Welcome to Anthem 15 in my attempt to write a new choir anthem every week for a year. I’m Kevin Mulryne and I hope you will enjoy listening to my progress throughout 2024. Please do visit the website Anthem52.com, follow along on x.com - @realanthem52 or Instagram - @realanthem52 and send me a message to [email protected].

This week I returned to the Church of England Lectionary and one of the psalms set for this week - xxvi or 26, depending on your preference. Here are the lyrics:

Words for Anthem 15:

Be thou my Judge, O Lord, for I have walked innocently:

my trust hath been also in the Lord, therefore shall I not fall.

Examine me, O Lord, and prove me:

try out my reins and my heart.

For thy loving-kindness is ever before mine eyes:

and I will walk in thy truth.

 

Once again, I found that fewer words makes for a more manageable writing process. I also used a semi-random technique for the first time. I set the first line of the Psalm 'Be thou my Judge O Lord' by placing the notes on the stave without listening to them being played by the software at the same time. I knew I wanted another pseudo-canon entry approach for the start of the vocal parts so I sketched out what I thought it would look like. Then I listened to how it actually sounded and tweaked it until it sounded as good as it looked. It worked rather well and I converted it into an organ introduction with some nice offbeat movement.