For many years I've been convinced of the need for the gathered church to sing the psalms. In another church (reformed baptist) and time we used the Trinity Psalter with great joy. I love singing the psalms. I want to get serious, again, about singing psalms -- at HBC. How can we incorporate them into our gathered worship?
My reasons for not having pursued psalm-singing more aggressively here in O'boro are several.
1. Goofy English
The psalters I'm familiar with (including Trinity) are full of what I call "psalter-syntax." They torture natural word-order so as to get the meter and rhyme sequence correct. Classic example: "The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want. / He makes me down to lie / In pastures green: he leadeth me / the quiet waters by." Though this looks corr
ect on paper, it comes out much differently, at least when sung with CRIMOND (the usual tune for Psalm 23). If a congre-gation is accustomed to it, you can deal with it. We did -- taking time to explain the psalms we sang,
It seems that the more 'complete' a psalm-setting intends to be, the greater tendency toward psalter-syntax. Better English settings, on the other hand, tend to be more paraphrastic.
Further, many psalm-settings are full of "thee/thou" language -- verb forms long absent from normal conversation. But we're going the other direction at HBC, trying to update older hymns whenever it won't harm the sweet sound a song has. I want Newton, Watts and Toplady to sound accessible to modern ears. So I sure don't want to add more old-sounding language when I don't need to.
HBC has no history of psalm-singing, except as an occasional selection from the hymnal. But that's not the same as intentional psalm-singing. So I will need to find better/contemporary metrical settings for the psalms.
[And yes, I know all about psalm-chanting -- everything from Anglican to Gelineau. And no, we're not going even think about trying that here. I'm not sure too many places ought to. If your'e not sure what I'm talking about, that's okay. Chanting our way through the psalter clearly doesn't fit our stated desire to be "rooted and relevant."]
Tomorrow, Expired Tunes...
The psalters I'm familiar with (including Trinity) are full of what I call "psalter-syntax." They torture natural word-order so as to get the meter and rhyme sequence correct. Classic example: "The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want. / He makes me down to lie / In pastures green: he leadeth me / the quiet waters by." Though this looks corr
ect on paper, it comes out much differently, at least when sung with CRIMOND (the usual tune for Psalm 23). If a congre-gation is accustomed to it, you can deal with it. We did -- taking time to explain the psalms we sang,It seems that the more 'complete' a psalm-setting intends to be, the greater tendency toward psalter-syntax. Better English settings, on the other hand, tend to be more paraphrastic.
Further, many psalm-settings are full of "thee/thou" language -- verb forms long absent from normal conversation. But we're going the other direction at HBC, trying to update older hymns whenever it won't harm the sweet sound a song has. I want Newton, Watts and Toplady to sound accessible to modern ears. So I sure don't want to add more old-sounding language when I don't need to.
HBC has no history of psalm-singing, except as an occasional selection from the hymnal. But that's not the same as intentional psalm-singing. So I will need to find better/contemporary metrical settings for the psalms.
[And yes, I know all about psalm-chanting -- everything from Anglican to Gelineau. And no, we're not going even think about trying that here. I'm not sure too many places ought to. If your'e not sure what I'm talking about, that's okay. Chanting our way through the psalter clearly doesn't fit our stated desire to be "rooted and relevant."]
Tomorrow, Expired Tunes...
I'm also fairly sure (!) we're not going the RESPONSORIAL psalm direction. It gives the congregation a simple refrain the sing while a soloist/choir/somebody sings the verses of the psalm. The language is straightforward, and the psalms can be sung easily.
ReplyDeleteProblem #1: The congregation never actually learns/ memorizes/ puts in their heart the words of the psalm.
Problem #2: As well, it is part of the RCC tradition of psalm-singing. No point in giving our precious converts from that thralldom any reason for confusion. I'd rather stick with the Reformed tradition(s).
David,
ReplyDeleteAt my previous church, we enjoyed singing Psalm 23 by Caleb Miller and To You, O Lord (Psalm 25) by Graham Kendrick. I believe they are both on CCLI. I haven't introduced them at Cornerstone, yet, but hope to. Don Whitney gives some good encouragement for Psalm singing on his site: http://biblicalspirituality.org/3-10ways.html
I look forward to hearing more about this subject.
Mike C
Good stuff from Whitney! And this has an added benefit because of the wide respect his ministry has among us.
ReplyDeleteI'll check out those you mentioned. Thanks, Mike.
David