Evangelicals Now
<< February 2002 >>

Monthly column on hymns and songs

Worship by committee?

Honestly, I had nothing to do with this, except for the long delay between the workshop and the report. But all credit to the Round Church at St. Andrew the Great, Cambridge, for their brainstorming session last summer on what makes a good song. You have your ideas; I have mine; here, mainly, are theirs, by courtesy of my correspondent Jonny Kingsman.

But first, that was only the start. The aim was to write a theme song for a series on the Letter of James. Before they got going, it seemed a good idea to hammer out some principles. So the perfect song lyric, they reckon, will look and sound like this: my own thoughts are the ones in brackets.

Recipe for perfection?

It will be short; no more than four verses. (So much for 'Our God reigns'.)

It must be a poem in its own right, making sense even without music. (No comment, except good!)

It should be God-focused; more about God than about us, at least as much as the Psalms.

It will be regular in metre, with unforced rhyming; half-rhymes are OK. (Is the OK half the consonants or the vowel-sound?)

Its language must inspire, evoking rather than describing praise to God. (This gets better and better.)

It should contain not more than one word-order inversion per sentence. (So much for 'The Lord's my shepherd'.)

It will be self-contained, standing on its own when sung without the passage being studied. (Getting controversial here.)

It must reflect the major themes of a book or section, with the same emphasis as the text. (Like the sermon.)

It should reflect the language of the NIV so as to remind the congregation of Scripture. (If that's your version.) This may be the only reason for lapsing from gender-inclusive people-language, or using what some might see as theological jargon. (Propitiation?)

Its language will be undatable - neither archaic nor overly idiomatic. (Overly? A tall order.)

It must be free of 'filler-words' which are only there to make it rhyme or scan. (I do just really now hope so.)

It should be singable by non-Christians without puzzlement or embarrassment. (Hm!)

Perfect melody

These perfect words can then be played and sung to perfect music which is:
Memorable enough to sing back after one play-through. (But we're not all that good.)

Singable with no accompaniment. (Excellent!)

A melodic line which ascends through the verse to a climax towards the end. (The tune 'Antioch'?)

No lower than middle C, no higher than the second D above middle C. (The 'Londonderry Air'? I expect these are exceptions proving the rule.)

Not syncopated more than once in any one bar.

Corresponding in mood to the passage.
Further questions

Does anyone agree with all these wills, musts and shoulds? How far can the Psalms be the model for our singing? Does the list represent a particular class or culture and, if so, does that matter? Would it make any difference if you had no music-group, but had to phone round every Monday in the hope of finding an organist for Sunday? Do you know if your congregation includes any writers or composers? And if so...?

Final question: When did your church (or mine) last attempt anything like this? Don't tell me; the month before the big split! Seriously, you may not reach identical conclusions, but this is surely a brilliant idea which is not a Cambridge copyright. Everyone can learn something, and it should help you get rid of that dreadful book - you know the one I mean? - and to sing God's praise in mind and spirit.

Christopher Idle