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Magnificat Album Contents
| Dan Mason and Shawn Tracy have presented
this inclusive language arrangement of the Magnificat of Mary as
prelude for the recording. The music proclaims the essential spirituality
of ancient Israel in the iconic memory of a young woman and mother.
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Water flows everywhere in the world of spirit just
as it does underneath the mantras of Magnificat. Water does
much more than "sing." Water is attitude, water is spirit; it is
the feminine in life - receptive, adaptive and universal. Water takes
as many shapes and forms as the embracing earth can allow. Water
is indestructible.
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The mantras of this album flow relentlessly to the
sea in cyclic return to the "Source" of everything.
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Lyrical arrangement by Shawn Tracy, osa
Musical arrangement by Dan Mason
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There are three distinct settings of mantra
prayer on this recording. Each set consists of an Our Father,
a series of Hail Marys and a culminating Glory To God.
The music ascends continually in a spiraling movement of layered sound
and lyrical prayer.
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Shawn Tracy wedded the words of the Lord's Prayer
to a root melody during long walks in the mountains of Pennsylvania.
In the splendor of meadowed flowers and the clarity of lake mirrored mountain
skies the musical direction for the mantras of Magnificat began.
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The Sangre de Cristo mountains of New Mexico provided
a different setting for the development of the prayer of Mary. Shawn
would walk day after day into the special beauty and unique solitude of
the desert. There under the spell of Mother Earth, and with a sense
of her struggles and anguish, the Hail Mary Mantra was born.
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| Mantras express simple phrases of prayer in repetitive patterns.
In time, anxious concerns of the mind recede while an abiding sense of
sacred fills the soul
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| I SHALL SING YOUR PRAISE
3:44 |
A lullaby of feeling and wistful memory. An anthem
that celebrates the conjunction of time and eternity. A testimony
of acknowledgement and surrender to the unfolding providence and divine
purpose within human destiny.
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Psalm 90 of the Hebrew canon laments the condition
of an unresolved human life. I Shall Sing Your Praise rises
above the dilemma of mortality to sing with confidence of rebirth and lasting
joy.
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Though life can seem ephemeral, we have the mountains
and the endless sky to remind us of the "eternity" to which we are drawn.
Yet loneliness and solitude are a source of hope in themselves, and each
of us will want to lay down our lives at the end of the day.
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Composed by Shawn Tracy, osa
Instrumental arrangement by Paul Wrynn
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A concert meditation building from the murmur of
a singing spring deep in the woods of the Wyoming State Forest in northern
Pennsylvania.
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Dan Mason
originally created
Springbrook as an environment
for the very different Hail Mary of Paul Wrynn.
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You are in a meadow under tall trees of conifer and
pine. A gentle breeze stirs their countless needles and brings a
freshness of life to the forest below. Birds salute the quiet with
songs of presence and purpose. The spring has pushed up from beneath
the earth - then trickles its way to a larger stream down below the visible
ridge.
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Life is like this everywhere. Waters find restful
places and then move on, called somehow - destined, eternal.
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Conceived and developed by Dan Mason
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Paul Wrynn has created an alternative
Hail Mary to offset the familiar Hail Mary mantras of Magnificat.
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Imagine yourself carried along on a rushing river
whose waters hurry through the curved arms of surrounding farm and field.
You leave the river and enter a clearing where you pause to listen.
A monastery sits in the nearby hills, and the sound of chanted prayer fills
the valley with simplicity and faith.
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Life is measured by sound, its rhythm and cadence.
The faithful life is measured by spirit, its soulful expressions, and its
peace.
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Composed by Paul Wrynn
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Cathy Lombardi and Dan Mason collaborated on this
pensive testament of spirit and will. Whereas the Magnificat expresses
a prophet's instinct for justice and compassion, this hymn identifies the
essential readiness to respond to the divine will.
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The theme of the "restless heart" is in the spiritual
tradition of St. Augustine of Hippo. In The Confessions of St.
Augustine, he wrote:
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"You have made us for yourself, O God,
and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."
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All creation "cries out" in an anguish of unfulfilled
destiny. Time measures such incompleteness, and proves life to be
both pilgrimage and journey.
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Music by Cathy Lombardi
Words by Dan Mason
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The key is raised; the tempo is quicker. Hearts
can let go of all self consciousness and concern. A sense of divine
presence invades the soul.
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Acquire a string of beads for prayer. Take
your walk, or sing along on you way to work. Notice the sky, and
listen to the bird that sings for you. Feel the intensity of the
music; know the depth to which you may be called in the oneness of spirit.
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The is classic prayer in the bedrock of all religious
traditions. Dance this mantra in circles of body prayer and ritual
acclamation. Let the mantra lead you in the dance. Follow the
rhythms of your heart.
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Mantra music composed by Shawn Tracy, osa
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When you see the eagles ascending majestically, swirling and
rising on the breath of wind, know the language with which the Creator
speaks. This is sign language, the language of creation: no one is
excluded.
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A cross stands tall in the silent distance between
heaven and earth. It proclaims the Paschal Mystery, the mystery of
Christ crucified. It is always there, beckoning, calling, urging
- in every moment of every life.
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As the rising sun greets the turning planet each
day with warmth and nourishment, its rays distinguish every creature with
shadow and contrast. Winds rise upwards with power and promise.
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The mystic's trained eye knows the revelation that
is taking place and rejoices in its birth. Millions of others live
by faith and sense its movement in their hearts.
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All creation praises God.
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Composed By Shawn Tracy, osa
Choral arrangement by Paul Wrynn
Flute arrangement by Cathy Lombardi
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