Five years ago, in the Jan – Feb, 2019 issue of The Atlantic, Elizabeth Spires had a short, visual story entitled “How to Sing” which listed 20 descriptive terms, each given its own line, adjacent to a vertical patch of colors. Under the subheading “from a hymnal,” they were: Moderately / Moderately slow / Moderately fast / With vigor / In flowing style … and 15 more like this.
Being a churchgoer and hymn-singer (with gusto!), I was amused, took a photo, and shared it on Facebook. When FB reminded me of this photo several weeks ago, I reposted it, noting that I’d be the church musician that day. Again, it generated a smattering of Facebook “likes” (22) and comments (10), many from more gifted musicians.
This flashback prompted me to check a dozen hymnals to see how often guidance of this nature is offered. A less-than-exhaustive search found two vintage hymnals that offer suggestions for almost every hymn: the Service Book & Hymnal of the Lutheran Church in America (a/k/a/ “the red hymnal”), published in 1958, 602 hymns; and, the Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, published in 1940, an even 600 hymns. (I confess, I LOVE these two hymnals.)
Quoting from the red hymnal’s rather limited narrative: “For every hymn, a direction indicates the mood and tempo of the tune, and organists and choirmasters should note these suggestions carefully.” It names the five members of the Commission on a Common Hymnal who died during the hymnal compilation assignment (all males) but fails to list surviving Commission members. The Episcopal book simply notes, “Directions as to pace and style are given immediately under the names of the tunes.” For their Joint Commission on Church Music, it lists 27 participants, (all males) four of whom were deceased.
Whether you call it “mood and tempo” or “pace and style”, the direction (their word) in these hymnals is similar. As one who appreciates hymnody AND language, I was intrigued. Although tempted, I’ll not include ALL the direction these hymnals provide, confining myself to “with…” terms shared by Episcopalians, before including some of my favorites from both books.
The various “with…” examples, from the 1940 Episcopal hymnal: With animation / With breadth / With deep feeling / With deep reverence / With dignity / With energy / With exultation / With flowing rhythm / With gentle motion / With great dignity / With insistent rhythm, not slow / With joyful dignity / With movement / With noble austerity / With peaceful flow / With quiet dignity / With quiet flow / With serenity / With solemnity / With solemn joy / With spirit / With stately movement / With stately vigor / With steady dignity / With strong rhythm / With tranquillity / With unhurried simplicity / With vigor.
There are many one-word suggestions: Brightly / Briskly / Calmly / Cheerfully / Confidently / Deliberately / Devotionally (common in the red hymnal) / Fast / Fervently / Fluently / Freely / Gently / Gravely / Heartily / Joyously / Jubilantly / Majestically / Meditatively / Peacefully / Prayerfully / Resolutely / Reverently / Serenely / Simply / Stately / Sturdily / Tenderly / Thoughtfully / Triumphantly / Vigorously.
And times when more complex direction is offered: Devotionally with movement / Flowing, not slow / Gently, but with movement / In march time / In moderate time (appearing often) / Joyfully, with dignity / Jubilant, but not fast / Majestically, in strict time throughout / Not fast, flowing / Not hurried, the pauses only slight / Quietly, with deep feeling / Slowly, with movement / Solemnly, but not too slow / Very smoothly, without hurry / With dignity, but brightly / With movement, sweetly. And my favorite: Do not drag.
Modern hymnals provide little guidance of this nature… and I miss it. Maybe editors ultimately decided it was okay to drag a wee bit, especially if done joyfully and, of course, with dignity.
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I’m part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative and these are my colleagues:
Wow, so many adverbs describing alternative singing and church music styles! Great column.
And the organist/accompanist is ultimately responsible for the results.
My mom played the organ at our local Methodist/UMC for 50+ years. I remember her often trying to move the congregation along to sing at a quicker pace, but not always successfully. And if the pastor liked to sing loud and drug the song along, there was not much she could do except play louder!
The Methodist (and United Methodist) Hymnal has the page, “Directions for Singing,” written by John Wesley, in the front that to tell us how to sing. There are many gems in there, such as number V:
“Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.”
Thank you for bringing back some fond memories on this -17 degrees cold Sunday morning!
I will admit, church going for me ended with my two years in Vietnam. With that said, my recall of church music is a throw back to my attendence days high school and earlier. In an Evangelical Missouri Synod Lutheran Church in rural Iowa, the singing was often slow and mythodical for every hymm, let us call it "Durge" music, a la farmer style! The difference between walking briskly and dragging you foot behind you! Year in and year out that hymm singing would drive a sober man to drink if he had an inkling of how melodies so filled with joy and hope could be so butchered! Frankly, I stay completely away from places that have so little appreciation for music to even sing like that!