Monday, June 26, 2006
Teaching Hymnology 5
Bethany Meyer, assistant to Dr. Bert Polman, kept daily reports from Polman’s Teaching Hymnology seminar, hosted by Calvin Seminars in Christian Scholarship. Here is her concluding entry. Also see a list of related resources.
Our last devotions today were based on the final consummation, when Christ will return. We read Scripture from Isaiah 35 and I Corinthians 15, and we sang songs such as Soon and Very Soon and Jesus Shall Reign. This morning’s session began with some details for the participants, and then Dr. Polman led the discussion on hymns. As a side reflection on Isaiah, Dr. Polman commented that it would be wonderful if the Internet would be used as the highway for our God mentioned in Isaiah. It is a resource at the fingertips of people around the world – what if it was a biblical resource? These comments were provocative and insightful. Dr. Polman also commented this morning that 30 years ago, a teacher could assume that some hymns were universal or common to many denominations; this is not true today. There are very few hymns today that span the denominations. Another topic this morning was accompaniment, tempi, and how to choose them for hymns. Some of the factors provided by the participants were the size of the congregation, the acoustics of the church, the time of day, the tradition of the church, the liturgical season, and the purpose of the song. This was a helpful discussion on the use of hymns.
After morning break, the discussion was on the teaching of hymns, based on an article by Dr. John Witvliet, and the Nairobi Statement. Some concluding thoughts: “Hymnody classes have to be faith-sharing,” “How can a hymnody class be taught ecumenically?” and skills, knowledge, and virtues and their impact on hymnological leading. A summary of the Nairobi Statement was that trans-cultural can refer to communal singing, voice as the unifying factor, and core hymn texts; contextual can refer to performance, practice, repertoire, and being sensitive to regional differences; counter-cultural means daily transformation, hymn singing, and “being in the ‘river’ of culture, but not being in the currents”; finally, cross-cultural can refer to hymn festivals, acceptance and understanding, and using each other’s songs even when we don’t understand them.
During the concluding afternoon session, the group looked at five hymns and discussed how best to teach them to a congregation or a class. Some factors to consider when teaching them were rhythms, and the hymn’s history. Some ways to teach them were as a “call-and-response” hymn, as a narrative, through sign language, or having children demonstrate it for a larger congregation or class. After this, Adam Tice and Joe Herl presented a couple of hymn texts and tunes that they had written and the group gave comments or suggestions for improvement. This demonstrated yet another way to get people involved in hymns, and for teachers to involve their students in their own work. This short afternoon concluded the Teaching Hymnology Seminar. It was a great experience, and all involved learned many new ideas for teaching hymnology. We’re grateful for a great week!
Previous Reports
Day 4 - digital resources for hymnody; hymn tune titles
Day 3 - Psalms and hymnody; teaching hymn history
Day 2 - Lament Psalms; teaching congregations to use hymnals
Day 1 - Introductions; theology of hymns
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