills its intent of didacticism, but isn’t highly poetic.

I like this too. However, the last note of measure 2 and 6 feel like they want to move now, to parallel the movement in the previous measure.

I think that improves it a bit. It’s not as wooden as your former stanza 2. The third line is obviously written the way it is so it can rhyme, though. Typically, you want your rhyming words to seem like the obvious choice to end the line, rather than an unlikely word to use. So I’d suggest changing it a bit.

Oops, forgot to reply earlier. I think “severe mercy” can work, and I can’t think of anything better.

I forget how one talks about chord progressions in minor, but some form of ii-iii-vi is fairly typical, if you know what I mean. You might not be able to do that here without changing the melody, but the biggest thing that I found unsettling…

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I really like this, Sherri! It has depth and sings well, two things that don’t always go together. You stuck pretty carefully to the meter, so I doubt you’ll have a problem using another tune with this song, though I think Mendon works with it well.

The last line of the second stanza is a bit wooden in both phrasing and meaning. It’s not bad…

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I think this text and tune are sound, and I enjoyed singing it. The melody carries the text well and is memorable.

I could wish for a bit more bass movement in measures 2 and 7. Also, the harmony in measure 9 feels a bit drab; I’d suggest more traditional harmonic progression there, but it could be just me.

I agree with Rachel, and suggest that…

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Testing out functionality
and seeing

if this works
or if it doesn’t

I like how this one asks questions like we find in Job. Overall, I think this will be very singable. However, the meter really does need to be more regular, if you’re going to find a tune for it.

The first stanza should be fine. The second stanza’s first line ends with an extra syllable–I would change “nothingness” to “nothing.” Also, its…

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Rachel, I really like the depth of expression that I see here. It’s a very meditative piece and speaks to some of the timeless human questions.

That being said, I agree with James that there’s a lot of material here for a song. Consider that people will be singing it, so some of their attention will go to the music. And also, when singing,…

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Vincent, I like the changes. Measure 7 feels a bit longwinded to me, at least when the first part is repeated. But otherwise I really like it and would love to sing it sometime.

I’d say I like draft 3 better, though the first measure of draft 1 seems a bit stronger. Draft 2 is good too, and I like it just fine, except for measure 6, which seems to appear out of the blue.

I really like this, Lyndon! It fits the text quite well and it’s very tender. It feels like it wants to end in minor rather than phrygian, so you could consider a root-position chord on the third to last note to satisfy our ears and make us ready for a different chord at the end. Just a thought.

Test

Again, a very nice melody. This would work great in many contexts. It has considerable beauty and movement. For the harmony, I think it’s overly sophisticated for the simply elegant melody. A traditional harmonization without most of the pedal tones and chromatics, and with more selective use of counterpoint, would in my view work better.

Ok, this is working better now.

Ok, I realized there was a setting it needed to change. It should work now, and I’m uploading what you sent me.

Very nice! The soprano in measures 5-6 is a little drab, and the timing could probably get plodding, but I really like the harmony. Sounds great overall.

Very nice, Vincent! It flows well and speaks to the text very expressively. Each phrase builds on the last one naturally. Two things. Measure 11 felt a little bit tacked on, like it didn’t move the song forward as well as the rest of the phrases do. Maybe that’s my perception, though. Also, measure 15 felt unsatisfying for some reason. It…

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I don’t know that I have the expertise to critique this, but my main thoughts are that the melody sounds good and hangs together, but that the harmony sounds a bit muddy in a few places. As in, dissonant without an obvious purpose. That may just be my perception.

In an earlier conversation about this, Wendell Glick had said, “The harmony in…

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Wow, Richard, I really like the Early American feel to this. With the synthesized piano, it’s a bit hard for me to hear the voices. Would you mind sending it as a MusicXML file, so I could play with voices and speeds?

Nice poem, Rachel! I think it fits the tune really well.

• The last line of the first stanza doesn’t fit well with the tune. That’s because it needs to end with a feminine rhyme (something to rhyme with “ALL men” and not just “men”) and otherwise it doesn’t fit the rhythm of the tune.
• I think the second stanza is the best of the three. The ideas…

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You use some really good images, Rachel, which makes a big difference to whether a poem works or not. In general, this has a flowing rhythm, and I think it’s got a predictable enough rhythm that it could be sung easily. It’s not your typical hymn subject, but it’s devotional and thought-provoking, so I think it would work well as a church…

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Interesting idea, Rachel. I don’t know that I want to make that change, since I was aiming for a specific tune. But I should look at it further to see if it might smooth up the rhythm a bit.

I love that this text goes through all the things that we value, even very legitimately, and puts them in proper perspective.

A few notes:

“That I may love more truly than before!” is a bit ambiguous. I assume what’s meant is “That I may love them more truly than I did before”–which of course doesn’t fit the rhythm. But if it could be clearer…

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I think this is stronger. The only pick I would have is “accord,” which doesn’t seem to be used according to its meaning. Maybe “Let my life for Your sake be outpoured” or something of the sort.

I thought I had submitted a reply to this . . . but apparently it never sent. I really like the style, and I think the tune will make the big difference as to whether the text flows well or not. A catchy tune that can accommodate rhythm differences will be great.

My main suggestion would actually change it quite a bit–I think what you’re…

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Here are a few thoughts:

• The harmony is a lot of fun, and I think the style fits the text. That being said, because it’s harmonically conceived (not a strong or intuitive melody), and the harmony differs from common practice, it will be harder for a congregation to sing.
• The rhythm is the same for each phrase of text, which might become…

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This is a fun tune, Lyndon. As a song leader, I believe I’d find v1 easier, since the measures follow the musical pattern more closely. I like that it shifts keys and timings, as though it’s traveling through a musical landscape. But of course that will make it harder to learn.

In the case of the unison, I agree that something feels a little…

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Not sure what to say on that. It will probably depend on your singers and how familiar they are with the piece.