Common Meter – Singing with the Spirit

1, December 12, 20131, December 12, 2013

Joy to the World

Two brilliant song writers, separated by almost a century of time and half a world apart, created of one of the most recognizable ‘Christmas hymns’ ever sung. Issac Watts and Lowell Mason were musical icons who blazed new trails for spiritual renewal. Their work has touched the hearts of God-fearing men, women and children for generations. Yet as they penned the words and drafted the scales of this classic favorite, they never realized how much they were blessing the world with this cherished ‘Christmas anthem.’

Psalm 98 provides the message that Issac Watts needed for the hymn we know as ‘Joy to the World.’ Reading the words penned by the Psalmist in verses 4, 7 & 8 we see the inspiration; “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song…let the sea resound…the world, and all who live in it…let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord…” The strength of this song comes was we consider the words of the angel in Luke chapter 2, “…I bring you great joy which will be for all people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord…’ (Additionally, this work from Issac Watts was set in common meter, and ‘Joy to the World’ was originally sung to the tune of ‘Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.’

Born in 1792, Lowell Mason grew up in the early years of American history. A native of New Jersey, he was raised with a love for spiritual hymns. His ability to compose music for worship was highlighted in the early 1800’s as he taught Sunday school in Georgia. His musical popularity escalated in the late 1820’s when 50,000 copies of his self-published song book were ordered by Handel & Haydn Society of Massachusetts. But one of his great accomplishments came in 1836 when Mason composed a new melody inspired by Handel’s Messiah. The completed melody was an exuberant ode called ‘Antioch.’ It’s name inspired by the Syrian city were followers of Christ were first called ‘Christians.’ But this new master piece lacked the proper message to fit the melody…until he found Watt’s ‘Joy to the World.’

As December continues to roll along we’ll continue to explore and learn more about some of the songs of the season. This “Christmas Song of the Day”…Joy to the World.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room and heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing and heaven, and heaven and nature sing

Joy to the world! the Savior reigns let men their songs employ
While fields and floods rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy repeat, repeat the sounding joy

No more let sin and sorrow grow nor thorns infest the ground
He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found
Far as the curse is found far as, far as the curse is found

He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness and wonders of his love
And wonders of his love and wonders and wonders of his love

1, June 15, 20121, June 17, 2012

What is the Meter? Part 2

Last time we discussed the idea of, “…recognizing the music, but not the words?” It’s important to note that the opposite can be true too. Sometimes I’ll recognize the words, but can’t place the tune. Let’s continue to investigate and determine the idea of METER. (Note: Some have been know to refer to “meter” as the time signature. For example, saying that a song has 4/4 meter means that it is sung in 4/4 time. This use of the word “meter” is not applicable in this dialogue.)

If you are unsure of the tune for a particular hymn, you can use any tune which has the same meter. However, it is best to match the ‘musical rhythms’ with the ‘literary rhythms’ in order to match the tune with the correct mood. Fortunately some of our hymnals have lists of tunes sorted by meter; such as “Songs of Faith and Praise”, page 1042. This is great help to introduce a new thought (song) with a familiar tune. In addition, I would recommend checking out the extensive list found on the Cyberhymnal web site (www.cyberhymnal.org) and search under the tab Tunes by Meter.

In some cases, you might see a “D” added to the end of a meter. This means that the meter repeats itself…to be clear, it’s “doubled”. An example of this can be found in the song I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say by Horatius Bonar. We see it has eight lines. The first four lines are in Common Meter, as are the second four lines (86 86 and 86 86). That is what makes the meter for this hymn CMD (Common Meter, Doubled: 86 86 D). In addition, an interesting note comes for those who might have seen “86 86D w/Refrain” in regards to the meter of the song. This means that the verses are in Common Meter, Doubled, plus a refrain. An example of this song could be found in John Yakes song, Faith is the Victory. In order to determine the meter of the refrain, you’ll simply need to count syllables.

Some hymns do not have a regular meter, either because there is no consistent number of syllables per line, or because the number of syllables per line is not consistent in the verses. Examples include The Battle Belongs to the Lord by Jamie Owens-Collins or E.M Barlett’s song, Victory in Jesus. Such songs will have the notation “Irregular.”

For almost four century, it was common for a congregation to sing/know only about 10-12 specific tunes. It was believed during this time that this was a adequate number of tunes for any congregation to handle with efficiency. Historians believe and stand by the idea that all songs with Common Meter were sung to with the same one or two tunes. The same was true for Short Meter and Long Meter.

Please keep in mind, as you ‘experiment’ with different tunes and match up different words (creating ‘new songs’), you will want to find ones in which 1) the meter fits, 2) the proper mood is established (words match tempo and rhythms), and 3) start with songs and tunes which you know, you can learn and you are able to teach. Singing with understanding is important…even as we consider the meter!

1, June 14, 2012

What is the Meter? Part 1

Have you ever found yourself singing a song and thinking, “I recognize the music, but I don’t recognize these words?” Reading this post will hopefully help you answer and understand this question. This is the first of a two part blog as we strive to understand the importance of singing and learning the meter of a song.

A song typically begins as a poem, and then is paired with an appropriate tune. (However, it’s true that at times song writers have written the musical signature and then added the words.) In either case, a musician builds a song for presentation (or teaching). Whether the words come first or the notes, he or she will first determine the musical meter.

Musical meter refers to the numbers of syllables per line of the verse of the song. This can be a excellent way to teach singing to younger children. In the song book edited by Alton Howard (Songs of Faith & Praise), this information is provided for the reader on page 1042. Yet in many cases, you will need to count the syllables for yourself. This tends to ring true especially in many of our older hymnals.

To explore this further, let’s take a look at the first verse of the song When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. To find the meter for this song we would simply count the number of syllables in each line (hyphens have been added to make it easy to see the syllables):

When I sur-vey the won-drous cross
On which the Prince of Glor-y died
My rich-est gain I count but loss
And pour con-tempt on all my pride.

As we count the number of syllables within each line of this song, we see each line contains eight (8) syllables. Understanding this, we can see the meter of this old hymn by Issac Watts, is 88 88. An interesting point comes in knowing that some meters occur on such a regular basis that we have given them names. For example…

Like the song noted above, 88 88 is referred to as Long Meter (abbreviated LM). Another example would be Father and Friend, Thy Light, Thy Love by John Bowring as well as Lord, Speak to Me by Frances R. Havergal.

Another popular meter for songs is Common Meter (abbreviated CM) and the meter for these songs is simply 86 86. Familiar songs for this meter would include; I’m Not Ashamed to Own My Lord and How Shall the Young Secure Their Hearts both written by Isaac Watts and/or How Sweet, How Heavenly by Joseph Swain.
66 86 is called Short Meter, and is abbreviated SM. Some songs you might recognize that are SM are, God Is the Fountain Whence by Benjamin Beddome, Rise Up, O Men of God by William Merrill and This Is My Father’s World by Maltbie D. Babcock.

There’s so much more to discuss and explore when it comes to understanding and appreciating meter with our songs. (As a matter of fact, try it out and you’ll see how fun it is to sing the words of old songs to ‘new’ tunes.) Come back again and we’ll consider another thought as we continue to better understand the meter of a song.