The WSCP (Westminster Singing Catechism Project) is, though about seven years in the making, still a work in progress. However, as the Lord permits, I do believe I may have it completed in a few months (I said this today 08-04-2009). With that said, it's by no means a professional production, but rather a labor of love. It was originally and specifically created for the edification and education of the covenant children of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Providence, RI, but, as the Lord has laid upon my heart (and has piqued the interest of folks from around the nation) also for the church of Christ all over the world. This project is my attempt to translate the 107 answers to the 107 questions of the WSC (Westminster Shorter Catechism), to the best of my ability, word for word*, not paraphrased, and in the original period English language, into somewhat memorable tunes, in the hopes that, much in the manner that "SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK" enabled me and millions of other children to memorize things such as the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America, this might do it for this document containing things of spiritual importance.
The production is much slower than what a professional would do, mainly because I can neither read music, nor do I play an instrument. I've an ear for music, and I can punch out a tune on the electronic keyboard with one hand (much like a child might do), but I've learned over time to use some annotation software, and via the aid of some recording software on my computer, once it's all put together, it sounds fairly acceptable -- at least from the results I've seen, I can deduce that much. The result is whole groups of children singing out loudly the answers to the questions of the WSC. The tune helps to embed the words into their young brains.
Indeed it's my wish that every Christian would memorize the WSC. I know how much I've personally benefited from doing so, and I believe the entire kingdom of Christ on earth could benefit from it as well. The memorization of the WSC is not for covenant children only. I'm now 46 years old, and I taught the WSC to myself using Ye Olde Fashioned Waye of memorization, by rote. But having done so, I know that I'm now more enabled to express my thoughts in conversation and in prayer, and my understanding of Scripture is enhanced. I'm able to succinctly, yet correctly give an answer to inquiring minds, concerning the Christian faith. The memorization of the WSC enables me to say what the Bible says, in enough detail to encourage others to further study and/or conversation, and stops me where the Bible stops, thereby insuring that I will not be adding to the Word or the message of the Word. And for those of you who think that you never can memorize anything, my wife Paula will attest that she too is one of those who swore that she couldn't memorize anything, but now she's memorized a good portion of the WSC, and had fun doing it!
Without further ado, below are links to the first seven questions of the WSC, which should be enough to give you an idea of what the Project sounds like. The words are not copyrighted (of course), but the tunes are (with the exception of four tunes which were borrowed from classical masters, or which include snippets from classical masters, which include Beethoven, Bach and Mozart, though none of these are included in the seven samples below).
Please do write me with your thoughts - any comments, suggestions, and of course contributions! The Lord willing, I will have the 3-disc set for sale in the "near" future. If you wish to be updated on the progress, just let me know, and I'll add you to my list, and notify you when it's ready.
The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord lift his countenance upon you, and give you peace! The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you! Amen.
Please email me at stegokitty @ gmail dot com (of course, connect all of the previous and use an actual "." rather than the word "dot". I do this to hopefully avoid spam)
* On occasion, depending on the difficulty level in speech usage, especially for young children, and to help it to flow better with the tune, I've removed the "th" from the end of particular words, such as in the case of the question concerning Justification, it is said "... wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous ....", and instead it says "... wherein he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous ...", which of course changes nothing in the message whatever. Also, there are a few times where either the answer was so short that it would make for a ridiculous sounding tune to say it only once, so I've had to repeat short phrases. And again, depending on how a tune is being carried, and the number of remaining words to work with, I've sometimes had to repeat a short phrase to keep it all uniform. I believe you'll agree that even these few times this is done, it actually enhances, and emphasizes important points in the answers.
