The Gift of Music Songs of Praise

HE SINGS A SCALE

As a singer and songwriter, arranger and vocal coach,

I've had the privilege of working with countless other singers.

Some famous, some not yet famous.

The thing that never ceases to amaze me

is music's ability not just to change a mood,

but to completely transform a life, the way that it did mine.

This week we're going to be going around the country,

looking at people whose lives have been transformed

by the gift of music.

Coming up - the student who's changing the face of rugby.

The singer who's found a new voice.

And the teenagers bringing their community together

through the power of song.

Plus, of course, hymns galore to lift your spirits.

Hans Christian Andersen said, "Where words fail, music speaks."

Of course, music is a powerful way of worshipping and showing our love for God,

as expressed in today's first hymn

which comes from the oldest church in Portsmouth, St Mary's.

This is Stockbridge Village in Knowsley on Merseyside.

Originally built in the '60s, it's had a troubled past

but a group of youngsters are using music to try and brighten its future.

As a vocal coach and youth music ambassador,

I'm well aware of the power that music has to engage young people

and that is certainly what is happening here.

The En-Chord music project is giving local teenagers the opportunity

to make and perform their own music.

I've come along to one of their sessions to share some tips with them.

# Oh see it's getting late Oh please don't hesitate

# Put a little love in your heart

# Put a little love in your heart... #

18-year-old Judith Guabadoa has been involved in the project from the very beginning.

I only discovered I could sing at the age of 12

when the music pastor of our church said,

"You should audition for a part in the choir."

I was shy, I didn't want to sing and he forced me to sing

and when I sang, he went, "Wow, you've got a voice."

Everybody sing their first note.

There is nothing to do in our lives

so En-Chord has given us the opportunity to come together,

to make one big family.

We've literally created a music community in a community.

# Put a little love in your heart... #

'I've met so many nice people who are into music

'and I've learned from them, the way they've learned from me

'and it has actually changed my life so very much.'

# Put a little love in your heart... #

Everyone is like a family and everyone is close

and there's no judgemental people.

You can be yourself around everyone.

Just because the area we live in has a bad name doesn't mean

everybody who lives there is bad as well.

If you think back to two years ago, there was nothing like that.

Now there is and it's just amazing.

En-Chord may be giving the gift of music to their community

but Judith believes that her voice is a gift in itself.

'I feel that it is a gift from God.

'He has given me this gift and I must share this gift.'

I don't want to be selfish with it by not allowing people to hear

what God has given me.

# Above all powers

# Above all Kings

# Above all nature and all created things

# Above all wisdom and all the ways of man

# You were here before the world began

# Above all kingdoms

# Above all thrones

# Above all wonders the world has ever known

# Above all wealth and treasures of the earth

# There's no way to measure what you're worth

# Crucified, laid behind a stone

# You lived to die Rejected and alone

# Like a rose Trampled on the ground

# You took the fall and thought of me, above all

# Crucified, laid behind a stone

# You lived to die Rejected and alone

# Like a rose Trampled on the ground

# You took the fall and thought of me, above all

# Like a rose Trampled on the ground

# You took the fall

# And thought of me

# Above all. #

Elle Caldon regularly sang at her church and in local choirs.

She earned a music scholarship to university but when there,

her health began to suffer.

I was diagnosed with bipolar about six years ago.

The depressive episodes make lots of things more difficult.

They make just getting up

and getting out of the house become quite a challenge.

Everything just feels as though it moves very slowly.

There are times when the depression is so significant that the idea

of singing is not one that I would feel I could entertain at that time.

When things are beginning to shift and I start to feel a bit better,

I find singing can actually be really helpful.

# ..And mercy shall follow me... #

Elle realised that music might also help other sufferers.

Six years ago she set up The Mustard Seed Singers,

made up of people with mental health issues and those who support them.

The choir is not a Christian choir, it hasn't got a spiritual component

although I do feel that God has helped and inspired me

to do what I am doing now.

# Parsley, sage Rosemary and thyme... #

And it's not only Elle who believes that music can have a

profound effect on people's moods.

Professor Stephen Clift

is from Canterbury Christchurch University and has been

studying the effect which music and singing has on people's wellbeing.

Singing is a very uplifting activity.

It helps people to feel happier.

It's a very social thing, people come together regularly.

They get to know one another,

they have social support from their friends.

It's especially important for people who might have a

history of health problems.

# Just call on me, brother

# When you need a hand

# We all need somebody to lean on... #

Singing is my main hobby. It's my lifeline.

'I always feel good after I've sang.'

# ..I'll help you carry on. #

Music creates a sense of harmony that unites generations,

and to sing together with a group, singing different harmonies,

creating a complete entity of song, is a wonderful experience.

I think music generally is a gift from God.

Whether people experience that in that way for themselves...

It's going to be different for different people,

but I personally think music is a gift.

# Make me a channel of your peace... #

22-year-old soprano Laura Wright has packed a lot

into the last eight years.

The former Radio Two Young Chorister of the Year had a successful

career with the group All Angels, selling over a million albums.

SHE SINGS

Having gone solo,

her debut album went to number one in the classical charts.

She was last seen by Songs Of Praise viewers here,

performing at The Big Sing,

but she actually spends most of her time here.

LAURA SINGS

Currently, Laura's finishing her degree in opera studies

at the Royal College of Music, but she's in demand.

Last year she performed at the Queen's Jubilee,

at the Olympic Stadium and at the Festival of Remembrance.

Do you feel that music somehow brings a nation together?

Yeah, enormously. I've just been made the official singer

for the England rugby team, which is an amazing feeling,

but a big responsibility.

It's only 50 seconds long, our anthem.

It's so short, but in that space of time you can unify the entire

crowd and be the symbol of unity.

THEY SING "GOD SAVE THE QUEEN"

-You have a vested interest in rugby, don't you?

-I do.

I have three older brothers who all play rugby,

and let's put it this way, I was the rugby ball when I was younger.

But in recent times, I did actually start playing rugby,

and I'm having so much fun being in a team sport, because obviously,

as a soloist, you're up there on stage on your own a lot of the time.

You're travelling around on your own, and to be part of a rugby team

and to be with a group of girls that just have so much fun,

they're so driven as well, that they have that drive

that you have as a performer. It's great to mix the two.

So there you are, you're singing in front of 86,000 people.

How does that compare to, say,

singing in an opera house or a concert hall or a church?

Singing in a church, for me, is the most peaceful experience,

and I feel like I have a very strong faith there as well.

SHE SINGS

And I think it's interesting

when you take that music out of the church and out of that surrounding.

I still feel that faith

and I still feel that connection to the church

and to my faith as well, and I think that's the beautiful thing about

choral music, is that it's written in devotion to God

and that kind of goes with you wherever you go.

You talked about the need to have an emotional connection with a song.

How do you connect to I Vow To Thee, My Country?

You sort of feel like it's the people's national anthem.

Everyone gets behind you, everyone sings it, everyone knows it,

and you see people almost sit up straight when you start singing it

because they feel proud, and I think that's how I feel when I perform.

# I vow to thee, my country

# All earthly things above

# Entire and whole and perfect

# The service of my love

# The love that asks no question

# The love that stands the test

# That lays upon the altar

# The dearest and the best

# The love that never falters

# The love that pays the price

# The love that makes undaunted

# The final sacrifice

# And there's another country

# I've heard of long ago

# Most dear to them that love her

# Most great to them that know

# We may not count her armies

# We may not see her King

# Her fortress is a faithful heart

# Her pride is suffering

# And soul by soul and silently

# Her shining bounds increase

# And her ways are ways of gentleness

# And all her paths are peace

# And her ways are ways of gentleness

# And all her paths are peace. #

For some, their devotion to music has meant overcoming physical

barriers to fulfil their dreams.

Gemma Lunt was a musical child,

but suffered from hypermobility syndrome,

which caused joint pain and fatigue.

It was such a huge part of my life at that time, and as I grew up

into secondary school, there was leading the Wigan Youth Orchestra

when I was 14, which was a great opportunity.

It was a way I could express myself,

it was a way I could kind of get frustration

out in my music as well as all the other emotions,

and I think it really became a big, big support to me.

Gemma overcame these barriers to secure a place studying

performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire.

But after an accident in 2003, she lost the sight in one eye,

and four years later, suffered an anaphylactic shock which led

to nerve damage and the loss of the use of her legs.

I was in bed for most of that year a lot of the time, and I'd been

told I wouldn't play again properly, and that really, really...

..hit me. I was just absolutely devastated.

I suddenly started being able to pick up the strength to play

my soprano sax, and I just kept at this,

and gradually built that up and got some of the sensation back

in my hands a bit, and basically then started picking up the viola.

Within a year she was back at college,

but even this threw up new barriers to overcome.

It's quite hard going back to Trinity Laban

being in a wheelchair, cos obviously I had issues with

access at first and it was very frustrating.

But it felt like that's where God had wanted me to be

and I was just determined to stick at that

and work my way through whatever else came up.

I'm going to be playing Amazing Grace.

It always seems that there's certain songs that have really stuck

out to me or really kind of really reached out to me at times

when I've just felt like giving up,

and that is one of the songs that has really, really helped.

'Oh, Lord, through music we express our faith in you.

'With song in our hearts, we find strength and confidence.'

'Music's power heals, transforms and unites us.'

'And for this wondrous gift, we thank you. Amen.'

The gift of music is a wonderful thing,

for the performer as well as the audience.

But when that music or song comes from the soul,

then it becomes more than just a tune.

Then it becomes a musical prayer.

Next week, ahead of St David's Day, Aled visits the saint's

birthplace on the Pembrokeshire coast,

and takes a look around the fascinating cathedral in St Davids.

The hymn singing, as it's from the Land of Song, is heavenly,

and there's music from special guest, Rhys Meirion.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd