This is part two of three of our New College Franklin series of short interviews. In this piece, Gregory Wilbur, Dean of the Chapel (and friend of Euclid, among many other impressive attributes) explains the importance of worship to the lives of the students. One of the things I like about Greg’s perspective on worship is how he sees psalmody and hymnody being a regular, spontaneous occurrence throughout the moments of our days. If you’d like to hear more of Greg’s music for yourself, you can download some free samples in our store or purchase his new album and sheet music. In the opinion of my 7-year-old daughter – as well as mine, although she has the better ear – his music for worship is simply heavenly.
I have loved Greg Wilbur’s music for a long time. He composed the soundtracks for Samaritan and The Widow & Judge in our Modern Parables series. More recently, he published an album of his hymns and songs entitled My Cry Ascends (you can watch a short trailer, too). It’s therefore a privilege for us to to begin offering his music in The Compass Store starting with downloads of My Cry Ascends and sheet music for all the songs. We also are providing free downloads of some live recordings of Parish Presbyterian Church singing some of those same songs. But it doesn’t stop there: Greg has written a Franklin Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and Benediction which are truly heavenly. If you haven’t heard them, download the free live recordings and purchase the sheet music. You can also see how he uses his music in a worship service by downloading the Parish Presbyterian Order of Worship. (For those of you who were at the PCA General Assembly’s opening service, these are the songs sung there.) I encourage you to get the free recordings now – you will be happy you did.
I think Greg Wilbur is one of the best living composers of music for worship. That he happens also to be the Chief Musician at Parish Presbyterian Church in Franklin, Tennessee means I have the privilege of hearing his music each week. (You know his music is really wonderful when your 7-year-old daughter sings it to herself when she’s coloring.) Greg recently teamed up with Ligonier Ministries to create a new CD of his songs called My Cry Ascends. Last week, Parish Pres came together to sing a number of those songs, many of which have been sung by the church for years. I am quite sure Greg’s music brings great pleasure to the Lord, who, like 7-year-olds, takes special delight in wonderful songs. If you have a minute, go to Ligonier’s site and sample some of his music for yourself. [If you'd like to watch the video in HD, just click the button in the upper right corner.]
Classical music is one of the perfect sources of music for film. There is a limitless supply. It is in the public domain so you can record it and own it outright. And, most importantly, it’s just great music. Even though I’ve been listening to it for over two decades, I am always finding some new composer to explore. Recently, I started digging deeper into the works of Franz Joseph Haydn, one of the three great Viennese classical composers (along with Mozart and Beethoven) from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His music is a pure delight to listen to; imagine every happy and beautiful emotion you can, and that’s Haydn. [click to continue…]
