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 The Verse
A monthly newsletter |
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The Hymn Society
in the United States and Canada |
November 2013
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In Richmond, Sherry and I are preparing to celebrate the US Thanksgiving holiday. Each year Sherry and David attend a musical festival in the Virginia mountains. David, Mother and I will have a quiet visit at Virginia Beach. The time away is restorative as we reflect on the many blessings of our lives. Significant among our blessings is the important work of The Hymn Society. We're grateful also for so very many of you who give so freely of your time, talent, and energy in the cause of congregational song. Whether you write, compose, research, teach, lead in worship, accompany, or lift your voice in concert with others, thank you for sharing your passion for the church's song.
May your Advent season be blessed.
Meanwhile, keep singing!!
Deb
Deborah Loftis
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2014 Conference in Columbus, Ohio
John Bell, FHS-- Master teacher and Hymn Festival Leader
John Bell, of the Iona Community, will lead an advanced masterclass on songleading as a part of our conference this summer. Enrollment will be limited to 10 participants, but others may sign up to observe the class. Registration will be on a first-come, first served basis.
John will also lead the opening Hymn Festival on Monday evening.
A native of Scotland, Bell is a liturgical composer who writes co-operatively with colleagues in Glasgow. He has a deep interest in music from non-European cultures and a passion for song of the Assembly. Though his primary vocation is as a preacher and teacher, he spends over half his time working in the areas of music and liturgy, both at conferences and in small parishes, and his work takes him frequently into Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
Bell was named a Fellow of The Hymn Society in 2007.
Registration forms available
in February online and in the Winter issue of The Hymn |
 Lifting Hearts - Joining Hands - Raising Voices Donations from outside The Hymn Society This fall the campaign for The Center for Congregational Song has received resounding support-more than $55,000-from people who are not members of the Hymn Society. These gifts are significant not for their dollar value alone, but for the affirmation they provide for The Center. If people who are not members of the Hymn Society are willing to step out in faith to support this exciting new venture, what does that say about the value of our work to promote, encourage and enliven congregational song? I think it speaks volumes, all of it good! How did this happen? Well, a few of our members were serious enough about expanding our community of people with a passion for congregational song to take action. They went to family and friends to tell our story, and now we have these donations and pledges, and connections to people who love what we love. Can you repeat this process? Who do you know in your community, your church, your denomination or your professional life who loves the song of the church as you do? All you need to do is to introduce the Society to these folks. Our videos at http://youtu.be/WUX8raQXV7M (the short version about the Society in general), or at http://youtu.be/A-56VpUl6_4 (the longer version specifically about the campaign) are good places to start your introduction. Once you've connected these friends to the Society, let Deb know and we'll take the fund-raising from there. You don't need to ask anyone for money. You do have to introduce the Hymn Society to your friends who have a passion for congregational song. You'll be feeding their enthusiasm for the song of the Church, expanding our community, and we'll have an opportunity to add to the donations to endow The Center for Congregational Song. -- Joanne Reynolds, Chair "Lifting Hearts, Joining Hands, Raising Voices" The Campaign for The Center for Congregational Song |
Radio Show on Welsh Hymns
There will be a program examining the hymn as a part of Welsh culture and identity broadcast on BBC Radio Wales as a part of a new series, Histories of Wales. The program is written and presented by Professor E. Wyn James, a Fellow of the Welsh Hymn Society and faculty of the School of Welsh at Cardiff University. You can listen to the broadcast online at bbc.co.uk/radiowales . It will air in England at 6:30 pm on November 28. That would be 1:30 pm EST. Be sure to adjust for your own time zone to hear the program.
For more information see the attached flyer.
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Photos from the Richmond Conference Available
A limited number the 2013 Richmond Conference Photo Collection on flash drives, are available. If you would like a the photo collection, please send an email to Glen and Judy Brown Richardson at GlenARich@aol.com . Please specify your shipping address. There is no charge for the flash drive or the shipping, although Glen and Judy note that a donation to The Hymn Society's Endowment Campaign would be appreciated. |
Hymn-based Compositions
Our reviews resume this month with choral entries from Executive Committee member, Brian Hehn. Reviews |
1990 Presbyterian Hymnals Available
Available as a donation to a church or other non-profit organization - approximately 150 copies of the 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal. Recipients must either pick them up at the church or pay shipping on the number they would like to receive. Contact Charlie Steele at Brevard-Davidson River Presbyterian Church, 828.884.2645, ext.31 or bdrpcmusic@citcom.net. |
Thanks for your Help!
Earlier we posted a request for hymnals to be used in historic churches in Big Black Creek. Thanks to our generous members, I received this note:
Thank you so much....we have hymnals everywhere thanks to you. First Baptist in Big Lake, TX sent us 100 almost new, Trinity Presbyterian sent us 120, two more Presbyterian Churches wanted to send more, and in all this we found 75 old Cumberland Presbyterian Hymnals......we have restored a 103 year old Cumberland Church and I have been trying to find the correct hymnals, buying them one by one on e-bay. Yesterday the National Trust put us on their blog, you can see the Denmark Church at: blog.preservationnation.org. or as I told you before you can go to our web site www.bigblackcreekhistorical.com or our FaceBook page Big Black Creek. Thanks again for your help, you can never tell when we will find another church to restore. |
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New Publication: Les 43 Chants de Martin Luther
Édith Weber, a member in France wrote us about a new edition of Luther's hymns.
-Yves Kéler : Les 43 CHANTS DE MARTIN LUTHER. Textes originaux et Paraphrases françaisesstrophiques, rimées et chantables.
Sources et commentaires suivis de Chants harmonisés à quatre voix pour orgue et choeur par Yves Kéler et Danielle Guerrier Koegler, Paris, Beauchesne, Collection GUIDES MUSICOLOGIQUES (dirigée par Édith Weber), n°7, 2013, 482 p.
"These are French Paraphrases (not at all "translations") strophic, rhymed, versified, very close to Luther's ideas (this was not the case with the few former extant French texts). To be sung exactly on the well known German melodies (same number of syllables in German and French, and of notes). Quite an endeavour... can you imagine ?
First Part :
Exegesis from different points of view : theological, hymnological, historical, literary, poetical (prosody, semantic), several contexts even practical (according to the liturgical year) including history of ideas and religious mentalities.
Second Part :
43 Songs (Litany, liturgical songs and Lutheran Chorals) for 4 voices, meant for organists to accompany the assembly during worship, or for choir masters (concerts and special liturgical occasions).
(I asked the publisher to issue a small volume with only the 43 4-voices settings)
Besides, some 4-voices settings from 16th-18th centuries' composers are suggested.
Of course, this publication will interest Frenchspeaking churchgoers and Lutheran (even Catholic because of some sources e. g. Veni Redemptor gentium).
As a matter of fact, in the Second Part, you can find the few Latin original texts, the German texts by Martin Luther and the French "Paraphrases" by Yves Kéler."
For further information visit the website:
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Upcoming Events
Call for Papers:
December 14-17, 2013 -- The Department of Music within Emanuel University of Oradea (Romania) in cooperation with Emanuel University Press and the Religion and Science Research Centre organize the International Conference on Sacred Music and the Ars Sacra International Festival that will take place in Oradea between December 14-17, 2013. The conference committee invites all academics and university professionals, composers, musicologists, and practitioners with a special interest in the relationship between Christianity and music to submit proposals related specifically to this issue. For further details, please see the attached pdf: Emanuel Conference
December 26, 2013 - January 5, 2014 -- Holy Land Tour
Join Tony Alonso, Marty Haugen and Msgr. Ray West for an 11-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land, December 26- January 5. See the atached brochure for more information. brochure
January 5, 2014 -- Michael Joncas will lead a hymn sing in Lakeland, FL at 3 pm, at All Saints' Episcopal Church. It will be a song service including texts/tunes from Joncas' new hymnary in the form of an Epiphany Lessons and Carols. Local church choirs from All Saints' Episcopal, St. Joseph's Catholic Church, and First Presbyterian Church will offer choral selections. Kathy and Charles Hulin will be participating. |
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News of Members
David Haas writes that the brand new MMA (Music Ministry Alive) website is now up and running.. it is very cool! www.musicministryalive.com
Eileen Guenther, AGO president, brought her talents to the Rubenstein Family Organ in the Concert Hall at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., in a solo recital onWednesday, October 30, 2013. This event was part of the Millennium Stage performance series. Eileen was the first woman to play the Casavant organ, inaugurated in 2012.
On November 3, 2013, The Church Music Institute, led by Charlotte Kroeker, sponsored a Church Music Festival which honored Hal Hopson for his contributions to the church's song. See the attached flyer for details.
Rusty Edwards and Susanne Bagenfelt wrote a new song entitled HYMN OF COMPASSION for The Visit of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, at Emory University in Atlanta. The song was sung by Linea Bagenfelt on a recording shared as the Dalai Lama entered the Gwinnet Center stage in October 2013, for an audience of 12,000 people. HYMN OF COMPASSION appears in Rusty's new hymn collection, UNCOMMON MERCY: Songs from a Dozen Lands (Selah:2013).
A new recording of the choral compositions of William Bradley Roberts is available on the Gothic Records label. The recording was made at the National Cathedral by the Choir of St. John's, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C., where Roberts used to direct. It is the first in a series of recordings that will feature the music of American composers. The CD is available on Amazon or download through iTunes.
HSGBI joint member, Hugh Benham, also has new choral music and a recording available. He has offered a booklet of the choral music which may be reproduced freely. Benham choral music You may listen free of charge to recordings at Also, for you poets out there, Hugh has mentioned that he'd love to have more modern words for the poem, "A Triumph Song" by George Wither. |
Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology
Be sure to check out the great resources available through the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. The CDH is now available for subscription online at http://www.hymnology.co.uk/
The extensive Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology is our generation's version of Julian's monumental work, The Dictionary of Hymnology. The present online resource is an essential reference resource for scholars of global hymnody, with information on the hymns of many countries and languages, and a strong emphasis on the historical as well as the contemporary. |
Church Music Position Open at Baylor
The School of Music at Baylor University is seeking a full-time faculty member in Church Music to begin in fall 2014. This is a tenure-track position that can hold the rank of Assistant, Associate, or full Professor, depending upon qualifications.
For additional information about the position see http://www.baylor.edu/hr/index.php?id=92768 or contact Dr. Randall Bradley at Randall_Bradley@baylor.edu.
Deadline for applications is December 6, 2013.
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Hymn Playing Competition for Organists
To promote the value of excellence in hymn playing, the 2014 Schoenstein Competition in Hymn Playing has just been announced to coincide with the release by MorningStar Music Publishers of the book Hymn Playing: A Modern Colloquium by Stuart Forster. Organists born on or after March 20, 1981, are invited to apply. The application should include live recordings of the applicant playing hymns with a congregation singing, and must be received by March 20, 2014. The final round will be held at Christ Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts, at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 22, 2014, the day before the National Convention begins in Boston for the American Guild of Organists. The public is invited to sing in the congregation during the final round. Finalists will play the 2006 III/43 Schoenstein organ at Christ Church, Cambridge. First prize will be $3000 and second prize will be $1000. Rules and Application Forms are available at www.hymnplayingcompetition.org or from the organizer, Dr. Stuart Forster,
atstuartforster@aya.yale.edu
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Research Project Survey
Robin Knowles Wallace, a professor at Methodist Theological School in Ohio (MTSO), is conducting a survey for a faculty project, eventually to be a series of essays and a book on singing, congregational song, and soundtracks of contemporary lives. The project is tentatively titled "My Life Flows On in Endless Song:" The Impact of Congregational Singing on Discipleship and the chapter that these responses are for is titled "The Soundtracks of Our Lives." The survey has both short and long questions, some yes/no and others fuller answers, and is designed for persons 18 and older. There is one question which could trigger emotions about a previous crisis; that question may be skipped if desired. The survey will take approximately 15-30 minutes. The research will take place May 2013 through May 2014. Information on publication of these ideas will be found following the conclusion of the study on the MTSO website (www.mtso.edu ) under Wallace's publications. The survey can be found by following this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NCL6X2G. Since this survey involves a third party Internet site, participants are encouraged to consult Survey Monkey's privacy policy at http://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/policy/privacy-policy/ . Filling out the survey constitutes consent to participate in the research project. Thank you for participating!
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| Continuing Contests and Searches
The 2013 Macalester Plymouth United Church hymn contest will be a search for a new Advent or Christmas carol which speaks to the mystery and wonder of the Incarnation, and the coming of the One who brings justice, mercy and "peace to all on earth." As always, both new music and familiar music is welcome! All entries must be postmarked by December 31, 2013. For more information, call the church (651-698-8871) or visit the church website at www.macalester-plymouth.org. For more details, consult the attached pdf: Macalester Plymouth 2013
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