Hymns are Music Too
I once attended a choral music workshop in Ridgewood, New Jersey with Anton Armstrong. Dr. Armstrong (who has strong ties to Michigan, by the way) is a faculty member at St. Olaf College, in St. Olaf, Minnesota. You may have seen him on television Christmas specials, directing the St. Olaf choir. The workshop choir was a combination of a large church choir and members of the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists. What Dr. Armstrong reminded us is that hymns are music too. Along with various anthems, he led us in some of the hymns. Dr. Armstrong has a wonderful voice, and he demonstrated exactly how he wanted us to sing them. The difference between how he sang them and how most choirs sing them was staggering. He sang them with a depth of feeling, and consummate musicianship, that I had rarely heard before. To a certain point, you can hear this sort of thing when The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings hymns for general conference, something that would probably make Dr. Armstrong (who is no stranger to this choir) sing for joy.
I do not see any reason why we cannot train our choirs to sing hymns as music. I am sure that many choir directors have often heard the complaint from choir members, “we don’t want to sing just hymns.” It seems that some people perceive hymns to be in a different category from other church music. The fact is, a hymn is music if we treat it like music. If not, well, then it is just another hymn.
I once attended a choral music workshop in Ridgewood, New Jersey with Anton Armstrong. Dr. Armstrong (who has strong ties to Michigan, by the way) is a faculty member at St. Olaf College, in St. Olaf, Minnesota. You may have seen him on television Christmas specials, directing the St. Olaf choir. The workshop choir was a combination of a large church choir and members of the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists. What Dr. Armstrong reminded us is that hymns are music too. Along with various anthems, he led us in some of the hymns. Dr. Armstrong has a wonderful voice, and he demonstrated exactly how he wanted us to sing them. The difference between how he sang them and how most choirs sing them was staggering. He sang them with a depth of feeling, and consummate musicianship, that I had rarely heard before. To a certain point, you can hear this sort of thing when The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings hymns for general conference, something that would probably make Dr. Armstrong (who is no stranger to this choir) sing for joy.
I do not see any reason why we cannot train our choirs to sing hymns as music. I am sure that many choir directors have often heard the complaint from choir members, “we don’t want to sing just hymns.” It seems that some people perceive hymns to be in a different category from other church music. The fact is, a hymn is music if we treat it like music. If not, well, then it is just another hymn.
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