Author: akschmidt

I really have not done a lot with music creation before. I have however played a lot of music on several different instruments. When I do try to experiment with music production I like to use major keys. I really like playing stuff in Bb major on both guitar and french horn. I think playing… Continue reading Music Writing

For my Passion story, I would start it near or before Palm Sunday, celebrated the Sunday before Easter. I would end the story at Pentecost. I would do this because I think from a Christian perspective it is important to include the Great Commission because it shows why the crucifixion of Jesus is important. I… Continue reading Answering My Questions

In class, the other day Dr McGrath talked about how Handel’s Messiah had different word inflections and dynamics depending on what the lyrics were. However, this technique is not unique to Handel. Many songwriters across the years have used this technique to match their lyrics. The opera Aida uses this technique in its lyrics. One… Continue reading Song Inflection

I love the Hallelujah Chorus. It is something I look forward to every time my church’s choir does their rendition of it. The music is amazing and gives a truly great message and moves me to reverence every time. Handel does a great job in this section of really diving into the words and connecting… Continue reading Handel’s Messiah

I didn’t realize that when I read I do in fact add stuff. This was a new revelation for me today. In Psalm 23, I always picture mountains. The passage says nothing about them, but I always picture sheep somewhere like Scotland or the Faroe Islands or even New Zealand, walking with their shepherd over… Continue reading The Bible and How I Read It

This is going to be a shorter blog post today, but here it goes. I really like the guitar function on Garageband. It could be really useful for background/secondary guitar. The auto-play feature is really nice. I like that they have pedals and different types of guitars for different types of music. I wish that… Continue reading Music Creation

Today in class we talked about covers and if they really are the same song repeated. The cover I thought of first is Guns N Roses cover of Knocking on Heavens Door which was originally released by Bob Dylan. These two songs are very different songs. Yes, they might have the same lyrics but they… Continue reading Cover Songs

Growing up and even still today I have many members in my extended family that are members of the Reformed Presbyterian church. Dr McGrath touched on this denomination a little bit today in class. To go a little deeper this denomination followed John Calvin’s theology in accordance with Psalmody. This means that they exclusively sing… Continue reading More Popular Hymns in Psalmic Meter

Today in class the question was posed, “Is chanting music?”. This question proceeded to go unanswered and we moved on in the lecture. But, I would like to revisit this topic because it is an important question. Obviously, we did some demonstrative chants as a class and listened to gregorian chants both of which were… Continue reading Is Chanting Music?

I thought it was really interesting hearing examples of the music in the bible. The lyre especially is really fascinating to me. As a guitar player, amongst other things, the lute made more sense to me. But, it was really cool seeing the lyre because of the lack of frets. The music was so complex… Continue reading Ancient Music and the Bible