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Voicing/Instrumentation: SSATB, Organ/Organ Accompaniment

We also have other 2 arrangements of "How Long, O Lord Most Holy and True".

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Related song categories are:
Adversity
Atonement/Mercy/Grace/Redemption
Comfort/Strength/Courage/Assurance
Depression/Discouragement
Hope
Repentance
Trials

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More about Loren Erickson:
My first introduction to music was playing the trumpet in an elementary school band. How many of those do you see anymore? In Junior High I took up singing and performed in various choirs and musicals through high school and college. When I was called as ward music chairman and took on the additional responsibilities of ward choir director, I wanted to see of I could arrange music for the choir. Many of those early attempts were...well...awful. But I had a very forgiving Bishop and patient accompanists and choir and I continued to learn. I am now stake music chairman and have inflicted slightly less atrocious arrangements on otherwise unsuspecting congregations. I also currently sing with Millennial Choirs and Orchestras, a multi-denominational choral movement spanning five western states in the USA. My experience in MCO has had a profound influence on how I look at music, what it means, and why it is important to understand meaning behind notes and lyrics when performing it. I hope that what I leave here is not as awful as I have suggested that it might be with this introduction, but either way, know that there is a little piece of my soul in everything you will find from me here. Please provide feedback on my work. That is the only way I will learn.
Song background:

While working on The Restoration, a cantata about the life of Joseph Smith, I spent a lot of time looking for a hymn that represented the religious upheaval at that time.  I eventually found How Long, Oh Lord Most Holy and True.  While not strictly about Joseph or the history of his time, this hymn perfectly embodies the heart of the humble soul who is seeking divine grace from the Savior, and therefore was a perfect backdrop for that first movement of The Restoration, titled "Awakening".

I wanted to make that arrangement accessible to ward and stake choirs, so I adapted the orchestral arrangement to this SSATB and Organ arrangement.  The first two verses deliberately depict a dark and discouraging scene, speaking of "shadowed hope" and "prison doors".  But I wanted the last verse to represent the realization of the promised blessings of salvation, so it transitions to a major key to allow the choir to proclaim "swing wide the gates and set us free!"  Perhaps those gates are the ones that lead to heaven.  

As always, if you stumble across this and have an opinion please drop me a note.  I value your feedback. 

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