and in the shadow of thy wings
I sing for joy.
Psalm 63:7
• Five Minute Friday :: Music Linkup
When it comes to music, who on earth wouldn't have countless ideas to write about—and to sing about? Although for many reasons I've never made music a more or less full time pursuit, I have an extensive classical music repertoire, I love to perform in public and lead music in worship. I even have a
• Music Blog
and a
• Music Website.
• Ephesians 5:18b-20a …be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with [in, from] your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things…
For only five minutes? I'll remind you it's easier to memorize by singing than by speaking. I don't know if it's a case of "I'm so old that…" yet at least back in the day, kids unforgettably learned the English alphabet to a folk tune. The psalter was the hymnal of the temple and later of the synagogue. Although chapters labeled psalm are far from the only songs in the bible, for many centuries scripture's 150 psalms or songs made rounds during festivals and sabbath assemblies by being sung and thereby committed to indelible memory.
Not until some of the exiles returned from Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem city and a new temple structure, to revitalize human essentials of agriculture, commerce, trade, community, and worship did the psalms get written down and assembled into somewhat of the canonical collection we're familiar with. The psalter was the hymnal of John Calvin's Geneva Reform. Open any denominational or free church hymnal and you'll have trouble counting how many hymns are metrical or florid psalm settings or sometimes textual paraphrases.
In addition to sung psalms, music is an enormous part of Christian worship. Almost countless forms of vocal and insrumental styles!
What are your best and favorite hymns or praise songs? Do you tend toward more traditional or contemporary stylings? How many can you sing from memory? I wouldn't dare make even a long list of faves, but I particularly resonate with Joachim Neander's "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation" (tune: Lobe den Herren) and Marty Haugen's more recent "Here in this Place" (tune: Gather Us In). For a psalm setting I'll go with Psalm 100, "All People that on Earth do Dwell" (tune: Old 100th or Old Hundredth) and refer you to Ralph Vaughn Williams' choral version that's accessible even to a small pickup choir, and that many festal celebrations in Westminster Abbey have proclaimed with very large mixed choir and very full symphonic orchestra.
Glad I stopped by I have a Bachelor of Music also I love your blog and website. I like everything from jazz to hymns to contemporary worship music, as well as classical. So much variety and your musings are capturing them all. Continue to create and share your passion!
ReplyDeleteI think I will always love the old hymns, but I do admittedly have some contemporary songs that I really like (many by the Getty's).
ReplyDeleteIt is true that singing commits words to memory. As my parents aged and experienced dementia, they still remembered hymns. They could sing the words without a hymnal. I do love the old hymns. This morning we sang All Creatures of Our God and King in our worship service.
ReplyDeleteI love them all! Older traditional hymns of my childhood and contemporary praise music of today. I often wake up in the night singing one form or the other and am grateful to have them in my memory available to me when I need them. And yes, using music for remembering is a great tool. I used songs to teach my Second Graders things in all subjects and some still remember the words today many years later. Your #fmf neighbor. Cindy
ReplyDelete"it's easier to memorize by singing than by speaking" is so true. Back in the day we used to memorize Scripture verses by singing them, and kids are still learning (at least my great grands are) the alphabet, months of the year, and even the presidents of the USA by singing them.
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