Musically Speaking

We still understand formality at weddings and funerals. We dress differently, speak differently, behave differently. But when the living God calls His people into His presence each Lord’s Day, we seem increasingly tempted to make the occasion feel as ordinary as possible. In this episode I reflect on what our worship teaches us about God, why holiness and joy are not opposites, and what music specifically can do to help mark an occasion as set apart. Reverence is not stiffness. But worship that looks, sounds, and feels like everything else may quietly teach us that it is like everything else.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a link to the original article: https://jarrodrichey.substack.com/p/set-apart-holiness-meets-casual-worship

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

Someone once asked me how you get a person to love Bach when they would rather listen to Taylor Swift. In this episode, I reflect on why that question is framed the wrong way and how C.S. Lewis’s distinction between cutting down jungles and irrigating deserts relates to musical education. The goal is not to take things away. It is to enlarge a person’s capacity to hear. Good music rewards return visits, and the better your ears are trained, the more you notice everywhere else.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a link to the original article: https://jarrodrichey.substack.com/publish/post/139706169

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

In 1829, a twenty-year-old Felix Mendelssohn conducted Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in Berlin and helped awaken a new generation to music that had largely disappeared from public performance. In this episode, I reflect on that remarkable act of musical stewardship, and on the deeper pattern it illustrates. Mendelssohn did for Bach what Bach did for those who came before him: he received an inheritance, studied it, and passed it along. In a time when originality is prized above almost everything else, this episode makes a case for imitation as its own form of thankfulness.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

On what would have been John Lennon’s 86th birthday, I return to “In My Life,” one of his most reflective songs and one of the great tracks from Rubber Soul. In this episode, I consider the restraint of Lennon’s lyric, George Martin’s iconic keyboard interlude, and the way memory, people, and the passing of time shaped some of Lennon’s best writing. I also make a case for listening to Rubber Soul straight through, with Revolver close behind, and briefly touch on “A Day in the Life” and “Watching the Wheels” as other examples of Lennon at his most observant.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a link to “In My Life”: https://youtu.be/ngzQTxXEcxQ

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

Reginald Heber’s “The Son of God Goes Forth to War” is a familiar hymn text in many Christian traditions, but one lesser-known setting brings out something different in it. In this episode, I reflect on Leonard Payton’s Dorian setting of the hymn and the way its musical character holds together suffering, sacrifice, solemnity, and hope. Rather than turning the text into a simple victory march, the tune gives it a processional dignity that lets the words breathe. I also consider why a strong hymn text can sustain more than one musical setting, and why this one deserves to stand alongside the better-known alternatives.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a link to a recording from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX: https://redeemerpres.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/The-Son-of-God-Goes-Forth-to-War.mp3

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

In 1951, Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong teamed up for “Gone Fishin’,” and the recording’s charm comes from the fact that they never try to sound alike. Crosby is smooth, relaxed, and conversational. Armstrong is gravelly, flexible, and unmistakably himself. In this episode, I reflect on the teasing, rhythmic give-and-take, and unlikely vocal blend that make the performance so much fun, and on why some of the best musical partnerships work because the differences stay intact.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a link to “Gone Fishin’”: https://youtu.be/E50Hl5mT6IQ

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

Jon Batiste comes from one of New Orleans’ great musical dynasties, not unlike the Marsalis family. He was playing drums in the Batiste Brothers Band at age eight, earned his bachelor’s and master's degrees in jazz at Juilliard, served as bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, won the Grammy for Album of the Year for We Are, and won an Oscar for co-composing the score for Soul. In this episode, I reflect on what makes him so remarkable at the piano, feature his iconic Blackbird performance from the Ed Sullivan Theater on the 52nd anniversary of the Beatles’ American debut, and recommend his cover of Saint James Infirmary. Start with Chopinesque. You'll understand what all the fuss is about in no time.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a link to Chopinesque: https://youtu.be/xZqjM_IPeXg

Here’s a live version of Saint James Infirmary: https://youtu.be/M3qTwHRECmM

Here’s the live performance of Blackbird: https://youtu.be/kqHGMsKWAyg

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

Samuel Barber composed his Adagio for Strings in 1936 as an intimate meditation inspired by a passage from Virgil's Aeneid. He did not write it for grief. And yet grief found it. On this 25th anniversary of September 11th, I reflect on how this piece became the unofficial anthem of American mourning, from the radio announcement of Franklin Roosevelt's death to the assassination of John F. Kennedy to the days after the attacks in 2001. I also consider Barber's choral arrangement setting the Latin Agnus Dei text to the same music. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them rest. This piece keeps showing up at moments when we don't have words.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a link to the recording from September 15, 2001: https://youtu.be/Y4PWdOoOQjI

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

On September 4, 1907, Edvard Grieg died in Bergen, Norway, the same city where he was born. 119 years later, his music is still among the most recognized in the classical repertoire. In this episode, I reflect on two pieces from his Peer Gynt suite that could not be more different. In the Hall of the Mountain King, which Grieg himself reportedly thought was too crude, and Morning Mood, which reveals the quieter and more luminous side of a composer who spent his whole career writing music that sounded like Norway. Same composer. Same suite. Remarkable range.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a link to a recording of In the Hall of the Mountain King: https://youtu.be/awRj_KdSVvY

Here is a recording of Grieg’s Morning Mood: https://youtu.be/J-1Bob1dU18

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

Dolly Parton passed away this week at the age of 80. In this episode I add to the conversation about her music, hopefully by taking you on some of the backwoods roads rather than the main road of her best known hits. Everybody is doing those right now. Instead I want to point you to the 1987 Trio album with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, three of the great voices of that era stripped down to close harmony, acoustic instruments, and no production tricks whatsoever. Along the way I reflect on the Elvis publishing story, share a recording of my Geneva Academy singers performing Craig Hella Johnson's choral arrangement of Light of a Clear Blue Morning, and close with one more from the Trio album. Farther along, she would say. That is a good way to leave.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a link to a recording of Farther Along:https://youtu.be/0kunGUM83m8

Here’s Rosewood Casket:https://youtu.be/dkJqhunzetk

And here’s my Geneva Academy Singers singing her Light of a Clear Blue Morning:https://youtu.be/KVJre77Dtng

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

Everyone knows Kind of Blue. But the pianist at that session, Bill Evans, was quietly developing something extraordinary of his own. In this episode I put the spotlight on Portrait in Jazz, recorded in a single day in December 1959 with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. Evans called their approach simultaneous improvisation, three equal voices in conversation rather than a piano supported by a rhythm section. The result is one of the finest jazz trio albums ever made. Start with Autumn Leaves. Let the trio do the rest.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a link to a recording of Autumn Leaves: https://youtu.be/C1mMsz2I1c8

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

What do Paganini’s dazzling Caprice No. 24 and one of the most beloved melodies ever written have in common? More than you might think. In this episode, I discuss the interesting path from Paganini’s famous violin caprice to Sergei Rachmaninoff’s unforgettable Eighteenth Variation from Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Along the way, I explore musical inversion, Jeremy Begbie’s insight into the piece, and why one of history’s most beautiful melodies was hiding inside another all along.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a link to a recording with the sheet music overlaid: https://youtu.be/g23umCq9z2A

And here’s Jeremy Begbie’s discussion if you’re interested: https://youtu.be/UlR3bOsoAdA

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

In the late nineties I came across a compilation called Guitar Fingerstyle: A Narada Collection, and it has never really left my rotation. In this episode I reflect on the opening track, Little Martha, played by Tim Farrell in a solo fingerstyle arrangement of a piece originally written by Duane Allman shortly before his death in 1971. There is a story behind this melody, and it makes the listening even better. Along the way I consider what fingerstyle guitar shares with the harp, what King David knew about music and a troubled king, and recommend Muriel Anderson's To B or Not to B as a bonus listen.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a link to Tim Farrell’s cover of “Little Martha”: https://youtu.be/GkCEvpcqjmk

And here’s Muriel Anderson’s “To B or Not to B”: https://youtu.be/LzTJqR9_g0I

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

Bach wrote his Two-Part Inventions in 1722 and 1723 as teaching pieces for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann, who was twelve years old at the time. Fifteen short pieces, each built from a single musical idea developed through imitation, inversion, and sequence. In an age where most music is built on block chords with one thing happening at a time, the polyphony of a Bach Invention can feel like discovering a new language. In this episode, I reflect on what makes these pieces so remarkable, feature Invention No. 1 in C Major and my personal favorite, No. 7 in E Minor, and make the case for why they reward a lifetime of listening.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.Here is Invention No. 7 if you want to listen further: https://youtu.be/suYkNvRxkH8

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

Most people associate the harmonica with blues, folk, and country music. But in the hands of British virtuoso Philip Achille, the chromatic harmonica becomes something altogether different. In this episode, I reflect on Achille's remarkable performances, from the BBC Proms to the London Underground, and explore how one musician can completely reshape our expectations of an instrument. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh set of ears to discover a voice that was there all along.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here is Genevieve Waltz at the BBC Proms: https://youtu.be/FgK06VeadWE

Here is Achille playing the Bach A Minor Violin Concerto first movement. It is quite enjoyable: https://youtu.be/FFKVPkooCHg

Here is Achille playing Michael Spivakovsky’s Harmonica Concerto in Vienna: https://youtu.be/pNaxXuGCNY4

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

The tuneful singing voice of a child is one of the most beautiful and surprising sounds in all of choral music. But you would not always know it from what you hear in many modern settings. In this episode I reflect on what it takes to help young singers find their head voice, why so much popular music works against that goal, and what is at stake for young men especially before their voices change. Featuring my Delta Youth Chorale singing Benjamin Britten’s Songs for Friday Afternoons from our spring concert, including “Jazz-Man” and “There Was a Man of Newington,” this episode makes a case for giving children the right training and the right repertoire.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.Here’s the Songs for Friday Afternoons if you want to listen more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2bDWRE_3tI&list=PLrSjBXO8lUo2ZHPej1dk3cqMV8fkeiv86

Here’s the spring concert recording in full: https://www.youtube.com/live/I0KSu5H0kyk

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

It is summer, and hopefully your pace is a little more leisurely. This week I recommend a group I have been enjoying and thought you should know about if you do not already. The Quebe Sisters are three sisters from North Texas who play triple fiddle and sing tight three-part harmony in a style they call Progressive Western Swing. If you know the Good Lovelies, this group will feel like familiar territory. In this episode I highlight three songs worth your time, Every Which-A-Way, Always Seem to Get Things Wrong, and It's a Sin to Tell a Lie. Four albums in the catalog. All of them worth your time this summer.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a link to the YouTube Recording of Every which-a-way: https://youtu.be/xtcQCTw3tyo

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

In March of 2017, I sat on the second row of the closing concert of the OAKE National Conference in Philadelphia with my friend and mentor Lamar Robertson. The American Boychoir, under director Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, closed the program with Stars and Stripes Forever, sung entirely on solfege, piccolo line and all. In this episode I reflect on what that moment revealed about music literacy, the Kodály approach, and what it looks like when solfege stops being an exercise and becomes a language. I will put a link to the OAKE Facebook video in the show notes. You can spot my red hair and Lamar's gray hair on the second row.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.Here’s the video on Facebook. You can see Lamar and me on the second row: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1199884020109840

Here’s the professional, non-solfege recording on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/q1I8BSwmgTA

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

This week's episode comes from Atlanta, Georgia, where I am attending the Repairing the Ruins conference, the annual gathering of the Association of Classical Christian Schools. After nine years of leading morning singing in the Grand Ballroom for over a thousand classical Christian educators, I reflect on the workshop I gave yesterday — Real Harmony: Recovering Communal Singing in a Disembodied Age. Music surrounds us like never before. And yet the formative power of singing together is quietly disappearing from our schools, churches, and homes. The work of recovering it is not as elusive as it seems.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.Here’s a clip from two years ago in the atrium of this same hotel. We sang some psalms and hymns together: https://youtu.be/qw4tyqvzrdw

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com

Scott Joplin gave America the Maple Leaf Rag and the Entertainer. But in 1905, grieving the death of his wife of ten weeks, he wrote something entirely different. Bethena is a concert waltz, marked cantabile, wistful and searching in ways ragtime was never supposed to be. In this episode, I reflect on the backstory behind this neglected composition, a quiet parallel to Bach's Partita No. 2 in D Minor, and what Bethena reveals about who Joplin really was beyond the title of King of Ragtime.

The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.

Here’s a recording of Bethena: https://youtu.be/FzckSxYw7fg

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://jarrodrichey.substack.com