hymnal

Music of the World Church

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Recent hymnals have included a wide variety of congregational songs from around the world. These provide new styles of music for use in worship and new ways of expressing the unity of the worldwide church.

A new phenomenon is appearing in denominational hymnals published in the past five years. An example of this is found in hymns like “Asithi: Amen” or “Tu has venido a la orilla,” or “Jesus A, Nahetotaetanome.” (All the songs, hymns, and tune names listed in this article are found in Hymnal: A Worship Book, prepared by Churches in the Believers Church Tradition (Elgin, Ill.: Brethren Press; Newton, Kans.: Faith and Life Press; Scottdale, Pa.: Mennonite Publishing House, 1992). There has always been a sprinkling of Latin and German words in hymnals, at least with familiar phrases as “Gloria in excelsis Deo” and “Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht!” or in tune names such as ein’ feste burg, aberystwyth, deus tuorum militum, and so on. Yet we have not always acknowledged the culture and language diversity in our midst beyond Western European traditions, nor have we recognized the variety of ways Christ has made himself known to Christians around the world.

At the arrival of the twenty-first century, an age of high technology and global awareness, the North American church is comprised of a mixture of cultures and languages, more so than at any time in its history. For many generations, members of a local congregation have likely been basically of one or two races, Caucasian, and perhaps African-American. But today worshipers are likely to find themselves sitting next to someone of another color, another culture, another language. Such a phenomenon is challenging the church to broaden its perspective, its style of hymnody, and its language in liturgy and hymns.

No longer can an English-speaking congregation assume that English is the only language represented among its worshipers; no longer can the small town or city church demand that all worshipers sing only in English, whatever their background. No longer can those who speak only English refuse to at least try singing in another language. As the world gets smaller, the church must get bigger, more inclusive.

Several new hymnals have provided an important model to worshipers by incorporating languages other than English, and by introducing texts and tunes from churches around the globe. Through this witness, the North American church is becoming sensitized, educated, and appreciative of the hymnody of Christian sisters and brothers of many different cultures and languages. In addition, worshipers are discovering the delight in singing new types of hymns. Take, for example, “Asithi: Amen,” a South African hymn that is sung over and over again, as a praise hymn, or as a recessional hymn at the end of worship. Its driving rhythms and easy-to-learn Zulu words make it sheer fun to sing! God’s people are uplifted in joyful praise. God certainly must be enjoying it too!

Nigerians are incorporating in their worship services their own religious songs, rich with complex rhythms, alongside gospel songs taught them by missionaries from the United States and England during the early part of the twentieth century. One song is a rendition of the Lord’s Prayer (“Our Father, who art in heaven”), in which each phrase is first sung by a leader, then by the congregation. Originally written in Hausa, this prayer hymn can be easily learned in English and sung by North American congregations. It is accompanied by African drums, gourds, and cowbell, or similar rhythm instruments that are available.

Since the days of slavery, the North American church has sung the spirituals and black gospel songs of African-American people. However, white and biracial congregations are now being challenged to include a wider selection of authentic African-American music in worship, songs like “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (the official song of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), “I Am Weak and I Need Thy Strength,” “When Storms of Life Are Raging,” “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me.” Such songs speak poignantly to the pain of injustice, alienation, and despair of a people who daily feel the sting of discrimination. All congregations need to sing such heart-wrenching songs, slowly, rhythmically, passionately, in a cappella voices, or accompanied by strong, pulsating piano and/or organ arrangements.

Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language in the United States today, and Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic group. If the North American church wants to reach and fully welcome Hispanics into the church, it is challenged (possibly even compelled before too many years) to include worship litanies and hymns in Spanish. Command of the language is not necessary at all in order to sing. Even a bumbling attempt at the pronunciation of an unfamiliar language shows a willingness to step into the culture and language of another person because of Christian concern and love. A congregation might begin learning a Spanish hymn text slowly, with a soloist or quartet first singing it, then the congregation. An exciting hymn to try is “Cantemos al Senor,” which repeats the opening phrase on each verse and ends with “Aleluya!” At least, such an attempt shows a willingness to try another language. At most, it shows respect for the language in which a hymn was originally written. Congregations are encouraged to ask a member who is proficient in Spanish to pronounce the words of the text before all join in singing it, possibly even to direct the hymn. A guitar and several rhythm instruments, such as maracas and bongo drums, help the congregation experience the hymn as authentically as possible.

The Taizé community of eastern France, to which thousands of young people from all over the world travel each week, joins in worship three times a day. Imagine hearing the gospel read in ten different languages; a psalm chanted in Swedish, German or Portuguese; and musical refrains sung in French, Polish, English, or Italian. No one language dominates. Latin, no longer anyone’s language, becomes everyone’s language as it is used in many of the sung prayers. The beauty of the simple music, often accompanied by instrumental obligatos while being sung repeatedly, leads one into deep communion with God. The haunting melodies and harmony “remain alive” within the worshipers long after they leave worship.

Singing in the Taizé service evokes within the worshipers a sense of the church’s unity in Christ amidst the diversity of cultures and languages, and it honors the universality of the church.

Taizé music, published throughout the world, has found its way into most of the recently published hymnals. The words may be in Spanish, Latin, German, Polish, and English—many different languages that congregations are finding they learn quite easily because of a song’s shortness and repetitive phrases.

Represented in current hymnals is the music of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Latin American, Native American cultures. All cultures bring the beauty of their own uniqueness in melody, rhythm, and texts that enrich the church and its members wherever they are located. The Psalmist summons the worshiping community to …

Sing to the Lord a new song
Sing to the Lord, all the earth (Psalm 96:1)

The Christian church can best do that by singing together each other’s songs of faith, in various languages and rhythms that, in their diversity, make a very joyful noise to the Lord!

How to Select a Hymnal

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The hymnal that is used in worship is one of the most important elements in shaping the faith and worship of a given congregation. Therefore, great care must be given to selecting the very best hymnal for use in a congregation. The following article describes some of the most important considerations that should be considered when a congregation selects a new hymnal.

Choosing a hymnal for corporate worship is one of the most important theological decisions a church ever makes. If that seems an exaggeration, consider the facts: compare the number of people in a congregation who read theology to the number who sing hymns on Sunday. Week after week the hymns of your church are giving people the basic vocabulary of their faith. Hymns shape the landscape of the heart, planting images that bring meaning and order to people’s understanding of life. Hymns keep congregations in touch with the history from which they have sprung, reinforcing their identity as Christians and directing their understanding of how they are to live in the world. Hymns do all of this with extraordinary power because they are coupled with music which opens the heart to the more profound resonances of reality, those motions of the Spirit that move through us in “sighs too deep for words” (Rom. 8:26).

In choosing a hymnal, we are doing more than selecting a book of songs. We are deciding how the faith, theology, and values of the church will be celebrated and transmitted to others in the worshiping community. Therefore, our decision must rest on something greater than personal preference. Our selection is an act of discipleship whose guiding goal is the praise of God.

How much easier this is to state in principle than to carry it out in practice! We recall seeing at the International Hymn Convocation in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a videotape of Erik Routley doing a presentation on the new hymnal that he edited, Rejoice in the Lord. After he had carefully explained the theological basis of the selection process, the first response from someone in the audience was to ask if his favorite hymn was in the book. That is an understandable human reaction, and one that is all the more prevalent in our highly personalistic culture in which most people are “limited to a language of radical individual autonomy” (Robert N. Bellah, et al., Habits of the Heart [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985], 81).

The sense of theological responsibility and corporate identity required in choosing a hymnal cannot be taken for granted. They must be consciously claimed by the selection committee before individual books are considered. Rather than assume that the committee shares a mutual understanding of your church’s tradition and a common vision for your community’s worship life, begin by identifying the essential principles and characteristics of your liturgical life. Here are two important questions to guide you:

  1. What hymns and liturgical materials must be preserved (or regained!) for you to maintain your historical identity?
  2. What new concerns and needs have arisen in the church and in the world that you need to incorporate into your worship?

By historical identity, we mean more than simply the denomination you grew up in as children. Who are the founders of your tradition? What was at the core of their belief and practice? What were the important movements and developments in your worship tradition that have given it a distinctive shape and character? Without this knowledge, you are not ready to begin considering a hymnal. Do not be embarrassed if you do not know this information. Many churches do not. Instead, use this opportunity to do some research. Part of your work can involve looking into the history of hymns that are central to your tradition. How did they get there? What were the movements in society or in the church that they reflect? This will raise the committee’s consciousness of how hymns have functioned through history and give you a sense of the cloud of witnesses that is with you in this process. Share your new knowledge with the whole congregation through reports and education so that the selection of the hymnal becomes an occasion for the church to reclaim and strengthen its corporate spiritual identity.

Our hymnal selection process has begun by clarifying the theological nature of our task and by locating ourselves in history. We are now ready to establish criteria that will guide our decisions and become a basis for reasoned discussion about conflicting judgments. Of course, people will always have different perspectives and opinions. But if the selection committee covenants to discipline its deliberations by mutually acknowledged theological and historical criteria, it can avoid the tyranny of imposing individual and transitory preferences upon the congregation.

Although each tradition and congregation have needs that are unique, our work on worship renewal with many different denominations and parishes reveals a number of criteria that are essential to the selection process in all churches. We now want to explore these criteria and suggest how they can make the selection committee’s work more incisive.

Historical, Pastoral, and Liturgical Considerations

The first major criterion that flows from our theological understanding is that a hymnal, assuming it is not a supplemental work but the major collection of congregational songs for a church, must have a historical, pastoral, and liturgical breadth.

Our culture has a low historical consciousness. We are immersed in the present with little or no sense of our connection to the past. We tend to “talk of socialization rather than of tradition” (Bellah, Habits of the Heart, 60). But a church that loses its tradition will lose its identity. Therefore, in choosing a hymnal we must resist the temptation of reducing the church’s corporate members to what we remember personally. We need to sing the hymns of our ancestors in order to recall the “dangerous memories” of history “which make demands on us.” Such memories remind our generation of the sacrifice and struggle that have kept the faith alive through the ages (Johann Baptist Metz, Faith in History and Society [New York: The Seabury Press, 1980], 109).

Sometimes people object to the ancient hymns because they are not instantly engaging and accessible. But to break our connection with history on these grounds is to accept uncritically the culture of mass media in which we are “amusing ourselves to death” by replacing the enduring values of our traditions with a “supra-ideology” of “entertainment” (Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death [New York: Viking Penguin, 1985], 87). It is ironic that many Christians who are upset about the loss of values in society settle for a range of congregational songs whose lack of historical depth reinforces the cultural shallowness they deplore.

In our own congregation, we recently sang a hymn attributed to Augustine. At first, we struggled a little with the words and the setting, but quite quickly we mastered them. Then the sound filled the chapel and we sensed the cloud of witnesses (cf. Hebrews 11–12) that surrounds us as we worship. We left the service ready to face the present difficulties of our lives because of the strength that had been poured into us from the past. How wise the hymnal committee did not limit us to what we already knew! That committee provided us with sound pastoral care. They gave us not simply what we wanted but what we needed.

Selection committees are making a decision that will shape the church’s ministry to future generations of worshipers. Consider the range of pastoral and social needs represented by the users of a hymnal: people in grief reaching for assurance, people filled with joy eager to sing God’s praise, people in doubt seeking faith, people in moral confusion seeking clarity. Choosing a hymnal is an act of ministry that extends over time to hundreds, even thousands of people. Like all acts of ministry, our decision requires a keen self-awareness, the ability to distinguish between personal desires and the needs of others.

It is essential to remember that our decision must allow not only for individual needs but for the corporate need of the church, especially as this is expressed in its liturgical life. Does your congregation follow the church year closely? Then a hymnal that adequately represents the liturgical year will be essential. What sacraments or ordinances are of central significance to you, and what hymnic resources do you need for them? What is unique about your local congregation? Do you want to use this hymnal at church suppers, weekday prayer meetings, or other special events?

In responding to these liturgical questions, do not limit yourself to current or past practices. One of the exciting things we have discovered in working in a highly ecumenical setting and in workshops on worship renewal with many denominations is that there is an increased openness to sharing the treasures of other traditions. Also, there has been a profound impact on many Reformed and free churches through the use of the ecumenical or common lectionary and through the scholarship of liturgical renewal. For example, we know many free churches that have started to celebrate the season of Advent as a way of countering the over-commercialization of Christmas. They now find themselves wanting more Advent hymns. In a similar fashion, many churches have begun to celebrate the Lord’s Supper more frequently, or they are holding services of baptismal renewal. These are not worship fads that will quickly disappear. Rather they are substantive shifts in liturgical life that are founded upon the best scholarship and creative thinking about worship. Before choosing a hymnal, it would be helpful to research these matters through your pastor or someone from a seminary or denominational office. In this way, your choice of hymnal can become an occasion for renewing your congregation’s spiritual and liturgical life.

By striving to achieve historical, pastoral, and liturgical breadth, we make a faithful witness to the fullness of God. We do not constrict ourselves to the perceptions of our era, the desires of our hearts, or the limitations of our current worship practices. Instead, we draw on a spectrum of resources, moving beyond the idolatries of our subjectivity to consider the vast treasures of the Christian faith through the ages.

Language: Reverent, Relevant, and Inclusive

The language of the church is always in tension with the surrounding culture. But in recent years this tension has nearly reached the breaking point. Under the stress of psychological and individualistic values, popular culture has replaced the language of transcendent values with the language of self-actualization.

So in the list of words deliberately missing from expressions of the current dominant ideology we’ll find, for example, absolutes, humility, transcendence, truth, wisdom, wonder, soul, sin, grace, gratitude, and God. We’ve seen many of the specific ways that such words are kept out of our currently dominant discourse: the way absolutes are scorned by relativist lines, the way wisdom and truth are displaced by opinion and consensus, the way humility is lost sight on in systems thinking, the way transcendent purpose is rendered inoperable by self-fulfilling evolutionary development.… Nor is there any place for sin in a positive self-image permitting only good feelings; and the very concept of soul is lost in psychology which, though coming in name from the Greek word (psyche) meaning both self and soul, confines its attention now to self. (Peggy Rosenthal, Words and Values [New York: Oxford University Press, 1984], 256)

The rampant psychological nature of our language and the attendant values that such language expresses create complex problems for the church’s language. On the one hand, we need to use language that connects with people’s experiences and how they express themselves in daily life. On the other, we cannot afford to lose the gospel by over adopting the language of our society. For example, hymnic language that relies excessively on the first person singular—I, me, mine—tends to reinforce the self-centered values of the culture. We believe it is appropriate to have some first-person singular hymns because hymnals are often used for private devotion as well as corporate worship. But avoid any book that is preponderantly individualistic in its theology.

To sing in the vernacular does not mean we must stoop to slang and the passing fashions of common speech. In looking at contemporary hymns in any collection, the committee needs to ask: Does this represent the way we speak and think about reality without replacing essential Christian theology and values? In short, is the language simultaneously reverent and relevant?

Any talk of relevance in the closing years of the twentieth century will inevitably lead to the issue of inclusive language: that is to say, language which does not discriminate against people on the basis of gender, race, or handicap. To call a mute person “dumb,” to use “black” as a symbol of evil, or to assume that “men” refers to women strikes increasing numbers of people as offensive to the wonderful news that all of us are created in the image of God. Even if we are not personally offended by this language, we need to consider those who are, and the coming generations who will be using the book we choose. Their consciousness will be even more sensitive on these matters for there is no way that the movements for civil rights and liberation are going to fade away. Whatever our politics, whatever our position in society, whatever our personal preferences, forces have broken loose that will not die and that the church’s hymnody must recognize.

Generally speaking, this shift in consciousness is easier to accommodate at the level of language about humanity than about God. For many Christians language about “Our Heavenly Father” awakens and expresses the joys and yearnings of their hearts. What we need to remember is that the desire to balance such imagery with feminine language about God is in fact an effort to be faithful to the fullness of who God is and often grows out of a profound pastoral need in the human soul. This is a perspective better shared through a story than rational argument: We recall a motherless child who had been beaten by his father with a two-by-four and was subsequently taken from the home and raised by an aunt. In teaching him the Lord’s prayer in Sunday School, we discovered it was impossible for him to say the words “Our Heavenly Father.” He was terrified by the language. So he learned the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Aunt, who art in heaven.” The whole church cannot rewrite the words of Jesus’ prayer to fit the experience of any one individual, but this is not the point of the story. We believe the story illustrates the exciting pastoral and theological possibilities for a church that is open to the holy and gracious power that breathes more freely through inclusive hymnic language. There are people who will be reached by the grace of God in new ways through the use of inclusive language. No major hymnal that adequately represents the church’s history will be entirely inclusive, but any new hymnal that will stand the test of future generations must evince an openness to inclusive language. There are many contemporary hymn writers who are drawing more completely on the range of biblical imagery for the divine and who are developing metaphorical speech that is faithful to the Spirit and substance of God’s Word. Look for their work in the books you consider.

Tunes: Singability, Enduring Quality, Variety

If it is difficult to speak about our preferences in the poetry and language of hymns, it is even more complex when it comes to their musical settings. It may seem initially that it is entirely a matter of subjective taste. But in fact there are some clear standards that can make our discussion more precise.

The first and most obvious one is that the music should be singable by the congregation. As an organist friend of ours has said, “Hymns are the congregation’s chance to get in there and to sing the praise of God that is in their hearts.” Singability means a maximum range of about an octave. The rhythm must not be too complex or tangled looking when it is printed on the musical staff. Remember: many congregation members do not read music or read it minimally. The melody itself must be memorable—not just a string of notes that have been chosen to go along with a progression of chords. A good melody is marked by the sequential development of a musical idea which brings satisfaction to our ears, mind, and heart. Afterward, we may find ourselves humming it repeatedly without growing tired of its progression of sound. As distinct from a merely “catchy tune,” a good melody is one that grows on us. It holds up over time.

And yet this does not mean that every tune will have the same quality. That would be deadly for the spiritual life of the congregation and would completely negate our earlier goal of being pastorally inclusive. A well-balanced diet is a useful analogy for thinking about the variety of musical styles (as well as the range of texts). Most people love sweets, but we know that our health requires that we limit our intake of sugar. There is a need for protein, vitamins, and minerals in order to build up our bodies and maintain our health. The same is true of our hymnody. Chorales, broad unison tunes, meditative hymns, rousing, march-like declarations, plaintive spirituals, metrical psalms, lyric folk-like songs, carols, sturdy hymns, and other styles make up the musical diet of a healthy congregation. The variety involves forms of spirituality and faith that are not constricted to a single idiom of speech and music. The variety helps to keep the soul open to the sovereign wind of the Spirit and stretches the spiritual imagination of the congregation. Therefore, do not settle exclusively for what is immediately liked by people. To do that is to leave them spiritually malnourished on a diet of “sinfully undemanding” hymnody (Erik Routley, Christian Hymns Observed [Princeton: Prestige Publications, Inc., 1982], 84).

Technical Considerations: Layout, Arrangement, and Service Materials

All of your work will amount to little if the worshipers must struggle to read the words and the notes. This is a book for people to use in concert with everyone else in the congregation. It is not like the book they read in their favorite easy chair where they can adjust the light or re-read what they missed. Those words and notes must be instantly available while they are standing and looking at the page in your church.

Are the words clearly and easily placed under the melody notes? We are aware of the great debate about the effect of this upon the poet’s work. As creators of new hymns, we treasure language, but we still want to have the words directly under the notes. After all, the purpose is to sing the hymn, and everything that facilitates the heartfelt and enthusiastic singing of the congregation moves us closer to our ultimate goal of corporate worship.

That goal will be even more fully realized if there are complete and practically organized indices to the hymnal. Worship leaders are always seeking to find hymns that match the theme of the sermon or the theological emphases of the liturgical year or the pastoral needs of the congregation. Imagine yourself seeking a particular theme: grace, comfort in a time of grief, the struggle with doubt, recommitment to Christ, ecology, peace, marriage, and so on. Can you find what you need by using the index?

Furthermore, are the service materials you need in the book? Depending on the tradition, people may expect to have responsive readings, sacramental rites, creeds or affirmations of faith, and psalms in their hymnal. Are these available and are they laid out in a way that makes them easy to use without intrusive instructions from the worship leader about which prayer is to be read or which response is to be offered?

Finally, how does the book feel in the hand? Is it too heavy? How does it open? Are the binding, cover, and paper of sufficiently high quality? This book will get heavy physical use. It will be taken out of a pew rack and opened thousands of times over the years. Is it pleasing in appearance and format, a hymnal that invites you to sing with joy to your Lord?

The Hard-Detailed Work of Final Decisions

When you have narrowed your selection down to about three hymnals, you will need to do a thoroughly systematic analysis of each of those volumes you are considering. Every text and every tune must be evaluated. Make a chart based on the principles we have laid out in this article. Examine each hymn and decide which of the criteria it fulfills and place its number under the appropriate heading on the chart. Do not hurry to your decision. You would not buy a house without examining every room and all of the mechanicals. Surely your church’s praise of God deserves equal attention. If substantial areas are not covered, these weaknesses will be visually apparent on the chart.

No hymnal will be perfect. There will be complex judgments and tradeoffs in any final decision. That is why you must take the time to make a complete assessment.

More Than a Book: The Necessity of Education and Spiritual Leadership

Because a hymnal is such a central resource for a congregation’s corporate life, it is not enough simply to make a decision and present the final choice. The principles of theology and liturgical and pastoral practice that we have described here must be interpreted to the people. This education must go on during the selection process and after the book arrives. Look at this as an opportunity to revitalize your congregation’s life, as a way to examine and expand their relationship to Jesus Christ, to each other, to the larger church, and the world. It will never be possible to please everyone, but in our choosing a new hymnal and learning to use its resources with grace and joy we grow in Christian maturity. We are preparing for the ultimate goal of all human existence: to know and enjoy God forever.

Creativity in Hymn Singing

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Hymns come in a variety of musical and textual styles. Yet often hymns are sung blandly, with no regard to their variety. The following article describes how hymns can be sung creatively, how the differences in hymns can be reflected in how they are sung, and how this approach can increase the potential for expressing the textual and musical ideas contained in a given hymn.

The fact that a hymnal contains some 1500 years of musical, poetic, and theological expressions of faith should be argument enough against boredom ever setting in upon hymn singing. The situation in many congregations, however, is that people have come not to expect much musical satisfaction from their own congregation’s hymn singing. The singing of many congregations is characteristically gray: not too fast, not too slow, not too loud, not too soft, and, often, not too interesting. In spite of our low expectations for music in our churches, we still hang on to the belief that singing together is one of the most important things we do when we come together to worship.

It is increasingly apparent that greater attention must be paid to the ways in which we sing in worship. We must resist the ease of singing every hymn as if it had been written in the same style, thus making all hymns and all languages generic. With the availability of recorded sound, it is not difficult, even for those who have had little or no formal education in music, to surround themselves with sounds of medieval Christian singing, mountain shape-note hymn singing, and percussion-and-dance-accompanied African hymns. These source materials are readily available; it is incumbent upon those who are responsible for music to lead their congregation to experience all these musical languages.

In paying attention to the distinctive qualities of the musical languages contained in a hymnal, variation in the sounds of our singing is already addressed. Variety for its own sake has no particular value in worship, but for reasons of textual and musical expressivity, it has much to offer. However, one needs to approach the use of variation cautiously, being certain that there is reason for introducing variation, using it as one uses seasonings in cooking—a small amount to enhance the flavor of the whole dish.

Caring for the subtleties of the languages suggests cultural and historical sensitivity, and will of itself create a varied sound for congregational song. Ideas from the poetry may also suggest ways of varying the sound which will more clearly communicate the text. Ignoring the characteristics of the sonorities included in a hymnal reflects a deafness to the movings of the Spirit in sounds other than those to which our ears have grown accustomed, and the implication is that God’s praises and our praying and proclamation are heard only when their sound matches our assumptions about sacred sound.

Ultimately the importance of care for the sounds of our singing is that the intention of music is to demand that the ear pay attention. Meister Eckhart said that it is the eye through which we see God and through which God sees us. Likewise, it may well be the ear through which we hear God, and through which God hears us. The gift of sound is a sacred gift of the Creator; it ought to be handled and used with respect. When the gamut of music, from Gregorian chant to contemporary Christian hymnody and from African music to chorales, is allowed its full expression in worship, music becomes an important means by which we know God, the giver of this priceless gift. If one listens carefully, one may hear not only the beauty of the music itself, but may also hear beyond the music, and there discover something of the eternal made audible.

Questions for Reflection

Those who lead music in the congregation must assume responsibility for the sound of all the music which is used in worship. For congregational music, there are questions that we may ask of a hymn concerning its nature. For example, a first question should be: what is its origin? Is the original context for this psalm tune an intimate group of singers who wanted parts written so that they could enjoy the fellowship of singing and playing them together in their homes? What might have been the nature of an outdoor or tent-revival setting with a large group of singers who were enthusiastic and responsive to the spontaneity of the moment? Where might this spiritual have been sung, and what might the singers have been doing when they sang it?

As one begins to ask questions of the origin of our hymns, one begins to imagine differentiated sounds; matters of dynamics, tempo, and articulation begin to make themselves apparent. The fine print on the page, either above the hymn or below the hymn, can give the first clues about where to look for more help. Nowadays, most hymnals have handbooks that provide a great deal of historical information about the places and times from which our hymns come.

A second question, nearly as important as the first, is: what is the primary musical element of the melody? Alice Parker, in her many fine workshops on hymn singing, often asks people to identify in order of importance the elements of melody, rhythm, and harmony as they sing a hymn tune. The ordering is not so much to find a “right” answer but to explore the nature of melodies. Some tunes may, on different occasions, have a differing ordering of the elements. The link between this quick analysis and the singing of the hymn itself is that one’s understanding of the inherent nature of the melody will affect questions of tempo, dynamics, and articulation. If a hymn is primarily a “melody” tune, then the lyricism of that hymn will likely receive first attention. If the hymn is primarily a “rhythm” tune, the physical, dance-like elements will suggest how the hymn could be sung or moved. If the hymn is primarily a “harmony” tune, then time will be required to allow the harmonies to sound.

The broader question in which this discussion finds a home is this: to what aspect of our singing (or playing) is the appeal of this hymn directed? For the singer in the congregation, a giving over of one’s self to the hymn is a necessary element of the circle that unites the composer, poet, sound, thought, and the singer. This surrender can occur, completely apart from one’s private tastes, as easily and naturally in the abstract coolness of Gregorian chant as in the concrete heat of danced African hymns. Those who lead, be it from a keyboard, with the assistance of a choir, or with the voice, are called upon to be a shepherd of the sound which their congregations are asked to create in worship. Those who lead must sing and play responsibly in order to let the congregation know, without long spoken instructions, the kind of sound into which they are invited to sing. Their responsibility is to set the sound in the room in motion and do so in such a way that the singers of the congregation will find their surrendered energies worthy of their time and their spiritual devotion. Those who lead must lead with courage and patience and encouragement, like a shepherd who senses the immediate needs of the flock, and they must, also like a shepherd, lead us to fresh water and green pastures and allow us to experience that better place.

A third question, never separable from the first two, is one of context: what is the occasion, the moment for which this hymn is being sung? Here complex links between text and music come into play, the sung text being significantly different from either text or music. Connections between the hymn and other ideas and moments of the service add other important considerations. The juxtaposition of a hymn next to what precedes or follows it must also be kept in mind so that the parts of a service form a community of relationships rather than a sequence of interesting events. These considerations are the truly difficult aspects of choosing hymns for worship, rather severely summarized by the question: Why choose this hymn for this moment anyway?

Beyond questions of sensitivity to the various characteristics of the musical and poetic languages represented in a hymnal, the increasing quantity of musical styles produces other points of stress as they seek to find a place in our corporate worship. It comes as a great relief to many people to experience worship in which different styles of music have found a comfortable home. One may choose to bless or to curse diversity, which seems to be the disposition of our time. For those who bless it, diversity can be a wonderful enrichment of our worship experience, analogous to walking around to another side of a free-standing sculpture and experiencing the same thing from a differing point of view. Most any style of music can find appropriate space in worship if, in the planning of worship, those who lead can imagine the contribution of a specific sound to a moment of time in worship. Completely contrasting styles of music have been used successfully juxtaposed next to each other because each has contributed to the integrity of the other. The use of differing styles for the sake of making sure that everyone’s individual tastes are satisfied rarely contributes to the wholeness of worship. The important questions to raise about any music of any style in worship are: what does this music contribute to the point of worship at which it will occur, and how does this music affect and relate to the other elements of worship which immediately surround it?

One of the richest and most playful sources for introducing variation into a congregation’s music is in the textures of hymn singing. If we were randomly to ask people on the street to describe the sound of congregational singing, they would likely (after suggesting that it’s not particularly interesting) identify elements of a melody, a supporting harmony, usually with an accompaniment of an organ. Various denominations have their own individualized versions of this stereotype, but everyone knows what congregational singing sounds like! Our hearing, as well as the ears of our souls, can be awakened and quickened now and then by varying the textures of the congregational sound. The choices of when to introduce textural variation will respect the musical language of the hymn and will support and illuminate ideas from the text. Here are some possibilities:

Some Practical Applications

  1. It is not necessary that all voices sing all the time in all stanzas, either in unison or in parts. There are many ways of varying the sound, based on which voices sing: women, or men, or children, or one section of the congregation, or solo and congregation combinations (a time-honored, inter-cultural way of singing), or choir and congregation combinations, to mention several choices. For example, there are times when a stanza might cry out for the sound of children’s voices; they ought to be allowed to make such a contribution to worship. The choices must be made to support the nature of the hymn text. Invariably, the part of the congregation which does not sing while others sing a stanza hears the hymn with different ears, ears that are invited to hear something very familiar in a new way. This not singing during a stanza is different from sitting out for a stanza. Neither is this an arbitrary matter or an exercise in symmetry such that a men’s stanza must be balanced by a women’s stanza. An important contribution to the repertoire of the choir and congregational hymn settings is the hymn concertato. An arrangement of a hymn for choir, instrumental accompaniment, and congregation, a hymn concertato gives everyone the opportunity to add their own color to the experience. These are usually festive and rich settings of hymns and could become wearisome with overuse. But for an occasional bold stroke of color in a service, little exceeds the effect of a hymn concertato. It would come as a surprise to many singers in the congregation if only one stanza of a hymn were selected for singing at some point in a service. Or, it would signal to the worshipers that the time is running late, and they must cut out something to gain a few minutes! Johann Sebastian Bach used single stanzas of hymns powerfully at the conclusion of his cantatas. His selection of a single stanza from among many choices of the hymns which were familiar to his congregation succinctly summarizes the entire cantata’s exposition and proclamation of the gospel for the day.
  2. The number of parts need not be restricted to four. Many hymns, without any additions, make lovely two-part textures. Three-part harmonies, a common feature of many of the early singing school books, work well in many instances. In the singing school books, the tenors sang the melody, the basses sang the bass line, and all the women sang the tenor line an octave higher as a descant to the melody. Many folk hymns, psalm tunes, and eighteenth-century hymns work well this way. To ask women to sing all four parts or men to do likewise offers additional color. One can increase the number of parts by having men’s and women’s voices double each others’ lines. Switching voice parts is another choice. Antiphonal and responsorial singing, both ancient ways of singing, might aid in calling attention to the structure of the poetry or the music of a hymn. These are all choices for the singers of the congregation. Most congregations have instrumentalists among their numbers who could further enrich the choices of sounds. In all cases, the point of variety is not for the sake of variety itself, but rather for helping worshipers hear what they sing with attentive ears and souls.
  3. The old techniques of canon, pedal, and ostinato, characteristic of much of the folk music of the world, are useful in worship as well. Pentatonic melodies work as canons; some of the current hymnals include listings of hymns that can be sung in canon. If one is not sure about a hymn’s usefulness as a canon, one should try it in the company of a few friends before the congregation is asked to try it! The sustained singing of one pitch (a pedal) to support the singing of a melody requires a different kind of attention to the sound—the tension between the changing pitches and the one fixed pitch creates an aural awareness which, for its simplicity, produces profoundly moving effects. The addition of ostinatos (simple repeated patterns of rhythm or melody or harmony) can also lend a wonderful vitality to the singing of some hymns.
  4. Another very old musical device, improvisation, has been temporarily lost for many of us because we have heeded the Western push toward a more exact notation of music and to doing things correctly. Improvisation is not a lost art in many of the folk cultures of the world and is indeed the way in which much music continues to be created, in the near or complete absence of notation. Those of us who “read” music would do well to recover the ability to improvise. The connection between the spirit and the sound that is so critical to the whole art of music cannot be notated. To learn only the notation gives us partial knowledge of the art and craft of music.

Improvisation, contrary to what many might think, is not simply doing whatever one feels like. Those who improvise well work very hard to achieve a polished and satisfying level of improvisation. In the setting of congregational music, there are opportunities for many to add their own little improvisations: melodic ornaments, harmonic elaborations, conversational elements, or percussive unpitched play with sounds from the text. This is essentially the way many of us sing in the shower when we think no one can hear us! Not all hymns lend themselves equally to improvisations, for some hymns need to be sung more or less exactly as they were notated.

Improvisation is play. It is play with the elements already contained in or suggested by a tune. The ear will become a reliable guide, helping us as we improvise to find that which is appropriate to the particular style. First attempts at improvisation will of course be timid, but with time, both courage and imagination will develop satisfying and rewarding ways of singing hymns for which improvisation is in order. The freedom which is granted to the singer in the pew to add something of his or her own invention may seem very small in many respects, but it goes a long way to offer encouragement to all to sing according to the nature of the gifts they have been given.

There are a nearly infinite number of ways of accompanying hymns that can introduce vitality into our hymn singing. The organ is not, of course, the only instrument that should accompany hymns, but it does have within its power and at the hands of skilled players an enormous range of choices and colors. It is often surprising that with so many choices available, there still seems to be a standard generic sound for accompanying the singing of the congregation. The Psalms are filled with references to rich sounds of strings (bowed and plucked), brasses and winds, and percussion instruments for music in worship. Our music ought to be no less barren in its sound. In our day, with the significantly increased access to hymns from the international Christian community in modern hymnals, we ought to broaden the choices of sounds for accompaniments to include the glorious instrumental colors of Hispanic and African and Asian, and Native American sources. As we learn to worship surrounded by this musical wealth of the world, we learn indeed that the gospel is greater than culture, that knowing and experiencing God need not be restricted to the harmonic or pitch systems of the West or the rational thought patterns of the post-Renaissance era.

With so many choices for varying the sounds of our hymn singing, there is no reason why anyone should ever become bored. To worship in an environment that calls upon the quality and the significance of every sound honors its Creator and brings us all into that place where, as when Solomon dedicated the temple and the ark was brought in, the “house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.” To settle for less is not enough.