‘My Times Are In Your Hand’ – A Musical Experiment

It’s often said that the good is the enemy of the best. It’s also often said that the perfect is the enemy of the good. Both observations are true in different contexts, sort of like Proverbs 26:4-5.

In my own life, the perfect vs. good version seems more applicable. In order to finish anything, I often have to force myself to stop improving it, shrug, and say, “It’ll do, I guess.”

So, in the spirit of flawed-but-finished, I’m releasing some music into the wild today.

I’ll go into what this project is, why I’m doing it, and how I’ve done it so far. Then I’ll dig into some details, mostly for music and software nerds.

What

According to the hardworking folks at Hymnary.org, William Freeman Lloyd published a hymn called “My Times Are in Thy Hand” in 1824, surely prompted in part by Psalm 31:14-15. The text of that hymn is in the public domain.

I came across it in the Trinity Hymnal in the early 2000’s while serving as a pastor. At the time, I didn’t like the tune, so I composed a new one for our church. I never really liked my own version either, though, and shelved the project for a couple of decades.

The files attached below are my new rendition, still hymn style, but with a 2024 tune, new structure, and a few changes to the lyrics.

I’ve licensed the project with Creative Commons as CC BY 4.0, meaning anyone can do whatever they want with it (but I guess you’re supposed to give me some credit for whatever bits of my work you reuse).

As for the lyrics, here’s a summary of alterations:

• Each of my verses includes two of Lloyd’s. I’ve also turned Lloyd’s verse 4 into the chorus, and Lloyd’s verse 1 is repeated for the coda.
• “Thy” is replaced with “Your” throughout.
• Some other phrases that seemed awkward are tweaked: e.g., “Jesus the crucified” is “O Christ the crucified.”¹
• In places I tried to increase the doctrinal density and say a bit more with the available syllables.

I’m not going to claim this version is better than Lloyd’s original. For once, though, I’ve completed a hymn re-do that I like—so far. I’m least happy with my lyric adjustments. If you have the knack of writing lyrics, please contribute your talents!

The SATB sheet music is basically hymnal style. At the moment, it has not yet been field tested by congregational singing.

• MyTimesC-SATB.pdf
• MyTimesD-SATB.pdf

MP3s: These are provided to get an idea of how the music sounds. They were generated from the sheet music then humanized a little—so they are very basic. I’m working on a more listenable arrangement, but it has a ways to go yet.

• MyTimesC-SATB-MP3.mp3
• MyTimesD-SATB-MP3.mp3

Why

I’m going to try to compress most of the why into five sentences.

• Fun: This project, and several others I have going, are partly just for the pleasure of creating new music.
• Musical journey: I’ve been involved in making music most of my life, but, after a long hiatus, circumstances have led to picking it up again at a new level.
• Collaboration: I’m hoping others can take what I’ve made and make it better—or just do something special of their own with it.
• Music friends: Several music friends have helped already, but I need more who are savvy to harmony, melody, and rhythm details—and who are able to tell me what they think works or doesn’t.
• Worship: I love this hymn’s themes of trust, peace, and thankfulness amid the turbulence of our personal times and cultural times.

I owe a lot to the church I joined in 2021. We already had capable teachers, so I wasn’t needed for pulpit work, but there was a need for music ministry. Before I knew it, I was learning and leading new songs every month and creating arrangements to make life easier for our pianists and vocalists.

At the same time, YouTube music theory geniuses like Charles Cornell, Adam Neely, and David Bennet were blowing my mind. I’ve learned a ton from them in a short time.

I picked up music again with some apprehension. Would I be able to play as well as I used to? Would my arrangements (sheet music and digital audio) mostly fall short of my hopes, as in the past? To my surprise and delight, after a couple of years, I play better than ever—and I’m mostly making music I’m pretty happy with.

How

That said, let me lower your expectations. My music skills are uneven. In some areas, they’re nonexistent.

I grew up in a musical family, and Dad ear trained us early in three-part harmony with guitar accompaniment. I took a lot of piano lessons but never got good at playing from sheet music vs. memorizing the chords (a.k.a., “playing by ear”). I’ve sung in a lot of choirs and ensembles and have paid a lot of attention to what I like and don’t like in SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) arrangements—but I have no formal training in composing and arranging music.

My process with this project was to sit at the piano and experiment with various tunes and harmonies—while referencing the words. This one came together about 90% in one afternoon. The remaining 10% was a lot of revision as I became aware of problems (a couple months of that).

Details: For the Nerds

Main tools used in the project:

• Roland FP60x: My main piano.²
• MuseScore 4: For all the part writing and sheet music.
• Studio One 6: MP3s; MIDI cleanup and export; analysis of chords, parts, harmony, etc.³
• Boz Digital Labs’ New York 1926 Steinway L piano: The MP3 files.⁴

Music software files:

For those interested in forking their own versions, I’ve provided MIDI and music xml files. Most music notation software and DAW software can import one or both. For reasons I can’t remember, the MIDI files are separated into one for soprano/alto and one for tenor/bass. They’re all in C major.

• MyTimesMIDI-SA.mid
• MyTimesMIDI-TB.mid
• MyTimesMXL.mxl
• MyTimes.zip (all the project files)

Some composition notes:

Earlier versions of this arrangement pushed harmony boundaries more. I had more 7 and 9 chords and an aug/dim chord here and there. I kept the Am7 (or C/A, if you prefer) at measures 4 and 12. To me, these sound too dissonant in the SATB mp3’s but sound pretty nice with accompaniment-style piano. So, I don’t know if that harmony really works or not. Maybe you can tell me.

That chorus: At first it seemed too dramatic, but I was too fond of the vi, IV, vi, iii leading into “crucified” and couldn’t let it go. A gazillion hearings later, it feels right to me, but I could just be numb. I’m also still unsure if all that C,C,C,D,C in the melody works OK. I feel like it should, but it has not been field tested.

Tempo: Like the thermostat, everybody has their own idea of where it should be set—and also change their minds often. I make no claim that 110 bpm is “correct.” (I’ve often enjoyed playing it quite a bit slower.)

Conclusion

People who create stuff usually need audiences/viewers. It starts early (“Mom! Look what I made!!”). I’ve reached a point where I need more feedback if I’m going to continue to improve. If you’re “not musical” but know someone who might find this project interesting or have the skills to do some analysis—send them a link.