These are all affiliate marketing links. I receive a small commission from Amazon if you make a purchase. This costs you nothing and goes a long way to supporting this channel and website.
Here are some of my favorite Hymnals:
Presbyterian 1955 Hymnbook: http://amzn.to/2zSRdpL
Episcopal 1940 Hymnal: http://amzn.to/2DEOl1H
Broadman 1940 Hymnal: http://amzn.to/2C1WuwK
Methodist 1939 Hymnal: http://amzn.to/2CfJ1Wq
Pilgrim 1935 Hymnal: http://amzn.to/2DDvbJC
Now Sings My Soul, New Songs for the Lord by: Linda Bonney Olin: http://amzn.to/2DQ6gUy
Choice Hymns of the Faith 1945 http://amzn.to/2Dx97nA
Book of Psalms for Singing https://amzn.to/2ygM00b (1912 Psalter is unavailable)
Hymns Ancient and Modern https://amzn.to/3dfaHIY
Lutheran 1941 Hymnal: http://amzn.to/2zUmYi2
Here are my new projects:
Trinity Hymnal 1960 https://amzn.to/3ZU7esg
Lutheran 1909 Hymnal https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25240909M/Evangelical_Lutheran_hymn-book
J S Bach Riemenschneider 371 Harmonized Chorales http://amzn.to/2DSy5f9
References:
Dictionary of Hymnology: http://amzn.to/2BxPabk
American Hymns Old and New https://amzn.to/3fqkkVU
In a recent conversation with Mike Law and Matthew DelValle regarding the criteria for the inclusion of hymns and Psalms in a planned hymnal, Matthew had a wonderful working out of my own thoughts. With his permission, I am going to use his work as a springboard to express my own thoughts on this very important matter. Having been on both sides of the keyboard, I am often stunned at how little thought is put into the selection of appropriate hymns. “Does it have anything remotely to do with the sermon?” is usually about as far as it goes. Which is exactly what has brought us to our current predicament.
Before we even get to textual appropriateness, let’s start with Matthew’s key question: “Can the average congregation actually sing it?” Not…can the average “worship leader” sing it…not…can the choir sing it…can the average, untrained Jane and Joe in the pews sing it? In an attempt to make music “acceptable,” music from the CCM industry has been incorporated into worship. And by definition, this is music which is meant for professional musicians. If most of the congregation cannot actually sing the music, what is the real purpose of this music?
So, how can we tell if the music we are looking at is reasonable to include in a worship service? Matthew includes these criteria:
*Reasonable vocal range
*Natural word stress and phrasing
*Sustainable tempo and rhythm
My response to his points were the following:
1 But let’s be more specific. Any part with a range in excess of an octave will become increasingly uncomfortable to unsingable to an ever-larger segment of the congregation. My own voice tops out at a middle C, so any song which spends time above that is not singable for me on the average day. (If half of the song is that high… not an uncommon occurrence.) It becomes a pure numbers game at this point. Last Sunday a song with a range of an octave and a fifth was selected. A good singer with a good range…which just happens to fit that very wide spread could do it. 90% of the congregation didn’t fit that description. So, what were they supposed to do? An 8th or 9th range is statistically more likely to be comfortable for the largest possible segment of the average congregant.
2 Not all CM (common meter) tunes are created the same. Long and short note patterns and pick-up notes can make for a perfect fit or a really bad fit. Each needs to be looked at individually.
3 This is really a musician issue. A slow tempo doesn’t have to drag if it is handled musically well. But too fast is a real problem. Story time…When I first started playing at a church I served for 16 years, the senior pastor thought everything should be fast and then a bit faster. If he didn’t think I was fast enough, he had a strong enough voice to speed things up. After he retired, I listened to some of my recordings from then. How anyone could sing with my playing? I don’t have a clue. The church we attend now, the traditional hymns are usually almost too fast to sing. I think this comes from a possible lack of respect for the older music as the new stuff is played at a much more singable pace. It gets complicated…
And Matthew’s final comment is one I completely and whole-heartedly agree with! If it can’t be sung well by ordinary saints, it doesn’t serve corporate worship.
