Recently, the platform Johnson-Johnson once again invited Pastor Luo Liguang, former president of Jiangxi Christian Association and director of China Christian Worship Music Committee, to give a special lecture on worship music.
In the lecture, Pastor Luo reviewed the course of his life’s commitment to the worship music ministry, and told of the success or failure of his creation and leading the choir class. He summed up the key points to be followed in the creation of sacred music and the significance of the sacred music ministry.
At the beginning of the lecture, Pastor Luo started with his experience of composing a hymn for his father when he was 16 years old and introduced how he embarked on the road of worship music service.
As early as a teenager, Pastor Luo showed his talent in music performance and composition, and he composed many songs and operas on campus. In 1960, after graduating from high school, Pastor Luo took a violin and some music books and left his hometown of Shandong to work in Jiangxi.
On the first day of his arrival in Jiangxi, Pastor Luo created two hymns, “Can’t Leave the Lord” and “Strive to Run for the Heavenly Road” for self-encouragement. Later, in the 1960s and 1970s, although he was tempered by his faith, Pastor Luo continued to get close to the Lord through the hard times by relying on scriptures and poems in his memory.
After the church was resumed in the 1980s, Pastor Luo began to compose music by himself. In 1994, 211 hymns were composed, created, and collected into a book, all of which were dedicated to the CC&TSPM in Jiangxi Province. Later, CC&TSPM in Jiangxi Province invited Bishop Shen Yifan to preface and officially publish them, and the collection of hymns was named Short Songs of Bible Verses.
Since 1997, Pastor Luo served as the president of Jiangxi Christian Association, and then as the pastor in charge of Yushui Church in Xinyu. In addition to pastoral ministry, Pastor Luo composed a number of hymns with the harmony of the published simplified version of Bible verses and poems and later established the Yushuitang Choir.
In the second part, Pastor Luo shared his experience in the creation of sacred music and choir leadership, combining his three areas of ministry experience of studying harmony arrangement, creating his own hymns and leading the choir:
Pastor Luo recalled that it had always been his long-cherished wish to arrange harmony for scripture hymns. At that time, due to the lack of professional teachers in harmony allocation, Pastor Luo longed for knowledge about chords from the score of hymns, from major triads to minor chords, to changing chords, major chords, and minor chords. He studied one by one first, and then imitated and created.
Pastor Luo said, "If you want to learn the creation of harmony, it is far from enough to rely on self-study, or you should receive formal and systematic music education."
Then, after reviewing the creation process of the three sacred hymns, Pastor Luo concluded, on the one hand, the creation of the lyrics of sacred hymns should be combined with the creation situation, obeying the influence of the Holy Spirit; on the other hand, it is necessary to express the creator’s true feelings. It is also very important to learn Chinese vocabulary and grammar so that the creators’ true feelings can be expressed with more appropriate words.
With the help of the pastor of Lanzhou Church, Pastor Luo learned how to use the computer software “Overture” to make his own score. Later, he used this method in the training of choir co-workers in Yushuitang. In his view, the process of composing, harmonizing, and arranging music was simplified with the help of self-composing music by software.
In the creation of contemporary mainstream music, lyrics, composition, arrangement, singing, and mixing have already become a consensus process. Among them, the arrangement is based on the existing music materials, such as the arrangement of singing forms, harmony and accompaniment. In the church, it is necessary to integrate arranger technology into the creation of hymns.
Finally, Pastor Luo showed the creation process of hymns: following the Holy Spirit's prompting to determine the theme, writing lyrics, preparing melody-arranging, harmony-arranging arrangement-making MIDI, practicing in the choir, recording, post-mixing production, singing, and publishing. In sharing, Pastor Luo once again emphasized the importance of educating staff in grass-roots poetry classes.
(The article is originally published by the Gospel Times.)
-Translated by Charlie Li
日前，因爱而生平台再次邀请原江西省基督教协会会长、中国基督教圣乐事工委员会主任罗黎光牧师开展圣乐专题讲座。
讲座中，罗牧师将自己一生委身圣乐事工探索的历程进行了回顾，并借由讲述自己创作及带领诗班过程中的成败得失，向大家总结了圣诗圣乐创作中需要遵循的要点与圣诗创作事工的重要意义。(==当summary）
讲座开篇，罗牧师从自己16岁时初次为父亲作词的赞美诗歌谱曲的经历讲起，向大家介绍了自己如何走上圣乐侍奉之路。
早在青少年时期，罗牧师就显露出了在音乐演奏及创作方面的恩赐，曾在校园时期创作过多首歌曲及戏曲。1960年，高中毕业后的罗牧师带着一把小提琴及一些音乐书籍，离开家乡山东远赴江西参加工作。
在初到江西的日子，罗牧师自创了《不能离开主》与《努力奔走天路》两首圣诗用以自勉。随后，在上世纪六七十年代中，虽然因信仰缘故遭受熬炼，但是罗牧师依旧靠着记忆中的经文诗歌不断与主亲近联合，度过了艰难岁月。
八十年代教会恢复后，罗牧师开始自学谱曲。并在1994年时将自己谱曲及创作的211首经文诗歌汇总成册，全数奉献给了江西省基督教两会，其后，江西省两会邀请沈以藩主教作序并正式出版发行，诗歌集定名为《圣经经文短歌》。
1997年起，罗牧师开始担任江西省基督教协会会长，随后又担任新余渝水堂的负责牧者进行牧会工作。牧会之余，罗牧师在为已出版的简谱版《圣经经文诗歌》编配和声之外，还自创了多首圣诗，其后又建立了渝水堂诗班。
在第二部分中，罗牧师结合自己学习和声编配、自创诗歌以及带领诗班的三段侍奉经历，向大家分享了在圣乐创作及诗班带领方面的心得体会：
罗牧师回忆道，为经文诗歌配置和声一直是他长久以来的夙愿。在当时，由于缺乏和声编配专业老师，罗牧师便从《赞美诗》线谱中自己摸索学习关于和弦的知识，从大三和弦到小三和弦，再到变和弦、大调和弦、小调和弦……他先逐个学习钻研，再照样模仿进行创作。
罗牧师说：若如果想要学习和声的创作，仅仅依靠自学是远远不够的，还是应当接受正规的、成体系的音乐教育。
接着在回顾了三首圣诗的创作历程之后，罗牧师总结道：圣诗歌词的创作一方面应当结合创作处境，顺服圣灵的感动与引领进行创作；另一方面则是应当有感而发，表达创作者的真情实感。中文词汇语法的学习也很重要，这样可以用更加贴切的字词表达出创作者的真实情感。
在兰州教会牧者的帮助下，罗牧师得知并学会了使用电脑软件“Overture”进行自行打线谱的方法。随后他将此方法用在了渝水堂的诗班同工培训中。在他看来，借助软件自行打线谱简化了作曲、和声以及编曲的流程。
在当代主流音乐的创作中，作词、作曲、编曲、演唱、混音早已成为共识流程。其中，编曲是根据已有的音乐素材进行诸如编配歌唱形式、编和声、编伴奏等再编配工作。而在教会中，需要将编曲技术融入赞美诗的创作。
最后，罗牧师向大家展示了赞美诗创作流程：随圣灵感动确定主题——编写歌词——配制旋律——编配和声——编曲——制作MIDI——诗班练唱——录音——混音后期制作——献唱并发表。分享中，罗牧师也再次强调了在基层诗班中推行普及五线谱的重要意义。
本文内容、版权均来源于因爱而生平台，福音时报蒙允发布
从牧者的圣乐侍奉之路谈圣乐创作
Recently, the platform Johnson-Johnson once again invited Pastor Luo Liguang, former president of Jiangxi Christian Association and director of China Christian Worship Music Committee, to give a special lecture on worship music.
In the lecture, Pastor Luo reviewed the course of his life’s commitment to the worship music ministry, and told of the success or failure of his creation and leading the choir class. He summed up the key points to be followed in the creation of sacred music and the significance of the sacred music ministry.
At the beginning of the lecture, Pastor Luo started with his experience of composing a hymn for his father when he was 16 years old and introduced how he embarked on the road of worship music service.
As early as a teenager, Pastor Luo showed his talent in music performance and composition, and he composed many songs and operas on campus. In 1960, after graduating from high school, Pastor Luo took a violin and some music books and left his hometown of Shandong to work in Jiangxi.
On the first day of his arrival in Jiangxi, Pastor Luo created two hymns, “Can’t Leave the Lord” and “Strive to Run for the Heavenly Road” for self-encouragement. Later, in the 1960s and 1970s, although he was tempered by his faith, Pastor Luo continued to get close to the Lord through the hard times by relying on scriptures and poems in his memory.
After the church was resumed in the 1980s, Pastor Luo began to compose music by himself. In 1994, 211 hymns were composed, created, and collected into a book, all of which were dedicated to the CC&TSPM in Jiangxi Province. Later, CC&TSPM in Jiangxi Province invited Bishop Shen Yifan to preface and officially publish them, and the collection of hymns was named Short Songs of Bible Verses.
Since 1997, Pastor Luo served as the president of Jiangxi Christian Association, and then as the pastor in charge of Yushui Church in Xinyu. In addition to pastoral ministry, Pastor Luo composed a number of hymns with the harmony of the published simplified version of Bible verses and poems and later established the Yushuitang Choir.
In the second part, Pastor Luo shared his experience in the creation of sacred music and choir leadership, combining his three areas of ministry experience of studying harmony arrangement, creating his own hymns and leading the choir:
Pastor Luo recalled that it had always been his long-cherished wish to arrange harmony for scripture hymns. At that time, due to the lack of professional teachers in harmony allocation, Pastor Luo longed for knowledge about chords from the score of hymns, from major triads to minor chords, to changing chords, major chords, and minor chords. He studied one by one first, and then imitated and created.
Pastor Luo said, "If you want to learn the creation of harmony, it is far from enough to rely on self-study, or you should receive formal and systematic music education."
Then, after reviewing the creation process of the three sacred hymns, Pastor Luo concluded, on the one hand, the creation of the lyrics of sacred hymns should be combined with the creation situation, obeying the influence of the Holy Spirit; on the other hand, it is necessary to express the creator’s true feelings. It is also very important to learn Chinese vocabulary and grammar so that the creators’ true feelings can be expressed with more appropriate words.
With the help of the pastor of Lanzhou Church, Pastor Luo learned how to use the computer software “Overture” to make his own score. Later, he used this method in the training of choir co-workers in Yushuitang. In his view, the process of composing, harmonizing, and arranging music was simplified with the help of self-composing music by software.
In the creation of contemporary mainstream music, lyrics, composition, arrangement, singing, and mixing have already become a consensus process. Among them, the arrangement is based on the existing music materials, such as the arrangement of singing forms, harmony and accompaniment. In the church, it is necessary to integrate arranger technology into the creation of hymns.
Finally, Pastor Luo showed the creation process of hymns: following the Holy Spirit's prompting to determine the theme, writing lyrics, preparing melody-arranging, harmony-arranging arrangement-making MIDI, practicing in the choir, recording, post-mixing production, singing, and publishing. In sharing, Pastor Luo once again emphasized the importance of educating staff in grass-roots poetry classes.
(The article is originally published by the Gospel Times.)
-Translated by Charlie Li
Lecture: On Creation of Worship Music
