Master Designer

"Master Designer" is a folk musical, composed by Kurt Kaiser in 1965, (December 17, 1934 – November 12, 2018) was an American contemporary church music composer and arranger.

Kurt Kaiser was born on December 17, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the third child born to Elizabeth (née Seumper) and Otto Kaiser. His father was born in Rheinland, Germany, and his mother was born in Westfalen, Germany. Kaiser studied at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago while earning two degrees from Northwestern University. Kurt grew up performing throughout the city of Chicago. As early as 12 years of age, he was playing piano and organ for live radio on WMBI. At 15, Kurt spent more than a year in Billings, Montana, doing live radio on KGHL. While there he accompanied musicians, played for revivals and church events throughout the Northwest.

Kurt met his future bride, Patricia Anderson, during this period and married her in 1956. After his time in Billings, Kaiser spent a year and a half traveling with basso Bill Carle before entering the American Conservatory of Music at age eighteen.

Kaiser joined Word, Inc. in 1959 as Director of Artists and Repertoire, and later became Vice President and Director of Music. With more than 300 copyrighted songs, he arranged and produced albums for many national and international artists, among them George Beverly Shea, Jerome Hines, Burl Ives, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Ethel Waters, Ken Medema, Joni Eareckson Tada, Anne Martindale Williams, Christopher Adkins & Stephen Nielson, Christopher Parkening, and Kathleen Battle.

Kaiser led innumerable choral workshops, performed concerts, and recorded eighteen solo albums at the piano. He received a Dove Award for his piano album, Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs on the Sparrow label.

For over 50 years, Kaiser influenced modern day church music and helped usher in a new era in American Christian music. Crossing denominational boundaries, his compositions have found their way into many church hymnals. Kaiser and composer Ralph Carmichael co-wrote the first broadly popular youth musical, Tell It Like It Is, sparking an explosion of popularity in this new genre of contemporary Christian music. Several other Carmichael–Kaiser musicals followed as churches, colleges, and universities recognized their value in conveying the Christian faith to a new generation. Kaiser continued to achieve subtle trend changes by maintaining sensitivity to music already widely accepted by the church, while managing to move into new and unexplored areas that have broadened the realm of worshipful, sacred music. Best known for the songs "Pass It On" and "Oh How He Loves You and Me," Kaiser continued to compose traditional church music. His timeless compositions helped insure that music in its purest form will continue to be embraced in the church worship experience. "The Lost Art of Listening" project has been hailed as one of the finest recorded works available today.

During the past five decades, Kaiser copyrighted more than 300 songs, one of the latest being a Christmas piece, "One Quiet Night," that was premiered by the Waco Symphony. In 1999, Kaiser traveled to Sweden at the request of the U.S. Ambassador to perform with a string quartet and soloist at a gala Christmas gathering of guests and dignitaries at the Museum of History in Stockholm.

In 1992, Kaiser was awarded a special Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) for his contributions to the Christian music industry. In November 2001, he was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and received the Faithfulness in Service award in 2003. He received an Honorary Doctorate in Sacred Music degree from Trinity College in Illinois and an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters degree from Baylor University. Baylor also presented him with the Pro Ecclesia award in 2017. Through the years, Kaiser enjoyed his associations with the Baylor University music programs and the five years he conducted the Baylor Religious Hour Choir.

Kaiser served as president of the Waco Symphony Association and was a board member for the Christian Music Publishers Association as well as the Gospel Music Association. From 1959 until his death, Kurt and his wife Pat resided in Waco, Texas. They had four children, ten grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. 

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy! 

Lyrics and chords 

Verse 1:
C majorC            E minorEm         FF          DmDm
Cotten candy clouds, so fluffy and white,
Dm7Dm7                    G7G7          C majorC
Who put you there in a sky of deep blue?
Fmaj7Fmaj7                    Dm7Dm7   Bb majorBb
Or do you just happen to float along,
Dm7Dm7                          Amaj7Amaj7  Dmaj7Dmaj7 Amaj7Amaj7  Dmaj7Dmaj7  Cmaj7Cmaj7  Fmaj7Fmaj7  Dm7Dm7
Pretty and white in a sky so blue,  so    blue,  sky so blue?

Verse 2:
C majorC              E minorEm           FF                DmDm
Tall mountain, deep valley, fast river, cool stream,
Dm7Dm7                       G7G7            C majorC
Show granduer and majesty in some grand scheme.
Fmaj7Fmaj7                     Dm7Dm7   Bb majorBb
All of these wonders that we behold,
Dm7Dm7                           Amaj7Amaj7  Dmaj7Dmaj7 Amaj7Amaj7  Dmaj7Dmaj7     Cmaj7Cmaj7  Fmaj7Fmaj7  Dm7Dm7
Are only a part, it cannot be told,  be    told,  cannot be told.


Verse 3:
C majorC      E minorEm        FF           DmDm
Master Designer, Whoever You are,
Dm7Dm7                     G7G7        C majorC
All of this beauty both near and afar,
Fmaj7Fmaj7                         Dm7Dm7          Bb majorBb
Can't just have happened, the odds are too great,
Dm7Dm7                                    Amaj7Amaj7    Dmaj7Dmaj7  Amaj7Amaj7   Dmaj7Dmaj7       Cmaj7Cmaj7  Fmaj7Fmaj7  Dm7Dm7
There must be a plan, we're not let to fate,   to     fate,   not left to fate.


Verse 4:
C majorC           E minorEm        FF           DmDm
All of this beauty is far too convincing,
Dm7Dm7                   G7G7           C majorC
Master Desinger, Your word must be true,
Fmaj7Fmaj7                 Dm7Dm7        Bb majorBb
Of all your creation, man is the dearest.
Dm7Dm7                           Amaj7Amaj7  Dmaj7Dmaj7 Amaj7Amaj7  Dmaj7Dmaj7      Cmaj7Cmaj7  Fmaj Dm7Dm7  Cmaj7Cmaj7
Help me simply believe now in you,   in    you,   believe in you.             (Arpeggiate)