Music Spotlight! (Sunday, Dec. 26, 2021)

Please welcome our guest musician for Christmas Eve, Jokobie Kindle! He will be contributing prelude music and colorful lines to the hymns. 

Jakobie Kindle is a recent Music Performance graduate from Austin Peay State University. He is an accomplished performer that hopes to continue his studies in Trumpet Performance at the graduate level. Jakobie is an inspiration to those around him with his hard work, tenacity, and dedication to his crafting in hopes to inspire more people that look like him to pursue their dreams in the field of music. He is constantly inspired and pushed by his teachers, peers, family, and partner.

Christmas Eve Prelude Music:

Angels Medley combining "Angels from the Realms of Glory" with "Angels We Have Heard on High."

Folk Carol Suite with four short movements on "Noel Nouvelet" (French), "Masters in this Hall" (English), "Coventry Carol" (English), and "O Du Frohliche/Echo Carol" (German).

Carol Medley combining "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing", "O Come, All Ye Faithful", and "The First Noel."

Sunday Special Music:

Doug Young will sing Sweet Little Jesus Boy on Dec. 26.

Mistaken by many to be an old American spiritual sung by slaves of the South in the 19th century, the song was written in 1934 by white American composer Robert MacGimsey (1898–1979). Born in Louisiana, MacGimsey was a lawyer who had a passion for composing what many people of his generation called “black music.” MacGimsey was raised in the company of black domestic help who gave him a rich background in the gospel mu­sic of the South. His childhood caregiver, “Aunt Becky,” would sing spirituals to Robert as a baby. 

MacGimsey made it his life’s work to learn, pre­serve, transcribe, and make accessible African- American folk music from the South. MacGimsey wanted “Sweet Little Jesus Boy” to echo the senti­ments of black Christians in the Civil War era. He once described his most famous song as more a meaning than a song: He pictured an aging black man whose life had been full of injustice “standing off in the middle of a field just giving his heart to Jesus in the stillness.” [Source]

The lyrics are traditionally stylized in a way that reflects how African Americans spoke in the 19th century. Musicians and scholars continue to debate whether singing in this dialect honors African-American history or insults how far African Americans have come to achieve freedom. Both reactions, as a listener, are valid. As Doug sings this song, try to listen for the narrative. Christ, not accepted by us, knows our sorrows yet still loves us. We ask forgiveness for our wrongdoings. Lord Jesus, "You done told us how, and we is a tryin’!" 

Sweet little Jesus boy 

They made you be born in a manger 

Sweet little holy child 

Didn't know who you was 

Didn't know you'd come to save us Lord 

To take our sins away 

Our eyes was blind, we couldn't see 

We didn't know who you was 

Long time ago you was born 

Born in a manger low 

Sweet little Jesus boy 

The world treat you mean Lord 

Treat me mean too 

But that's how things is down here 

We didn't know twas you 

You done told us how 

We is a'tryin' 

Master you done showed us how 

Even when you's dyin'.

Just seem like we can't do right 

Look how we treated you 

But please sir, forgive us Lord 

We didn't know twas you