Psalm for Change
Hymn composed by
Tet GallardoContextual information
“Psalm for Change” started out as a poem I wrote on Mahatma Gandhi Day during my visit to Khasi Hills in 2014. This poem was part of my sermon at the Smit Congregation there. During my tenure as Balázs Scholar at Starr King School for the Ministry in 2016–17, I set music to the words and made a few changes to suit the melody and chord progression and wrote a refrain. Be the change is something I borrowed from Gandhi, a phrase that is in the song.
“Psalm for Change” started out as a poem I wrote on Mahatma Gandhi Day during my visit to Khasi Hills in 2014. This poem was part of my sermon at the Smit Congregation there. During my tenure as Balázs Scholar at Starr King School for the Ministry in 2016–17, I set music to the words and made a few changes to suit the melody and chord progression and wrote a refrain. Be the change is something I borrowed from Gandhi, a phrase that is in the song.
Tune Name
[Psalm for Change]
Tune Name
Text Meter
Irregular
10.9.10.9
Song Composer
Tet GallardoHymn Arranger
Composer Background information
Rev. Tet Gallardo (she/her) is a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and composer who blazed a trail for LGBT musicians when she formed an all-queer band in 1993. She is a neurodivergent and multi-talented artist who includes paintings and theater among her forms of expression. She has helped out-of-school youth by staging their performances in small rural towns. She is a big believer in ritual as a form of resistance. She has published her third book on Amazon: Friends Against The Machine: Humanizing The Resistance. She was the former president of the UU Church of the Philippines and now works as a street minister to reach out to indigents, the food insecure, and the homeless.
Lyricist Background information
Rev. Tet Gallardo (she/her) is a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and composer who blazed a trail for LGBT musicians when she formed an all-queer band in 1993. She is a neurodivergent and multi-talented artist who includes paintings and theater among her forms of expression. She has helped out-of-school youth by staging their performances in small rural towns. She is a big believer in ritual as a form of resistance. She has published her third book on Amazon: Friends Against The Machine: Humanizing The Resistance. She was the former president of the UU Church of the Philippines and now works as a street minister to reach out to indigents, the food insecure, and the homeless.
Arranger Background information
Lyrics
What good is the holy if it doesn't shine in you?
What good is life if we don't know to live?
What good is dreaming if dreams don't make us real?
What good is love if you don't forgive?
(Chorus)
Let's know each other and be bold.
Let's work with the wonders we behold.
Let's live the love that we are called to live.
Be the change, be the change and believe.
Why look to heroes if only to doubt ourselves?
What good is faith if we don't bless?
What good is religion if there is no room for doubt?
What good is truth if it only condemns?
(Chorus)
What good is greatness if no one is a friend?
What good is justice if it's only for a few?
What good is freedom when you can't be yourself?
What good is peace if it distorts the truth?
(Chorus)
What good is striving if Mother Earth should die?
What good are journeys without hope?
What good is glory if love is sacrificed?
What is correctness if you don't have soul?
(Chorus)
Resources
Music XML and MEI and MIDI and Musescore files