Hymns
As I was waking up this morning I thought for a moment about a struggle I'm facing, which in turn is caused, at least in part, by the fact that most Christians no longer see themselves as people who sing hymns. I thought for a moment of what it means to become a Christian, giving up much of the ways of the world, the lifestyle, but not the rhythms and harmonies of your music.
When I learn a new language, it's by immersing myself in that language for as much as two hours every day. (I'd do more if I had the time.) When someone converts to Christianity, what kinds of aural resources do they have? "Christian" radio stations offer a variety of right-wing, politically active talk shows, and a plethora of music that can best be described as wimpy (or not-so wimpy) knock-offs of the music of the world. New-born Christians have no musical culture or standard to assimilate that is unique or distinct from the types of music available before their new birth. Except hymns.
There should be some extent to which Christians are, musically speaking, the people who sing hymns. But how can a new-born Christian learn this language and become conversant with this part of his new life? Our radio stations don't offer much anymore, nor do the recordings available in today's Christian music stores. We're lucky to squeeze in three or four hymns at any worship service, and those, of course must be different from any other hymns that we've sung in the last three months or so.
So can we be surprised that today's Christians, both new-born and generations bred, seem to have no taste for this unique musical style?
Would it be in any way valuable to a new Christian to have hymn recordings available as a resource? I began to contemplate the task of making recordings of many, or perhaps all, of the hymns in a given hymnal. Suppose you could gather two hundred singers in an accoustically friendly sanctuary with a good organ, together with an experienced recording engineer. How long would it take to record about half a CDs-worth of hymns?
And a host of questions follow: How many CDs could we fill from one hymnal? What kind of legal issues would need to be resolved? Would it help if we used the previous edition of the hymnal. Would there be any value in recordings featuring one hymn after another, in simple settings, some verses in harmony, some in unison? If you recorded the hymns from one denomination's hymnal, would those recordings be useful and acceptable to members of another demonimation?
As usual, these moments of, er, deep thought leave us with more questions than answers. Are you interested in answering any of these questions? Write back to me: leave a comment here or, if it's a private thought, use my e-mail address.
When I learn a new language, it's by immersing myself in that language for as much as two hours every day. (I'd do more if I had the time.) When someone converts to Christianity, what kinds of aural resources do they have? "Christian" radio stations offer a variety of right-wing, politically active talk shows, and a plethora of music that can best be described as wimpy (or not-so wimpy) knock-offs of the music of the world. New-born Christians have no musical culture or standard to assimilate that is unique or distinct from the types of music available before their new birth. Except hymns.
There should be some extent to which Christians are, musically speaking, the people who sing hymns. But how can a new-born Christian learn this language and become conversant with this part of his new life? Our radio stations don't offer much anymore, nor do the recordings available in today's Christian music stores. We're lucky to squeeze in three or four hymns at any worship service, and those, of course must be different from any other hymns that we've sung in the last three months or so.
So can we be surprised that today's Christians, both new-born and generations bred, seem to have no taste for this unique musical style?
Would it be in any way valuable to a new Christian to have hymn recordings available as a resource? I began to contemplate the task of making recordings of many, or perhaps all, of the hymns in a given hymnal. Suppose you could gather two hundred singers in an accoustically friendly sanctuary with a good organ, together with an experienced recording engineer. How long would it take to record about half a CDs-worth of hymns?
And a host of questions follow: How many CDs could we fill from one hymnal? What kind of legal issues would need to be resolved? Would it help if we used the previous edition of the hymnal. Would there be any value in recordings featuring one hymn after another, in simple settings, some verses in harmony, some in unison? If you recorded the hymns from one denomination's hymnal, would those recordings be useful and acceptable to members of another demonimation?
As usual, these moments of, er, deep thought leave us with more questions than answers. Are you interested in answering any of these questions? Write back to me: leave a comment here or, if it's a private thought, use my e-mail address.
posted by Daniel | 9:22 AM
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