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 The Verse
A monthly newsletter |
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The Hymn Society
in the United States and Canada |
September 2012 |
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Greetings!
Hello, from the storm-tossed Eastern seaboard. If you are in Sandy's path, I pray for your safety. May you avoid wind damage, flooding, and loss of electricity!
A friend shared a short article from November's Good Housekeeping magazine entitled, "Healing Hymns." Here's a brief quote from p. 41: "In interviews with 65 North Carolinians who had experienced a life-threatening illness, the death of a loved one, or another difficult time, those who expressed their faith through song said they felt strengthened, more at peace, and better able to endure stressful situations when they sang or simply hummed hymns to themselves while thinking about the lyrics." We knew that already, but it's good to see that word appear in a secular magazine! Lead author of the study, Jill B. Hamilton (School of Nursing, UNC, Chapel Hill) encourages visitors to bring a recording of favorite hymns for loved ones who are hospitalized. What a thoughtful alternative to flowers!
Blessings to all as All Saints/All Souls remembrances approach. May your favorite hymns be solace and sustenance for you.
Meanwhile, keep singing!!
Deb
Deborah Loftis
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"The Tree of Life and Love
Blossoming of Congregational Song Since Vatican II"
2013 Conference, Richmond, VA July 14-18.
Sweeping changes have occurred in hymnody over the past fifty years. Protestant and Catholic churches alike have embraced new music, new styles, and new genres of congregational song. We are heir to a tremendous burst of liturgical creativity that enriches our worship. Join us next summer to explore how a rich cross-fertilization continues to inspire a new generation of writers.
Wednesday night's festival will be a Taizé service led by David Anderson. You will not want to miss this contemplative time of singing, reflection on scripture, and silence. For over 18 years on the first Friday of each month, David has prepared and coordinated a Taizé prayer at Ascension Parish in Oak Park, IL where he serves as Director of Music and Organist. This monthly gathering serves as a model for ministry, hospitality, and outreach bringing together hundreds of people from many Christian traditions.
David is also Vice-President of Church Music at GIA Pubications. His formal education includes theological studies at Catholic Theological Union and Loyola University of Chicago, a Master of Church Music degree from Concordia University and advanced choral studies at Westminster Choir College. David is a well-known speaker at many national conferences, is frequently asked to prepare the liturgy and music for various conferences, and for retreats, has consulted and authored materials for Liturgy Training Publications (including Handbook of Church Music for Weddings), and served as an editor of GIA's newest hymnal, Gather-Third Edition as well as RitualSong and Singing Our Faith, GIA's childrens hymnal.
Watch for conference registration materials in the Winter 2013 issue of The Hymn and on the website in February.
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Upcoming Events in England 2013
CHRISTIAN CONGREGATIONAL MUSIC: LOCAL AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES, 1-3 August 2013 at Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford University. The program for their 2011 conference is attached here.
The Charles Wesley Society, 7-10 August 2013 at the Wesley Centre, Univ. Durham, England.
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Calvin Symposium on Worship
This year's symposium will be January 24-26, 2013. For details about the schedule and to register, visit this website: http://worship.calvin.edu/symposium/
Marva Dawn and I-to Loh, FHS are among the speakers, many of which are Hymn Society members. If you go, be sure to stop by The Hymn Society display!
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News of Members
Paul Richard Olson has completed twenty years' service as Organist and Choirmaster at Grace Church, as well as Music Specialist at Grace Church School. A celebratory brunch was held in the church's Guild Hall to mark the occasion. As a special honor to Paul, Jacque B. Jones, a member of Plymouth Church, wrote the lyrics to a new hymn, "As Starlight Warms to Daybreak," which she set to a Swedish melody in recognition of Paul's Scandinavian heritage. Other hymn society members present for the celebration were Francesca Norsen Tate and Patricia Woodard. To view a video of the hymn being sung, visit this site:
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49527
John Bell, FHS was in NYC in October to hold a seminar. Amanda Husberg and Pam McAllister and Marilyn Haskill were among the 25 attending.
Larry Schultz won the 25th Anniversary Hymn Search for the Alliance of Baptists. The hymn is available online at http://www.allianceofbaptists.org/
Larry also contacted us to say, "Thanks to the Hymn Society, I saw the advertisement and answered the call for tunes from the RCA/CRC hymnal, "Lift Up Your Hearts" - they selected my tune, "SPIRIT-PRAYER," for Brian Wren's text, "We Are Your People." Brian's work has been such a major influence on me that it was wonderful to be selected.
A clarification of the UTS hymn contest results. First place in Category One was "O God, Renew Your Church, We Pray!" by Dorothy VanAndel Frisch, Woodstock, CT and John A. Dalles, Longwood, FL
Harry Eskew, FHS, is seeking information on hymns and collections related to Sunday schools since the death of the composer William B. Bradbury. If you know of relevant articles, theses, dissertations, or sections of books related to this topic, please contact him at harryeskew@cox.net Harry will be building on the fine coverage of Sunday hymnody up to 1868 done by Dr. Virginia Cross at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
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Recent Hymn Festival
October 21, 2012 -- Humbercrest United Church held a festival, "Looking Back, Looking Forward: 100 Years of Witness" with a pre-festival concert by brass ensemble and organ. The festival included "O God of Life," the winning hymn in the 100th Anniversary competition sponsored by Humbercrest Church and The Southern Ontario Chapter of The Hymn Society. The hymn was written by Stan Engle, Director Music, Messiah Lutheran Church, Fort Wyne, IN. Leadership of the festival included Melvin J. Hurst, Fred Kimball Graham, Phyllis Airhart and John Ambrose.
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Upcoming Workshop in New York
Saturday, November 17th, 2012
Broadway Temple United Methodist Church
New York, NY
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Adoración y Cultura (Worship and Culture)
A day of workshops co-sponsored by the Global Praise Program (UMC) and churches in the metro NY area. The workshops will explore texts and themes for the Advent Season leading to the creation of worship forms (sermons, songs, creative readings, and more). Including a workshop on Collective Writing of Songs for Worship in Spanish and a similar workshop for writing bilingual songs. Open to all. Translation services (Spanish to English) will be available for all plenaries and for 2 workshops. Flyer
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Reviews of Hymn-Based Compositions
The newest installment of reviews from Sida Roberts. You may read online, download or print. Enjoy!!
Reviews
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Organ Composition Contest
The Twin Cities chapter of the American Guild of Organists announces a competition for an unpublished, newly-composed work for solo pipe organ in the form of a prelude or postlude suitable for worship that must quote or be based upon an existing hymn tune or a melody from the repertoire of Gregorian chant. A single prize of $1500 USD will be awarded to any composer of any age residing or studying in the United States, for a work that is a minimum of four (4) minutes in length. The use of existing melodies in the new composition that are under copyright must have documented permission to use. Melodies in the public domain must be so indicated on the Official Entry Form. (See below.) The name of the composer must not appear on the score, and the Official Entry Form must be submitted with the composition. The submission may have been previously performed, but must be unpublished and cannot have won a prize in any other composition. No member of the TCAGO Board or its officers may submit an entry. If, in the opinion of the judges, no entry is worthy of the prize, it shall not be awarded. The Official Entry Form at <www.tcago.org> must be submitted with the composition. Deadline for submission is 1 April, 2013. Winner will be announced 1 May, 2013. Submit to: AGO Composition Contest 239 Selby Av. St. Paul, MN 55102
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Organ Scholarship
Faythe Freese announces The University of Alabama 2013 Organ Scholarship Competition. For details visit: http://music.ua.edu/departments/organ/
First Place is $8,000 Scholarship-NOW with additional possible funding up to full out of state tuition if winner demonstrates appropriate merit.
Deadline for application is November 12.
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| Continuing Hymn Contests
The Raabe Prize for Excellence in Sacred Composition is established to recognize a recent musical work which promotes and extends the practice of church music as it is informed and shaped by Lutheran theological insight and worship practices.
Preference will be given to those compositions which grow out of, but are not necessarily restricted to, the worshipping assembly of the baptized who gather around Word and Sacrament.
Compositions which feature the human voice will be preferred over compositions for instruments alone. Submissions must be postmarked by February 1, 2013. For full contest guidelines see the attached announcement. Raabe Prize
The Religious Institute: Faithful Voices on Sexuality and Religion, a non-profit advocacy group headquartered in Westport, CT (www.religiousinstitute.org), announces its first annual international contest for English language
hymn/song writers. The search for new texts is part of an effort to gather the finest possible online collection of hymns and songs for congregational use on the subject of God's good gift of sexuality. For more details, see the attached pdf: Religious Institute contest
Church of the Servant is proud to announce its 2012 New Psalm Contest. See the attached pdf for contest details: Church of the Servant 2012 Contest
If you have questions, please contact Greg Scheer, music@coscrc.org
Macalester Plymouth United Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, announces the seventeenth annual international contest for English language hymn writers. It is our understanding that hymns can motivate the church to be more actively involved in social reform, a vital part of its ministry. It carries a prize of $500 for the winning entry. Our 2012 contest will be a search for hymns that address the scriptural call to speak out loudly and clearly against injustice, and to unite with others working for change. Entries must be postmarked by December 31, 2012. Macalester Plymouth Hymn Contest details can be found at: www.macalester-plymouth.org or call (651) 698-8871.
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| International Hymn Conference Scheduled for 2015
The next joint meeting of the Hymn Society in the US and Canada, the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland and the Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft
für Hymnologie will be held at RobinsonCollege, Cambridge. Robinson College is one of Cambridge's newer colleges which has been equipped particularly with conferences in mind, it has a beautiful chapel with a fine stained glass window by John Piper and an organ by the Danish organ builder Erik Frobenius. Registration will begin on Sunday, 26th July 2015; the conference program will be Monday through Friday, July 27-31. It is anticipated that there will be at least one optional outing day on Saturday, 1st August. The Conference theme will be: Hymns in Liturgy and Life. Revd Michael Garland is convening the group which will be organising the Conference.
If you think you might be interested in attending the conference (no firm commitment needed at this point) please contact Deb at the HSUSC office. it would be helpful to the HSGBI hosts to have an idea of what accommodations might be needed. |
| Lutheran Hymnals Available
Immanuel Lutheran Church has over 200 copies of the Lutheran Book of Worship available. If you are interested, please contact:
Rachel
Immanuel Lutheran Church
3184 Church St
PO Box 739
Manchester, MD 21102
410-374-4463
Immanuel@Qis.net
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| Research Help Requested
Marilyn Hamm, whom we got to know in Winnipeg this summer is working on some research and she'd like your insights. Here's her question:
The pervasiveness of popular culture sound in our society raised the question in our discussion, "Are we losing a culture of song?" - a way of singing; a way of using the voice and developing the voice; a knowledge of a body of vocal literature that has moved through the church throughout history. What is the responsibility of the church for such a loss if it is occurring? offers some paperback songbooks for sale.
If you would like to contribute your specific examples and insights to her, please consult the attached document for more details. Research request
She needs your input right away -- November 6!!
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