Well-qualified musicians

The new (2017) Christian Science Hymnal represents years of prayerful gathering, editing, refining, and polishing by a team of well-qualified musicians, many of whom are Christian Science practitioners and even teachers. We can be assured that there is healing in every line and note of every hymn.

It has been very illuminating to attend, via the internet, some of the hymn sings that occurred as part of recent Annual Meetings of The Mother Church, and to hear Ryan Vigil explain the particular beauty of individual hymns. 

I particularly remember him talking about the beautiful way hymn 527 "Lord,...Open His Eyes" begins with a sustained note, so that it establishes that sense of prayerful stillness before the prayer is offered. For me, this makes this hymn so tender and heartfelt. 

Then I also love Ryan’s and Christa Seid-Graham’s performance on the CD "Celebration" of hymn 472 “Father, you are very near us”. Their interpretation, in a soft jazz style, soars with sincerity and inspiration. I appreciate Josh Kenworthy’s work on drums on this track too. How lovely that an Australian was involved!

Another special one: It is a delight to sing Lisa Redfern’s setting of "O Gentle Presence" (hymn 539), which I am sure will become a new favourite melody for many.

For some, the music is the principal healing element; for others, it is the words.

Marie Fox

"Sing often" - Dauntless

Before we leave the 2017 Christian Science Hymnal, it's worth reminding ourselves of the wonderful benefits of knowing the hymns well, both words and tunes. They inspire, illumine, instruct, and they come to us in times of need.

Take hymn 441 for an example - Be Firm and Be Faithful. We are perhaps familiar with its musical setting as hymn 18 in the 1932 hymnal. The new setting here is equally stirring.

An interesting fact about this hymn is its footnote:

A copy of the 1898 Christian Science Hymnal which Mary Baker Eddy used in her home carries the following note, written in her own hand: "Sing often in The Mother Church the hymn 173" (no. 18 in the 1932 Hymnal." 

The words are anonymous; the musical setting for 441 is by Fenella Bennetts. It's called Dauntless.

Here is verse one:

Be firm and be faithful; desert not the right;
The brave become bolder the darker the night.
Then up and be doing, though cowards may fail
Thy duty pursuing, dare all and prevail.

Thank you to book-clubbers who responded via email to some of the blogs this month. It shows how much the hymns are cherished!

Julie Swannell

Hymns and poetry - for children and everyone

Hymn 439 "As a fire is meant for burning" has a strong and attractive rhythmic pulse. It's an American melody, according to our hymnal. So I looked up "White and King's The Sacred Harp, 1844" (at the foot of the hymnal page under MUSIC) on google.

One can't always trust Wikipedia, but I'll include a chunk here because it's really helpful:

Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that originated in New England and was later perpetuated and carried on in the American South of the United States. The name is derived from The Sacred Harp, a ubiquitous and historically important tunebook printed in shape notes. The work was first published in 1844 and has reappeared in multiple editions ever since. Sacred Harp music represents one branch of an older tradition of American music that developed over the period 1770 to 1820 from roots in New England, with a significant, related development under the influence of "revival" services around the 1840s. This music was included in, and became profoundly associated with, books using the shape note style of notation popular in America in the 18th and early 19th centuries.^[1]

Sacred Harp music is performed a cappella (voice only, without instruments) and originated as ProtestantChristian music.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Harp

Of course, this then begs the question: what are 'shape notes'? Yu can click the link there to follow down that interesting pathway. The point is, that it was a musical notation that helped congregations follow the music. Congregational singing seems to have undergone a huge flowering in New England in the mid-1800s.

Today, perhaps we are seeing somewhat of a revival in the proliferation of community choirs. One such choral group - Creativity Australia - describes its work as follows:

Creativity Australia’s With One Voice movement is a network community choirs that bring together people from all faiths, cultures, ages, abilities, backgrounds and socio-economic situations. We currently have 22 choirs located across Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and regional Victoria, with over 600 choir members ranging in age from nine to 90 years old, and we are growing monthly!

That's bringing new 'congregations' together!!

I like the words of hymn 439 very much too and believe our Sunday school children (whether or not they come along to classes, they can still be learning about God!) would learn both the tune and the words very easily.

Poetry is at the basis of a good song. On the weekend, I was able to recite a couple of childhood poems to two of our grandchildren. They stopped in their tracks as I recited (as closely as I could remember) AA Milne's 'Forgiven' (you know - the one about the beetle that nanny lets out of the box). I remember learning it from my sister as a child. We seem to have learned quite a few memorable poems then.

This delightful little verse, which I can only find on a post from a blogger in Sheffield, has also stuck in thought. The post is called Those Old School Poems. Here is the verse:

I wonder, I wonder, if anyone knows,

who lives in the hart of a velvety rose.

Is it a Goblin or is it an Elf,

or is it the Queen of the fairies her self?

It seems important to memorize things, and poetry and music are so often a wonderful and joyous aid.

Julie Swannell 

The mysteries of music

Recently on a period of wakefulness in the night, I was endeavouring to let God comfort me, but there was a hymn (one from the new hymnal) hammering in my thought – over and over – so that nothing else could seem to get in to my consciousness. Then came the thought “That's brain.” Instantly, the tune's nagging stopped, and I realised that the message was, in full, “That's brain, not Mind.” I went on to be comforted till I slept. That brain was certainly not my mind. “Man resides in the Mind that created him. Mind does not reside in man”, wrote Joanne Shriver Leedom in her article "Brain or Mind" (The Christian Science Journal, Sept 1979).

Interestingly, it never occurred to me that this “brain” was my thought. Or that the “That's brain” was anything personal to me. It was all impersonal – impersonal evil dominated and banished by impersonal Mind.

I'm not sure that I have reached the full understanding of that message from Mind – “That's brain.”

In this instance brain stood for a mesmeric condition, the music being the conduit of mortal mind's influence. The harmony of Soul was not present with the music. I am reminded of the music in the story of Daniel. Remember, everyone was commanded to “fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up,” when they heard “the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music” (Dan.3:5). The music seems to have been used in some kind of mesmerism.

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy has this definition of brain, “the material stratum of the human mind, called brain, which is but a mortal consolidation of material mentality and its suppositional activities” (185:29). And again, “Remember, brain is not mind” (372:1). “All that is called mortal thought is made up of error. The theoretical mind is matter, named brain, or material consciousness, the exact opposite of real Mind, or Spirit" (295:26).

I love that there are some of the hymns which include other languages than English; some even composed in that language. I like to think that in Germany or France I could sing along with the congregation. There are 20 languages represented.

On first listening to the whole 2017 hymnal from the flash drive, my favourite hymns were the ones with the tune Finlandia, by, yes, Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius: hymns 469 and 461. I must say that I did find the second setting easier to sing along with. Ah! The mysteries of music!

Joyce Voysey

the music of Soul

Mary Baker Eddy has quite a lot to say about music. Here is one thought from her collected writings:

"Music is the harmony of being; but the music of Soul affords the only strains that thrill the chords of feeling and awaken the heart's harpstrings."

          Mary Baker Eddy. 'Extract from my first address in The Mother Church May 26, 1895', Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, p. 106: 28-30.

We don't have to have had musical training in order to sing out in praise to God, in church...or at home. Tuning in to song must be a natural talent: children sway and dance to music, as young as a few months. Music is movement of thought and body.

How wonderful then, to sing the lilting, joyous 9/8 rhythm of hymn 554 "One by one" as well as the jaunty, off-beat syncopation of hymn 548 "O Tender, Loving Shepherd".

And what widening scope for inspiration is given to us in the new offerings springing from hymn 119 ("Holy Spirit, source of gladness"). Hymn 549 "O thou joyful, O thou blessed" gives us not only new words, but also reinvents the Sicilian melody from a smooth minor key into a bright flowing major key; while hymn 495 "Holy Spirit, source of gladness" retains the words but presents a whole new melody which slides alternately from 6/4 to 3/2 time 4 times over the course of a mere 8 bars, pushing the melody briskly forward to each succeeding idea, and giving such a satisfying new beauty to the familiar words.

Julie Swannell

Hymns from 143 different countries

The early pages of the 2017 Christian Science Hymnal provide a helpful introduction to this volume. Although fewer than three pages long, the Preface items amply explain the spiritual and practical rationale for the 173 hymns in the book.

Wonderfully, the hymns were sourced internationally from 43 different countries! Maybe you recognize some of the names here as contributors to the Christian Science periodicals or members of your congregation.

From Bible times, people have sung praises to God, and a passage from Colossians 3:16, and quoted in the Preface, provides a fine impetus for continuing that practice: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."

Points of interest in this hymnal -

1. There were 'two priorities' for the compilers: 'metaphysical clarity and musical excellence' (p. iv).
2. The choices uphold the requirements of the Church Manual - see page 61 - including the quality of dignity, which one dictionary defines as 'the state or quality of being worthy of honour or respect'.
3. Page turns have been 'avoided by presenting longer hymns in a simplified version, showing the melody and words only' (ibid). You can find the complete score in the Appendix at the back.
4. Hymns in languages other than English - from Danish to Zulu - are listed on page 382.

All praise to the compilers of this extraordinary gift to the world. And huge thanks to the musicians who contributed to the CD/USB Flash Drive. The outstanding musicality, joy and dignity make this a timeless blessing.

For anyone wishing to download a FREE copy of the Concordance to this hymnal, check out this link.

Julie Swannell

Hymns for Sunday school-ers

Not being a musician, I didn't follow the development of the latest Christian Science Hymnal when the opportunity was presented; I didn't feel that I had anything to contribute. But I understand that it was a very inspiring process. Wonderful musicians and others at work with spiritual gusto, I gather. I hope Julie, our editor, will be able to fill us in on the genesis and development of the project.

(Ed. or anyone else who contributed ideas!]

It is to be hoped that eventually we will have a printed concordance to the words of these hymns similar to the one for the 1932 Christian Science Hymnal. There is one on the internet and it can be printed out, but it is cumbersome in both products, and it gives the bare word and none of the context which is so helpful in the old book. That old Concordance to Christian Science Hymnal and Hymnal Notes is a mine of information, particularly in the Notes. (Ed. Note that the online program Concord - available in two formats paid/unpaid subscription - offers paid subscribers access to a word finder concordance along with excellent musical accompaniment to the new hymns.)

I have a special feeling about the music in this hymnal. I feel that somehow it is bringing me up to date on music. It has such a new tone to me. Hymns in 4/4 time appeal to me – 580 Take my life, and let it be, for instance. 

Another thing. I was brought up on the old children's hymns such as Jesus wants me for a sunbeam and Jesus bids us shine. And our 1932 Christian Science Hymnal seemed to me to lack suitable songs for the little ones. However, there are quite a lot in this book. I have marked my Hymnal's Index to show the ones I think are specially appropriate:

435 All is done for the glory of God

466 Dear Lord, lead me day by day

489 Halle, halle, hallelujah

492 He's got the whole world

483 God guards me

499 I am the Lord, there is none else

500 I awake each morn to a brand-new day

516 It's true: God is good

517 Joyfully we're singing

526 Lo! We follow after good

567 Rock of Ages

592 Siyahamba – We are walking in the light of God

Probably there are more which I haven't come to appreciate as yet.

Joyce Voysey

The wonderful new hymnal

The new hymnal - wonderful! What a privilege to write about it!

I was a slow starter on the new hymns. However, one Sunday our Sunday School teacher suggested to me, the Superintendent, that we sing He's got the whole world in his hands (492). This was the Sunday when she brought two of her Sydney-based grandchildren along. She said they had practising singing it in the car on the way.

Well! And, Wow! We sang it so well!

The other hymn they had practised in the car was Halle (489). So we sang that too for good measure. Just as joyful, and lustily sung.

So. I went to the Reading Room and purchased the USB Flash Drive version of the full set of the new hymns. And I have had it in the car singing to me ever since. I know a lot of the hymns well now. Although I do not know the words off by heart as the children did, or as some of the audience at last year's Annual Meeting Hymn Sing did.

One thing I find it hard to reckon with is the changing of, for instance, “Thy” and “Thou” and “Thee' to “You,” and “Your” in that beloved hymns, “Father, We Your Loving Children” For one thing, Thy, Thou, and Thee are softer and easier to sing, I think. Love the tune though.

Joyce Voysey