Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

On a recent holiday, my wife and I were able to attend another church in a nearby town. They sang a song which I loved called "Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone" which is a bit of a re-make of Amazing Grace by Chris Tomlin. I'd probably watch out introducing this to an older congregation as they may not enjoy the new parts, but for a younger congregation (gen X / Gen Y???) I think they'd love it. It certainly worked in this congregation we went to (mainly gen x-ers). Again, you can download a copy at several places:
www.praisecharts.com have it for $5.95; at www.musicnotes.com it's $5.25, and at www.sheetmusicscore.com you can get the full orchestral arrangement for (wait for it) $54.95 (though this is FULL orchestral...). Personally I've found Praise charts about the best as you can view the music first, and they also seem to have fairly clear and easy piano / lead sheet music, whereas the others can complicate the sheet music somewhat (guess it depends on the skill of your pianist / musicians). Well worth purchasing.

Editor.

Couple of songs from Bruce in Charleville...

Hi

Have you tried “in christ alone” and “consider christ” both from Emu (*go to www.emumusic.com.au to download these songs*).

And what about “How deep the fathers love” by Robert Townend in the UK (*to download a legal copy of this song, you can try "musicnotes.com" or "praisecharts.com". Prices vary depending on what you want, as some websites offer full orchestral arrangements etc...*).

Bruce

Damo says...

Music websites are a place that I go to dream of what it would be like to be in a congregation that loves to try to sing a new song for the Lord every now and then. www.resoundworship.org is a site that I really like.

There is more stuff that I like than dislike on that site, but some examples of good songs are: Come See the Son, I Need Not Fear, Awesome Trinity & What Kind of Throne (Christmas song). Some good music for kids, too (ie. "Come You Thankful People").

They have a conference on at the moment called "Writing and Choosing Songs for Worship". It's the only time in my whole life that I have wished that I lived in England!!

Damo.

*I went and checked these out. The two songs I found which seem best (for ease of singing and learning etc) seemed to be "What Kind of Throne" and "I Need Not Fear". I can't wait to try these two in church... Ed."

Venzy said...

Great! I've been talking about doing this for ages, and haven't!

Let us know how we can let you know :) Are comments here the best way? Emails?

Here's my first contribution -

"The Wonder Of The Cross" aka "O Precious Sight" - Vicky Beeching
I heard this on a men's camp and scoured for a while to find a (legal) copy. I think I ended up using a paid download from www.musicnotes.com or worshiptogether.com (the latter is a pretty good site).

A music website...

A good music website I've been using now for a few years, is RUF - the Reformed University Fellowship - the university outreach arm of the Presbyterian Church in America. They've taken a lot of old hymns and updated their tunes etc. Come out with some really good stuff.

The direct link is http://www.igracemusic.com/hymnbook/home.html (and then click on "browse by title"), or else you can go to www.ruf.org and start there - it'll give you more background info on everything.

Anyway, I've found it a good site - a couple of songs I've sung from there in church and university fellowships include "Psalm 130" (a re-make of Martin Luther's hymn) and "Arise, My Soul Arise" (a Charles Wesley classic re-made). Anyway, it's a good source, and I'll put more good songs from there on here from time to time.

Catch ya. Editor.

An opener...

At a recent event in our church, which was attended by several ministers from other churches, it became clear that there is a real need for a sight such as this where people can post music/songs that they sing in church, that works.

We found this out when asked by several people from other churches where they could get the music for two songs in particular - "Live for the Kingdom" and "Never Alone" (both available from Emu Music [www.emumusic.com.au]). These songs were requested by two churches in particular who both stated that they'd been looking for some good, new music to introduce, but don't really have the time to go trolling through all the new music albums etc that are always coming out. Hence this blog.

If you know some good songs, which have good words (ie, they're not rubbish...) and that you've taught to your congregations and they're a bit of a hit, let us know... let the world know. I just pray this is a help for some.

Oh, the two songs I mentioned before... "Never Alone" costs $1.85 AU; and "Live For the Kingdom" also costs just $1.85 AU. If you go to the Emu Music website (above), click on the "store" link, and then on the "songs" link in there, it will give you a list of the songs alphabetically. Then just scroll through till you find the them (I think they're both on page 4). By purchasing a copy of the music from here, it legally (along with CCLI licencing of course) gives you the right to play it in church according to the relevant laws etc.

Well, let's see what good music we have out there for playing in churches. I look forward to what we find.

Editor.