Majesty Music is a privately-owned, conservative

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

music and book publishing company in

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, perhaps best known for its children's adventure-story character

Patch the Pirate ''Patch the Pirate'' is an Evangelical Christianity, Evangelical Christianity, Christian series of character-building, comical, and musical recordings for children produced by Majesty Music. These comical capers teach Christian values to children ...

. The company publishes sheet music, hymnals, choral collections, cantatas and Christmas plays, audio recordings, and feature-length

cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

History

Majesty Music (originally Musical Ministries) was founded in 1973 by Frank Garlock (b. 1930), a musician with academic training from both

Bob Jones University , motto_lang = Latin , mottoeng = We seek, we trust , top_free_label = , top_free = , type = Private university , established = , closed = , f ...

(BJU) and the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music (B.M ...

. While teaching music theory at BJU, Garlock began a second career of "challenging the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

culture," denouncing contemporary music for promoting "rebellion" and "the violation of moral principles." Garlock feared that contemporary music styles were permeating evangelical churches as well as the larger society. Leaving the BJU faculty, he continued to conduct choral seminars to emphasize alternatives to contemporary music and (with the help of a wealthy friend) published, through his company, religious music written by himself, his daughter Shelly, and her husband Ron Hamilton (b. 1950). After losing an eye to cancer, Hamilton created the character "Patch the Pirate," around which he based an album of children's songs, ''Sing Along with Patch the Pirate'' (1981). By 2018, Majesty Music had released 39 Patch the Pirate albums, sold more than a million recordings, and produced more than 800 of Hamilton's songs. In 1984, Majesty Music created Patch the Pirate clubs and published material for them that included Bible studies, devotional material, and elementary music theory lessons. Within ten years, more than 10,000 children were enrolled in the program. Majesty Music also supported an ''Adventures of Patch the Pirate'' radio broadcast, recognized by the

National Religious Broadcasters National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) is an international association of evangelical communicators. While theologically diverse within the evangelical community, NRB members are linked through a Declaration of Unity that proclaims their joint comm ...

as the country's third largest religious program for children, airing on more than 450 stations. Besides the Patch the Pirate material, Majesty Music has sold its own

hymnals A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). Hymnals are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Chri ...

, sheet music,

cantatas A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of t ...

, and vocal and instrumental CDs and DVDs, some of them in Spanish. The company also continued to hold two-day music conferences. At first operating from Frank Garlock's garage, Majesty Music expanded several times and eventually occupied two adjacent buildings on

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within walking distance of Bob Jones University. In 2018, the company repurposed its underused recording facility to accommodate a music studio, Majesty Music Academy. During the late 1990s, the Garlocks began transferring ownership of the business to the Hamiltons; and in the 2010s, the Hamiltons made similar arrangements to perpetuate the ministry through their daughter, Megan, and her husband, Adam Morgan.Garlock, 122-23; Ellis.

References

{{Reflist Christian fundamentalism Children's music Christian music