Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Come, Let Us Prepare The Way

I had hoped to have this up a month ago but between scheduling challenges with the guys and the fact that this is my first real attempt at home recording here we are, just in time for Advent. There was a lot of trial and error in the process of getting this recorded and I could keep working on it for a lot longer but I'm leaving it alone for now. I certainly have a lot to learn.
Last year my parish was between music directors and I volunteered to help fill the gap until they hired a replacement, so for a while I was selecting and directing music for one of our Sunday morning Masses. As we approached advent I was having trouble finding songs that fit my style and had a strong advent theme. (Feel free in the comments to let me know of all the great songs I'm missing out on) So I went with the simplest solution, I wrote one.
Since advent is only four Sundays I wanted to be sure that it would be very accessible. This song can be used as a call and response in the verses, allowing the congregation to join in easily even having never heard it before. And of course as it becomes a little more familiar they can sing it all.
For any guitarists out there who may want to play this, a quick note on the guitar chords. I wrote this in E with some very simple open chords up and down the neck. I always love the sound of big open chords. However if you're the type that just isn't comfortable going up the neck this can easily be done capo two in D.
I hope you enjoy it, leave me a comment and let me know what you think. If you end up using it for your congregation I would especially love to hear about it.

BTW, if you tried unsuccessfully to comment before I've changed the settings so that you should be able to comment without setting up an account.You can open the drop down menu and select "name/URL" and just enter your name.
Blessed Advent

Download the guitar/vocal sheet music here.

Download the piano accompaniment here.