With this post I am halfway through this intermittent series. This is a series about my one solo concert, and the 12 songs I performed. This is song number six. I had six songs in the first half, six songs in the second half.
The first half of the concert were all songs by Michael Card; the second half were various hymns of the faith.
To end the Michael Card section I chose what I believe is his longest song — The Job Suite. It summarizes the entire book of Job in under 9 minutes. It is called a suite because it is written in four sections and in three voices: Narration, Job’s Lament, God’s Response, Job’s Response.
I consider the Job Suite one of 3 or 4 signature songs for me musically through my life to this point. It is also the one of those songs that I get to perform the least. I mean, taking 9 minutes out of a church service (most of my singing opportunities are church) doesn’t happen — the song is way too long from that perspective. And my other venues (Renaissance, caroling) don’t have openings for songs of this style.
So the likelihood that I will perform this anytime soon is very small. But if anyone thinks they know a place I can perform it, please let me know.
This is my dramatic piece. I don’t move around a lot, but I do use a lot of subtle body motions and changes of expression to deliver the meaning behind these words.
Squeezing a whole book of the Bible, its core essence, into one song, is a mean feat, but Michael Card manages it here. He picks up many of the unique wordings from the book of Job and plays with them through his lyric. You need to listen closely to get all the subtleties and brashness that he inserts.
At The Rainbow 
Reblogged this on markrwhitaker and commented:
I don’t often re-post someone else’s content but Jonathan has been sharing a series of songs (this is almost the halfway point) from a solo concert and while it runs about 10 minutes, it covers the entire book of “Job” so if you’re interested in a musical Bible study, read & listen!
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