Tom Fettke has been offering his creative compositional/arranging and producing gifts to church musicians for over five decades.  Many of his songs are staples in church choirs’ repertoires, having impacted millions of people literally around the world.  And yet, this veteran is never one to rest on his substantial laurels, continuing his work as a composer/arranger with new offerings regularly.  Tom took time out of his busy schedule recently to discuss his remarkable and celebrated career, reflect a bit on church music today, and even share with us a few of his favorite things.

JMG:  Tom, you are regarded as a living legend in the world of choral music by a vast number of leaders and participants. When did your journey as a composer and arranger of musical works begin?

TF: Music has dominated my life since I was five years old. My mom and dad sacrificed mightily to provide me with training in the arts which included voice and piano lessons, drama lessons and even ballet lessons (which didn’t last very long!). My interest in the arts did not waver as I continued to mature. An interest in choral music came early in my development. I began attending a small church as a result of the missionary outreach of our next-door neighbor. Because the church consisted of a small number of followers I was privileged to participate in church musical activities at a much earlier age then is probably normal. The Youth for Christ movement -- most noted for their Saturday Night Youth Rallies -- was the most influential experience of my young life. These rallies were loaded with musical opportunities and were  catalyst for putting my music performing as well as writing gifts to work. My facility grew as I continued to write for YFC and church choirs (I began church choir directing when I was 19). A lot of stuff was written before I began to think that maybe my creative efforts were publishable! It wasn’t until 1972 at 31 years of age that I had the opportunity and the guts to show my compositions to a publisher. To my surprise and delight all three of the ones I submitted were accepted. During the 17 years that led up to that moment I had experimented with “real choirs” and through positive and negative experiences I had discovered what works with church choirs and which compositional devices were most effective. More importantly, I perfected the art of voice leading which rendered my writing quite accessible; I wrote choral music that the church volunteer singer could sing effectively.

JMG:  What was the name of your first published anthem and your first published cantata or musical?

TF: My first published anthem: “My God How Wonderful Thou Art” (1972). My first published Christmas cantata: “Love, Joy, Peace“ (1973).

JMG:  Your best known anthem, with well over 1 million copies in print, is “The Majesty and Glory of Your Name”. When you completed the anthem and laid your writing instrument down did you have any idea that it would become standard repertoire for thousands of choirs in almost every denomination?

TF: There is a lengthy story behind the creation of “The Majesty and Glory of Your Name”, which is printed in some of the editions of the anthem. For this interview, let me recount the end of the story: Late one night in a music store, where I was working at the time, I was seated at a 9 foot Baldwin grand piano (1978); I played through and sang the completed anthem… It was an incredibly moving experience for me and I knew at that time, that God had chosen to touch this musical and textual creation. God wrote it! I knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that I was only a tool in the hands of God to display His handiwork.

JMG:  What are a few of the most enjoyable and fulfilling experiences as a composer/arranger/clinician through the years?

TF:

• To give birth to musical works in the recording studio.
• To search for and discover new lyrics and musical devices.
• To see and hear 600 high school age young people touched and impacted by performing “The Majesty and Glory of Your Name”.
• To see lives changed and enriched through the ministry of choral music.
• To help and tutor “people with the gift“ achieve and succeed.
• To share my music experiences with my spouse.
• To bring glory to my God. Soli Deo Gloria!
• To find the lost chords!

JMG:  What is one of your favorite or funniest memories from your experiences “on the road” as a clinician?

TF: A shredded wardrobe! I had a number of conferences in the South and Southeast packed in a four-week period of time. My wife Jan and I decided to drive and make a scenic tour of it. After four or five conferences and 2 1/2 weeks on the road we arrived in Spartanburg South Carolina late one evening and ascertained we only had one change of clothing left. So, we sorted and placed the things needing cleaning in the plastic bags provided… Trousers, dresses, sport coat, dress shirts, etc. I took the two bags chock full of stuff to the front desk requesting next day service. The next day we arrived back at the hotel about 6:00 PM expecting the laundry to be in our room but alas, it was not. I called the front desk. They had no idea where it was and said that the cleaners was closed for the night and they would run it down first thing in the morning. Luckily my reading session was in the afternoon the next day. The front desk called at about noon and said they were in possession of our cleaning, and they would have it delivered to our room. Sigh of relief! Upon arrival, we removed the plastic and paper wrap things to find all our clothing… every last item shredded into long strips of fabric. Apparently, an employee of the hotel thought our laundry bags were trash bags-- they ran them through the hotel compactor/shredder! When they discovered their error, they placed the clothing in two more bags and sent them off to the laundry???!!! We will never know why they did that. A trip to a Spartanburg department store got us through the rest of the trip. After haggling with the hotel chain for a few months we were finally reimbursed for our losses.

JMG:  What words of encouragement can you give to church choir directors in an age where church choirs aren’t as plentiful as they once were?

TF: Hang in there:

• Your choir can and will have an impact upon the spiritual well-being of the congregation. Prepare your choristers well (like a pastor prepares for the delivery of an inspiring sermon). Remember: God is excellent, and He commands us to be like Him.

• Your choir can and will minister to the diverse body of believers sitting in the pew. Achieve this through a diverse repertoire. Each person responds to different kinds of stimuli. It behooves us to present a balanced and blended choice of anthems, hymns, and contemporary songs.

• Remember and take pride in the fact that choir participation offers the opportunity for musically gifted people to use their talents to glorify a living God. Discontinuing choirs and orchestras in favor of selective ensembles is a travesty.

• Your choir is a community of friends and believers. They minister to each other. They share the joys and heartaches of the Christian journey. They work as one to achieve a greater purpose -- that’s what makes it unique in the body of Christ.

JMG:  Here’s our “lightning round” of quick questions:

-What is your favorite hymn?

TF: “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”

-What is your favorite vacation spot?

TF: Hawaii – the big island if it survives!

-What is your favorite summertime frozen treat?

TF: A Toasted Almond Chocolate Milkshake!

JMG:  Thank you, Tom!  We are honored to have you in our family of authors at Jubilate Music Group.

Click here to read more about Tom and browse his publications.

H.W. (“Will”) Gray II

JMG:  With H.W. Gray officially opening its doors in 1906, you’re clearly too young to have been there at that time!  But what were the early days like at H.W. Gray when you were a child?

HWG: I was probably 8 years old when my mother took my twin sister and me to the Gray Company building in New York City (159 East 48th Street) for the first of a few memorable restaurant lunches with my father (Donald) prior to me becoming a busy teenager  . . . memorable because those visits introduced me to: (1) a neat one-hour train ride; (2) the impressive five-story building where my father worked; (3) the huge/busy/confusing NYC; and (4) the people who worked with my father (specifically the office ladies who were always very sweet to "the president's twins").  Amazingly, some 18 years later a lot of those ladies were still there when I arrived in 1963 at age 26 (after college and the Navy) to help my father.  I'm guessing that this first trip to the Gray company in 1945 was made by my mother shortly after WWII ended.

In 1945 my grandfather was in poor health, had been succeeded by my father, and wasn't at the office (we visited him at: (1) his NYC townhouse on NYC's Upper East Side once; (2) his country home on the Connecticut River in Old Lyme, CT during a number of summers and falls; and once he came to my house in Darien, CT for lunch.  The twinkle in his eye at the time is one of a few vivid memories I have of him.

I also remember the family's memorial service shortly after my grandfather died in 1948.  I remember seeing many of the Gray Company employees there, all clearly disturbed with many in tears.

JMG:  What are a few of your favorite memories of working in the family business?

HWG:  During my 8 years at the Gray Company (1963-1971) I learned what it was that the family business did . . . how unique it was in the world of music . . . how even further specialized it was within the world of church music . . . and how respected both the catalogue, and my father, were among church musicians, sacred music customers, and fellow publishers of music for the church.  The many days when famous composers/church musicians came to visit (often followed by lunch at Manny Wolf's, a steak house a block from the office) were (and still are) special moments/memories.  Among those famous visitors (i.e., good friends of the catalogue, and of my father) were Ronald Arnatt, Roberta Bitgood, Mary Elizabeth Caldwell, Paul Callaway, Wayne Dirksen, Cecil Effinger, Arthur Greenfield, Gere Hancock, John La Montaine, Austin Lovelace, Jack Ossewaarde, Myron Roberts, Leo Sowerby, Charles Dodsley Walker, Elinor Remmick Warren, David H. Williams, M. Searle Wright and Alec Wyton. 

One of the highlights of every Christmas season was the performance of Handel’s “Messiah” at Carnegie Hall by the Oratorio Society.  The Company always had a mezzanine box for family and guests, and the performance each year was stirring.  My father sat on the board of the Oratorio Society for years, and the Board’s periodic evening’s meetings were held in the Gray Company’s building.  

The Gray Company’s major printer was Zabel Bros. of Philadelphia, and Bill Zabel always hosted a fun outing every summer.  Most of those events were centered around an ocean fishing trip out of either Brielle, NJ or Montauk, NY.  Some outings found us (my father Donald, my Uncle Geoff and me) attending a Yankees baseball game . . . and in 1964 we attended the first Mets game played in the new Shea Stadium.

JMG:  Do you have any fun or vivid memories of some of the famous composers who are represented in the H.W. Gray catalog?

HWG:  Leo Sowerby (1895-1968) Leo once related an intriguing story he was told by a NYC organist from one of the big churches (the name of the organist, and church, escape me).  As the story goes, one evening when locking the church's front door at the conclusion of his practice session, the organist noticed someone lying down asleep in the last pew.  He woke the down-on-his-luck senior citizen, explaining that he was the church's organist and was locking up the church for the night.  "No problem . . . I understand", said the sleeping visitor; and when at the front door he turned around and said, "Tell me . . . you being this church's organist, do you know any good Sowerby numbers?"  

Mary E. Caldwell (1909-2003) Mary was unique with me because she, like my wife Barbara, was an "Echo Lake girl".  This beautiful small lake nestled in the Sierra Nevada mountains near the south end of Lake Tahoe is where my wife's family (the "Greggs and Grays") have now had a cabin for 4 generations (since the 1920's).  The Caldwells have been there for almost as long, and neat was my surprise when I discovered, with my father's help, that I had "Echo Lake" in common with one of the company's composers.  When visiting Mary, and her husband Phillip, at their cabin a few times (both before and after the Gray Company was sold), it was always fun to realize that the Caldwells and the Greggs/Grays understood well the same special thing, i.e., Echo Lake is where God spends his summers.  

Roberta Bitgood (1908-2007) Roberta was raised in New London, CT and was a music student in both CT and NYC.  As a young woman, seeking to be published, she walked into my grandfather's office with her vocal solo, The Greatest of These Is Love.  It became her first of many published works, and over the years she was to make many other visits to the Gray Company.  She also became a periodic visitor to my grandfather's summer home in Old Lyme, CT (not far from New London).  The home was known as "Gray Gables", and sat high above the Connecticut River with 3 levels of terraced lawn between the house and the river).  Roberta got captured there during the famous hurricane of 1938; and, as she told me during one of our meetings, she remembers sitting in the Gray Gables' living room and reporting to her host and publisher, Willard Gray, that a large boat was about to enter the house.  The lightship on the Connecticut River had broken free of its anchor during the storm, and the super-high tide and prevailing winds were slowly bringing the ship closer and closer to Gray Gables as the water rose higher and higher.  In the end this large metal ship (a navigation aid on the river) stopped just short of the house, and gradually retreated toward where it had come as the high tide receded. . . but it got stranded on the lowest level of the terraced lawn.  So high out of the water was it that the Coast Guard was never able to figure out how to retrieve it, and eventually a team of welders cut it apart and removed it in pieces from my grandfather's property. 

JMG:  If you were to share the essence of your grandfather’s mission for H.W. Gray what might it be?

HWG:  As I came to understand it, the goal of the H.W. Gray Company was to publish music for the church that was of the highest standard, both musically and graphically.  Great pains (i.e., expenses) were taken to ensure that new publications (as in copyrighted works, and opposed to public domain editions) were presented correctly, and clearly, on the printed page.  That meant strong editing of both the music and text, and sharp engraving.  In other words, if the work was demanding musically, then it was equally important that it be properly presented graphically. 

JMG:  Thank you, Will, for your time today!  Jubilate Music Group is deeply honored to carry forth the publishing legacy of the H.W. Gray Family.  We celebrate and strive to maintain that “tradition of excellence” started by your grandfather in 1906 that was beautifully perpetuated by your father and you in subsequent decades.  We stand on your shoulders and the amazing writers then – and now – who are the pillars of that excellence.

HWG:  Thank you!  We are delighted and excited that the catalog and name have found its home at Jubilate Music Group where it is once again flourishing and vibrant.

Click here to read a brief history of the H.W. Gray Company.

H.W. Gray

The founder of the H.W. Gray Company, H. Willard Gray, was born in 1868 in Mortlake, England, a suburb in his day to the southwest of London but now a part of the Greater London city.  He was one of 11 siblings, 8 boys and 3 girls.  As a young man, he was an accountant for Novello, Ewer & Company, a long-time music publisher known well throughout Europe and the countries of the British Empire.  The strength of its multi-faceted catalog was found in sacred music where it emphasized choral and organ works for England’s Anglican church.

In the mid-1890s, Novello & Company was troubled by the lack of the required reports from its American branch in New York City which was located at 21 East 17^th Street.  When many letters, followed by cables, went unanswered, it became clear that they needed to send someone across the Atlantic to investigate the problem and assess the status of the agency’s business.  H.W. Gray was selected to do the job and traveled to the United States to do so.  He immediately discovered that the problem lay in the serious illness of the Englishman who was the Branch Manager.  The report explaining this which was cabled by H.W. Gray back to the home office in England was answered with a return cable that told Gray to “Do your best (to run the agency).  Help is on the way.”

Many months and then years later, the promised help was still “on the way.”  Meanwhile, the young accountant H.W. Gray continued to “do his best” and in time demonstrated to the home office an ability to run the branch properly.  So instead of sending help, the home office made him the new Branch Manager of Novello in New York City.

Initially, Novello’s “Sole Agent for the USA” in New York City was merely a store devoted to the promotion and sale of church music coming from England.  Music directors at large churches in NYC and other major cities in the United States were largely transplanted Englishmen, Welshmen, and Scotsmen and they were also the heart of the agency’s customers.  Because of their Anglican background, they gravitated towards positions in liturgical and mainline churches.  Those who were composers as well as choirmaster/organists began to write music specifically for the American market.  Willard Gray saw the need to be a publisher of church music, not just the representative of Novello.  So with Novello’s blessing he established the H.W. Gray Company in 1906 in New York City while continuing his ties with Novello & Company by being their “sole agent” in the USA for many years. H.W. Gray eventually parted with Novello in order to focus all his efforts on his burgeoning publishing company.  Decades of growth and success followed, along with the usual challenges of managing a publishing enterprise.

Willard Gray’s son Donald H. Gray eventually stepped in to take over the business (in 1948 upon the Willard’s death). Donald was assisted for years by his brother Geoffrey, and later by his son, H. W. Gray II. Click here to read an interview with H.W. Gray II.

        Donald H. Gray                                H.W. Gray II

Eventually, the H.W. Gray Company was sold to Belwin-Mills Publishing Corporation.  As publishing acquisitions and industry changes continued throughout the 90s and 2000s, the H.W. Gray catalog found its home with Jubilate Music Group in 2016.  

Recently, Liam Salziger, Production Manager of Jubilate Music Group, sat down to speak with composer/arranger Ellen Woods Bryce. 

LS:  Thank you for your time today, Ellen!  You’ve written a lot of music and lyrics through the years.  How did you get started as a composer?

EWB:  I’d have to say it began with a childhood that was filled with all kinds of musical experiences—piano lessons at age 7, singing in children’s choirs at church, and writing my first melodies in high school. I studied music education in college, and wrote my first real song during my last semester there. That desire to create music grew, and eventually I decided to study composition at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. 

LS:  With a lot of ancestry websites out there and seeming high interest in that topic these days, you were a bit ahead of your time when you first wrote this musical in the 1980s.   We’re thrilled to offer FAMILY TREE in a new, updated version.  What originally led you to choose the topic of family/ancestry and being a part God’s Family Tree?

EWB:  In the 1980’s, while working as an assistant music editor, that company needed someone to write a children’s musical quickly, because the original writer had a scheduling conflict. So, they asked me to do it. I was young and single, with no experience in leading, or writing for, children’s choirs. I was terrified! 

I knew that you should “write what you know” so I drew on my own childhood memories, and as a child I was very close to my grandparents. I was always fascinated by the stories they would tell about what it was like when they were young. I learned about my family tree from them. 

My parents and grandparents were strong Christians who modeled what it means to follow Jesus, and I had great teaching at church. When I was 9 years old, I realized I needed a personal relationship with Christ. I put my trust in Him, and my pastor and parents explained that being a Christian meant that I was now a part of God’s family.

LS:  By touching on the topics of adoption, divorce, communication, and over-scheduled kids in a children’s musical, you were really ahead of your time in this manner as well.  What compelled you to incorporate those important things?

EWB:  In writing Family Tree, I tried to touch on a few of things that families go through. No family is perfect—we argue, we fight, we sometimes say hurtful things. I also looked at some of the really difficult things, like divorce, and tried to think how they might seem through the eyes of a child. Oh, and since I have a cousin who is adopted, I thought about how that might feel, about how wonderful it is to be chosen, and what the Bible says about how God chose us in Christ. 

 LS:  What is the overriding message you want the children who present the musical and the audiences who hear it to walk away with?

EWB:  I want kids—and parents—to know that God loves them! He cares about our families, about what we’re going through, and—no matter what our situation is—God understands. He has provided a way—through his Son, Jesus Christ—for us to experience forgiveness, and to become a part of His own family. 

LS:  Thank you, Ellen.  We’re excited about “Family Tree” and honored to have your work in our catalog.  We look forward to more exciting projects in the future!

Click here to learn more about Ellen Woods Bryce.

Click here to visit the "Family Tree" product page.