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DESTINY MUSIC NEWSLETTER - JULY 2000 - SongLover.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

EVERY DAY IS A GIFT FROM GOD
By Betty
SMALL DONATIONS WILL GO A LONG WAY
By Melissa Cawthorne
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH 1685-1750
By Patrick Kavanaugh
"Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers"
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 1770-1827
By Patrick Kavanaugh
"Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers"
THOMAS KELLY (1893-1941)
By Thomas Kelly, "Excerpts From 'A Testament of Devotion,'"
in "Devotional Classics"
ed. Richard J. Foster and James Bryan Smith
SONGWRITING & PUBLISHING RESOURCES
Li'l Hanks Guide for Songwriters

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EVERY DAY IS A GIFT FROM GOD
By Betty

My brother and Ed (both retired) went camping last week in the San Luis Obispo area. They chose that area so that my brother could visit an old friend of his who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. They set up their camp on the beach and the next day they went to look up Pete. Ed and Pete hit it off immediately. They had many things in common. After awhile, Pete asked, "Ed, are you s-s-s..... Uh, do you go to church? Damn it Ed, what I want to say is, Are you saved? You see, I like you, but I don't have much time left on this earth and I don't want to use the energy to make a new friend if you won't be in heaven."

The rest of the afternoon they had a great time. Pete showed off his new 3-wheel cart, explaining that it could go through doorways. So, Ed took it outside and was riding it in the cul-de-sac. Pete joined him in his wheel chair and the guys had races and chased each other in the street. Pete surprised them both with 3 unusual buttons on his wheel chair: police siren, fire engine, and ambulance.

That night, Pete invited them to spend the night and sleep in his house. In the morning when Pete was in his wheel chair, he said, "Excuse me boys, this is the time I speak to the Lord. 'Lord, you know how much pain I am in and how bad off my body is, but you didn't take me last night, so there must be something you want me to do or say today. Please make it clear to me what it is.'"

Later that morning, the guests departed. When my brother got home the next day, there was a message from the Grover City Police Dept. that Pete had died.

We are thankful to God for the life and loving faith of Pete Burda of Grover City, CA who went home to be with the Lord on Saturday, June l0, 2000.

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Psalm 116:15

NIV

 

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SMALL DONATIONS WILL GO A LONG WAY
By Melissa Cawthorne
626 Mississippi Ave.
Signal Mountain, TN 37377
mhappynow@aol.com

 

Here in the Chattanooga, TN area we have many less unfortunate elderly. My goal is to make their Christmas a little happier this year. So many of our elderly have no one and I have made it my goal to make gift baskets for the elderly in nursing homes and gift boxes for less fortunate in their own homes. I will distribute each box and basket myself and visit with these wonderful people. I have 6 months to accomplish my goal and believe that I can make a difference in these peoples lives. Love is a wonderful gift and I have plenty to share.

I have written many, many, companies asking for donations of any type (NOT MONEY): can foods, fruit, blankets, just about anything that these people can use. Since I'm not an organization I am getting nothing but negative responses. Please keep me in your prayers and PLEASE, if anyone can help me reach my goal, please let me know. Maybe you know someone in a grocery store that donates dented cans or dented boxed foods. I NEED ANYTHING that can benefit our forgotten elderly. Thank you for lifting my spirits and proving that there are caring people in this world!!! GOD BLESS YOU!!!!

 

Destiny Music's Note: Small donations of jackets, blankets, canned goods can go a long way with Melissa's project (she doesn't have the overhead of "big charity")!

 

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JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH 1685-1750
By Patrick Kavanaugh, "Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers"
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), p. 19-22).

 

Throughout his life he was known much more as an organist than as a composer. Amazing to us, only ten of Bach's original compositions were published during his lifetime. It was not until the nineteenth century that his brilliance as a composer was truly appreciated. Only then would he be revered by such masters as Beethoven, who claimed, "His name ought not to be Bach ["Bach" is the German word for "brook"], but ocean, because of his infinite and inexhaustible wealth of combinations and harmonies."

Like so many other masters throughout history, Bach's personality had many facets. On one hand, he was free from personal vanity and generous and encouraging toward his many pupils. The Bach family also had a great reputation for their hospitality. His first biographer, Forkel, notes, "These sociable virtues, together with his great artistic fame, caused his house to be rarely free from visitors."...

Yet he could be stubborn and irritable, especially with an unappreciative employer or an incompetent musician. At the age of twenty, Bach ridiculed a colleague by calling him "Kippelfagottist" - a "Nanny-goat bassoonist." The offended musician picked up a stick and struck Bach, who drew his sword. A full-blown duel would have ensued, but fortunately, friends who saw the argument intensify threw themselves between the two adversaries to keep them apart.

Bach spent his entire life in Germany, working primarily as a church musician. For the two centuries prior, this region had been permeated by the legacy of Martin Luther, with his radical emphasis on a living, personal, Bible-based Christianity. Luther himself had been a musician, declaring music to be second only to the Gospel itself. Bach was to be the reformer's greatest musical disciple.

Bach resoundingly echoed the convictions of Luther, claiming that "Music's only purpose should be for the glory of God and the recreation of the human spirit." As he set about composing, he would frequently initial his blank manuscript pages with the marking, "J. J." (Jesu Juva - "Help me, Jesus") , or "I. N. J." (In Nomine Jesu - "In the name of Jesus"). At the manuscript's end, Bach routinely initialed the letter "S. D. G." (Soli Deo Gloria - "To God alone, the glory"). To Bach these were not trite religious slogans but sincere expression of personal devotion....

In his spiritual outlook, Bach made no real distinction between sacred and secular music. For instance, at the beginning of such a "secular" work as his "Little Organ Book," he wrote this dedication: "To God alone the praise be given for what's herein to man's use written." His "little Clavier Book," like so many of his compositions, was inscribed "In the Name of Jesus." Often, his compositions would contain chiastic structures, such as A B C D E D C B A. The visual equivalent of the resulting musical form appears as a cross....

Bach was, from first to last, a church musician. At the height of his fame, he left the only secular position he ever held, Capellmeister of the court of Prince Leopold. He chose instead an obscure position as Cantor at church in Leipzig, where he would again be cloistered in his unacclaimed but beloved world of church music.

Bach's eyes began failing toward the end of his life, and by age sixty-five he was completely blind. He died in relative obscurity in 1750, and his grave was not even marked. His last work, dictated from his bed, was a chorale entitled "Before Thy Throne I Come."

 

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LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 1770-1827
By Patrick Kavanaugh, "Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers"
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), p. 56-59).

 

Ludwig van Beethoven, considered by many the greatest composer who ever lived, was a devoted admirer of Handel and his music. On his deathbed, he claimed, "Handel is the greatest, cleverest composer. From him I can still learn." It is no wonder that Beethoven felt a special kinship with his predecessor; both men continued their artistic endeavors in the face of great adversity. Handel struggled against an intermittent series of external misfortunes, however, while Beethoven's conflict was internal.

From the time he was born in 1770, Beethoven faced overwhelmingly difficult circumstances. His alcoholic father proved irresponsible and harsh, and his loving mother remained frail and sickly until her death at age forty. Beethoven's talent for music presented itself when he was a young boy, yet his father was not successful at exploiting it in the same way as Mozart's father.

When he was a young man, Beethoven moved to Vienna, the musical capital of Europe, and began performing for the nobles who gathered there. His virtuosity at the piano made him extremely popular with the aristocracy, even when his crude manners left them aghast. Beethoven's mannerisms and general appearance were notoriously rough and clumsy, yet he was not the least bit intimidated by his refined patrons. He made no attempt to impress them or to change his uncultured ways....

He had many devoted friends, yet Beethoven's life was characterized by loneliness and misunderstanding. He remained a bachelor, though not by choice. He proposed to several different women, all of whom admired his genius but clearly perceived that his erratic personality would make him an intolerable husband.

The defining tragedy of his life, and the one that diminished his performing career, was his growing deafness. The pain and humiliation he experienced because of it drove him almost to suicide. In 1802, he poured out his heart in a letter to his brothers, saying that deafness meant he "must live as an exile".... It was this miserable affliction, and not malice toward others, that intensified the tumultuous eruption of emotion that is found throughout Beethoven's life and music....

In his famous Heiligenstadt Testament, the deaf composer gave voice to his deepest longs: "Almighty God, you look down into my innermost soul, you see into my heart and you know that it is filled with love for humanity and a desire to do good." Indeed, Beethoven, could be altruistic and sympathetic to the affliction of others. When he learned that Bach's only remaining daughter was in need, he immediately offered to publish a new work for the elderly woman's exclusive benefit.

As Beethoven's deafness increased, he withdrew more and more into the work of composing and into his intimate and unorthodox relationship to God. Beethoven lived until 1827. On his deathbed he reassured his brother of his "great readiness" to make his peace iwht God. One of the last acts of his life was to receive Communion. Beethoven's friend, Anselm Huttenbrenner, remained with the composer at his death, which took place during a violent storm. Following a loud clap of thunder, Huttenbrenner wrote, the unconscious Beethoven awoke, "opened his eyes, raised his right hand, his fist clenched, and looked upward for several seconds with a grave, threatening countenance, as if to say, 'I defy you, power of evil! Away! God is with me!'"...

Throughout his diary, ardent prayer appear: "In whatsoever manner it be, let me turn to Thee and become fruitful in good works." To a close friend in 1810, he confessed an almost childlike faith. He wrote, "I have no friend. I must live by myself. I know, however, that God is nearer to me than others. I go without fear to Him, I have constantly recognized and understood Him." To his friend, the Grand Duke Rudolf, Beethoven wrote, "Nothing higher exists than to approach God more than other people and from that to extend His glory among humanity."

 

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THOMAS KELLY (1893-1941)
By Thomas Kelly, "Excerpts From 'A Testament of Devotion,'"
in "Devotional Classics" ed. Richard J. Foster and James Bryan Smith
(New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993), p. 205-208.

 

INTRODUCTION TO THE AUTHOR

Thomas Kelly was born into a Quaker family in Ohio in 1893. He was educated at Haverford and Harvard and acquired a reputation for outstanding scholarship. Kelly was involved in two important ministries in his early years: working with German prisoners in 1917-18 and pastoring a Quaker community in Berlin in 1924-25. Upon his return, he taught at Earlham College and the University of Hawaii. In 1936 he bean teaching philosophy at Haverford, where he remained until his death in 1941.... Some believed that he was driven to the point of exhaustion until, in 1937, he had an experience that ended the strain and striving. His efforts were now aimed at developing an acquaintance 'with' God, not merely acquiring knowledge 'about' God.

EXCERPTS FROM "A TESTAMENT OF DEVOTION"

Such practice of inward orientation, of inward worship and listening, is no mere counsel for special religious groups, for small religious orders, for special "interior souls," for monks retired in cloisters. This practice is the heart of religion. It is the secret, I am persuaded, of the inner life of the Master in Galilee. He expects this secret to be freshly discovered in everyone who would be his follower. It creates an amazing fellowship... and institutes group living at a new level, a society grounded in reverence, history rooted in eternity, colonies of heaven.

The Inner Light, the Inward Christ... is the living Center of Reference for all Christian souls and Christian groups.... And Christian practice is not exhausted in outward deeds. They are the fruits, not the roots. A practicing Christian must above all be one who practices the perpetual return of the soul into the inner sanctuary, who brings the world into its Light and rejudges it, who brings the Light into the world with all its turmoil and its fitfulness and re-creates it. To the reverent exploration of this practice we now address ourselves.

There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we may be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs. But deep within, behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings.

Between these two levels is fruitful interplay, but ever the accent must be upon the deeper level, where the soul dwells in the presence of the Holy One, forever bringing all affairs of the first level down into the Light, holding them there in the Presence, reseeing them in a new and more overturning way and responding to them in a spontaneous, incisive, and simple ways of love and faith.

How, then, shall we lay hold of that Life and Power and live the life of prayer without ceasing? By quiet, persistent practice in turning all of our being, day and night, in prayer and inward worship and surrender, toward him who calls in the deeps of our souls.

Mental habits of inward orientation must be established. An inner, secret turning to God can be made fairly steady after weeks and months and years of practice and lapses and failures and returns. It is as simple as Brother Lawrence found it, but it may be long before we can achieve any steadiness in the process.

Begin now, as you read these words, as you site in your chair, to offer your whole selves, utterly and in joyful abandon, in quiet, glad surrender to him who is within. In secret ejaculations of praise, turn in humble wonder to the Light, faint though it may be. Keep contact with the outer world of sense and meanings. Here is no discipline in absentmindedness. Walk and talk and work and laugh with your friends. But behind the scenes, keep up the life of simple prayer and inward worship. Let inward prayer be your last act before you fall asleep and the first act when you awake.... For God himself works in our souls, in their deepest depths, taking increasing control as we are progressively willing to be prepared for his wonder.

 

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SONGWRITING & PUBLISHING RESOURCES
Li'l Hanks Guide for Songwriters
http://www.halsguide.com/

 

Catherine has used Li'l Hanks Guide for Songwriters to find LA showcases... but they have added a set of useful resources for songwriters. Lynne Robin Green (President, Winston Music Publishers (Ascap)/Hoffman House Music (BMI)) has written several articles, some which include, "The Four Most FAQs That Music Publishers Get," "The Changing Face of Music Publishing: Direct Delivery to The Consumer and the Do It Yourself," and "Making It Work For You: What a Music Publisher Looks For In Your Song."

Visit: http://www.halsguide.com/winston.html

Li'l Hank has also gone to the trouble of briefly describing and linking to a variety of other songwriting & publishing resource sites. Visit:

http://www.halsguide.com/spawning.html

 

 

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Except where otherwise noted, (c) copyright 2000 Destiny Music, Inc. All rights reserved.