HYMNODY: PART 4: "CROSS-TUNING"

By Tim Claubaugh

Again, as in the previous articles in this series, 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.

In this article, we will be looking at just traditional hymns, because traditional hymns are the hymns that use meter references and hymn tune names.

In order to have a good understanding of this article, it is important that you have read the two previous articles in this series on "Hymn Tune Names" and "Meter."

Cross - Tuning is simply using a different Hymn Tune (or melody) than what is written to sing a hymn.

An example of that is this past week at Mass, our opening song was # 741 "God is Here! As We His People," the Hymn Tune that this particular hymn is set to (Tune: ABBOT'S LEIGH) is unfamiliar to our parishoners. Therefore, we simply sing that hymn to a tune (or melody) that we already know # 663 "As a Fire is Meant for Burning" (Tune: BEACH SPRING).

Another example is this coming weekend at Mass. Our closing song will be # 634 "Lord of All Nations" (Tune: BEATUS VIR). Again, we as a congregation do not know that tune, so we will sing the hymn to a tune we already know, # 698 "Take Up Your Cross" (Tune: O WALY WALY).

Now when deciding what tune to substitue, the church musician can not use just any tune. The decision has to be made within the context of the hymns "Meter." In the case of # 741 "God is Here," the meter is 8 7 8 7 D. Looking at the Meter Index (# 903 in the back of the hymnal), one will see that particular caption (8 7 8 7 D), and notice 11 Hymn Tunes listed under that meter (including ABBOT'S LEIGH). Therefore, any one of those 10 Hymn Tunes would work. So we could sing that hymn to the tune of HYFRYDOL (# 853 "Alleluia Sing to Jesus"), HYMN TO JOY (# 528 "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore You"), PLEADING SAVIOR (# 783 "Sing of Mary, Pure and Lowly"), or any of the other Hymn Tunes listed under that caption (8 7 8 7 D) because the meter matches up perfectly.

With # 634 "Lord of All Nations," the meter is LM (Long Meter or 88 88). Looking back at the Metrical Index again (# 903), you will see 18 Hymn Tunes listed under the LM caption, so any of those tunes could be used to sing "Lord of All Nations." Some possibilites are # 430 "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" (DUKE STREET) # 469 "Come Holy Ghost" (LAMBILLOTTE), or #747 "All People That on Earth Do Dwell" (OLD HUNDREDTH) just to name a few. If you take a minute or two and sing the words of "Lord of All Nations" to any of the tunes listed above, again, you will see that they match perfectly.

Cross-Tuning allows us to sing hymns that we wouldn't ordinarly sing because we don't know the tune (melody) to a tune that we already know. It is a very useful tool for church musicians and parishoners alike.