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 The Verse
A monthly newsletter |
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The Hymn Society
in the United States and Canada
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May 2015
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Have you registered for the summer conference in New Orleans yet? We have 225 folks already registered -- that's way ahead of registrations compared to last year at this time, so don't delay. You can send in the paper registration from the Winter issue of THE HYMN, or go online to our website, click on Events, and then on the conference. When you register, be sure to select your on-campus housing and your meal card separately. There's a drop down menu for housing options that will allow you to add an extra night before or after the conference.
We're going to sing great music and have so much fun while we're learning. After the opening hymn festival, we'll have a "snow-ball" reception back at campus. If you haven't experienced this delicious New Orleans tradition, you're in for a real treat! Ahhh -- just the thing to cool off and visit with friends on a summer night. The reception is being sponsored by Bill and Jenny Pate because they want you to enjoy New Orleans like they do -- Thanks, Bill and Jenny!
 Deb and Kelly taste-testing on your behalf!!
Deb
Deborah Loftis
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Lifting Hearts - Joining Hands - Raising Voices: The Campaign for The Center for Congregational
S ong We are moving closer to selecting the Director of The Center for Congregational Song. Join us in New Orleans where we'll announce our new staff member and help us celebrate this milestone for The Hymn Society. * We've raised over $20,000 since August 1, 2014 as part of the Baugh Foundation matching challenge. Won't you help us move that number closer to the goal of $300,000? * We have 385 donors -- are you one of them? We have much to do to reach our goal for the Endowment fund. You can help with your gifts -- each gift is an investment in our future and a sign of our commitment to "encourage, promote, and enliven congregational song" for generations to come. Another way to give is to connect us to people you know who love congregational song and have the capacity to help us reach our goal. Contact the office or Joanne Reynolds, jsreynoldscb@q.com. |
2015 Annual Conference in New Orleans
The Hymn Society Annual Conference
Loyola University, New Orleans
July 12-16, 2015Online Registration is now open!!
Thursday Closing Hymn Festival
"The Big Easy" led by Mark Miller and Brian Hehn
We'll end our conference with joyful singing --
Mark Miller believes passionately that music can change the world.
In addition to being a chef, a husband, a dad, and a composer, he teaches sacred music at Drew and Yale Universities, plays the organ at Christ Church Summit, and regularly travels the country imposing his music on unsuspecting folk. His music is available on sheetmusicplus.com and his new album (with Lydia), Imagine the People of God, is available on itunes. For more information on Mark, visit markamillermusic.com
Brian Hehn is well-known to regular conference attendees because of his engaging friendliness and his ability to enrich our singing with percussion! Brian is completing his term as Member-at-large on the Society's Executive Committee and was instrumental (pardon the pun) in helping to launch our new website this spring. Brian also serves as Director of Music at Arapaho United Methodist Church of Richardson, Texas, and teaches Kindergarten music for the Richardson Independent School District. He lives in Richardson, Texas with his wife, Eve, and son, Jakob.
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Conference Sponsorship Opportunities
Sponsoring sessions at our summer conference has become a favorite way to support the work of The Hymn Society and help keep the costs of our conference as low as possible. We started in 2011 and every year the support gets stronger! Thank you for this marvelous vote of confidence in our work! Sponsorships are starting to come in, but there are still many opportunities for you to celebrate an event or honor/remember someone important to you and support the work of The Hymn Society during our annual conference. You can reserve your sponsorship online. It's faster and payment is secure through PayPal. On our website, select: Get Involved>Donate>Annual Fund and you'll see the option for conference sponsorship. Just fill out the form letting us know what you want to sponsor. When you hit Submit, you'll be redirected to the PayPal payment page to finish the sponsorship. You can also download and print the form here. to send it by postal mail. And don't forget: You can also support the Lovelace Scholarship online as well! You're going to be very impressed with our group of Lovelace Scholarship recipients this year! |
Amtrak Riders to New Orleans
Virginia Slack would be interested to find out if anyone else would be taking The Crescent to New Orleans on July 11th. There's an overnight portion from DC that gets into Atlanta around 8:00 in the morning EDT, leaving about 15 minutes later, and gets into New Orleans around 7:30 CDT. In the summer there are volunteers with the National Park Service Trails and Rails program who can tell you about some of the musical and geological features of the route. For example Tommy Dorsey, the author of "Precious Lord" was born in Villa Rica, one of the first towns on the route out of Atlanta.
If you plan to ride the train to New Orleans, let Virginia know. vaslack@hotmail.com
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Save the Dates!!
Put the future dates of our summer conference on your calendar now --
July 17-21, 2016 -- University of Redlands, California: "Formed in Faith, Shaped by Song"
July 16-20, 2017 -- Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo, Ontario.
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Call for Papers - Conference in Finland
The Department of Church Music and the DocMus Doctoral School at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, invite organists, researchers, and students to take part in the conference "Liturgical Organ Music and Liturgical Organ Playing in the Long 19th Century", a period extending approximately from the French Revolution to the First World War. Papers are invited on a variety of topics relating to organ literature, service playing and hymn accompaniment. For more information, see the attached document. Call for Papers |
Recent Armenian Evangelical Hymnal
It has come to our attention that the Armenian Evangelical Church has recently produced a new hymnal. This is the summary from their bookstore entry for the hymnal.
Summary: The Hymnal (Hokevor Yerkaran), published by the Armenian Heritage Committee of Royal Oak, Michigan, (August of 2014), represents the culmination of 22 years of tireless and selfless labor by its two editors, the brother-sister team of Hrant Agbabian and Lucina Agbabian Hubbard. Lifelong members of the Armenian Evangelical Community and the children of Rev. Siragan Agbabian, each brought their significant musical talents to bear on a task that neither anticipated would last the better part of a quarter century. Hrant was for decades choir conductor at the largest Armenian Evangelical Church in the US; Lucina has for many years been teaching Armenian music history at USC. Working with them were a number of distinguished clergy and laymen from both within and without the Evangelical tradition.
Product ID: 353/Hymnbook
Price: $30.00
The hymnal can be purchased through this website: http://www.amaa.org/bookstore.htm
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2015 Joint Meeting with HSGBI and IAH: Hymns in Liturgy and Life
We have a good-size group of HSUSC folks already registered for the international hymn conference. Don't you want to join us? There's still time to register!
The joint meeting of our Hymn Society with HSGBI and IAH will be held at
Robinson College, Cambridge. The conference will begin with registration on Sunday, 26th July 2015 with the Conference program beginning on Monday and concluding on Friday 31st July. Friday evening there is the option of an excursion to Ely Cathedral for Evensong. The Conference theme will be: Hymns in Liturgy and Life. Program schedule
HSUSC Leaders:
Robin Knowles-Wallace: "Congregational Singing and Everyday Life"
Kenneth Hull: "Do We Become What We Sing? Congregational Song and Spiritual Formation"
Geoffrey Moore: " Hymning the Kingdom: Originating - Resonating - Consummating"
Jan Kraybill: coordinator for our Hymn Festival: "Celebrating the Journey"
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Ebook Edition of the Lutheran Service Book
Concordia Publishing House is pleased to announce that Lutheran Service Book is now available for Kindle and Apple ereaders. "Lutheran Service Book isn't just for Sunday mornings," said Dr. Bruce G. Kintz, President and CEO of CPH. "It is a rich compilation of the very best Christ-centered psalms, hymns, prayers, and more. This ebook edition makes it easy to use any day of the week, wherever you may be." The Lutheran Service Book, Ebook Edition contains all of the contents of the printed Pew Edition with the convenience of your tablet or ebook reader.Order Lutheran Service Book, Ebook Edition now at Amazon.com or iTunes. To learn more, visit cph.org/ehymnal or contact Lindsey Martie, CPH Public Relations, by phone at 314-268-1303, or by email at Lindsey.Martie@cph.org |
Hymnals Available
The Presbyterian Senior Living facility has 100 copies each of the following hymnals available: Renew, Songs and Hymns for blended worship, 1997 edition The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1987 edition If you can use these hymnals, please contact Nancy Deibler at ndeibler@psl.org or 717-502-8887 |
New Hymn Contest
The Bethlehem Music Series, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 4100 Lyndale Ave. South, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55410 announces a Hymn Writing Competition to open its 34th Season.. The hymn tune must be original, not previously performed, not published, and must be suited for festival worship. The text may be original or pre-existing and it should contain a praise and celebration theme. A cash prize of $500.00 will we awarded the winner and the winning hymn will be premiered at a Hymn Festival on Sunday, October 11, 2015- 4:00 pm. This hymn festival (Let All the Earth Rejoice) will be led by renowned organ improviser and composer, Dr. Aaron David Miller. Deadline for submission of manuscripts is July 30, 2015 and should be accompanied by a self-addressed envelope mailed to the above, attention to Maria Bucka, Director of Music. All entrants will be notified on the final decision. Depending on the submissions, we reserve the right to not name a winner. Any questions may be directed to Maria at 612-312-3411 or mbucka@bethlehem-church.org
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Continuing Hymn Contest
Macalester Plymouth United Church of Saint Paul, MN announces their 2015 hymn contest: a search for a hymn that celebrates the language of love, inclusiveness, commitment, and the love God has for the union of all people regardless of gender. See the attached document for full description and contest rules. The prize is $500. Hymns must be postmarked by December 31, 2015.
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Reviews of Hymn-Based Compositions
If you are interested in reviewing choral or instrumental music for The Verse, we are starting a new list. Send your e-mail, mailing address, and preference for choral, organ, piano, handbells, or other instruments in an e-mail to Robin Knowles Wallace, editor of The Hymn, at rwallace@mtso.edu. You will be contacted when there is music available, asked about deadlines, and sent music which you will play through and write reviews of the best; the music is then yours to keep. Thanks for your help! Last month, I mis-identifying our organ reviewer. The organ reviews for April were written by Wayne Wold. So sorry, Wayne! This month, we offer reviews of hymn-based compositions for piano, written by Evangeline Keeley. Our thanks to Evangeline! Piano musi
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Hymn in Response to the Loss of Immigrant Lives in Libya
Andrew Pratt recently wrote a text in response to the 900 people who drowned off Libya's coast on Sunday, April 19, 2015. John Kleinheksel arranged the tune. The pdf attached may be used without charge in non-commercial settings. Idyllic Beaches Break the Waves
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Hymnal Collection for Sale
A hymnal collector wishes to sell his library. The collection, numbering over 1300 volumes, represents many denominations. Some highlights include: - 2 copies of Olney hymns, one in original boards and one rebound, I think in the 19th century, re-cut guilded and probably one of the finest copies I've ever seen.
- a very rare copy of The Western Ministrel from Ohio.
- The Christian Lyre both volume 1 and volume 2.
- A copy of of the Breeches Bible 1606 bound with Sternhold-Hopkins Psalter 1733.
- Many copies of early American printings of mid to late 1700s hymnals.
- 4 various copies of Easy Instructor,
- Many editions of Genuine Church Music, first, third fourth, etc. editions,
- First editions of Missouri Harmony and many other first editions,
- Many shape note hymnals, both 4 and 7 shape systems
- Many of Joseph Funk printings, one owned by the daughter of Joseph Funk
- 99-98% of the collection has been brought up to talas or Library of Congress standards, with hand made paper for the boards and special glue and acid free paper
In addition are offered: three printing plates from the late 1800s  and two 3'x4' museum-framed luminaries, from the 15th to 17th century  Attached is a list of the hymnals and songbooks available. Catalog For more information, please contact Hoby Unkelbach: hobyu@bellsouth.net or 904 6071377 |
News of Members
As a part of it's 5th anniversary, Accents, the email publication of Celebrating Grace Hymnal and related products, highlighted the writing of two of our members: David Toledo and his article in the Winter issue of THE HYMN, "Celebrating Grace Hymnal: Five Years Later" and David W. Music, FHS who wrote
"'Tune Your Hearts with One Accord': Compiling Celebrating Grace, a Hymnal for Baptists in English Speaking North America" in Stanley D. Brumm's new extensive work, The Changing World Religion Map.
Congratulations to Michael Joncas on his new collection We Contemplate the Mystery, published by OCP. This is a collection of 22 hymns for Lent and Triduum.
Congratulations also to Mary Louise Van Dyke, FHS, who received the Heritage Guardian Award a few weeks ago at the Oberlin Heritage Center's Annual Meeting. The award was presented for her "commitment to preserving history through hymn festivals, bringing people together in ways that enrich us as individuals and as community."
We are saddened to learn of the deaths of two friends of The Hymn Society.
Polly Lovelace, widow of Austin C. Lovelace, FHS, died in Denver on April 17.
Michael John Saward, noted British hymnwriter, died January 31.
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Upcoming Events
July 12-15, 2015 -- UCC Musicians Association National Conference Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois, suburb of Chicago Speakers: Reverend Dr. Lillian Daniel, keynote speaker Rev. John Thomas, plenary session on minister/musician relationship Jeffrey Hunt, choral director Dr. David Schrader, organist David Weck and Agape Ringers Dr. Keith Hampton, concert and workshop on African-American spirituals & gospels Emily Ellsworth, conducting, and children/youth choir workshops For registration and information, please visit: www.uccma.org July 21-24, 2015 -- Baylor University Alleluia Conference. The Alleluia Conference is one-of-a-kind enrichment event features superb clinicans who re-energize and inspire worship leaders, music ministers, children's choir leaders, and keyboard ministers. Hymn Society members serving as clinicians include: John Bell, FHS, Randall Bradley, Stephen Cowden, Brian Hehn, David Music, FHS, Jacob Sensenig, Al Travis. Online registration is open. http://www.baylor.edu/alleluia/
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Recent Events
April 28, 2015 - Deborah Loftis addressed the Lynchburg, VA chapter of the AGO at their annual dinner. She spoke about the work of The Hymn Society in encouraging new hymns and also about the process of creating a new hymnal, leading them in singing several new hymns in Celebrating Grace.
May 3, 2015 - "All the Earth Resounds with Music: A Hymn Festival Celebrating Music and the Arts in Worship," was led by Kelly Tennille Grooms at Tappahannock Presbyterian Church, Tappahannock, VA.
May 3, 2015 - "Made in Michigan: Hymn Festival of the Saginaw Valley Chapter of the AGO," led by Andreas Teich at Trinity Lutheran Church, Midland, MI.
Hymn Society members at the festival: Scott Hyslop, John Kleinheksel, Stephen Starke, and Andreas Teich
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