Experience This Live #6: Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho

"Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" is an African American spiritual arranged by the amazing Moses Hogan. The song is believed to have been composed by slaves in the first half of the 19th century. The message of deliverance by God's hand provides a powerful imagery of deliverance and hope to those who appear helpless and hopeless to the obstacles in our lives. This piece is unique in that the melody and style is quick and jaunty.

The way the choir sings this particular piece is quite remarkable and unique. I have heard this performed by other choirs but the Tabernacle Choir's take is different because of our size. When the song reaches a climax at the end of the piece I can feel my heart racing. The wall of sound can (at least to me) feel like it can shake a literal wall to the ground. Surprisingly, I have also heard this song sung much more slowly and having it sung more quickly seems more appropriate to me. Of course having a large choir singing a song quickly like this does present problems with unifying the sound and parts but for some reason this piece brings out the best in us as a group.

The piece is dynamically directed by amazing Ryan Murphy. His directing style is very intentional and yet very fluid. If you listen to pieces he conducts you will find that each part is very individual and yet combined with the other parts of the choir they compliment each other so well. In the instance of this piece, you will be able to hear how almost militaristic the men can be and yet how angelic and gentle the women are at times.

Check out this most recent performance of Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho. Performed during the Music and Spoken Word broadcast on October 16, 2016. The recording is amazing but hearing this live is really unreal.

Peering through the inner wall in Berlin, Germany while on the European 2016 Tour

This song took on special meaning to me during the 2016 European tour. Our first city was Berlin. The Berlin Wall was built to divide a country along ideological lines. In so doing it also separated families and loved one from each other for decades. In my youth the Wall that divided East and West Germany fell and to be quite honest it was a surprise for the world. In many ways it was miracle. What made it fall? I honestly think it was Heavenly Father and the prayers of so many people. It took a lot of people.

So what makes the walls come a tumbling down? God and people who turn their trust to Him. Much like the choir does in creating music.

If you have a chance to hear this live, you really should. It's fantastic.