Malotte's Lord's Prayer with Lauran Delancy on solo handbells for the Prelude in church this morning.

The Lord's Prayer for Solo Handbells and Piano from William Wingfield on Vimeo.

PBS Series on J.S. Bach and the Lutheran Legacy

Opening Chorus of J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion

The overture and opening chorus of what many consider to be Bach's greatest work.

Video of Third Class on Music in the Church, The 17th Century

Music in the Church, Part III, 17th Century from William Wingfield on Vimeo.

This is the third class on Music in the Church, covering hymnody in the 17th century and focusing on phrase construction, unity and variety of form, the Thirty Year's War, Praetorius, Crüger, and Gerhardt, scales, musical periods, and Orthodoxy and Piety.

Heinrich Schütz: Ich bin eine rufende Stimme

This may help you understand visually how counterpoint and polyphony works. The complexity of the seemingly independent lines combine to form a beautiful harmonic structure. Our world seems like everyone is going off in their own, independent ways. But we are all melodies from the pen of the great Composer, God our Father.

Michael Praetorius: Lux beata Trinitas; Blessed light of the Trinity

Michael Praetorius: Puer natus in Bethlehem, A Child is Born in Bethlehem

Note the period instruments.

History of the Organ (playlist)

These are short trailers for a DVD series on the organ. They do give a taste of the wide range of organ styles and a survey of the origins of the pipe organ. It looks like a beautiful series.

Video of Second Class on Music in the Church, the 16th Century

Music in the Church, Part II from William Wingfield on Vimeo.

The second class in the series was on music during the 16th century. We talked about congregational singing and what tunes make for confident congregational participation, rhyming and metering Psalm texts, setting hymn texts to secular tunes, and syncopation. I played a little jazz rendition of "A Mighty Fortress."