[Magdalen] Hymnals and Perspective.o

Tue Oct 13 20:59:32 UTC 2015

I intended to cut and paste a url, but obviously the cut part didn't quite
work.

Here's the url about how to sing in organum.  Love the vestments!

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAs8kruNfX8
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAs8kruNfX8>*

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 4:48 PM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:

> I had been told that the hymn gremlins wanted to make the congregation
> sing unison, but I thought of what you describe as possibly having some
> impact too. It IS a heavy volume even with all the harmonies removed.
>
> All told, it's not really bad; definitely not as bad as some hymnals I've
> sung out of.
> I think the gremlins got a bit over-awed at the idea of going back to
> older sources just because. Someone should tell them that in music (as
> opposed to hymns), this might be a real consideration because in the
> intervening centuries (centuries, not just a few years), the musicians
> literally forgot how the music was supposed to go. The situation's way
> different with hymns. Newer hymns generally have a more crisp and pleasing
> sound, whereas the older versions sound like -- well, much older versions:
> stodgy, dusty, unimaginative.  I am astounded that a gathering of
> supposedly knowledgeable musicians did not realize this, but well, there it
> is.
> If you want a hymnal for people who just want the hymns and the harmony
> doesn't even register with them, then there's nothing the matter with the
> new one at all.
>
> If the congregation could just get into the consistent habit of singing
> organum (rather than merely be accident), those of us with a low voice
> register would happily sing the tune in a register we could sing.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkb54z8i4l0
>
> And let us not forget there are a solid group who, no matter what you do,
> never sing. I don't think they care what hymnal we use.
>
> James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
> *“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
> except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy
>
> On Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 7:12 AM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I think size consideration may have been part of the reason for removing
>> so many of the harmonies; can you imagine the size and weight of the book
>> if they had all been included?!
>> I do regret it, thought.
>>
>> > On Oct 12, 2015, at 6:51 PM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
>> oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > The '82 is certainly puzzling. They decided that congregations ought to
>> > sing unison, for very, very shabby reasons they probably thought were
>> > competently arrived at. I'm sure they felt they did their best.
>> >
>> > Removing harmony for no good [good] reason has to be one of their worse
>> > mistakes.
>> >
>> > A real bizarre move was changing of just two or three chords in a hymn
>> and
>> > -- gosh, it's not an earlier version. Uh, no, it's the same dang hymn,
>> but
>> > now we who memorized the harmony have to relearn it for no good [good]
>> > reason.
>> >
>> > Pointlessly removing the amens because of their own narrow view of what
>> it
>> > meant -- to them -- was another stupid gaffe.  They printed a detailed
>> > discussion of why they removed the amens. I read it and said, "Using
>> purely
>> > their own words, one can easily construct a solid argument for leaving
>> the
>> > amens just as they are.
>> >
>> > Just as with the "Once to every man and nation" silliness, their
>> thinking
>> > appeared remarkable for its shallowness.
>> >
>> > The fonts are easier reading than the 1940, however.  You grab the
>> > positives where you can find them!
>> >
>> > Maybe it's time to abandon the hymnal and go for a paperless edition
>> from
>> > which the needed stuff can be copied into service bulletins. One
>> concern,
>> > justified, of the new hymnal was its size, and even so they left out
>> many
>> > essential hymns such as "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." I mean, we need to
>> > have  hymns for the whole Church, not hymns for whites and hymns for
>> blacks
>> > and for the the whatever oppressed, etc., which is what they've done
>> with
>> > the segregated hymnals.
>> >
>> > James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
>> > *“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not
>> preserved,
>> > except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy
>> >
>> >> On Sun, Oct 11, 2015 at 8:10 PM, Jim Guthrie <jguthrie at pipeline.com>
>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Having grown up with the 1959 Broadman and 1975 Baptist, when I
>> converted
>> >>> the 1982 Episcopal left me wailing over and over, "WHAT HAPPENED TO
>> THE
>> >>>> HARMONY?!" I suppose heritage with the 1940 Episcopal would have
>> elicited
>> >>> the same wail, but maybe moreso.  With my background of "director-led"
>> >>>> congregational singing (lusty, I believe would be the right word), I
>> don't
>> >>> think I even had a chance.
>> >>
>> >> As most TEC parishes used the little hymnals with no harmonies at all
>> back
>> >> in the day, I think lots of them were pleased at the addition of
>> harmonies
>> >> in H82.And of course, for those who want ALL of them (despite notes
>> that
>> >> the others be sung in unison) CPC does (or at least did) publish a
>> hymnal
>> >> with full music for all 720 hymns (no service music, however).
>> >>
>> >> Cheers,
>> >> Jim
>> >>
>>
>
>