Kingdom Songs

[JW Insider]

Very portable instruments:

• I brought up the harmonica because it is a very low-cost instrument that can present quite a bit of versatility.
• The human voice is another instrument like that, and it can be modulated so that "humming" for example, will bother very few people around you if quiet enough. For many of us, myself included, the voice is not as accurate at hitting the right note.
• The human whistle is another low-cost instrument that one can bring almost anywhere, although it's often more annoying to bystanders.
• The flute-style "recorder" is another very low-cost instrument, and I keep one in the car, for use while I'm waiting for parking in NYC. I find that most of these tend to flatten the higher notes just a bit, and unexpectedly provide very harsh "harmonic" tones even when you are sure the right holes are pressed.
• A guitar is not so portable, but obviously much more versatile for all types of music.
• A good keyboard is the least portable, although I find a smartphone can suffice as an alternative. iPhones can include a free version of GarageBand that is an amazingly versatile piece of software that includes many simulated musical instruments.
• My daughter and one son played viola and violin in school. Small violins are portable, but expensive and delicate. I can't get a good sound out of one.

I can't think of any more truly portable instruments that one could carry with them anywhere. In Missouri a few people had some odd instruments that you don't see very often. I have a simulated Ocarina on my iPhone that I play by blowing air (not whistling) into the microphone while pressing combinations of only 4 buttons pictured on the phone. Of course, there are pencils and spoons and "saws" and tin whistles, but I can't think of any other really good ones to accompany Kingdom Songs.

But I mention these ideas so that anyone who hasn't joined in this kind of fun might realize just how easy it is to make some music. I also find that if you take more interest in the music, you will pay more attention to both the lyrics and the music when it's played at the hall or conventions.

[Melinda Mills]

9 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

I also find that if you take more interest in the music, you will pay more attention to both the lyrics and the music when it's played at the hall or conventions.

True. It hurts when one sees people paying scant attention (or passing notes or giving instructions) during singing which is a big part of our worship. Our music culture needs to be improved - even our vocabulary, e.g. the chairman frequently says we will "use"  song No. so and so.  We have to sing the song and sing it well. We are doing better but we can still improve our singing and participation in music as part of worship,  The general culture now is listening to music rather than playing and singing.

The smaller keyboards can suffice, as well as guitars.  My keyboard could hold into my car trunk.  I don't know much about the wind instruments but I like the sounds, especially the horn and the euphonium.   I love the sound of your harmonica also.                                       

I always had a keyboard since in my twenties. I now have an electric piano, which is too large to move around with.  It was easy to move  with the small Yamaha  PR 30 keyboard  which I had.  It had many features including recorders, but no pedals, and less than 88 keys which made playing certain things difficult. But the the present electric piano (Privia) has all those features and more, and with all the keys and pedals. The piano can be moved but in a large van but I think to move it around would damage it, so I don't intend to move it. 

[Anna]

4 hours ago, Melinda Mills said:

 "We thank You Jehovah"

Used to be sung at the close of every assembly /convention years ago. Made me tear up.

[Melinda Mills]

Yes, I remember those times when  song 212 (We Thank You) used to be sung at all conventions. It was indeed a favourite for most persons.

When I am preparing for the meeting I usually check all the songs.  (I still can't sing some of the new ones without the recorded music.) I review them just in case the music does not play at the KH.  It is sometimes problematic.  Even in "raising" the song one has to know what pitch to start at so the song won't be too high for most persons. This is important as most brothers don't know vocal music.  I also check to see if one of those songs I know the alto for is going to be sung, especially "We Thank you Jehovah".  I also look forward to singing No.3 in the new Book - "Our strength, Our Hope, Our Confidence". This makes me look forward to the meeting even more when a favourite song is going to be sung. Participation by commenting and singing makes the meeting more enjoyable. It is like bringing a gift for Jehovah and everyone there.  And we should not appear before Jehovah empty-handed (unprepared).

[JW Insider]

On 7/9/2019 at 12:09 AM, JW Insider said:

One disadvantage is that the simple one will usually not have all the notes that you need, because it's usually just over two octaves of the standard 8 notes in the octave -- no sharps or flats.

Just because a simple "C" harmonica doesn't have sharps and flats doesn't mean you can't play songs outside the key of C. For one thing you can get harmonicas pre-tuned to every key. But even if you just use a "C" harmonica, you can also play any song in the songbook by just playing it in "C." For example, song number 6 (The Heavens Declare God's Glory) is in E-flat. But you don't even have to think about transposing in any technical sense. You just play C for every place that the song plays an E-flat, and the rest of the notes fall into place because ALL scales sound similar no matter what note they start on.

That's because every scale has a first note, then skips a whole step for the second note, another whole step for the third note, a half step more for the fourth note, and whole steps again for the fifth, sixth and seventh. And that seventh note ends up a half step behind the starting note again. That's always going to be true whether you are playing in G, F, A-flat, G-sharp, B-flat, etc. The only thing that changes is what note you started on.

But even when playing in another scale, there are often notes in a song that are not a part of that scale. These are sometimes called "accidentals." If you look at song #6 again, you'll see the "accidental" in the last row, just above the "pro-" of "pro-claims." Only the top note in that line is the melody (B-flat) and it has a little symbol next to it that means "natural." Normally every note on the B line in this key is going to be played as a B-flat, because that's just a standard part of playing in the key of E-flat, and you can look way over to the left  of this line and see 3 flat symbols. But on this particular note the "natural" means NOT to play it as a flat but play it as a "natural" B.

It turns out there is a way to do this on a simple harmonica. If you purse your lips and draw air in at a steady rate, but fairly strong, it will draw down the note a half step or so. If you do this a lot on the same harmonica, it gets easier. You can even draw down a note while blowing out, but that's a little harder to get it a full half-step down. 

I'll play a quick (sloppy) version of the song on a simple harmonica, and if you listen, you can hear where I paused just a bit to pulled the air a little bit stronger to draw down the note a bit and then let it slip back up to get the next note.

 

 

New Recording 249.m4a

[JW Insider]

I think the flattened note is easier to pick out in a song like the following, which is not a kingdom song. It's called "Sailor's Hornpipe" I think, and it was made famous in the Popeye cartoons in the 1960's. Here it comes up once in the intro, and once in the Popeye part. I slow it down just before the flattened note to make it easier to pick out.

 

New Recording 252.m4a

[Melinda Mills]

That sounds nice and jazzy.  Nice lessons for the harmonica. You making sweeter sounds than a birdie.