HYMNODY PART 1: WHAT IS IT?

By Tim Claubaugh

For starters, you may want to click here for a printable version of this article and take it to church with you so that you can reference it with the hymn examples listed in this article.

What is Hymnody? Simply put it is the writing, singing, and study of hymns.

So, according to that definition, all of us participate in hymnody every time we sing in church. Obviously if we sing hymns in church, then there are those who also write hymns. But to "study" hymns? Who in there right mind would do such a boring thing ? !

Well, it may surprise you to know that musicians (especially church musicians) study hymns on a weekly, if not daily, basis. As someone who does this on a daily basis, I find studying hymns to be a very interesting and fascinating thing to do. Every time I study a hymn I learn something new; I'm always amazed at what I learn after studying a hymn.

I want to share some of this with you and in turn I hope that through this series of articles on hymnody, that it will open up an entirely new world of understanding and appreciating hymns.

First let's take a look at the definition of a "Hymn" from three different sources. The first is secular (Webster's Dictionary), the second is musical (Harvard Dictionary of Music) and the third is Liturgical (The New Westminster Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship).



Webster's Dictionary states that a Hymn, "Comes from the Latin word, 'Hymnus' meaning song of praise." It also states that, "1a: A song of praise to God. 1b: a metrical composition adapted for singing in a religious service. 2: A song of praise or joy."



Harvard Dictionary of Music (HDM) states, "A song of praise or adoration of God (originally, in honor of Apollo; two hymns to Apollo of c. 150 B.C. are among the most complete remnants of ancient Greek music). In the early Christian era, the term 'hymn' was applied to all songs in praise of the Lord; later it was restricted to newly written poems, as distinguished from the sciptural Psalms and canticles." The dictionary entry then goes on for another two and a half pages talking about Hymns of the Eastern Churches, Latin Hymns, Polyphonic hymns, German hymns, and English hymns. I will touch on some of these in a future article.

The New Westminster Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship (NWDLW) does not give a definition of hymn, but rather, goes directly into the history of the hymn, beginning with the Latin Hymn. It is interesting to note that the NWDLW begins with, "St. Augustine described a hymn as 'the praise of God in song,' adding that praise of God that is not sung is not a hymn. St. Ambrose (339-397) is named as the real father of Latin hymnody."




TRADITIONAL HYMNS AND CONTEMPORARY SONGS

So what is the difference between "Traditional hymns" and "Contemporary Songs?"

Some traditional hymns have been with us for well over a thousand years. Some of the early hymns of the church such as "Pange Lingua" (# 407 in our hymnals) (which we still sing every Holy Thursday), "Attende Domine" (# 387) and "Salve Regina" (#779) just to name a few have been with us since the middle ages (ca. 300 A.D.).

Other traditional hymns came to us in the 1500's - 1900's. Hymns such as "Agincourt Hymn" (1537), "Now Thank We All Our God" (# 565) (1650's), "All Creatures of Our God and King" (# 533) (1623), "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore You" (# 528) (1823), "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name" (# 524) (1774), and "For All the Saints" (# 793) (1920's) come to us from that time frame.

From a musical standpoint traditional hymns, for the most part, are almost always written in 4-part harmony meaning for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. The composer of the hymn also gives the hymn a "Tune Name" (which will be covered in the next article). From a lyric standpoint, the text of traditional hymns are written in a "meter" (which will also be covered in the next article), and are usually written in strictly verse style with no refrain.

Traditional hymns have stood the test of time and are just as good now as they were when they were written.

Contemporary songs are also hymns since they too are songs of praise to God and Jesus. Contemporary songs are songs written beginning in the 1960's to the present day and usually are not written in 4-part harmony as the traditional hymns are, but rather written with a melody line and guitar chords as the accompaniment. Many times they are written in a refrain / verse style and may also contain musical bridges and interludes.

Unlike the traditional hymns that have stood the test of time, some contemporary songs have drifted into oblivion because of their poor writing (either text, music, or both). Some that you may remember from earlier days are: "Dwelling Place," "Earthen Vessels," and one that I was particularly glad to see fall into oblivion was "Great Things Happen When God Mixes With Us."

Songs such as "We Are Called" (# 718), "Here I Am Lord" (# 686), "On Eagle's Wings" (# 611), "You Are Mine" (# 649) have stood the test of time and we continue to use to this day.

The Next article in this series will on "Meter and Tune Names."