Building a Family MP3 Music Library

[Brother John]

I have a large iTunes credit and I would like to use it to build a family MP3 music library from songs available from iTunes. We are not only looking for "gospel" or "christian" music but any songs that will encourage righteousness and a Biblical worldview. The music can be from any genre and will be for my wife, me and our four and six year old boys.

Please suggest away and help us find some great music!

 

[jwithnell]

Vivaldi Gloria; Handel Messiah, Mendelssohn Elijah, anything Bach. I make these suggestions not only to meet your criteria, but also because they are truly great works and will introduce your kids to four of the great composers and the different styles of their eras. Also, we like anything by Judy Rogers and the Songs for Saplings series.

 

[Brother John]

Vivaldi Gloria; Handel Messiah, Mendelssohn Elijah, anything Bach. I make these suggestions not only to meet your criteria, but also because they are truly great works and will introduce your kids to four of the great composers and the different styles of their eras. Also, we like anything by Judy Rogers and the Songs for Saplings series.

Thanks for the input!

 

[BertMulder]

Some that I know that are available on Itunes, and which I appreciate are, a number of Sweelinck pieces, specifically one of the Genevan psalter (renaissance organ), as well as a number of psalm and hymn choral productions from Kings College Choir, Cambridge (like World of psalms).

 

[Connor Q]

Mumford & Sons write great music with deep and morally straight lyrics. Some of the band members are Christians (including the frontman) and that comes across is some of the lyrics.

"This city breathes the plague of loving things more than their creators
...
But hold on to what you believe in the light
When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight"​

James Blunt's music is usualy above the average for moral fiber.
And its hard to go wrong with Johnny Cash and B Dylan.

 

[Philip]

Mumford & Sons write great music with deep and morally straight lyrics. Some of the band members are Christians (including the frontman) and that comes across is some of the lyrics.

I would second Mumford & Sons with one reservation: their song "Little Lion Man" drops the F-bomb several times.

Other recommendations:

Nickel Creek: an updated bluegrass-folk fusion. They are lyrically deep and instrumentally excellent. I'm unsure whether they are Christians (all band members were homeschooled because of their touring back in the 90s, and Sean Watkins has collaborated with Jon Foreman of Switchfoot).

Switchfoot: Jon Foreman, the frontman, is a Christian, though at times a bit wishy-washy and postmodern. His lyrics are still good, though. He has also done solo acoustic work, including an excellent musical meditation on the Lord's Prayer. Also, his collaboration with Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek (Fiction Family) is very good.

Mendelssohn's 5th Symphony "Reformation": written for the three hundreth anniversary of the Augsburg Confession, the final movement of this symphony is based around the tune Ein Feste Burg (A Mighty Fortress).

The symphonies of Beethoven: I don't think I have to explain this one. The ones that no music collection should be without are the 3rd (eroica), 5th, 7th, and 9th.

Ralph Vaughan Williams: in my opinion, the greatest of 20th Century composers. Start with The Lark Ascending, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Five Mystical Songs (based on George Herbert poems), and Mass in G Minor.

Thomas Tallis: if you have any interest in the kind of music that was in vogue during the reformation, look no further. Tallis was a catholic, but wrote church music for all parties during the English Reformation. Much of his stuff is in Latin, but check out his 9 psalm tunes for Archbishop Parker's psalter. Also indispensible is Spem in Alium, a work written for forty voices (to this day one of the most ambitious and beautiful works ever).

Bach: pretty much anything here is good. Start with the organ works and cantatas. The great thing about Bach is that you'll never hear all of it, so there's always something new.

Handel's Messiah: lyrics taken straight from Scripture---nothing not to like there.