For our first offering, we decided to get "seasonal" and share a Christmas-related song. Slated to be the second track on our next CD "On Broken Wings", "New Song Suite" consists of three pieces of music that share some common ground. "O Holy Child" and "Sing A New Song" were originally written by Pastor Jim years apart. I (EJ) noticed that they shared the main melody line and a number of other musical and lyrical motifs. ("...for a lifetime...")

I also thought that the final verse of "O Holy Child":

"On this Christmas, raise your eyes,
with a vision, of the Light,
with decision, on Silent Night,
shared in story, story told..."

suggests a "decision" from the listener, the result of which leads to "Sing A New Song" ("...share the story..."). So I've always seen these two pieces as two parts of a "whole". As I set to work on it, I re-arranged the chords for both songs, re-wrote the music and melody of the chorus of "Sing A New Song" (tweaking the lyrics to help them fit the new melody) and took Jim's original chorus and made it the "tag" at the end of each piece, which served to cement the "bond" between the two pieces.

What was missing for a long time was a "linking" section that made the two work together. After a number of attempts, I kept coming back to part of a piano piece written by Bryan Celano, a long-time friend and former bandmate. After Bryan graciously allowed me to use it, things flowed nicely. I re-named it "A New Dawn", weaving melodies from both songs in and around the musical arrangement, and added some new instrumental ideas, which culminated in yet another rendition of the "Sing A New Song" chorus ("For God never leaves us..."). Finally the whole piece had come together as I envisioned it many years ago.

My wife Kirsten helped me arrange the choir parts. It was performed at our church last month as part of the annual Christmas play.

We hope you enjoy it.
A Merry New Year to you and yours!

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