Hymn

How Gentle God’s Commands

Marilee Leishman Religious Arrangements 1 Comment
How Gentle God’s Commands

How Gentle God’s Commands is an old Christian Hymn written by Text: Philip Doddridge and Music: Hans Georg Nägeli.
Philip Doddridge (1702-1751) was an English Nonconformist (specifically, Congregationalist) minister, educator, and hymnwriter.  Doddridge was known for ending his sermons with newly crafted hymns as summaries of the lessons, but his hymns were not published during his lifetime. The first posthumous edition contained 370 hymns.
Hans Georg Nägeli (26 May 1773 – 26 December 1836) was a composer and music publisher. Nägeli was born in Wetzikon, Switzerland. He studied under his father as a child and then opened a private music shop and publishing firm in the 1790s.

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How Great the Wisdom and the Love – Vocal Solo

Marilee Leishman Religious Arrangements 1 Comment
How Great the Wisdom and the Love – Vocal Solo

Text by Eliza R. Snow: In the midst of the Missouri persecutions in the late 1830s, Joseph Smith called on Eliza to write on behalf of her people and in their defense.4 She accepted the challenge, and by the 1850s, she became known as “Zion’s Poetess.” She wrote more than 500 poems in which she chronicled the history and beliefs of the Saints. Many of her poems became beloved hymns and were sung around pioneer campfires, in meeting rooms, and in temples. (source)

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Jesus, Lover of My Soul

Marilee Leishman Religious Arrangements 1 Comment
Jesus, Lover of My Soul

Hello! This week I created a vocal arrangement of the old Christian hymn, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, which is one of the suggested songs for this week’s Come Follow Me Book of Mormon lesson. I pushed myself on the speed of the left hand notes for the instrumental section and last verse of the song. It took some practice for me to get it up to speed and I had to record it multiple times to get it right. I never know what I am going to do with a hymn when I first look at it. I just start playing around with it and eventually come up with something. It takes some effort! ha ha. 

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Help Me Teach with Inspiration

Marilee Leishman Religious Arrangements 1 Comment
Help Me Teach with Inspiration

Help Me Teach with Inspiration is one of the suggested songs for this week’s Come Follow Me  Book of Mormon lesson studying Alma 8-12. In this arrangement, I slowed down the speed of the hymn significantly which gave me more time to play around with the melody and rhythm a bit. It isn’t an oft sung hymn, at least in my experience at Church, but actually has a really pretty melodic structure.

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The Lord is My Shepherd Men’s Trio

Marilee Leishman Religious Arrangements 1 Comment
The Lord is My Shepherd Men’s Trio

Hello! This week, for our Come Follow Me  Book of Mormon lesson, I chose to select The Lord is My Shepherd. This is an arrangement I did for a men’s musical number we needed at our recent church conference for the adults in our area. I had adapted it from a previous piano solo to suit this Men’s trio. RD Parsons, Kevin Forbush and Josh Pack are on vocals and did such a wonderful job recording and interpreting this beautiful hymn. I am grateful to them for allowing me to record and film them for this setting!

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Love One Another BOM

Marilee Leishman Religious Arrangements 1 Comment
Love One Another BOM

Hello! Love One Another is one of the suggested songs to go along with the Come Follow Me  Book of Mormon lesson this week. Love One Another is a popular LDS hymn with a beautiful melody and just one single verse. This arrangement is a vocal solo with an instrumental piano part and reprise of the second half of the verse at the end. The sheet music for this arrangement is available for free here. 

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Keep the Commandments

Marilee Leishman Religious Arrangements 1 Comment
Keep the Commandments

Hello! Keep the Commandments is one of the suggested songs to go along with the Come Follow Me  Book of Mormon lesson this week. This is a short and simple piano solo arrangement. This lesson studies Mosiah chapters 11-17. In this section, King Noah rules in wickedness, Abinadi prophesies that the people will be taken into bondage & King Noah will die because of their wickedness. Abinadi is imprisoned. He speaks to the false priests and King Noah, teaching them the Ten Commandments and that Salvation does not come through the law of Moses alone, but through Jesus Christ. Alma, one of the wicked priests, believes his words. Abinadi suffers death by fire and Alma writes his words, separating himself from King Noah and the priests. 

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