“Rejoice Always” for Classical Guitar
“Rejoice Always” is a piece I wrote for the Classical Guitar, but it can be played on any type of guitar, as long as it is played finger-style.
“Rejoice Always”
In his epistle to the Thessalonians, the apostle Paul offers a few imperatives to his readers. In the final chapter of the first epistle, some of these imperatives are:
be awake, be sober
encourage others
build others up
acknowledge those who serve
leave in peace with others
warn those who are idle and disruptive
encourage the disheartened
help the weak
be patient with everyone
do not pay with wrong for wrong
do what is good for everyone
rejoice always
pray continually
give thanks in all circumstances
do not quench the Spirit
test all prophecies and keep what is good
reject every kind of evil
pray for us
greet believers with a holy kiss
Except for that last imperative :-) all of the others can and do apply for today’s believer. My attention was brought to three of these:
rejoice always
pray continually
give thanks in all circumstances
Rejoice Always was the inspiration for this song. I wrote the song first, had not title for it, and I then I simply thought: “Rejoice Always.”
How can one rejoice always? It is easy to do so when everything goes to plan, but how do we do it on a day when everything falls apart? The secret is offered in the words of Christ, who told His disciples to rejoice because their names were written in heaven (Luke 10:20).
We rejoice by focusing on those things do not change - things that are immutable, no matter the circumstance. On good days and bad, our names remain written in heaven. That will never change. That, Christ affirms, is reason enough to rejoice.
The Music
The piece is written in the key of G Major, with a brief escape to the key of E Minor in the second section. The second section suggests a sadder mood, perhaps for those difficult days when rejoicing doesn’t come as easy. Shortly after, the clouds dissipate and things are great again.
There is an ongoing dialogue between the top note and the bottom note of each chord, so those notes should be emphasized a bit.
The player would benefit from figuring out what the blocked chords are and practicing those in blocked form at first. When playing the piece as written, the fingers of the right hand should be prepared or planted on the strings before rolling out the chords. This is pretty standard in classical guitar technique.
Most importantly, the player should let all the broken-chord notes ring out for the entire duration of the chord. This is marked at the beginning of the piece with “let ring.”
It is possible to learn this piece by watching the video a few times. You can watch the video below. For players who need an extra bit of help, I’ve written a score of the piece in staff and TAB notation.
