I Sing the Mighty Power of God

This is a post that I imagine worship leaders, lead worshippers, music ministers, worship pastors, choir directors (Whew! We need more titles!!) and that sort of group will be most interested in. Mostly choir directors, though, since this isn't a congregational piece of music.

I did a simple arrangement of a few old hymns for our Sanctuary Choir. The goal was to keep it simple and to utilize a lesser-sung traditional song. I started out with "I Sing the Mighty Power of God," and quickly realized that it was written as a children's song (Isaac Watts wrote it in 1715 for a collection called Di­vine and Mor­al Songs for Child­ren), and the first verse was all I found to be very useable. I went on a hunt for songs with the same theme and meter and found a couple of obscure hymns, "All Nature's Works His Praise Declare," (1822) and "There Is a Book That All May Read," (1762) and incorporated them into the arrangement.

I wanted it to completely retain the musical feel, melody, and intent of the original tune, yet convey a modern tone. This is pretty common, I believe, in church fellowships which incorporate a blended style of music into their services. I avoided the temptation to write a new add-on chorus for it.

I threw together a very simple background arrangement for my team to use to learn the song and hear the direction I wanted it to take. The recording, sequenced on a Roland XP-80 with an acoustic guitar (with near-rusty strings and a low battery) added, is far from error-free and should be treated as a bare-bones guide.

Just wanted to post this for all who might find it useable. It's in G, and would work well in a service where the focus is on creation and the majesty and power of God. It may fit well songs like "God of Wonders," "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" (if done in G, which is rather high for congregational participation), or "Yes You Have" be Leeland (to transition to our personal relationship with the Creator, and if lowered to a key singable by mere humans); that sort of thing.

The sheet music can be downloaded here (right-click and "Save As").

An MP3 of the accompaniment track can be downloaded here (again, right-click and "Save As"). Note that there are two extra measures (not in the sheet music) at the beginning, and the ride cymbal part about two-thirds of the way in sounds incredibly bad and hokey. I have an uncompressed version, but this one sounds punchier, and neither of them are really ready for prime time.

UPDATE: the chord chart can be downloaded here: PDF or Word 2003.

Feel free to e-mail me if I can offer any more info or clarification. I'd love to know if you download them (please leave a comment or send me an e-mail), even if you wind up really disliking them.

By the way, the sheet music was put together in NoteWorthy Composer, a cheap ($39), easy-to-use notation program. I converted it to a PDF file using PrimoPDF, a free program.

Posted in: God, Music, Worship