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.

The Choir as Community
By Patti Drennan

Musical groups are like sports teams; they endeavor to achieve a common goal and work closely together. They become an extension of each other’s families and can bond together not only in worship, but in times of celebration and grief. One idea that is beneficial in keeping connected with each other is to have a list of emails, cell numbers and birthdays gathered for each member. This list can be compiled from an enrollment card each person fills out when joining the choir. Also recorded could be the person’s interest in singing a solo or in an ensemble. When celebrations or concerns arise, it is important to acknowledge them with a phone call or card. This thoughtfulness will long be remembered. Identify the singers having a birthday at a monthly birthday party at the end of rehearsal. What a perfect way to fellowship with a sweet treat.

Our weekly choir handout, “Grace Notes”, includes information about our upcoming anthems and dates, monthly birthdays, prayer requests, a music joke and other pertinent facts. Attendance is taken by section leaders on rehearsal night and Sunday mornings. Near the exit is a sign-out sheet for singers to sign when they know they will be absent. (One Wednesday evening we sounded GLORIOUS as we prepared for an a cappella anthem for the following Sunday. Then Sunday came… but no tenors did, nor had they signed out. Fortunately, I asked my bass who is a band director to sightread the tenor part twenty minutes before we processed into the sanctuary. (Argh.) As a former high school choral director, I would have penalized a student’s grade for missing a performance. However, we are at a disadvantage since there is no such thing as after-church detention. Our city is in a university town and believe it or not, we must be aware of late-night or Bedlam ballgames that actually take precedence over church attendance. I have had to quickly alter an anthem when this happens.

While there are probably numerous anthems a director would like to program, the choir’s size may make it not possible for a number of reasons. One idea might be to establish a relationship with another church choir in town in order to work together, whether to perform a major work, to present an Independence Day celebration honoring the military, or even to bring a composer to present his or her music to the combined choirs. The choirs could split the costs that might otherwise not be financially feasible. These invitations might be done denominationally or even better, why not reach out to other choirs and allow everyone to learn from each other. In the case of my own choir, some opportunities have included participating in a “Festival of Spirituals”, presenting a combined “A Salute to the Vietnam Veterans” in our city park, joining for a choir performance with our neighboring church featuring composer and colleague Joseph Martin, and of course, presenting our celebrated “Patriotic Celebration” that has become a beloved event. In addition, many of our choir members signed up to sing in a Mass Choir on the beaches of Normandy and Lucerne Cemetery one year on July 4^th. Nothing is more humbling and powerful than singing to a sea of white crosses and knowing even without hearing applause, we have had an opportunity to say “Thank You for Your Service.” More and more opportunities to join together and make music are available and can become memorable events.

Community takes on another role for the director as we work to be caretakers not only of the music in worship, but also, the way our music moves and affects the soul. God intends wholeness for all He created, and our faithfulness in embodying wholeness in every aspect of our life is important not only in our music, but in our worship. Our planning for worship, our teaching and rehearsals, and even the way we manage difficult situations has the opportunity to enhance, or to discourage worship and spiritual growth. The best instances of musical and liturgical moments are when they fuse together. and we experience the expanse of God’s creation and how we are simply but a small element. We feel moved and closer to worship because we have encountered something short of a mountaintop experience. For musicians, we have abilities to blend the aesthetics of music with the spiritual, creating a sense of awe. Part of the director’s assignment is to engage not only the unsaved, but also those with strong Christian values in order to help provide affirmation and renewal of their faith. Choosing quality literature from the classics all the way to well-written contemporary music can reach both the churched and unchurched soul. Don’t be afraid to study scores and allow versatility in your choir’s repertoire.

“The human voice is the oldest musical instrument and through the ages it remains what it was, unchanged; the most primitive and the same time the most modern, because it is the most intimate form of human expressions.” ~ Ralph Vaughan Williams