Celebrating Black History Month

GRCHS Chamber Chorale, "The Storm is Passing Over"

The GRCHS Chamber Chorale is excited to share with you a piece of music in celebration of Black History Month. The piece, entitled "The Storm is Passing Over," was written by Charles A. Tindley.

Tindley was a Black composer who lived during the turn of the 20th century. He was born in 1851, 14 years before the Civil War, the son of an enslaved man. Both his parents passed away by the time he was five years old.

After the Civil War, he began to work as a janitor in a church. Through that time, he educated himself and rose up through the ranks to eventually becoming a pastor of his own church. 

After moving around quite a bit, he settled in Philadelphia and grew his congregation to over 10,000 people in the early. He was incredibly passionate about finding sustainable jobs and equitable housing for members of his community — this was during the Jim Crow Era, and both he and his community were victims to all of the inequalities and injustices that happened in the early 1900s.

Tindley died in Philadelphia in 1933 at the age of 82.

Musically, Tindley is credited as being one of the founding fathers of the modern Gospel music tradition. He's written over fifty hymns, several of which are still sung today, including one that is considered the basis of the civil rights movement hymn, "We Shall Overcome."

The piece you're going to hear is called "The Storm is Passing Over," and its text is applicable in so many different ways today. It goes like this:

"O courage, my soul, and let us journey on. 
Though the night is dark and I am far from home.
Thanks be to God. 
The morning light appears.
The storm is passing over, Hallelujah."

Enjoy this piece, originally by Charles Tindley and arranged for choir by Larry Nickel.

—Candice Sytsma | GRCHS Choir Director

"The Storm is Passing Over"

Charles A. Tindley

O courage, my soul, and let us journey on,
For tho’ the night is dark, it won’t be very long.
O thanks be to God, the morning light appears,
And the storm is passing over, Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! The storm is passing over, Hallelujah!
O billows rolling high, and thunder shakes the ground,
The lightnings flash, and tempest all around,
But Jesus walks the sea and calms the angry waves,
And the storm is passing over, Hallelujah!

The stars have disappeared, and distant lights are dim,
My soul is filled with fears, the seas are breaking in.
I hear the Master cry, “Be not afraid, ’tis I,”
And the storm is passing over, Hallelujah!

Now soon we shall reach the distant shining shore,
Then free from all the storms, we’ll rest forevermore.
And safe within the veil, we’ll furl the riven sail,
And the storm will all be over, Hallelujah!