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Text , Music , and Meaning in Congregational Song
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Hull, Kenneth Ross |
| Copyright Year | 2012 |
| Abstract | The word “hymn” has traditionally been employed to denote the text of a congregational song. The music to which the words of the hymn are sung, on the other hand, has most commonly been called its “tune,” even though we usually mean by that not just an unaccompanied melody, but a melody harmonized with an additional three singable voices. We often read about the relationship between texts and tunes in terms of such questions as, “Does the tune fit the meaning of the hymn?” It is instructive to reflect on what is implied by this question, and by the way the terms “hymn” and “tune” are used. This way of speaking about congregational song clearly privileges its textual (i.e., verbal) component, because the term “hymn” is applied to it, while the “tune” is subsidiary, “fitted” to the text. In fact the very word “tune” is minimizing, implying as it inaccurately does, an unaccompanied melody. The phrase “the meaning of the hymn” also seems simplistic. Poetic texts are commonly understood to have multiple layers of meaning. Critics and others who explicate one of these meanings are said to be offering a “reading” of the poem. To ask whether the tune fits the meaning of the hymn, then, not only privileges the text and minimizes the importance of the music, but also assigns to the hymn text an objective, informational character, rather than a more genuinely poetic, multilayered one. Why has our language about congregational song been so biased in favor of the text? Probably because we have understood the meaning of the hymn to be situated exclusively in its text. The music to which hymn texts are sung has been understood as having an expressive character, certainly, for it is important that the music “fit” the tune not only metrically but also in terms of expression. The music of the hymn has also been seen as enhancing or deepening the meaning of the text, but not as contributing any element of |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://uwaterloo.ca/grebel/sites/ca.grebel/files/uploads/files/CGR-20-3-F2002-7.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
