“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.” – Albert Einstein
I work with songwriters all the time, especially songwriters who are writing Christian or gospel songs, hymns, or worship songs. Many start after a conversion, or a significant faith change in their life. And many start later in life to try to get their songs out to the world.
Fanny J. Crosby, was no different, except that she was very different!
She is most likely the most prolific hymn writer in history. She didn’t start writing hymns until she was in her thirties, and didn’t get started really publishing them in a big way until her forties! She was also blind almost since birth.
Many of us grew up with hymns in church, and if you didn’t, you recognize them as different and many times more endearing than today’s standard worship fare. If you’re not a churchgoer, you likely still know Amazing Grace or some other hymns very well.
Well, Fanny was the grandmamma of the hymn. She wrote more than 8,000 of them, including well known songs like “Blessed Assurance”, “To God Be the Glory”, “Jesus is Tenderly Calling You Home”, and “Praise Him, Praise Him”.
When she was six weeks old she caught a cold and developed inflammation of the eyes. According to her, mustard poultices were applied and this damaged the optic nerves. Doctors today say it was more likely congenital. Either way, she was blind her entire life.
Even as a child, though she “saw” through her condition, even writing about her blindness in her first poem at the age of 8.
One blog could not even get close to letting you know about this lady’s vast works, from poetry, to the hymns, to cantatas, to popular songs, and more. It’s kind of staggering.
To get a better idea of the incredible life of Fanny J. Crosby check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Crosby
WHY THIS MATTERS:
Can you apply the life of this lady in the kind of scary looking pictures to your life as a songwriter?
Likely you won’t write almost 9,000 hymns, but the story of Fanny J. Crosby shows it’s never too late for God to use your songs at any stage of your life. She lived to be 95 and was inspiring presidents and church leaders long after her writing decreased in her later years.
She was a household name in America as a songwriter, and she was a blind woman in the late 1800s from humble beginnings. Oh yeah, and she had nary an internet connection, Facebook nor Twitter to build an audience.
So what’s your excuse?
“The human mind will not be confined to any limits.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
EC
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Eric Copeland is not a real musicologist, but he plays one on the Internet. We invite you to comment and add to the understanding of music history.
Music History Matters 