Night and Day {New Music Monday, Plus A Couple Extras}

This year at school, I had the honor and joy of leading a select choir for the first time. We met for a few months leading up to our school’s fundraising Gala, and then performed three songs at the Gala. They had us sequestered in a room away from the main event, so I spent the evening accompanying the students, eating pizza and desserts, and playing a card game or two. Overall, it was an incredibly fun evening and I’m looking forward to doing it all again next year.

One of the select choir ensembles learned a song that I wrote called “Night and Day”. A couple of my creative writing students, who also happened to be in the choir, pointed out how much I like to use the symbolism of light vs. darkness in my writing. In fact, one of my favorite Bible passages is John 1:1-5:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

In John 1, the light and the darkness are at odds with each other. I’m so thankful that Jesus has overcome the darkness, and came to be our light and our life. (Also, see my Light Gatherers introduction). In my song “Night and Day”, however, I use the symbolism of light and darkness as complements to each other. We need the day, in all of its energetic glory, as well as the night, calm and restful. Ultimately, “Night and Day” is a celebration of the different gifts that God gives us and how we can use them to build each other up in Christ.

You’ll also catch the word “foil” in the bridge of the song. In my creative writing class, we spent the beginning of the year talking about characters. In literature, a foil character helps illuminate the attributes of the main character. A foil character is not always the antagonist; some foils are simply close friends who bring out the best in each other, such as Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley in Pride and Prejudice.

Finally, here are a few technical particulars about the music itself. I wrote “Night and Day” in the key of G. The verses begin in Bm, and then switch into G half-way through to reflect the lyrics. The song includes two verses, a pre-chorus (something I don’t think I’ve utilized before), a chorus, and a bridge. When I started to teach the song to the students, I realized how low the melody is. For our performace, the tenors sang the melody and I wrote a higher harmony part for my sopranos and altos (we didn’t have any basses in the choir). I sent the following recording to the choir so they could practice on their own. In the recording, I sing both the melody and harmony part.

I hope you enjoy “Night and Day”!

Night and Day Music & Lyrics

Verse 1:
You are the night, so calm and serene;
Without the light, you are the night.
I am the day, so busy and careworn;
I light the way, I am the day.

Pre-chorus:
With roots of steel we grow;
We need each other more than we could know.

Chorus:
Pierce the earth, two sides together,
Bearing fruit, forward forever;
Night and day go on;
Still we share this bond:
You are the night
To my day.

Verse 2:
You are the night, willing and able;
By your own might, you are the night.
I am the day, joyful and shining;
Mark what I say, I am the day.

Pre-chorus

Chorus

Bridge:
I’m not saying that it’s easy
To live with a foil of yourself;
Seeing all of your own faults
Can make you wish you were someone else.
But what the day needs is the night,
And God in his wisdom always does what is right.
Amen, amen!

Chorus

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Did you know that I have a YouTube channel? I’ve been posting one hymn a month for my students to learn at school, but you can enjoy them, too! Brian sings with me for some of them as well. You can find my YouTube channel here.

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Finally, a couple months ago Story Warren published an article I wrote called “Living Ideas in Everyday Storytelling.” It was really exciting–I haven’t submitted anything for publication in a while. The concept of the article is a little niche, and by that I mean it may not interest everyone, but I love Charlotte Mason’s concept of living ideas and I’ve realized that the more I look for them the more I find them. Even if you’re not a teacher or parent, I hope you’ll find something encouraging in the article. You can read it here.

Photo: Custom artwork by my daughter