Comments on: Ring Out Wild Bells http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/ring-out-wild-bells/ Truth Will Prevail Fri, 25 May 2012 16:49:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Marcus http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/ring-out-wild-bells/#comment-305458 Marcus Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:35:03 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/?p=10787#comment-305458 Dennis ... good point! Dennis … good point!

]]> By: Chad Too http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/ring-out-wild-bells/#comment-305427 Chad Too Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:22:51 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/?p=10787#comment-305427 I just ran it through the Church's interactive music player and cranked the tempo up to 72, and I have to agree I like it better. I played with the transposition a bit too and find I like it in F#minor best. I just ran it through the Church’s interactive music player and cranked the tempo up to 72, and I have to agree I like it better. I played with the transposition a bit too and find I like it in F#minor best.

]]> By: Dennis http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/ring-out-wild-bells/#comment-305415 Dennis Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:40:50 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/?p=10787#comment-305415 Marcus, I wonder how much the slower hymns has to do as much with mediocre organ performance skills as anything. Unfortunately, it's almost always the organist (not the chorister or the congregation) who sets the tempo. Marcus,

I wonder how much the slower hymns has to do as much with mediocre organ performance skills as anything. Unfortunately, it’s almost always the organist (not the chorister or the congregation) who sets the tempo.

]]> By: document http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/ring-out-wild-bells/#comment-305408 document Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:08:21 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/?p=10787#comment-305408 As a ward organist for the last 6 years, we played it once, and that was only when we didn't have a ward music coordinator or chorister so I was picking the hymns. That was the first time I've ever heard it sung in a sacrament meeting. As a ward organist for the last 6 years, we played it once, and that was only when we didn’t have a ward music coordinator or chorister so I was picking the hymns. That was the first time I’ve ever heard it sung in a sacrament meeting.

]]> By: Marcus http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/ring-out-wild-bells/#comment-305393 Marcus Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:41:31 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/?p=10787#comment-305393 Nothing wrong with a hint of melancholy in our hymnody. Not at all. The problem with Ring Out, in my experience, comes when the whole thing turns into a veritable marche funebre! ... a dirge! There seems to be some collective sense, in recent years, that speed in our hymns is irreverent. If the Saints don't sing as fervently as in times past, it's no doubt due to the unsingability of a hymnody to which the culture is applying the brakes. Across the board things have been slower than in my childhood. I'm talking hymns ... not my own slower self! (Thanks, Hans, for the background on the original tempo. That confirms what I have suspected!) Nothing wrong with a hint of melancholy in our hymnody. Not at all. The problem with Ring Out, in my experience, comes when the whole thing turns into a veritable marche funebre! … a dirge! There seems to be some collective sense, in recent years, that speed in our hymns is irreverent. If the Saints don’t sing as fervently as in times past, it’s no doubt due to the unsingability of a hymnody to which the culture is applying the brakes. Across the board things have been slower than in my childhood. I’m talking hymns … not my own slower self! (Thanks, Hans, for the background on the original tempo. That confirms what I have suspected!)

]]> By: Dennis http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/ring-out-wild-bells/#comment-305349 Dennis Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:34:09 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/?p=10787#comment-305349 James, I love the tune (even slow). The song would not be the same without it. It is fitting for an end of the year song, the end of the year representing oldness, slowness, coldness, etc. The tune inspires a sense of contemplation about the year that has passed. James, I love the tune (even slow). The song would not be the same without it. It is fitting for an end of the year song, the end of the year representing oldness, slowness, coldness, etc. The tune inspires a sense of contemplation about the year that has passed.

]]> By: James Olsen http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/ring-out-wild-bells/#comment-305347 James Olsen Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:57:12 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/?p=10787#comment-305347 Am I the only one who likes the melancholy tune? I even like it slow, though the 72 beat would be great too. The poem is, after all, an elegy, written for Tennyson's soon-to-be brother-in-law (Arthur Hallam) who died tragically at 22 of a sudden brain hemorrhage. Hallam was also an aspiring poet in the same vein as Tennyson. I think the mixture of melancholy and hope in the music is brilliant, very fitting an elegy that acknowledges the wretched while calling for the divine. Am I the only one who likes the melancholy tune? I even like it slow, though the 72 beat would be great too. The poem is, after all, an elegy, written for Tennyson’s soon-to-be brother-in-law (Arthur Hallam) who died tragically at 22 of a sudden brain hemorrhage. Hallam was also an aspiring poet in the same vein as Tennyson. I think the mixture of melancholy and hope in the music is brilliant, very fitting an elegy that acknowledges the wretched while calling for the divine.

]]> By: Dennis http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/ring-out-wild-bells/#comment-305344 Dennis Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:58:15 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/?p=10787#comment-305344 Heaven forbid we sing any melancholy tunes in church! Heaven forbid we sing any melancholy tunes in church!

]]> By: Hans http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/ring-out-wild-bells/#comment-305337 Hans Fri, 01 Jan 2010 12:01:07 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/?p=10787#comment-305337 Crawford Gates, composer of "Promised Valley", wrote the music specifically to Tennyson's poem in 1944. It appeared in the 1948 LDS Hymnal #279 in the Choir section in the key of E minor and each verse ended with an E Major chord (called a "Picardy third", when the interval of a third from the root is raised a half-step, from minor to major). The instruction given "With fervor" and the metronome marking was dotted quarter note = 72 (72 beats per minute, two beats per measure) which is a healthy tempo. Gate's hymn appeared again in the 1985 Hymnbook, this time as #215, this time transposed down to D minor, and the D major chord is not sung until the end of the third verse. Again the instruction is given "Fervently" but for some reason the Salt Lake editors slowed the thing down(!) with the new metronome marking of dotted quarter note = 48-60(!) What inspired these morons to slow down the piece is beyond me! IMHO, the tune is fine but it needs to be taken at Gate's original tempo. Crawford Gates, composer of “Promised Valley”, wrote the music specifically to Tennyson’s poem in 1944. It appeared in the 1948 LDS Hymnal #279 in the Choir section in the key of E minor and each verse ended with an E Major chord (called a “Picardy third”, when the interval of a third from the root is raised a half-step, from minor to major). The instruction given “With fervor” and the metronome marking was dotted quarter note = 72 (72 beats per minute, two beats per measure) which is a healthy tempo.

Gate’s hymn appeared again in the 1985 Hymnbook, this time as #215, this time transposed down to D minor, and the D major chord is not sung until the end of the third verse. Again the instruction is given “Fervently” but for some reason the Salt Lake editors slowed the thing down(!) with the new metronome marking of dotted quarter note = 48-60(!) What inspired these morons to slow down the piece is beyond me!

IMHO, the tune is fine but it needs to be taken at Gate’s original tempo.

]]> By: nita http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/ring-out-wild-bells/#comment-305335 nita Fri, 01 Jan 2010 06:00:24 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/?p=10787#comment-305335 Thanks for this post as it made me look at the words. Usually it seems my wards sing it every year, perhaps it isn't so, but is seems that way. This year our Christmas service was held 12/27 as we had a snow day on the 19th, so we didn't sing this hymn. No offense but up until now, I haven't enjoyed this song, I think due to the reasons Marcus stated. However I now appreciate the words/sentiments. To me it would be a great idea if the song could be matched with a different tune. Thanks for this post as it made me look at the words. Usually it seems my wards sing it every year, perhaps it isn’t so, but is seems that way. This year our Christmas service was held 12/27 as we had a snow day on the 19th, so we didn’t sing this hymn.

No offense but up until now, I haven’t enjoyed this song, I think due to the reasons Marcus stated.

However I now appreciate the words/sentiments. To me it would be a great idea if the song could be matched with a different tune.

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