Hymns – Page 36 – Lakewood United Church of Christ

Forest Green

Forest Green brass ballsjpg This recording is named, not for the first line of the hymn as is customary, but for the tune name. Each tune in the hymnal has its own name irrespective of the words that are sung to it.

Further, each tune is described by the number of notes (sort of…) in each phrase of the melody. Tunes are then organized in a metrical index. Some of the metrical patterns have nicknames. The pattern for Forest Green is 8.6.8.5.D of “Common Meter Double,” which means twice through 8.6.8.6. Sorry…you didn’t know this was going to be a class did you.

Anyway, this metrical organization of tunes permits singers to sing any set of words of a specific metrical pattern to be sung to any tune of the same pattern. For instance, Forest Green, in the New Century Hymnal, is used with two different sets of words: #434 (All Beautiful the March of Days) and also #110 (Now Bless the God of Israel). As you sing along, the words for #434 (my own favorite words for this tune) may be found at https://hymnary.org/text/all_beautiful_the_march_of_days and the words for #110 at https://hymnary.org/text/now_bless_the_god_of_israel. Some hymnals even use it for “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” which may have been (I don’t know for sure) the text associated with Forest Green when Ralph Vaughan Williams made his famous 4-part harmonization that I used here.

OK…class dismissed. Have fun!

Just a reminder that the complete collection of these hymn recordings is available for free listening (streaming) at https://soundcloud.com/hilton-kean-jones/sets/hymns-at-lakewood. When each new recording is posted on the church website, it is also added to this album.

I’ve Got Peace Like a River

I've Got Peace Like a River Pictured is the River Strong outside D’Lo, Mississippi, where my daddy’s family is from. This particular location of the Strong River also happens to be where the baptism scene in Brother Where Art Thou was filmed! All of which kind of fits in with this morning’s hymn recording.

For the music and words go to https://hymnary.org/text/ive_got_peace_like_a_river. The New Century Hymnal has this footnote for the hymn: “Most of the spirituals that drew from biblical stories and images used the Hebrew scriptures, rather than New Testament as their inspiration. The imagery of “peace like a river’ derives from the book of Isaiah.” Among the scriptural references listed at the top of the hymn is Isaiah 66:12.

There’s lots of way to do this hymn but this morning I opted for kind of an easy-listening approach. Should work for singing–or at least humming–along. It’s #478 in the New Century Hymnal.

What a Covenant

HKJ playing ragtime Today, no strings, no brass, no fancy pipe organs, just old-time camp meeting piano. We sing a bunch of these kinds of songs at Lakewood and I’ll be doing more of them here. This one’s a favorite and it’s got that certain swing to it that old-timey music has when the lady would play it and us kids would march in from Sunday School classes. Enjoy yourself singing along. It’s #471 in the New Century Hymnal. You can read all about it and see the music and representative text at https://hymnary.org/text/what_a_fellowship_what_a_joy_divine. Some of you may know it with the words, “What a Fellowship,” with the title, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” which is how I learned it.

Won’t You Let Me Be Your Servant

Won't You Let Me Be Your Servant 2 The organ starts quietly and builds to full organ with reeds, so best not to try to compensate for the soft volume at the beginning or it may be too loud for you at the end. Just leave your volume where you normally have it.

I’m not able to provide either the music or text for this one because of copyright. If you happen to have a New Century Hymnal it’s #539. Even if you don’t have the words, it’s impossible not to sing or hum along with this memorable tune. Even with 6 verses, it always feel like I could easily sing another half-dozen more without feelings like it was too many.

Information about the author of these remarkable words is found at https://hymnary.org/text/will_you_let_me_be_your_servant.

How Can I Keep from Singing

How Can I Keep from Singingl

Probably, this may be the most recorded early American religious song other than Amazing Grace.

The surprise is that it’s not a folk song, not a Quaker song, but was composed by a Baptist minister, Robert Lowry.

Wikipedia gives its history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Can_I_Keep_from_Singing%3F..

When we sing this in church, I usually take it at a every so slightly faster tempo, but for the purposes here–instrumental, meditative music that may or may not be sing to–I’m taking it quite slowly.

Here’s the hymn as we sing it from the New Century Hymnal.

How Can I Keep from Singing