平安 (Peace)

Here’s another song draft I’ve been working on lately that ponders the fruit of the Spirit (from Galatians 5:22-23 in the Bible). In particular, this song is about the peace that God gives. God’s peace is unique!

この歌はもう一つの御霊の実（聖書のガラテヤ５章22～23節より）について思い巡らしている作曲のドラフトです。特に、この曲のテーマは神様が与えてくださる平安についてという歌のです。神様の平安はユニークですね！

Song Draft 作曲のドラフトは：

English lyrics (translated, but not poetic):
https://music.andrewsummers.com/Heian_(Peace)#Translation

日本語の歌詞は：
https://music.andrewsummers.com/Heian_(Peace)#Lyrics

自制 (Self-Control)

Here’s a new song idea I’ve been working on for an upcoming project. It’s a song about wanting the fruit of the Spirit related to self-control (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV) and is called “自制 (Self-Control)”. Thank you for listening if you have time!

これは将来のプロジェクトのために、新しい歌のアイデアです。この歌は御霊の実、特に、「自制」という実（ガラテヤ５章22～23節から）がほしいという気持ちを伝えたいという曲です。そのために、「自制（Self-Control）」という曲の名を付けたのですね。もしお時間があれば、聴いてくれてありがとうございます！

English lyrics (translated, but not poetic):
https://music.andrewsummers.com/Self-Control#Translation

日本語の歌詞は：
https://music.andrewsummers.com/Self-Control#Lyrics

August Music Update

Well, it seems like the year has been going by pretty fast. For a lot of the year, I’ve been away from music production due to another commitment. Been starting again on getting one of the last songs (called Test Me with Fire) on the Before the Harvest music album ready for mastering. I think it’s getting closer to being ready, but still trying to fine tune it a bit. Learning that there’s only so much that can be done if the original recordings (on my part) aren’t that professional. Also, this song recording is so old that I ended up adding more lyrics to the song years later, but it’s not in this original version of the recording.

Along the way, I’ve been working on writing some new songs in the evenings. Even with just spending about a half hour a night during many weeknights, I believe that God has given me many new songs. Really excited about a lot of these—especially ones for an album called Spirit Fruit. It’s an album that hopefully includes some Biblical Scripture and some thoughts about what the Fruit of the Spirit might look like or involve [1].

I’m really enjoying these songs, though, and I hope they are somehow encouraging to you as well. For now, these particular songs are written in (however poor) Japanese—but I usually like to try to include an English translation of the lyrics on my Music Scrapbook when this is the case. I think one song on this project has been translated into English, if I recall, so maybe it’s possible to do more of that someday. Even though I’m not that good at using Japanese effectively, I really like using Japanese for songwriting due to the fairly consistent consonant+vowel combination of sounds. It makes it easier for me to make lines rhyme or sound like they match. With English, though, I like how there are many ways to use short, one-syllable words to be able to fit lots of meaning into a single lyrical line.

With all of the challenges going on in our own lives and around the world, I would like to encourage each of us to keep looking to Jesus even more when life gets tough. Thanks for taking the time to read this update!

[1] Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

Harvest Moon

“Harvest Moon” is the next song on the Before the Harvest music album. It’s been so long since this song was first recorded that I’m not sure what the purpose was behind putting together this song. Maybe it’s a song that tries to paint a picture with words and music? Thanks for listening!

This song is mastered by my friend Andrew Nagatori.

More of You

The next song on the Before the Harvest album is called More of You. Simply put: it’s a song about how I need God more in this life and how I need to focus less on myself. This song was not originally part of this album, but I ended up replacing an old song from 2008 with this one. Thanks for listening!

This song is mastered by my friend Andrew Nagatori.

Sunshine Day

The next song from the Before the Harvest album is called Sunshine Day. It is another song written in Japanese from back in 2008. This song is about how I want to return to God’s path when I stray away. It’s also a song about how I think there will still be a “sunshine day” in the future, even when things seem tough in the present. For the Christian, we can know there will be a “sunshine day” if we believe in Jesus Christ (Matthew 13:43, John 6:35-40).

This song is mastered by my friend Andrew Nagatori.

Lay It Down

The next song from the Before the Harvest music album is called Lay It Down. This is a Japanese song from back in 2008, but there might be mistakes in my intended meaning. Lyrics for what I meant are in English on this page on this page. This song is about how it seems easier to follow Jesus Christ when I lay down things in my life that I hold on to so tightly. Things like belongings, gifts, and my hardened heart. This is something that is hard for me to put into practice, though.

This song is partially recorded by and fully mastered by my friend Andrew Nagatori.

Slow Time

The next song on the Before the Harvest album is called Slow Time. I think this song was written during a time where I needed to stop racing to my own conclusions or plans and wait on God. This song is not meant to be about just relaxing, but is meant to remind me that I need to wait for God’s timing (instead of my own) in life. This song is also an invitation to follow Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening!

Mixing Dragonfly Skies

Been mixing the next song on the Before the Harvest album, lately. It’s called Dragonfly Skies. Pretty happy with how the mixing has turned out with this, so I’ve sent it off to Andrew to be mastered at some point in the future. This is probably the first song on the album where I think the bass guitar felt more like a “glue layer” between the drums and the rest of the layers of instruments/vocals on this song.