placemarking; ideas list
Feb. 15th, 2017 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
artsyhonkerI'm sort-of following the Church of England General Synod this week. It is making me heartsick.
I know better than to try to follow the livestream: that way lies certain misery, and I can't really face it. But there was a very good speech by the Southern Prolocutor, bits of which ended up on Twitter, and he ended with Genesis 32.6 - "I will not let you go until you bless me."
That instantly earwormed me with a song we usually sing on Song Cycle, words by Wesley and tune from the shapenote tradition in the US. It's a sort of Christological exploration of Jacob wrestling with God.
Here's Maddy Prior singing an arrangement of it.
The words we usually sing are as they appear in the New English Hymnal:
I wonder if this would be sung more in churches if there were a good 4-part hymnody arrangement. The original of Vernon is in 3 parts with the tune in the middle, which is not a familiar format to most English congregations; there are some other tunes, but I don't think they're a patch on Vernon. The vocal range is a bit large, a minor tenth in Maddy Prior's version (and an 11th in the version we sing), but it doesn't stay high for very long, and there are definitely well-known hymns with a range of an 11th (e.g. Slane, usually sung for 'Be thou my vision').
It would probably only be an afternoon's work for me to make a playable 4-part arrangement with the melody in the treble, such that a typical parish with an organist would be able to do this.
Of course, that won't get it into any hymnals, which is the other reason it isn't widely sung; but that's another problem.
I'm wondering if a second Patreon with monthly (rather than per-work) patronage could be for my *arrangements* -- either of my own existing work (e.g. a SATB version of my SAB responses), or of things already in the public domain (like this, or various others; I won't run short of West Gallery material, but there's a lot out there and it isn't as if I'm not accustomed to adapting it for smaller choirs from time to time; I was already sortof planning to arrange a bunch of Swedish carols for St Lucia, since I was singing them in IKEA in December and we were basically doing on-the-fly SSA/SAA arrangements and some of them worked much better than others. Books of things like Canadian folksongs are also allowed; and there's a basically endless market for brass ensemble Christmas carols, alas). That... feels like something that I could do enough of to justify a monthly pledge, without turning into the kind of thing where I paint myself into a corner and can't dash off a hymn or short chant to put online in the months when I'm struggling or when other things aren't ready yet. And it doesn't have to have the costs of my existing system, with its postcards and so on; I don't have to promise to send anything to anyone, though obviously existing per-work patrons would have access to the arrangements. Hmm. But arranging still allows me to hone some of my composing craft, it's still good practice, just much lower pressure.
I will have to think about this more, and actually start doing some arranging, before it goes anywhere. The middle of trying to write 12 pieces (well, 11 now...) in 12 weeks is perhaps not the best time to start such new ventures.
I know better than to try to follow the livestream: that way lies certain misery, and I can't really face it. But there was a very good speech by the Southern Prolocutor, bits of which ended up on Twitter, and he ended with Genesis 32.6 - "I will not let you go until you bless me."
That instantly earwormed me with a song we usually sing on Song Cycle, words by Wesley and tune from the shapenote tradition in the US. It's a sort of Christological exploration of Jacob wrestling with God.
Here's Maddy Prior singing an arrangement of it.
The words we usually sing are as they appear in the New English Hymnal:
1. Come, O thou traveller unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see;
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with thee;
With Thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle 'til the break of day.
2. I need not tell thee who I am,
My misery and sin declare;
Thyself has called me by my name,
Look on thy hands and read it there:
But who, I ask thee, who art thou?
Tell me thy name, and tell me now.
3. In vain thou strugglest to get free;
I never will unloose my hold:
Art thou the Man that died for me?
The secret of thy love unfold:
Wrestling, I will not let thee go
Till I thy name, thy nature know.
4. Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident, in self-despair;
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,
Be conquered by my instant prayer:
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if thy name is Love.
5. 'Tis Love, 'tis Love! Thou diedst for me!
I hear thy whisper in my heart;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee,
Pure, universal Love thou art:
To me, to all, thy mercies move;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.
I wonder if this would be sung more in churches if there were a good 4-part hymnody arrangement. The original of Vernon is in 3 parts with the tune in the middle, which is not a familiar format to most English congregations; there are some other tunes, but I don't think they're a patch on Vernon. The vocal range is a bit large, a minor tenth in Maddy Prior's version (and an 11th in the version we sing), but it doesn't stay high for very long, and there are definitely well-known hymns with a range of an 11th (e.g. Slane, usually sung for 'Be thou my vision').
It would probably only be an afternoon's work for me to make a playable 4-part arrangement with the melody in the treble, such that a typical parish with an organist would be able to do this.
Of course, that won't get it into any hymnals, which is the other reason it isn't widely sung; but that's another problem.
I'm wondering if a second Patreon with monthly (rather than per-work) patronage could be for my *arrangements* -- either of my own existing work (e.g. a SATB version of my SAB responses), or of things already in the public domain (like this, or various others; I won't run short of West Gallery material, but there's a lot out there and it isn't as if I'm not accustomed to adapting it for smaller choirs from time to time; I was already sortof planning to arrange a bunch of Swedish carols for St Lucia, since I was singing them in IKEA in December and we were basically doing on-the-fly SSA/SAA arrangements and some of them worked much better than others. Books of things like Canadian folksongs are also allowed; and there's a basically endless market for brass ensemble Christmas carols, alas). That... feels like something that I could do enough of to justify a monthly pledge, without turning into the kind of thing where I paint myself into a corner and can't dash off a hymn or short chant to put online in the months when I'm struggling or when other things aren't ready yet. And it doesn't have to have the costs of my existing system, with its postcards and so on; I don't have to promise to send anything to anyone, though obviously existing per-work patrons would have access to the arrangements. Hmm. But arranging still allows me to hone some of my composing craft, it's still good practice, just much lower pressure.
I will have to think about this more, and actually start doing some arranging, before it goes anywhere. The middle of trying to write 12 pieces (well, 11 now...) in 12 weeks is perhaps not the best time to start such new ventures.
no subject
Date: 2017-02-15 06:30 pm (UTC)I love that hymn - I can't tell you what the tunes are in StF as I don't know where my tunes copy of it is and anyway I'm with
no subject
Date: 2017-02-15 06:43 pm (UTC)Yes; Lutherans sometimes get away with longer hymns but Anglicans tend not to. I used to get complaints about things with 4 or 5, and would sometimes look up the originals just to be able to tell people they were lucky we weren't doing all 17 or what have you.
Personally I like long hymns -- but I'm unusual; and in a culture where many people do very little other singing, longer hymns can be extremely physically tiring.
no subject
Date: 2017-02-15 06:46 pm (UTC)the market cornered in long hymns. (The 11 were written by a Catholic,
Bernadette Farrell)
no subject
Date: 2017-02-15 07:02 pm (UTC)Yes; in the Anglo-Catholic tradition you do find some longer ones, particularly those intended for use in procession. And of course there are good long Methodist hymns. I'm not sure about the context for very long Catholic hymns, I think a lot is still unsettled since they started using vernacular language again in the 60s; but some of Bernadette Farrell's work is excellent.
Recent CofE Anglican tends toward shorter hymns, though. And even in Lutheranism they aren't as long as they used to be, as discussed here: https://curlewriver.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/four-odd-but-mostly-loveable-things-about-lutheran-hymns/
no subject
Date: 2017-02-20 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-20 09:27 pm (UTC)I also relate to it partly, I think, because I injured my hip several years ago at a point when I was struggling somewhat with matters of faith.
no subject
Date: 2017-02-22 01:39 pm (UTC)And I just discovered that Maddy Prior has recorded stacks of hymnody; who knew?! Her voice is, especially, perfect for American Shape Note music, imho, but I'm having a blast listening to all of it.