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CHURCH MUSIC
I wonder how our Lord and King
Would like us all to praise and sing?
There are so many varied ways
With which to sing our songs of praise.
In olden times Gregorian tones
Had echoed from monastic stones,
But then the English Royal Throne
‘Came head of church in place of Rome,
So all the psalms in metric rhymes
Were sung aloud from Tudor times.
‘All people that on earth do dwell.’
The 100th Psalm we know so well.
Soon Hopkin’s verse and Sternhold’s rhymes
Seemed rustic and behind the times,
So Brady did collaborate
In verses New with Nahum Tate.
From galleries with men and boys
A modern psalm of joyous noise,
Sometimes with flute and violin
And serpent adding to the din!
The church then viewed with some alarm
The hymns of Watts in place of psalm,
And Wesley too, with fertile pen
Write joyous hymns for chapel men.
But when Victoria came to reign,
The church’s music changed again.
The parson and the wealthy squire
Purchased an organ for the choir.
The mistress of the village school
Looked smart upon her organ stool,
And boys and ladies of the choir,
In chancel, robed in white attire.
The gallery men now faced dismissal
’They look as Roman as a Missal,’
The minstrels said ‘We’ll stay away,
And go to chapel next Sunday.’
The music changed, and with it too
The Georgian arch and old box pew,
Now quite correct in gothic tall
With bench-like pews and books for all.
‘Ancient and Modern it must be,
With Dykes’ and Barnby’s harmony.’
The neo-mediaeval gloom
Suited each sweet chromatic tune.
Some village singers did aspire
To be a small cathedral choir;
Chanting from a Stainer Psalter,
Turning east toward the altar,
With anthems sung on festive days
Raising the standard of their praise.
But point-ed psalms with dash-ed signs
Were taxing for some country minds.
In Mission Hall and church of tin
Where preachers told the fear of sin,
Was music of a Sankey song,
With jolly tunes and chorus long.
‘Blessed Assurance’ loudly sung
To pedal-wind harmonium,
While Sunday Schools with boys and gels,
Sang sweetly from their Golden Bells.
The English Hymnal’s main intent
To clear the book of sentiment.
Good words and music filled each page
Like Tallis from the Tudor age,
With modal songs from land and sea
Clothed in VW’s harmony,
Once sung aloud in country tones
Now echoed from cathedral stones!
Most hymn books now have been revised
And some Hymns Ancient Modern-ised,
But not enough for those who heard
The force of Billy Graham’s word.
So his new hymn book Mission Praise
Was found in church on some Sundays,
And ‘Worship Groups’ were formed to play
The ‘Worship Songs’ in Kendrick’s way.
Some like to go to rural France
For Taize’s oft repeated chants.
Now many churches far and wide,
Have left the organ on the side,
With modern band or microchip
‘Essential for today’s worship.
What the Almighty likes by far
Are jazzy songs to the guitar.’
We often hear regretful views,
‘The choir’s gone, just like the pews,
And hymn books too are rarely seen,
We just sing songs upon a screen.’
Survival of the English hymn
Owes much to Bishop’s Baughan and Tim,
And tunes we want to sing again
Like Guiting Power and Coe Fen.
Thus, by such old and varied ways
Of psalm and hymn and song of praise,
Each has a way to praise the Lord,
Through other’s music, other’s word.
We sense the meaning as we sing;
It is our own heart’s offering.
Alan Dodge.
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