I do like "My Soul Doth Magnify"! We moved it over to a reggae beat. I'm about to get a new synthesizer/music maker, and and we're going to re-engineer some of our beats - may move this one back to Gospel. I have a real nice Al Jarreau Gospel Rock rhythm that suffice.
I remember a good pianist we had who was surprised that we could change the styles of accompaniments for songs. (She was much more about reading the notes on the page. I tend to use fake music, but try reading notes for some classical and ragtime pieces to keep in practice. When I was a paid accompanist for a high school choir, the director wanted me to play the notes as written.)
Concerning Mary, an interesting study is to look at biblical and non-biblical references to her chronologically. Mark, the earliest gospel, and Paul, the earliest writings in the New Testament, say very little about her. Neither has any birth narratives. Matthew and Luke coming a generation later have birth narratives that involve Mary (Luke more than Matthew). While John doesn't have a birth narrative and never uses the name, "Mary," he has the "mother of our Lord," at the miracle in Cana (found only in John) and at the crucifixion, where she is not mentioned by other evangelists.
The Gospel of James gives us the back story to Mary. It names her parents, Joachim and Anna. It talks about Mary's miraculous birth, (a bit like that of Isaac's). Mary was raised in the temple. It goes into the birth of Jesus with great detail, including a midwife. It includes a version of the Magi's visit and Herod's rage that sought to destroy all infants two years old and younger, which put John the Baptist at risk. He and his mother, Elizabeth, are hidden by a mountain that split open and they were guarded by an angel. His father, Zechariah, is murdered. He won't (or can't) reveal where his son is. Simeon (also in Luke) is selected to take Zechariah's place.
What I concluded many years ago when studying this, is that the tributes and importance of Mary grew over time from no mention of "Mary" nor "mother of our Lord" in Paul, the earliest NT writings, to Mark's brief mention of his family who think Jesus is out of his mind (3:21 - a phrase not used by Matthew or Luke). When his mother and family are mentioned in 3:31-32, they don't seem to be followers of Jesus.
John has the Jesus' mother standing at the cross and Jesus speaking to her (19:25-27). Luke, in Acts, makes it clear that Mary and Jesus' brothers were part of the disciples who devoted themselves to prayer (Acts 1:14). Then there is even further elevation the later writing of
The Gospel of Thomas (late 2nd century).
I'm not saying anything about what might have really happened historically, just noting the increased importance of Mary, the Mother of our Lord, in the writings over time.
