Voices-only Wednesday: “There’s a Stirring,” up vs. down notes and concert memories
From 1973 to 1988, she was part of a trio named 2nd Chapter of Acts. (Not the catchiest name for a group, but those of us who grew up in Churches of Christ certainly appreciate the reference.) I originally thought “There’s a Stirring” was a 2nd Chapter song, but it appears she wrote it after the group disbanded. Either way, she and the group are considered to be pioneers of the music genre known as “Contemporary Christian.”
I first heard the song as a live track on the “My Calm // Your Storm” album by Caedmon’s Call. When I moved to Oklahoma 13 years ago, I was thrilled to hear our Wednesday night singles class at the Memorial Road Church of Christ singing it.
I tried to join in, but the only version I knew was from the album, and I got some weird looks when the notes I was singing didn’t match up with theirs.
It’s always bothered me that, in most a cappella renditions, the notes with the lyric “I will rise up” seem to drop on the word “up.” (Listen to this example.)
On the version above, the word “up” coincides with notes that go “up,” which is nice. (Maybe someone who knows music theory can explain all this to me. I took one year of piano before my teacher mysteriously decided to resign.)
Caedmon’s performed the song on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University way back in 2003. And we (the audience) got the rare chance to sing it for them — a cappella. I found the column I wrote about it and spruced up the formatting a bit.
A snippet:
They started to pick up their instruments, but the crowd started yelling requests for “There’s a Stirring.”
“Do y’all even know that song?’ Young asked.
“YES!” we shouted.
“This isn’t the right guitar for that song,”
“WE DON’T NEED IT!”
Send us your submissions for Voices-only Wednesday. Post your a cappella songs to YouTube or Vimeo and send us the links. Or post links to your favorite videos in the comments.
