After I finish producing an album I usually don’t listen to it for a year. Why? Because I’ve heard it. I mean I’ve really heard it. Probably each song thousands of times. I’ve heard it so many times, I can’t hear it anymore.

It’s not that I don’t like it anymore; it’s just that I hold it in my bones – measure by measure, note by note, second by second. Every moment has been gone over from every angle so many times that I really don’t even know how to listen to the whole anymore.

And so I don’t. I just put it away for myself and hand it off to you.

Usually, then when about a year goes by, I can pick up that CD again, play it and revisit it on a normal listening level. I find that then, I don’t have to be critical of my own work, to listen for every subtle nuance in the arrangement, the playing, the singing, the mix. Instead, I can then just listen to the whole again and enjoy it for what it is.

Somehow it always sounds better than I remembered it. That’s a plus and often a very pleasant surprise.

I’ve also found that whereas I used to only want to record songs that I had composed, that now I really enjoy arranging, orchestrating and recording great songs that I have always loved or even recently discovered. This particular experience for me is especially sweet because not only do I get a chance to work with a great piece of material, but I can also add my own personal experience to the music.

I can react to it right there in the moment and express my feelings about the wonder of the music that someone else might have created and, in fact, actually collaborate with the original composer. That composer may not even be with us anymore, but his or her music is, and it’s a privilege beyond measure.

All of the above has been part of my experience with Ode To Joy, a CD I recorded for Watchfire Music some time ago. In this particular case I have not waited a year to listen to one of the particular songs, but simply needed to hear it again – to revisit an old friend. So I threw it up on my speakers about 15 minutes ago and gave it a listen.

You might find the following more of interest if you have the time to listen to it now.
Click the link to listen to How Great Thou Art

“How Great Thou Art” is one of our true classics of the American hymnal songbook. I have loved this song for years. Unfortunately, it is not in my particular church’s hymnal and so was not as familiar to me as so many others, but whenever I would hear it sung, something would always stop in me and I’d have to grab on to something and hold on for dear life.

Someone once said to me, “It’s a great melody, but the words are a little thin.” I’m not so sure about that. It’s simple. It’s a descriptive song. Its second verse, a verse I did not use, goes like this:

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee…

I’ve stood on that mountain. I’ve walked through those lofty forests. I hold those experiences in me and know God from those moments. For me, the experience and the lyrical representation are not thin. Nevertheless, I did write another second verse to further illuminate my experience with the song.

When in my soul I know that Thou art with me
And feel Thy gentle presence through and through
Then we are oneI know that I am in Thee
And as I live I walk this life with You
Then sings my heart my savior God to Thee…

Though the original words of the second verse are not in my particular version of the song, the feelings of that verse are definitely the illuminating core of the song for me. The choices of using the harp and gentle string lines and violin solos in both the intro, the interlude between the two lyrical sections and the end of the song came from those walks through the Colorado mountains and forests. These sections were my own personal compositional comments on the experience of this hymn for me in my life of listening and discovering this classic musical gem.

The floating voices, harp and strings are exactly how I feel in the beginning every time I hear this song sung in churches, in the car – even in elevators. Then the cello introducing the theme is my soul singing. Occasionally we stop and just let the violins play one note of tremolo. How beautifully that sound expresses the thrill of standing in the presence of God.

I am humbled before this song. And it hasn’t even been a year. The chorus rushes in with that great melody soaring to the heavens. I stand out of the way. Often, in church, I cannot sing. I am too moved. And so I just stand and mouth the words with the tears welling in my eyes. And so in this rendition I stand in silence and let the voices of my friends and fellow artists soar.

I’ll put the song away for a while again. Perhaps at the official end of the year after I’ll listen again. I may even discover something new about the music that I never heard before. My child is out in the world now all grown up and making it on his own.

I wish him well. I thank God for the visit.