[Magdalen] Hymnals and Perspective.o

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I have sung hymns in which there was only the tune, and I could not sing
the tune all in the same octave with any comfort.  It is interesting to
think about how things may have been thousands of years ago, but my concern
is I cannot sing the tunes in the same octave.  Nothing historic about it.
That's probably why some just don't sing, but who knows?

Back in the day, when songs varied by maybe less than a fifth, it didn't
mind. And of course, there was always singing in organum.



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 Fri, Oct 16, 2015 at 10:46 PM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

>
>
> In a message dated 10/16/2015 4:07:42 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> oppenheimerjw at gmail.com writes:
>
> The main  reason people sing in parts is a simple matter of range.  That
> really  settles it, it seems to me.>>>>>>>
>
>
> The singing in parts for hymns is a strictly Protestant thing in the  USA,
> at least.  Despite some very impressive congregational hymn  singing
> in both the Lutheran (Evangelische) and RC churches of Germany,
> I do not recall ever hearing hymn singing in parts.  I'll include  TEC
> in the "Protestant" category here for convenience.  There is no
> theological agenda.
>
> It is interesting to see how vigorous singing of hymns in parts seems
> at times to be a genetic characteristic.  My older brother and I  visited
> relatives on PEI in the Canadian Maritimes, and experienced a family
> sing-out for four hours one afternoon.  This started with "Well, if  you
> are Strangs you can sing, can't you?
>
>
> David Strang.
>