It’s ironic that ministers of music/worship leaders not only have to be “in the moment,” but you also have to live a season ahead of the calendar. Though it’s barely the New Year, many of you are already well into the process of picking and producing your Easter music.
There’s no better time for you to use the vast resources at Discover Worship.
As an Unlimited Member, you not only get full access to more than 150 individual Easter-themed songs, but you can also choose from more than two dozen musicals, mini-musicals and suites—with more music being added weekly.
Here’s an overview of Discover Worship’s new Easter musicals for 2016…
Last year, our exclusive Christmas musical, The Glorious Story of Christmas, was very well received by our members.
This week, we’re honored to release its companion project: The Glorious Story of Easter. Like it’s predecessor, this work is designed for congregations who want to blend seasonal hymns with light contemporary anthems.
This ten-song, 40-minute musical invites us into the Resurrection story through short narrations and very accessible arrangements from Dennis Allen, Bruce Greer, Russell Mauldin, Dave Williamson and others.
In summary, The Glorious Story of Easter is fairly easy, fairly contemporary and very biblical…in fact, the last song sets up a perfect invitational moment for your pastor.
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If you’re looking for something more traditional, this week we release our exclusive Easter musical, Sing We Now of Easter: A Concert of Resurrection Hymns.
There’s just no better day on the church calendar to sing hymns than Easter morning! So we carefully picked 12 beloved hymns (some in medleys)--voiced for traditional SATB choir by some of today’s most respected arrangers--and created a simple narration that tells the Easter story from beginning to end.
Hymns like: “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “Nothing But the Blood,” and “Jesus Paid It All.” From easy to medium difficulty, these pieces can be performed individually or with included narration as a 35-minute concert.
The last song is a medley of three great Easter hymns that could--and probably should--be sung congregationally.
So in summary, Sing We Now of Easter: A Concert of Resurrection Hymns is easy to medium difficulty, fairly traditional, and—as always—very biblical, providing an appropriate setting for evangelism.
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Next week, Discover Worship will release its exclusive work, What Wondrous Love: A Sacred Easter Cantata. With reverence and sophistication, this moderately difficult 40-minute cantata with short, biblical narration spans Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday & Good Friday to Resurrection Sunday.
This work is designed for music programs that would characterize themselves as more “sacred” in style. In keeping with this, we chose the more formal tone of the Revised Standard Version for the scriptural narration (although you should use whatever you prefer). As an alternative to having onstage readers do the narration, you might consider printing or projecting the Scripture verses for congregational reading.
This work features nine 2-, 3- & 4-part arrangements, including piano prelude, a cappella piece and optional “Hallelujah Chorus" finale.
In summary, What Wondrous Love: A Sacred Easter Cantata, is medium difficulty (with at least one fairly challenging piece), fairly sacred and filled with Scripture.
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So that’s what’s new here at Discover Worship for Easter 2016!
To simplify your search for the perfect Easter music, we’ve created the attached Easter Musical grid that shows you—at a glance—what’s available.
You’re also invited to go onto the Discover Worship website and search for individual pieces by style, arranger, difficulty level, theme and scripture verse. Simply click on “Choral” and click on the “Seasonal” tab (you could just go here) or click on “Musicals & Collections” (shortcut to Easter Musicals here) to begin your search.
Discover Worship is honored to have recently been chosen as a “Worship Leader Editor’s Pick” for online music resources. If you’re not a member, we encourage you to join and find out what thousands of churches already know. If you’re a Basic Member and want to upgrade to an Unlimited Membership so that you’ll have access to musicals, collections and orchestrations—plus more than 2000 songs—you can upgrade online, by chat or by phone.
Looking forward,
Vince Wilcox, general manager
