Hello everyone,

 
               I hope you are having a great Labor Day by taking the day off and not Laboring. Since it is a national holiday most companies let their employees take the day off, but before you start your day take a minute to think of all the blessings God has put in your life. Your family, friends, jobs, experiences, etc. This hymn is about God's sovereignty in our lives and that all that is good in our lives comes from above. This hymn in general has many chord changes, but with practice it is very fun to play. If any of you have any questions, please write me. Thanks everyone. Have a great holiday!

God bless,

-Ben

Sheet Music

http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Main Page

http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/

Hello Everyone,

            This week we are going to look at the hymn "Suffer Little Children to Come Unto Me." This hymn's text is about Christians raising their Children correctly; with instruction from scripture and within the church. There are many passages about this subject in the Bible like Deuteronomy 6:7. This was the commandment neglected in the book of Judges. It was like every time they called unto God he came and saved them, yet only a generation later all was forgotten. It happened again and again and again... Is this happening in our generation? Whatever your answer, we can all agree that we need to start our loved one's lives right ftom the beginning; with God. I hope you all enjoy this hymn arrangement and I'll see you all next week.

           Any Hymn requests, questions about reading tabs, buying dulcimer or mny books, or suggestions about the Dulcimer Hymnal site, please email me at Besh@wpchurch.com. I'd love to hear from you!

God bless,

-Ben

Sheet Music

Main Page

 P.S. - Below is a great link about the text of this Hymn.

http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Jehovah/Little.Children.Come.to.Me.html

Hello Everyone,

           This week I arranged a hymn for the dulcimer by request. The hymn requested is “Hold to God's Unchanging Hand.” I believe there are many tunes used for these hymn text, but I chose the original tune written by Franklin L. Eiland.

            Most of the hymn is strangely played over a G major chord, even during the strong cadences where you would expect a D or D dominant 7th Chord. Because of this, I felt this hymn would be easier to play and to arrangement if I used a capo (so I did!). I hope you enjoy this week’s arrangement. Below is a devotional written by F. L. Elland about this week hymn.

God bless,

-Ben
 
Sheet Music

http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Main Page

http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com

____

F. L. Elland - The February 2001 issue of With All Boldness

Verse 1
Time is filled with swift transition, naught of earth unmoved can stand, build your hopes on things eternal, hold to God's unchanging hand.
Ecc. 3:1-8, Gen. 7:21-24, Titus 1:1-4, 3:7-8, Gal 5:4-6, Eph 2:12-17, Col 1:3-5, Titus 2:13-14, Heb 13:7-8, Acts 13:32-34.
Every aspect of our lives is constantly changing. The average person changes jobs about 7 times. Our society thinks nothing of changing our residence. We change our hair, our style of clothes. Change is also all around us. As we get older, it seems that when we do not want things to change, that's when they change the most. The earth is constantly changing. Man has brought about great change all over the world. God has changed the earth in many ways. At one point he destroyed almost everything that can be seen. We, as finite individuals, need things that we can depend on to not change. We depend on the value of the dollar that we use to pay for things to remain constant. But it does not! There is only one thing that will never change. one thing that is eternal and unchanging: God. We can depend on anything that God has told us to be true and unchanging.

Verse 2
Trust in Him who will hot leave you, whatsoever years may bring, if by earthly friends forsaken, still more closely to Him cling.
Heb. 13:1-6, I Tim 6:19, Prov 13:19-20, Luke 6:22-23, Joshua 23:8-11, Psa 73:28.
How many times have you set up a meeting or a plan with someone, and, without any warning, they cancel? Have you ever had someone desert you in a time of need? Have you ever had someone that you depended on to back you up in a situation leave and not want to get involved? Men will do this. God will not. The closer that we come near to God, God will comfort and protect us. It is only ourselves that can separate us from the love of, God!

Verse 3
When your journey is completed, if to God you have been true, fair and bright the home in glory, your enraptured soul will view.
Heb. 10:19-27, 11:5-6, Rev 21:21-26.
One of the things that changes in this life that we need to be especially aware of, is the fact that man comes and goes. Our life is compared to a vapor that vanishes away. (James 4:14) The one aspect of our being that lives on is the eternal soul. When the soul departs this weak and feeble body, the actions and beliefs that guided our lives will determine its future! God has prepared a glorious eternal life for us. All we lave to do is to be true to Him, His Son, and His Word!

Chorus
Hold to God's unchanging hand Hold to God's unchanging hand! Build your hopes on things eternal, Hold to God's unchanging hand.
We can depend on God. When we build our lives on Him, His Son, and His Word, we lay up for ourselves eternal treasures that we cannot even imagine here in this life. God extends His Hand to us through His Word; what will our answer be?

Source Site:
(http://www.faith-facts.com/wab.html) contains biographies of many well-known Christian hymn writers.

Hello everyone,

              After a short recess, I’m back adding new hymns to the Dulcimer Hymnal website! This week we’re going to look at a hymn called “That’s Enough for Me.” The hymn was written by lyricist and musician named William J. Henry. Henry wrote most of his hymns around the turn of the twentieth century and was known as a lyricist, but on occasion, he also wrote the music (as he did in the hymn). I hope you all enjoy the arrangement, and if you have any questions or comments please post them on my blog.

God bless,

-Ben

Main Page

www.TheDulcimerHymnal.com

Sheet Music

http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Hello everyone,

              Sorry that I wasn't able to update my site yesterday; I'm in the middle of remodeling my house. This week a hymn that was recently written and put into the public domain library. It's a hymn called "I am His and He is mine." I haven't found any information on this hymn or it's writer; Joel A. Erickson. What I like about this hymn is its slightly syncopated melody and its beautiful use of the text found in "The Song of Solomon." I hope you all enjoy this week's hymn.

God bless,

-Ben

Sheet Music Link

http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Hello everyone,

    I’ve just uploaded three new videos of some of my past hymn arrangements onto Youtube; “Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus”, “Softly and Tenderly” and “There is a Fountain.” I wrote each of these arrangements last year and yet I never made a recording sample of these hymns, so I thought, “why not just make three new videos?” There you have it. You can just watch my fingers along the fret board if you had any fingering troubles or questions about these arrangements. Any questions? Just give me an email. Hope to see you all next week.

God bless,

-Ben

Youtube Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmQxSvztl5E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0KFE15iaZU

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwJ1Cqeg69g 

Sheet Music Page

 http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Hello everyone, 

              Hope you had a great 4th of July weekend! This week we are going to look at the patriotic song "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", also known as "America."At one time, this song was America’s national Anthem. Although the music is the British national anthem’s melody, “God Save the Queen”, but America used it probably because it was so familiar or just to say it’s now theirs. Who knows? Please write me if you have any information on this topic; it should be interesting. I hope you all enjoy this week’s free arrangement.

God bless,

-Ben
   

Main Page

http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/

Sheet Music Page         
http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Hello everyone,
This week we are going to look at a hymn by the writer Charles H. Gabriel; “Since Jesus came into my heart”. Gabriel wrote between 7,000 and 8,000 songs within his life time. Some familiar hymns you might know are “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” and “His Eye is on the Sparrow” (both hymns have been arranged and are available at the dulcimer hymnal).  I wrote two separate arrangements for this week’s hymn; one that can be played with a capo and one that can be played without. Hope you all enjoy!

God bless,
-Ben

Dulcimer Hymnal Site

Sheet Music Page

Hey everyone,

            I made some updates to my video arive here at www.TheDulcimerHymnal.com. The hymns "Our Common Hope In Spreading the Gospel" and "Revive Us Again" now have videos. Click on one of the links below to check out the videos.

God bless,

-Ben

Our Common Hope In Spreading the Gospel Video

Revive Us Again Video

Good morning everyone,

                  Hope you've had a great week. We've gotten some heavy rain this week in Illinois; so much that my sister had two tree fall in her yard! This week we are going to look at the hymn "Lord, I'm coming Home."This is another hymn is in the key G and is structured in a verse/refain song form. While searching for the history of this hymn, I found some information at "The Cyber Hymnal""Kirkpatrick wrote this song at a camp meet­ing in Raw­lins­ville, Penn­syl­van­ia, with a ve­ry spe­ci­fic pur­pose: to win the soul of his so­lo­ist, a non­be­liev­er. Af­ter Kirk­pat­rick prayed for the young man, these words came to him. He wrote them down quick­ly, and after the so­loi­st sang them that night, he became a Christ­ian."(http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/l/c/lcomingh.htm). Hope you all enjoy the hymn and I'll see you next week.

God bless,

-Ben

Sheet Music Page

http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Good morning,

               I hope you all have had a great week. This week we are going to look at a hymn written by William P. Mackay called "Revive Us Again."  This hymn was written in 1865, 48 years after the music was written. Historically, it's usually the music that is written after the lyrics, not the other way around. This hymn is an exception! I Hope you all enjoy.

               I just wanted to remind you all one more time, if you wnat to link your site up to mine, please send me a message at besh@wpchurch.com. I'll be glad to link your site to mine if you wouldn'y mind doing the same.

God bless,

-Ben

Sheet music link

http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Home Page

http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/

Hello everyone,

               I wanted to write a quick blog to tell you all that I'm updating my Contact and Link pages at thedulcimerhymnal.com. The contact page will now have my website links; such as Facebook, twitter and Ning (Friends of the mountain Dulcimer). Add me as a friend if you find me on any of those sites.  Also, if any of you have a dulcimer site of your own and would like to link with me, email me and I will link your site to the dulcimer hymnal Links page. Hope to hear from some of you.

God bless,

-Ben

Contact Page

Links Page

Hello everyone,

This week we are going to look at a hymn called “Precious Name.” Many of you know this hymn by the name of “Take the name of Jesus with you.” In 1860, Lydia Odell Baxter and W. Howard Doane wrote the words and music to this Baptist invitation song. Although his name isn’t represented as the official composer, Robert Lowry also helped to write the melody of “Take the Name of Jesus With You.” He was a professor of literature at Bucknell University, he became an ordained Baptist minister and pastored several churches throughout the New England states.  Eventually, he wrote several well known hymns; such as "Nothing But the Blood," "Low in the Grave He Lay", "Shall We Gather At The River?," and "How Can I Keep From Singing?” I hope you all enjoy this week’s hymn.

God bless,

         Ben

Video Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKclSVKhfuM

Sheet Music Link

http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Hello everyone,

            The Dulcimer Hymnal: Volume 2 is now ready to be ordered. This new hymnal features another 50 hymns in tuned DAD and an additional "Index Section" that wasn't offered in Volume 1: a "Topical Hymn Reference" section. Below is a list of all the hymns that can be found in this new hymnal, and remember, check out the Free Sheet Music page at www.TheDulcimerHymnal.com to see Free Sample Hymns. 50 Hymn arrangements for only $15 ($3 shipping)!!! Hope you all can check it out!

God bless,

-Ben

Volume 2 Link

http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-hymnal-volume2

1. Alas and did my savior Bleed

2. All Glory, Laud and Honor

3. All Hail the Power of Jesus?name

4. All the Way My Savior Leads Me

5. Are You Washed in the Blood

6. Be Still My Soul

7. Breath on Me Breath of God

8. Christ is Made the Sure Foundation

9. Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy

10. Crown Him with Many Crowns

11. Faith of our Fathers

12. For All the Saints

13. Gloria Patri

14. Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken

15. God Be with You till We Meet Again

16. God Moves in a Mysterious Way

17. Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah

18. Have Thine Own Way Lord

19. His Eye is On The Sparrow

20. Hosanna, Loud Hosanna

21. How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds

22. I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say

23. I Must Tell Jesus

24. I Need Thee Every Hour

25. In Christ There is No East or West

26. It Is Well with My Soul

27. Jesus Shall Reign

28. Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee

29. Like a River Glorious

30. Lord, I want to be a Christian

31. Man of Sorrows!

32. May the Mind of Christ My Savior

33. My Jesus, I Love Thee

34. Nearer, My God, To Thee

35. Nearer, Still Nearer

36. Our God, Our Help

37. Onward Christ Soldiers

38. Praise, My Soul the King of Heaven

39. Rejoice, the Lord Is King

40. Rock of Ages

41. Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus

42. Sweet Hour of Prayer

43. The Lord's My Shepherd, I'll Not Want

44. There is a Balm in Gilead

45. There is Power in the Blood

46. Trust and Obey

47. Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

48. Up from the Grave He Arose

49. When Morning Gilds the Skies

50. Who is on the Lord’s Side?

Hello everyone,

            As many of you know, news about The Dulcimer Hymnal: Volume 2 has been on my site since last month. I’m glad to say that Volume 2 will be ready to be ordered on Friday, May21st, 2010! Recently, I’ve posted three new youtube video samples of some of the hymns that are featured in the new hymnal. The free samples are of the hymns "Be Still, My Soul," "Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy" and "Man of Sorrows." You can play along with the videos by downloading the sheet music from my site for free. Hope you all enjoy the second book in the Dulcimer Hymnal series!

God bless,

-Ben
 

List of Hymns features in Volume 2
http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-hymnal-volume2

Sheet Music and Video Samples
http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Hello Everyone,

              After a short recess from the dulcimer hymnal website, I finally uploaded some new hymn sheet music! This week I made an arrangement of the hymn “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less” with the tune ST. PETERSBURG. Most of us know the version of this hymn that uses the SOLID ROCK tune (This hymn is arranged in the Dulcimer Hymnal: Volume 1). It’s a very familiar hymn in most churches. Many hymnals have usually have two versions of this hymn (Using both tunes, same words). I thought we might want to check out the other version on the dulcimer. Hope you enjoy!

God bless,

-Ben

 Video

Sheet Music

Other Dulcimer Hymnal Sheet Music

Hello everyone,

         I apologize for the long delay from my last music theory topic post. The last time we met we talked about reading time signatures. In Part 2 we will talk about the different types of time signatures.

         You have probably seen the time signatures 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 8/4, 4/4, 4/2, 2/2, etc. but did you know they all have one thing in common? It is that the beats that are counted in these time signatures are subdivided by 2. Hu? Let me explain. 4/4 has four quarter notes per measure. So; one, two, three, four.  Well, let’s cut the beats in to halfs (Half of a quartet is an eight note). So; one and, two and, three and, four and. See? The beats are always subdivided by two! All time signatures that are subdivided by two are called “simple meters”.

         The next group of time signatures are subdivided by 3 and a dotted quartet gets the beat. These time signatures are called “compound meters”. 6/8, 9/8, 12/8, 3/8 3/16, 6/16, and 12/16 are all part of this group. Let’s look at 12/8. let’s could four dotted quartets; one, two, three, four. And counting the subdivisions; one and a, two and a, three and a, four and a. See?

         Let’s say we want to blend a couple different simple meters and compound meters into one piece of music? This music is organized in a multi-meter! Pretty easy to remember. The use of multiple meters is called a multi-meter.  Example – 4/4 and then the next measure is 3/4. See?

             Ok, for some composers in the 20th century, Multi-meters still weren’t enough! The last type of time signature is called a Poly-meter. A poly-what? Have you heard of the musical term “polyphonic”?  It is usually the term that is used to describe a piece of music that has more than one “dominant or main” melodies played at one time. Bach was the king of polyphony. Poly-meter is when two time signatures are played simultaneously! Like 4/4 and 12/8 at the same time! Does it sound good… that’s up to debate.

            After learning all these terms and definitions, the question is “What’s the point of knowing this information?” First, I think that it is important to know everything you can know about the world of music. Many people only play within simple and compound meters and by exploring new meters, it can open new doors to your creativity in the world of music!

             Second, knowing how the beat is subdivided can extremely change the way you strum. 3/4 and 6/8 have the same amount of 8th notes, the measures are ascended in completely different places because of the subdivisions. This will greatly affect the strumming patterns you play.

             Start applying your new found knowledge of time signatures by listing some songs you know how to play and place them into the meter groups they belong to. For example, “Holy, Holy, Holy” is a simple meter hymn because it is in 4/4. “Wonderful Words of Life” is in a compound meter because it is in 6/8. You would not strum or pick these two hymns in the same way because they are in completely different meters. Before I finish, I wanted to give you an example of a multi meter. Have you watched “West Side Story”? “I want to be in a American!” That is 6/8 and the a 2/4 (1, and a, 2 and a , one and two and!) See? So go and explore! Hope you enjoyed the topic and hope to see you at the next one.

God bless,

-Ben

Hello Everyone,

            This week we are going to look another Lenten Hymn called "Behold, the Dying Savior". There is not much information about this hymn online or any of the books I own, but Daniel S. Warner was a well known poet around the turn of the twentieth century. He wrote many hymns and Christian poems. I hope you all take the time this week to prepare your hearts for Easter. Mediate and pray during this time within the year. I hope you all enjoy the arrangement and I'll join you all again next week!

God bless,

-Ben

Sheet music
http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Hello everyone,

        As many of you know, Lent is upon us and I haven’t added one Lenten hymn to my site. This week I’ve added a hymn that just recently became a part of my repertoire. “Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted” has amazing lyrics and a haunting melody.  I’ve lowered the key signature so it’s easier to sing. I hope you enjoy this Lenten hymn throughout the rest of March and beyond.

       This week's video of this arrangement focus's on chord changes and phrasing. It is important to have certain notes heard more than others when you are playing the dulcimer. Much like a pianoist, we also play many notes at teh same time, but we want the notes within the melody to be very dominant even when you are playing full chords. Come check out the video!

God bless,

-Ben

Video

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dp_ZZxA7u0

Sheet music

http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
’Tis a true and faithful Word.

Hello everyone,

This week’s hymn is called “Wonderful Words of Life”. It’s a familiar hymn to some of us, but if you don’t know it, play this arrangement a couple times; It might become a favorite of yours too!

As we are in the time of Lent, would suggest we all mediate on the words within scripture more diligently and over the hymn texts we sing every week we pass by so quickly. I believe the church year is beautiful, yet if all we do in the time of lent is give up a worldly possession or vice; I think we missed the big idea and we are only going skin deep. Christ gave up everything, not chocolate or TV, and took all of our sin upon himself on the cross. Let us think of the enormity of this claim! Lent is a time of sorrow and celebration. Think of the sins you had died to through the strength that God has given to you, think of the sins you still commit. This is a time to be sorrowful for the sins we hold dear, yet celebrate what God has done in our lives already!
This week’s Hymn text is below. With the season of lent in mind, mediate over these words.

1.
Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life,
Let me more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life;
Words of life and beauty teach me faith and duty.

Refrain
Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life,
Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.

2
Christ, the blessed One, gives to all wonderful words of life;
Sinner, list to the loving call, wonderful words of life;
All so freely given, wooing us to heaven.

3
Sweetly echo the Gospel call, wonderful words of life;
Offer pardon and peace to all, wonderful words of life;
Jesus, only Savior, sanctify us forever.


Philip Bliss wrote both the words and music to this wonderful hymn. He grew up in Pennsylvania in the 1840’s and left home at the young age of ten to make a living for himself. Although he worked in the lumber yards and the pay was small, he also was a regular at Methodist camp meetings and revivals because of his strong Christian upbringing. Education was very important to him, so in-between the time he was at church or work, he found time to study and attend school. When he was about eighteen years of age he had already completed the requirements for being a certified teacher and he took a job as a schoolmaster.

“From that point, Bliss' path began to cross with many of the best known Christian evangelists, hymn writers, and composers of his time. He received voice instruction from J.G. Towner and guidance from William B. Bradbury. He met D.L. Moody during a revival in Chicago, and was invited by Moody to become his music director. Bliss turned the offer down, and Moody teamed up with Ira Sankey instead. In the years that followed, Bliss would combine with Sankey to prepare many hymns and hymn collections. A month before his untimely death at the age of 38, Bliss was approached by Horatio Spafford, the writer of It Is Well With My Soul. At Spafford's request, Bliss composed the tune for that famous hymn.” (http://www.hymnsite.com/lection/cep5.htm)

Philip Bliss achieved so much in his lifetime yet it was by the grace of God that he was able to do what he did. I like to always find stories like this in my own generation, because God works in so many lives and through them He impacts so many other lives. I hope you enjoy this week’s arrangement. If you have any hymn requests for future weeks please tell me! I’ll see you all next week.

God bless,

-Ben

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhz6XfpGDlI

Sheet Music

http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/dulcimer-sheet-music