about the composer
First off, I've never called myself a "composer" before. "Singer/songwriter" was more my self-description when talking about music. But the nature of this project means that I have no other real way to describe what I am doing. I'm not a whiz-bang musician, so Metanarrative is certainly not about virtuoso performance. And "songwriter" does not really describe my relationship to this project either. So we'll go with "composer."
Enough about that.
I was raised in a home that was not particularly dominated by music, although my dad enjoyed Tennessee Ernie Ford and Mario Lanza. Still, he picked me up a guitar when I was 12. (I still have it, in fact - a 1976 Morris W616, which was essentially an old Martin knockoff.) Dad was a travelling preacher, and I was soon travelling with him, leading the times of praise.
But creating songs was where it was at for me, nearly from the beginning. I began songwriting at 12 years of age, and by the time I was out of my teens I suppose I had written about 500. As a youth who was always on the road and not settled enough for the hobbies many of my peers engaged in, I turned to music as a creative outlet.
Once upon a time, I had dreams of making a career in music. I suppose it is a frequent affliction of the young to dream big but not follow through. And the truth is that I had a great many things pulling me in other directions, including a strong sense of call to the ministry. And over the course of the years (although, admittedly, it took a long time), that was the ultimate direction God led me. I became Reformed between the years 1990-1992, and graduated from Mid-America Reformed Seminary in Dyer, Indiana in May 2000. Since then, I pastored Conrad Christian Reformed Church in Conrad, Montana for 2 1/2 years, and have done extensive pulpit supply.
I have a deep love for biblical studies. I hope that will shape Metanarrative in a way that is perhaps unusual in contemporary Christian music. This isn't just about writing some (I hope) beautiful music; it is about a marriage between the beauty of sound and the beauty of the story of Scripture.
I no longer have illusions about a "career" in music, but I do have a sense that I do have musical gifts concerning which I have not yet discharged my duty. Every gift is on loan from the Creator. Metanarrative is my first genuinely concerted effort to respond to that loan and try to see if it earns interest. I trust that you will find it a blessing.
For more about Tim Gallant, you can read his bio at his personal site, timgallant.org.