Enchristment by Nguyen-Schletty

Please see this blog article to see how this collaboration with Asiansa09 evolved: topcatholicsongs.com/enchristment

Initially, I had imagined this song would be slow and meditative. But the Spirit made me go uptempo! Tell me what you think. Record the song and send it to me! A lead sheet with guitar chords is attached to the end of this story. Thanks, Dan (Asiansa09), for the inspiration.

5/12/17: I uploaded a revised audio demo in which I did voice pitch correction and also corrected mistakes I had made in singing the melody in verses 2 and 3.

7/20/2017: I uploaded a piano + voice score (notated sheet music) which can be downloaded free as a PDF file. See download links at end of story. Huge thanks to my music colleague André van Haren for preparing this arrangement!

9/28/2017: See the Sibelius score player below. A brand new feature of Sibelius 8.7. Thanks to André van Haren for sending me the embed code for his Sibelius engraving. Please comment below if you have questions about Sibelius or scoring/engraving in general. This song has been submitted to OCP Music for consideration. 

Enchristment

CHORUS
On my knees, I humbly pray.
I love to feel your radiance.
My heart is one with you, O Lord,
in this moment of Enchristment.

VERSE 1
My God, my Christ, you are in my heart.
I praise you, I worship you.
Your presence in this holy place
makes me want to be with you
forevermore.

VERSE 2
My God, my Christ, you are in my mind.
I pray, with Mary, for chastity.
I pray for us to receive your grace
as we place our trust in you
forevermore.

VERSE 3
My God, my Christ, you are in the Church.
Help all parents live a faithful life.
Help us love each other
as we love ourselves.
forevermore.

Lyrics: Dan vi Nguyen and Richard Schletty 
Music, guitar, vocals, mixing: Richard Schletty

 
AttachmentSize
Enchristment - voice and guitar audio - key Gm (mp3)4.67 MB
Enchristment - piano and voice sheet music - key Gm (pdf)46.5 KB
Enchristment-guitar lead-sheet-key Gm.pdf32.22 KB
Enchristment - voice-piano - key Am (mp3)5.34 MB
Enchristment - piano and voice sheet music - key Am (pdf)47.02 KB
Enchristment - piano only (broken chords) - PFP-Am (mp3)2.22 MB
Enchristment - voice+piano (broken chords) sheet music - PFP-Am (pdf)105.91 KB

Comments

Very Nice

Well done guys on producing a beautiful piece.

Well done guys

Thanks, Alex. I just reposted the MP3 file. I pitch corrected my solo voice at the very end. I also posted a simple lead sheet with guitar chords.

Richard Schletty | Schletty Design and Music | www.schletty.com

I like the way you sing the song

Don't change your singing voices for the song, because I think it is very different tone of voices compare to other songs you sing.  I like your voices the way you first pick it.  I surprised when I first heard it.

Voices in my vox box

Yes, I have many voices. Glad you like it. Is it too fast or rocking?

Richard Schletty | Schletty Design and Music | www.schletty.com

Original music

I think you should leave it as original music that you sing the first time, don't loose the special moment that you think of the song when you first approach it.  Often people change it the second time, they change the purpose too.

Write, rewrite, rewrite

You are telling me to "leave it as it is." That is not what Pat Pattison at Berklee College of Music will be teaching you. To craft a really fine song, a person needs to keep revisiting it and perfecting it. "Write, rewrite, rewrite!" is our mantra. 

Often, songwriters have their songs reviewed by peer songwriters. I went through many revisions on this song already. I am asking others here for their feedback. In fact, I want you to tell me how your friend with the guitar likes it. Is it easy for him/her to sing? Does he or she like it sing it fast or a bit slower? Would a different style of guitar playing be better for the song? How about a slower "rolling chord" (arpeggio) approach? How about piano? How about singing it "a cappella" as an SATB choral piece?

My "first time" singing and recording this song was not too special. I made it special by making adjustments to the lyrics, melody and recorded voices. I re-recorded and remixed some of the vocal phrases until they were distinct, yet emotional and artful. I used Melodyne (by Celemony) to correct flat notes that I had sung. I went back into my Apple Logic project at least 6 times to fine-tune things. 

There are a lot of things to learn to produce a good song. I am still not convinced that this song has a melody that is easy to learn and "memorable." Someone may have ideas for improving it. I did ask my associate, André van Haren, to explore creating a piano arrangement for "Enchristment." He did the piano arrangement for "God's Gift to All the World" which added a lot of appeal to the song. I am sure you will agree with that! 

Richard Schletty | Schletty Design and Music | www.schletty.com

Perfect song for confirmation

I keep thinking that this song is perfect for confirmation class for prayer.

Now on CME Radio

Enchristment is now on the lineup at CME Radio (Catholic Music Express). catholicmusicexpress.com/cme-radio/

Richard Schletty | Schletty Design and Music | www.schletty.com

Thanks

Thanks for posting the lead-sheet and piano arrangement sheet.  That is really help to share with others to sing the song.
Also, I hope that you submit to Oregon Catholic Press soon to see if they accept our work.

You are welcome, Dan.

 Note that I just uploaded version 8 of piano-voice score. Now we can submit to OCP.

Richard Schletty | Schletty Design and Music | www.schletty.com

Please let me know when you submit to OCP

Please let me know when you submit songs to OCP so that I can follow up with you to see what is going on.

I will let you know about OCP

Please note that I may have to upload a new version of the piano sheet music again (it will be v9). There needs to be a key signature change from Bb to Gmaj in the chorus.

Richard Schletty | Schletty Design and Music | www.schletty.com

Enchristment

Interesting song. I never heard the word Enchristment but I sure understand it in the context of this song. Well done.

Enchristment submission to OCP

Unfortunately, this song was not accepted by OCP (Oregon Catholic Press). I hope they reconsider. Dan vi Nguyen and I also submitted two other songs we co-wrote and they were also rejected. She and I had great expectations.

Richard Schletty | Schletty Design and Music | www.schletty.com

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