UNDERSTANDING HYMNS

and Using a Hymnal

WHAT IS A HYMN?

• A hymn is a form of lyrical text, like an ode or a sonnet. It is a poem of praise to a god intended to be sung or recited.
• In Christian parlance, the term is often used to refer to the text and music together and sometimes (erroneously) to the music itself. The music of a hymn, considered alone, is properly called a hymn tune.

WHAT IS A HYMN?

• Hymns have existed, and been sung when Followers of Christ gathered together, since biblical times (cf. Matthew 26:40, Philippians 2:5-11)
• The earliest extant non-biblical hymn, the Phos Hilaron, was commonly sung at evening and eventually became a part of the liturgy of Vespers or Evening Prayer.

PHOS HILARON / LUMEN HILARE

Joyous light of glory: �of the immortal Father;�heavenly, holy, blessed Jesus Christ.�We have come to the setting of the sun �and we look to the evening light.�We sing to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: �You are worthy of being praised with pure voices forever.�O Son of God, O giver of life: �The universe proclaims your glory.

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- Greek hymn, 3^rd cent.; tr. Roger T. Petrich, b. 1938

WHAT IS A HYMN?

• Over time, as worship practices in the Christian West were codified, the music of the Mass became the predominant form of liturgical song. Hymns continued to be written and sung, but they did not have an official or regular place in the Sunday service: the parts of the Mass held primacy.

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WHAT IS A HYMN?

• Hymns begin their rise to liturgical dominance in the 16^th century...
• 1523/24 – The first Lutheran hymnal is published, the Achtliederbuch, containing 8 hymn texts [mostly] by Martin Luther and Paul Speratus, with 5 hymn tunes.
• 1523 and 1526 – Luther’s Formula Missae and Deutsche Messe give hymns a fixed, prominent place in the Sunday liturgy.

…and over time become “the lifeblood of the Christian faith” (Mann, p. 25).

SOME TERMINOLOGY

• Stanza – a poetic term for a group of lines that together create a recurring metrical unit; the “organizing format” of a hymn, often 4, 6, or 8 lines
• Verse – A poetic term for one line of poetry, i.e. one line of a stanza
• In common parlance, “stanza” and “verse” are used interchangeably
• Strophic – a musical term referring to a form in which a melody or section of music is repeated for successive [different] stanzas of a hymn
• Strophic comes from Strophe, a poetic term that originally referred to a section of a Greek ode.
• Rhyme Scheme – the pattern of rhymes at the end of the lines of a stanza.
• See Mann, p. 14 – aabb, abcb, etc.

IN CHRIST THERE IS NO EAST OR WEST

1 In Christ there is no east or west,� in him no south or north,� but one community of love� throughout the whole wide earth.

�2 In Christ shall true hearts everywhere� their high communion find;� his service is the golden cord � close binding humankind.

STANZA

1 In Christ there is no east or west,� in him no south or north,� but one community of love� throughout the whole wide earth.

�2 In Christ shall true hearts everywhere� their high communion find;� his service is the golden cord � close binding humankind.

VERSE

1 In Christ there is no east or west,� in him no south or north,� but one community of love� throughout the whole wide earth.

�2 In Christ shall true hearts everywhere� their high communion find;� his service is the golden cord � close binding humankind.

STROPHIC FORM

TUNE NAMES

• The previous slide reminds us that hymn tunes have their own names, independent of the texts with which they are paired. (Though sometimes, particularly with German and Latin hymns, the tune name is derived from the first or primary text with which the tune was associated.)
• In most hymnals, tune names are written in all caps or italics.
• MCKEE
• HOLY MANNA
• ST. ANNE
• EIN FESTE BURG
• Q. Why do tunes have separate names? Why is this important and/or useful?

METER IN HYMNODY

• Meter – In hymnody, meter refers to the number of syllables per line, usually written in Arabic numerals with or without periods between them (8.6.8.6. or 8686). Each number represents the syllables of one line of one stanza.
• In English language hymnody, the most frequent meters are also given names and corresponding abbreviations:
• Short Meter (SM) – 6686 John Fawcett: “Blest be the tie that binds”
• Common Meter (CM) – 8686 Isaac Watts: “Our God, our Help in Ages past”
• Long Meter (LM) – 8888 Watts: “Jesus shall reign, where’er the sun”

IN CHRIST THERE IS NO EAST OR WEST

1 In Christ there is no east or west, � in him no south or north, � but one community of love � throughout the whole wide earth.

IN CHRIST THERE IS NO EAST OR WEST

1 In Christ there is no east or west, 8� in him no south or north, 6 � but one community of love 8� throughout the whole wide earth. 6

METER IN HYMNODY

• The letter “d” (double) added to any metrical pattern repeats the pattern and doubles the length of the text.
• CMD – 86868686 Watts: “My Shepherd, you supply my need”
• 7676D Samuel Stone: “The church’s one foundation”

METER IN HYMNODY

• CAUTION: hymnic meter is a poetic/textual device. It counts the number of syllables in each line of a hymn stanza. Yet it is most often used as if it is a musical device—to refer to hymn tunes. A metrical index in a hymnal lists tune names, not hymn titles. Why is this?

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METER IN HYMNODY

Brethren, We Have Met to Worship / HOLY MANNA 8787D

Hymn tunes often have groupings of notes that are assumed to be sung to a single syllable of text.

METER IN HYMNODY

God, the sculptor of the mountains / JENNINGS-HOUSTON 878787

Remember that hymnic meter refers to number of syllables per line (not the number of notes or number of beats per musical phrase) even though it is used in conjunction with tunes.

Often, one syllable of text will extend across multiple beats.

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Number of syllables in these lines:

Number of notes:

Number of beats:

8, 7

9, 7

8, 8

THE HYMNAL AS WORSHIP PLANNING AID

• A hymnal contains a variety of musical and liturgical resources that have been vetted in some fashion by church leadership—theologians, pastors, church musicians, publishers.
• The hymnal, its indices, and its supplemental resources are the backbone for planning worship music in traditional (and some contemporary) contexts.
• In traditions that use one, “the” hymnal is the primary worship planning resource for pastors and church musicians.

WHAT IS IN THE HYMNAL?

• Front matter – may include: information on the hymnal’s origins, essays, liturgical information, prayers, lectionary, liturgical calendar
• Liturgies/service music
• Psalms
• Hymns
• Indices (indexes)

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INDICES AND THEIR USEFULNESS

• Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 2006
• Acknowledgments (copyright info)
• Topical index of hymns
• Sources of service music & hymns
• Alphabetical index of tunes
• Metrical index of tunes
• First lines and titles

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• United Methodist Hymnal, 1989
• Acknowledgments (copyright info)
• Index of composers, arrangers, authors, translators, and sources
• Index of scripture: Service, psalter, acts of worship
• Index of scripture: Hymns, canticles, prayers & poems
• Metrical index
• Index of tune names
• Index of topics and categories
• Index of first lines and common titles

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SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES

• Will vary based on the hymnal, but typically include:
• Pew editions
• Accompaniment editions (various)
• Leaders’ editions
• Supplemental teaching/planning editions
• ELW: Indices for worship, musicians guide, hymnal companion, theological guides

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DEMONSTRATIONS/EXAMPLES

• How many texts are there by Isaac Watts?
• How many texts are there by Charles Wesley?
• How many African American Spirituals (or Black Spirituals or Negro Spirituals) are there?
• Browse the Alphabetical index of Tunes in your hymnal. Which tune is used with the greatest number of hymns?
• Check your hymnals for the following tunes, then identify their melodic forms (AABA, etc.): of KINGSFOLD, HYMN TO JOY (ODE TO JOY), WONDROUS LOVE, ST. ANNE?
• Find the tune AZMON in your hymnal. Locate two additional CM (8686) texts that could be sung to this tune.

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