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The singing practices and repertoire of any Christian congregation offer a site of aesthetics and theology. The act of singing itself is always culturally embodied and embedded, thus revealing complex relations between the musical 'sounding' of the poetry and the received theology of texts. What we learn to sing together in public worship and in devotion is at once experiential and formative of belief. Hymns, psalms and spiritual songs are central to every congregation's faith experience over...
The word 'Alleluia' originates from the Hebrew 'Hallel', or praise, followed by 'Yah' or 'Jah' for YHWH, an ascription of monotheistic praise, as in the opening and closing phrases of Psalm 104. The 'Hallel psalms', sung at Passover and other feasts, were Psalms 113 to 118; the 'Great Hallel' was Psalm 136. The word is found in Greek as 'Allelouia' in several verses of Revelation 19. It was used in the early church, and there are records of its being shouted or sung from the third century...
As the word amen means 'so be it', it is logically a response indicating the speaker's endorsement of what has just been said by someone else. It had that meaning in pre-Reformation times, when priests and choirs sang or chanted the liturgy and hymns, and the people indicated their approval by the word 'amen', as is still done with many prayers today. If sung it would be pitched to the final note of the chant. An organ would conveniently harmonize it with a plagal cadence, and this was...
This is a medieval term for a liturgical book containing antiphons. The term first appears in library catalogies from the 8th and 9th centuries, as well as in the titles of some manuscripts from that era. In the middle ages, an antiphoner might contain antiphons for the Mass (that is, introits and communions, perhaps together with other Mass proper chants) or for the divine office. Because of potential confusion between these two sorts of books, collections of Mass proper chants are usually...
Braille hymns and hymnals, USA. The St Gregory Hymnal and Catholic Choir Book (Philadelphia, 1922), compiled and edited by Nichola Montani (1880-1948, distinguished and controversial composer, conductor, and former liturgical music editor for G. Schirmer, New York) was published in 1926 as the first braille hymnal. Today, many Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant hymnals are available in two electronic platforms, Braille Ready Format (BRF) and American Standard Code for Information Exchange...
Singing is a natural activity for children, and one of the most certain ways of passing on doctrine and history of faith is through hymn singing. Because of its ability to draw people into community while teaching doctrine, singing hymns strengthens the fostering of religious values. There is evidence that the teaching of hymnody happened with boys in monasteries as early as the fifth century, and after 1200 there is evidence of girls taking part in monastic liturgical singing. Though we may...
Chinese Christian hymnody
Introduction: the Beginnings
The earliest Christian missionaries to China were Nestorians, who were active during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Their version of Christianity (so-called Jieng Jiao, Luminous Religion) was received warmly by Emperor Taizong (唐太宗,599-649) and flourished throughout China. One hymn from this period, 'Wushang zhu tian shen jing tan' ('All heaven worships in great awe'), was probably composed by Nestorian missionaries and thought to have been...
Chorister's Prayer, The
The Chorister's Prayer is prayed regularly by those who sing in choirs associated with the Royal School of Church Music*, and other choral groups in the UK and North America.
Bless, O Lord, us Thy servants,who minister in Thy temple. Grant that what we sing with our lipswe may believe in our hearts,and what we believe in our hearts,we may show forth in our lives.Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Although no original source for this prayer is acknowledged, the...
Christian Congregational Music Conference: Local and Global Perspectives
The Christian Congregational Music Conference [CCMC] explores the varying cultural, social, and spiritual roles that church music plays in the life of Christian communities around the world. The first conference, convened in 2011 at Ripon College, was organized by Monique Ingalls (University of Cambridge), Carolyn Landau (King's College, London), Martyn Percy (Ripon College, Cuddesdon), Tom Wagner (Royal Holloway, London),...
Christian popular music, USA
Introduction and antecedents
Christian popular music (hereafter CPM) is an umbrella category for a sonically diverse repertoire of late 20th- and early 21st-century evangelical Protestant commercial popular music. It encompasses several distinct subcategories based on musical genre, industrial context, or function, including, but not limited to, Jesus Music, Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), Praise & Worship music, and Christian rock. CPM is characterized by...
A manuscript or section of a manuscript containing prayers ('collects') for the Divine Office in the western Roman Catholic liturgy.
Many in the late 20th- and early 21st-century church music community have been guided by Erik Routley*'s summary of what constitutes a good hymn, i.e., one which is 'well written, well chosen and well sung (1959, p. 299). As compelling and compact as this definition is, when it is quoted outside of Routley's expansive view of the purpose and nature of hymnody, it can become a convenient way to canonize the personal aesthetic of the one employing the quotation. What is 'good' can be easily...
Customary
Customaries are texts that describe or prescribe liturgical uses in a monastery, along with information on the daily life of the community as well as the duties of the monastic officers. They supplement the regulations set forth in the Rule of Benedict*. Whereas the Rule is a set of guidelines to be applied in principle to any Benedictine community, customaries offer much more detail on the liturgy and reflect the way of life in a particular house; moreover, they were written not...
This is a short Greek text, Didache kyriou dia ton dodeka apostolon ethesin ('The teaching of the Lord through the twelve apostles'), of uncertain date, but thought to be one of the earliest instructive manuals of the Christian church, perhaps originating from Syria. It has sixteen sections, beginning with 'the two ways and the first commandment', and ending with 'Watchfulness; the coming of the Lord'. It is a brief introduction to the Christian life, beginning with the two ways, 'one of life...
Dove Awards. These are awards given annually by the Gospel Music Association (GMA)* for outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry: i.e., that part of the commercial music industry that markets electronic and print mass-mediated products in popular musical styles to English-speaking Protestants worldwide, but especially in North America.
Modeled on the Emmy, the Oscar, and the Grammy, the Dove was established by GMA ca. 1969. The earliest awards ceremonies were held in Memphis,...
The word 'environment' can be understood in very many different ways. In its most general sense it can mean all that surrounds us, particularly the natural world with its trees, mountains, plains and seas. Of course the idea of 'environment' can equally be applied to urban surroundings, to our homes and indeed to the universe as a whole. Throughout the history of hymn writing, hymn writers have responded to the many facets of the term. In recent times, human beings have become more conscious...
Throughout Christian history, the language and imagery of worship has been overwhelmingly male. Congregations have sung of themselves as 'men' and 'brothers'; apart from Mary the mother of Jesus, references to biblical characters have focused on males; and God has been addressed in terms that emphasise masculinity. For much of this time, the creators and leaders of liturgy have been almost exclusively men.
With the rise of 'second wave' feminism in the 1970s, there was a specific move towards...
Matthäus Apelles von Löwenstern
The Reformation and its Impact (1517-1618)
Of the pre-Reformation writers, the one whose work is still used is John Tauler*, one of whose hymns was paraphrased with a first line 'As the bridegroom to his chosen'*. This version by Emma Frances Bevan* was published in her Hymns of Tersteegen, Suso and Others (1894). It was printed in School Worship (1926), but was little known until it was selected for 100HfT (1969) with a new tune (BRIDEGROOM, by Peter Cutts*). It...
Glosses
The Latin hymns of the Divine Office are cited in works on grammar and metrics throughout the Middle Ages. The study of hymns at several different levels of Latin-language education apparently led their texts to be annotated with glosses. Although the majority of the extant glosses are interlinear, some comprise more extended commentary and were thus written in the margins of medieval hymnals. Hymn glosses are preserved in Latin, Old English, Old High German, and Old Irish. Vernacular...
As far as we can judge from the few remaining pieces of evidence (such as the famous 'Phos hilaron'*) and from some late testimonies (Saint Augustine*, Egeria's pilgrimage, comments by abbot Pembo, the Life of Auxentios), the earliest forms of Christian hymnody in Greek were written in rhythmic prose, were based on patterns of parallelism and antithesis (like the biblical psalms and canticles) and were sung responsorially. It is generally assumed that the earliest hymns, such as troparia and...
HARP (as a title). As early as 1795, hymn collections with Harp or Harfe in the title were published in the USA, without music, and thereafter, a number of tunebooks were published with 'Harp' in the title.
The most widely-known Harp, as a collection of hymns, is The Sacred Harp*, by B. F. White* and Elisha J. King*. This usage of Harp probably started in connection with the Psalms of David, as in Dauids harpe ful of moost delectable armony, newely stringed and set in tune, by Theadore...
History of Hymns.
This is the name of a weekly print which became digital, a column containing commentary on hymns, hymn writers, composers, and hymn traditions and singing practices. The original 400-word weekly columns titled 'History of hymns', were written by Baptist hymnologist William J. Reynolds* and appeared in The Nashville Banner (Nashville, Tennessee) from 1979 until the closing of that newspaper in 1998, and were continued in The United Methodist Reporter from 1998 to 2003. David W....
This is the English rendering of the Greek ώσαννα, which in turn comes from the Aramaic hôš '-nā, from the Hebrew for 'Save us!' (Psalm 118: 25). In the Christian tradition it is particularly associated with Christ's Entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11: 10, Matthew 21: 9, 15, John 12: 13), and in the liturgical tradition it is linked to the 'Benedictus qui venit in nomine Deus', 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord'. In hymn writing it was particularly associated with the voices of...
Hymnary.org
Hymnary.org is an online hymn and worship music database for worship leaders, hymnologists, and amateur hymn lovers. The site allows users to search or browse hymns by title, tune, meter, key, scripture reference, as well as advanced specialized queries.
In partnership with The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada* Hymnary.org houses the Dictionary of North American Hymnology*, adding over one million first lines of hymns, collected and organized by Leonard W. Ellinwood*...
Jazz is a unique type of 20th-century music created by African Americans characterized by melodic variation, the use of 'blue notes', syncopated rhythms, extended and altered harmonies, improvisation by the performers, and an open-sounding timbre. Initially, jazz was the music of the dance hall and club, but it gradually gained acceptance in the church. Jazz used in worship now includes keyboard, instrumental, and choral music, as well as accompaniments of sung liturgies and congregational...
Latin American hymnody
A new Christian hymnology has risen in Latin America and in many communities in the US, among Roman Catholics and Protestants alike. It has roots in Latin folk and popular music, and most of the time reflects the social realities of the southern continent, owing much to the secular movement called the 'newsong.' This new song is rooted in Latin folk and popular music of the 20th century which express the people's happiness (Raquel Gutiérrez-Achón*, in González, 1996,...
[note: 'French Canada' refers not only to the province of Quebec, but also to the pockets of French-speaking people in all parts of Canada]
Early history
Roman Catholic liturgical music was brought to New France in the 17th century by French missionaries and peasants. In the 1640s the Jesuit Relations (Relations des jésuites, Paris, 1632-72) referred to music sung by the peoples of the First Nations and French settlers. One of the songs that has survived and is sung at Christmas time in...
Strictly speaking, a proper definition of verse metre includes the stress pattern as well as the number of feet or syllables. Thus 'iambic tetrameter' describes a verse in which each line contains four feet, and each foot is an iamb (weak-strong). So it has eight syllables in every line with stresses on the even-numbered syllables. A famous example of this metre is Thomas Ken*'s morning hymn:
Awake, my soul, and with the sun
Thy daily stage of duty run;
Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise
To...
Methodist Hymnody, USA
Hymns were used within the Methodist movement for teaching of doctrine, for evangelism (of the unsaved and to revive those who faith was lagging), for praise and confession. Important doctrines for the Wesleyan movement are Arminianism, the understanding that Christ died for everyone, not just the elect; the Christian journey as the way of salvation, on a continuum of God's prevenient grace (which comes before one is awakened to God's call), justifying and...
To the Greeks, 'metre' was a pattern to which the words could naturally be adapted, for there was a fairly clear distinction between long and short syllables in the language. So the Homeric epic could easily be couched in a series of long-short-short patterns (with occasional variations such as long-long), to make a hexameter. The Romans greatly admired Greek poetry, so Classical Latin writers aped this metrical system, despite Latin being less naturally dragooned into such a format....
Postcolonial and Decolonial Perspectives on Hymnody
Introduction
The recent adoption of the language of 'postcolonial' and 'decolonization' in the fields of hymnology and church music is part of a growing trend to address issues in ecclesial settings with post- and decolonial theoretical and theological lenses. Other academic disciplines are also widely adopting these theoretical approaches. For the purposes of this essay, postcolonial theory refers to intellectual analysis of the dynamic...
In Classical Greek theory, 'rhythm' was an entity different, and almost opposed, to what was then called 'metre'. The latter was dependent on what was understood to be the inherent rhythm of the words, but rhythmos proper was an external pattern, such as might be taken over from an instrumental tune. Apparently quoting from some source ultimately dependent on Aristoxenus, Bede* (De arte metrica, XXIV) says that although rhythm is similar to metre, the verbal proportions of a rhythmic...
Ring shout is a sacred 'dance' practiced commonly during slavery times, and arguably the most significant African musical retention in the United States of America. It is performed in call and response fashion between a song leader (customarily a man) and a group of 'dancers' (often called 'shouters'). The leader--often referred to as a 'songster'—intones the opening phrase(s) and then alternates with the chorus (of singers and 'dancers') in a call and response manner. The leader sets the...
'Shalom' is the Hebrew word for peace, used at meeting, or at a farewell; it conveys the sense of a wish, to mean 'peace be with you'. It occurs in the Hebrew Bible in various places, as an individual greeting or referring more widely to a general sense of peace and justice. In the New Testament, when Jesus used the phrase 'peace be with you, or 'my peace I give to you', he was using the concept implied in the word Shalom. It occurs with other Hebrew words: thus 'Shalom Aleikhem' ('Peace be...
Sign language is a visual form of communication developed by and for Deaf people world-wide. (A general history of signing is included in Costello, 2009). Signed languages, which differ from region to region in the same way that spoken languages differ, consist of formal, standardized lexicons containing hand shapes, movements of hands, arms, and body and facial expression to convey meaning. A skilled interpreter takes words or phrases in the source language, in this case the written or spoken...
Singers Glen, Virginia, is a hamlet in the Shenandoah Valley about eight miles north-northwest of Harrisonburg. It was originally named Mountain Valley by its German-speaking Mennonite settler, Joseph Funk*, who is buried in Singers Glen. It was renamed Singers Glen in 1860 when a post office was established there, and after Funk's music business had become successful.
Its significance is twofold: (1) it was the original base of the music-publishing business (known variously as Joseph Funk...
Strengthen for Service. 100 Years of the English Hymnal, 1906-2006.
The English Hymnal was a landmark in Anglican worship. Looking back after 100 years provided an opportunity for a measured appraisal, both of its creation and of its effect on Church of England worship of the 20th century. Just as The First Fifty Years (1956) was a retrospective view of the book, with some remarkable reminiscences by Ralph Vaughan Williams*, the centenary was the justification for a more ambitious collection of...
Teaching hymnody: a survey
Human beings are born with the 'propensity to make and listen to music that was encoded into the human genome during the evolutionary history of our species' (Mithen, 2006, p. 1). Mark J. Tramo's (1956-) studies on the nature of brain functioning show 'all of us are born with the capacity to apprehend emotion and meaning in music' (Tramo 2001, pp. 54-56). Research by Barbara S. Kisilevsky, et al., indicates that by the final trimester of pregnancy, fetuses are...
Text and tune
'Music . . . the exaltation of poetry. Both of them may excel apart, but sure they are most excellent when they are joyn'd' (Henry Purcell).
The primary hallmark of excellence in vocal music, whether sacred or secular, is the depth of poetic unity between words and music. Arguably, it is the quality of the relationship between tune and text that is likely to be the most effective in quickening the emotions of both performer and listener and, in the case of sacred vocal...
This essay examines four ways the Internet has influenced the study, accessibility, proliferation and practice of congregational song: the digitization of materials in the public domain, the born-digital and twinned digital combined with print materials, making digital objects findable and visible, and the emerging pedagogies.
The main focus of this entry is on those resources that offer the full text or image of a hymn. Serious scholars should devote attention to The Hymn Tune Index*. See...
Troper (Lat. liber /libellus troparius, troparium, troperium, tropiarium, troporium, troponarius, trophonarius). A medieval book, booklet, or section of a book containing a significant number of tropes (chants introducing, and/or interpolated within, the chants of the mass proper and ordinary and sometimes of the office, such as the Benedicamus Domino).
John Beleth's liturgical commentary (Summa de ecclesiasticis officiis, ca. 1160-64) defines a troper as follows: 'a trophonarius is a book in...
A Generous Tribute: Twells on Lyte.
Henry Twells* paid a felicitous tribute to Henry Francis Lyte* that deserves to be better known. In Twells's Hymns and Other Stray Verses (1901), published after his death, there is a poem entitled 'The Rev. Henry Francis Lyte'. Twells described him as
A Parish priest, whose anxious post Was on South Devon's rocky coast, Through all his life at various times Had clothed his thoughts in graceful rhymes.
The poem goes on to describe Lyte's most famous hymn,...
Vatican II and hymns
When the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) was convened, most Protestant hymn collections contained few Roman Catholic hymns. The reform of the liturgical life of the Roman Catholic Church in the 'Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy' ('Sacrosanctum Concilium', 1963) made an immediate ecumenical impact on most mainline Protestant traditions. A deeper theology of Baptism and Eucharist, the recovery of Scripture, the revision of the church year and the appearance of a...