All Praise And Thanks To God – SATB

Charming piece for mixed voices and keyboard accompaniment, medium adult difficulty
About Dr. Michael Cox

Some composers leave behind a catalog of scores. Dr. Michael Cox has also left traditions, relationships, and generations of musicians who continue to carry his influence into their own work. An ASCAP award-winning composer, conductor, pianist, and educator, he has built a remarkably varied career encompassing university teaching, church music, choral and orchestral conducting, publishing, and the meticulous craft of music engraving. He currently serves as Composer-in-Residence at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Dr. Cox’s education prepared him to approach music from three complementary directions. He earned his Bachelor of Music with honors in piano performance from Oklahoma Baptist University, a Master of Music in orchestral conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Doctor of Music in composition from Florida State University. Those areas of study gave him the performer’s sensitivity, the conductor’s understanding of ensemble sound, and the composer’s command of musical structure.

Oklahoma Baptist University became both the starting point of his training and the setting for an important chapter of his professional life. Dr. Cox returned to OBU in 1972 and spent nearly two decades teaching composition, conducting, music theory, and church music. For 13 years, he directed the Bison Glee Club, placing him at the center of one of the university’s most cherished musical traditions.

The impact of those years can be seen in the memories of his students. Joel Engle, who later became a national recording artist and pastor, described singing in the Bison Glee Club under Dr. Cox as a transformative experience. He remembered not only the musical power of the large men’s choir, but also the discipline, fellowship, and personal growth that developed within the ensemble. His recollection offers a glimpse of Dr. Cox’s influence beyond technique and performance: he helped create musical communities in which students could mature as people as well as musicians.

Dr. Cox’s music has continued to return to the OBU campus long after his years on the faculty. At a 2002 Homecoming Musical Gala, three different university choirs performed his work: the University Chorale sang Open Thou Mine Eyes, the Bison Glee Club presented his arrangement of Praise the Lord, and the Bisonette Glee Club performed The Lord Is My Light. Having several ensembles include his music in the same program demonstrated the range of his choral writing and the enduring place it holds within the institution’s repertoire.

His connection to future generations of OBU musicians is also represented by the Michael T. Cox Bison Glee Club Scholarship. The award has been presented to music majors who participate in the ensemble, allowing Dr. Cox’s association with the Glee Club to support students long after his tenure as its director.

In 1990, Dr. Cox moved to Fort Worth and joined Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served for 19 years as Professor of Music Theory and Composition, retiring in 2009. His contributions extended into the rehearsal hall as director of the Southwestern Seminary Men’s Chorus from 1993 to 2003 and the Southwestern Singers from 2006 to 2009. These responsibilities allowed him to unite theoretical study with the practical work of shaping phrasing, balance, diction, and expression in live performance.

Throughout his academic career, Dr. Cox remained a prolific composer. His works have appeared through more than 16 publishers and include music for mixed, treble, and men’s voices, as well as keyboards, brass, strings, and orchestra. His catalog ranges from congregationally oriented works such as We Believe to the unaccompanied men’s pieces The Prayer of the Tortoise, The Flea, and The Prayer of the Cricket. Instrumental offerings such as Nowell for Two Violins and Piano and The God of Abraham Praise for brass quintet reveal another dimension of his musical imagination.

One of his most substantial works, Symphonic Psalms, brought his roles as composer and teacher together in a particularly meaningful way. The eight-movement composition for chorus and orchestra was commissioned by Scott Oyer, a former Cox student and Bison Glee Club member. Oklahoma Baptist University presented the work as its 2004 Oratorio Project. Drawing upon eight different psalms and unified by the joyful spirit of Psalm 100, the composition moves through contrasting styles, from stately hymn-like writing to lively syncopation and rhythmic variety.

Dr. Cox’s contributions have also been recognized by the wider professional community. He began receiving the ASCAP Standard Award in 1987, and in 1995 he was selected as the commissioned composer of the Texas Music Teachers Association. The TMTA program is part of a national effort to encourage the creation and performance of new American music, with each commissioned work receiving its premiere at the association’s annual convention.

His conducting experience has included choral clinics throughout the country, Oklahoma Baptist University’s Concerto-Aria Competition, and guest appearances with the Fort Worth Civic Orchestra and the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Irving. In each setting, Dr. Cox has brought together the analytical mind of a scholar and the responsive ear of a working musician.

Even his work as a music copyist and engraver reflects the completeness of his musical life. Engraving requires precision, patience, and an understanding of how performers read and interpret a score. For Dr. Cox, the work of music-making has never ended with the act of composition. It continues through the preparation of the page, the education of the performer, the shaping of the ensemble, and the moment when written notation becomes living sound.