He Leadeth Me All The Way – SATB

An easily accessible piece for general use
About Dr. Michael Cox

Dr. Michael Cox has devoted his career to music that is carefully made, deeply expressive, and intended to be performed. An ASCAP award-winning composer, conductor, pianist, and educator, he brings to his writing the combined perspective of a performer, classroom teacher, ensemble director, church musician, copyist, and engraver. He serves as Composer-in-Residence at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Much of Dr. Cox’s published music has grown from his longstanding involvement with churches and their musicians. His catalog includes sacred choral works, keyboard collections, orchestral compositions, and music for a wide variety of instrumental combinations. His seventh keyboard collection, *All Glory, Laud and Honor*, was published by Shawnee Press, while his larger sacred work *Deo Gratias* was recorded by the Southwestern Seminary Oratorio Chorus and the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra.

Among his most substantial compositions is *Symphonic Psalms*, an eight-movement work for chorus and orchestra. The composition uses texts from Psalms 8, 23, 47, 90, 95, 103, 117, and 148, with the joyful spirit of Psalm 100 providing a unifying theme. Its movements range from stately, hymn-like writing to energetic passages shaped by syncopation and rhythmic variety. The work was commissioned by Scott Oyer, one of Dr. Cox’s former students and a member of the Bison Glee Club, and was presented by Oklahoma Baptist University as its 2004 Oratorio Project.

That return to Oklahoma Baptist University carried special significance. Dr. Cox had earned his undergraduate degree there with honors in piano performance before returning to teach composition, conducting, music theory, and church music. He also spent 13 years directing the Bison Glee Club, building relationships with students that continued well beyond their time on campus. His former student’s commissioning of *Symphonic Psalms* offered a striking example of the enduring influence a teacher can have upon another musician.

In 1990, Dr. Cox joined Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s School of Church Music in Fort Worth. As Professor of Music Theory and Composition, he helped students understand the architecture of music while encouraging them to develop the craft necessary to communicate their own ideas. He remained at Southwestern until his retirement in 2009, also contributing to the seminary’s musical life as a conductor.

Dr. Cox’s experience on the podium has included choral clinics around 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. His work with student, church, university, and community musicians has given him an unusually practical understanding of how music must function in rehearsal as well as in performance.

His contributions as a composer have been recognized repeatedly by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, from which he began receiving the ASCAP Standard Award in 1987. In 1995, he was selected as the commissioned composer of the Texas Music Teachers Association, joining a program established to encourage the creation and premiere of new American music.

Dr. Cox earned a Master of Music in orchestral conducting from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and a Doctor of Music in composition from Florida State University. Across every part of his career, he has approached music as both an art and a discipline—something imagined by the composer, refined through craftsmanship, brought to life by performers, and ultimately shared with a community of listeners.