It’s a rainy Sunday here in Detroit metro, and that had me in a slightly melancholy mood. It also had me hearing hymns in my head. When I sat down at the piano today, I started thinking of the hymn, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” (And if you think my MIDI is cheesy, check that link!) It was one of VirgoMom’s favorite hymns, and it was sung at her memorial service in August 2000. (Go here for the full VirgoMom story.)

I like to play around with melodies, in a way that may or may not make them more or less recognizable… McDoc didn’t hear the allusions to “Happy Birthday” in the piece from Day 1, for example, until I told him that I was alluding to it… maybe no one else did, either, and I’m just nuts… but then you don’t become a composer because you’re normal! 😛 Anyway, it’s hard to know what to call what I do to pre-existing material — re-compose it, metamorphose it, do terrible things to it with a fork… Anyway, it’s something I enjoy.

There’s a chord progression in the hymn that reminded me of another piece I love, Schubert’s Moment Musical no. 6 (link takes you to a sample from Amazon.com), so you’ll hear some of that in today’s piece, too. You’ve gotta love the minor IV chord… you’ve just gotta. (And if you don’t know what that is, well, it’s the part that makes you cry. Maybe. If you’re nuts, like me. 🙂 )

Click play to listen:

[audio:http://missmusicnerd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/audio/ForaRainySunday.mp3|titles=For a Rainy Sunday]

Thanks for listening!