Musically Speaking

Easter is not just a day. It is a season. In this episode, I reflect on This Joyful Eastertide, a resurrection hymn set to a 1624 Dutch tune. With its bold proclamation of bodily hope and a refrain that climbs higher with each “arisen,” the music does more than accompany the text — it enacts it. Fifty days to rehearse what we confess. Christ is risen.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com

On Good Friday, hope can seem out of place. Yet after hearing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in Tokyo, Japan, audiences often ask conductor Masaaki Suzuki to explain what “hope” means in the Christian sense.

In this episode, I reflect on how Bach’s music carries the logic of death and resurrection across cultures, and why even in the shadow of the cross, Christian hope is never absent.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com

We tend to think of hymnals as collections of church songs. But they once taught people how to sing.

In 1761, John Wesley included seven “Directions for Singing” in his Methodist hymnal. They are not suggestions. They are instructions. Sing all. Sing in time. Sing modestly. Sing lustily and with a good courage. Above all, sing spiritually.

In this episode, I read Wesley’s directions in full and reflect on how seamlessly he integrates technique, participation, unity, and spiritual focus. Congregational singing, for Wesley, was not ornamental. It was important. His words are still apropos today.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com

Two singers can sing the same note, yet we instantly know who it is. Why? Because before we hear melody, we hear tone.

In this week’s Friday Five, we explore the colors of the human voice — bright and dark, nasal and warm, gritty and clear. Through a few rapid contrasts, we consider how tone color shapes interpretation and even carries biography. This week, listen differently. Don’t just hear the notes. Hear the color.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com

On this “on location” episode from a cabin in Branson, Missouri, I reflect on one of the most unusual and powerful choral works of the twentieth century: “Rejoice in the Lamb” by Benjamin Britten.

Drawing from the eccentric and deeply devotional poem Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart, written in part while Smart was confined in an asylum, Britten’s choral work bursts with rhythmic energy, playful strangeness, and persistent praise.

From the famous “For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry” solo to the driving Hallelujah movements, this work reminds us that praise can persist even in fragmentation and confinement.

My Delta Youth Chorale is preparing for an upcoming April 30 performance of this remarkable piece in West Monroe, Louisiana.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a recording of the first movement: https://youtu.be/TaRUv0c-Aes

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com

No dialogue. Just four minutes of music — and an entire marriage. In this episode, I reflect on Michael Giacchino’s “Married Life” from Up and how music functions as narrator. Through melody, orchestration, and tempo, the score carries decades of joy and sorrow without a single word. Music does not decorate the story. It interprets it.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here's the scene if you've never seen it: https://youtu.be/XO77YuyMOek

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com

No dialogue. Just four minutes of music — and an entire marriage. In this episode, I reflect on Michael Giacchino’s “Married Life” from Up and how music functions as narrator. Through melody, orchestration, and tempo, the score carries decades of joy and sorrow without a single word. Music does not decorate the story. It interprets it.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here's the scene if you've never seen it: https://youtu.be/XO77YuyMOek

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com

In this episode I ask a simple question: when you sing in worship, who are you singing to? Drawing on Paul Munson’s helpful framework, I reflect on three audiences that show up in Scripture, especially in the Psalms and in Paul’s epistles: sometimes we sing to our own souls, always we sing to God, and often we sing to one another through teaching and encouragement. Remembering the audience of congregational song can change the way we think about worship and the way we participate in it.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com

In this bonus longform episode of Musically Speaking, I sit down with Maestro John Mason Hodges, music director of the Monroe Symphony Orchestra and founder of the Center for Western Studies, for a wide-ranging conversation about music, meaning, and maturity. Maestro Hodges also teaches for us at the Redeemer School of the Arts.

What happens when we are surrounded by constant sound but slowly lose the ability to listen? Why does so much modern music feel instantly accessible and instantly forgettable? And how can Christians recover the tools needed to love what is truly worth loving?

Drawing on examples from Bach to pop music, we discuss the difference between passive and active listening, the six elements of music, the dangers of both chronological snobbery and cultural laziness, and the importance of musical literacy in forming our affections. From cotton candy versus steak to soda versus fine wine, this episode challenges listeners to expand their musical palate and deepen their engagement.

If you’ve ever wondered how to move beyond “Do I like it?” to “What is it doing, and why?”, this conversation will stretch your ears, your mind, and perhaps even your loves.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com

In this episode, I introduce listeners to the Welsh bass/baritone Bryn Terfel, a singer whose career has spanned the world’s great opera houses while also reaching audiences through concerts, recordings, and broadcasts far beyond them. I offer three observations about what makes his artistry so compelling: the depth and flexibility of his voice, his gift for communication and character, and his rare ability to move authentically between opera, musical theater, folk song, and hymnody. If you are new to Terfel, this episode offers a place to begin, with further listening suggestions in the show notes.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s Bryn singing Handel’s Ombra Mai Fu aria:https://youtu.be/kUKHAXR34pE

Here’s one of my favorite Schubert Lieder, Die Forelle:https://youtu.be/Twp9_JKtKmI

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com