Music Notes for February 7

This week’s hymn, “Heal me, hands of Jesus,” was written by Michael Perry, an English clergyman and hymn writer whose most famous work is the “Calypso Carol” (“See him lying on a bed of straw”), which he wrote (words and music) for a carol concert at Oak Hill Theological College while he was a student there.  Perry’s hymn text intertwines themes of healing, forgiveness and peace.  It is set to music by Carl Haywood, an African-American organist, choral conductor, and composer who was born in Portsmouth, Virginia.  He teaches at Norfolk State University, a public, historically black university in Norfolk, Virginia.