- Lisa on Everything wrong with the new hymn book (1799 edition, colorized): “I’m a long-time ward organist. I agree there needs to be balance between old and new. I think there should be something very familiar in every sacrament meeting. I think that about 1/4 of what we sing should be extremely familiar, 1/2 should be mostly or semi-familiar, and 1/4 should be new. If we don’t keep regularly singing the semi-familiar hymns, they will fade into obscurity. It’s one way we can try to combat the musical decline of our congregations. With that said, new hymns will always be unfamiliar until we sing them over and over. There’s really no other way. We can choose to not ever do anything new, but that leads to stagnation. With the current Sunday set-up of our meetings, sacrament meeting is the only place to sing and learn new hymns. Unless the whole ward plans to join the choir, relegating the learning of them to choir practice will mean that only a handful of people will ever learn them. Not learning them, continuing to sing only what we’ve always sung, is a sad option to me. We need both predictability and variety. Trying to balance those two things is a challenge. Our ward sings a “new” hymn once or twice a month. I’d prefer it to be at least twice and to repeat them regularly. But I’m not in charge of that.” Aug 27, 13:18
- on Everything wrong with the new hymn book (1799 edition, colorized): ““…ward music directors . . . pick every obscure, but lovely hymn that leads to awkward plodding and silence from half the congregation. . .” Sadly, I can attest from my own experience that there may be some truth here. We sing one of the new four digit hymns every Sunday. Recently when I went into another ward’s chapel and saw only two- and three-digit numbers on the board up front, my body felt a visceral feeling of relief. In my U.S. ward, I think we sing only obscure hymns, and almost never do we sing any of the hymns that might be sung by the congregation in general conference. Those are great hymns, and I wish we would sing them in my ward’s sacrament meetings.” Aug 27, 13:01
- on Everything wrong with the new hymn book (1799 edition, colorized): ““…the reduction in musicality in our worship is disappointing…” While this reduction can be seen in center places in the U.S., it is maybe more apparent at the edges of the church. I travel a lot, and attend LDS meetings wherever possible. Many Sundays, I have attended sacrament meetings where the hymns were played on a piano or keyboard by an American sister missionary — and this because there was no local person who could play. I am thankful for the sister missionaries, but truth be told, fewer young Americans are taking piano lessons, so these overseas places cannot rely on this resource in future years. I recently returned from a period in Ukraine, where the branch had a piano but had no American missionaries due to the war. They used the computer and the church’s music webpage. So yes, I think it is true that there is a reduction in our musicality — not just among LDS, but also in our larger society.” Aug 27, 12:50
- on Everything wrong with the new hymn book (1799 edition, colorized): “For those wondering, here’s your pattern: Follow the hymns selected in general conference. Why have they been chosen? Because they are universally uniting in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and we feel the spirit strongly in them. Occasionally, we are treated to something new and special. That’s how new and special is to be approached. Infrequently, but not unimportantly. The bulk of the hymns should follow a similar pattern to conference. Ps – this post is awesome” Aug 27, 12:14
- on Everything wrong with the new hymn book (1799 edition, colorized): “I’m just more worried about over zealous ward music directors, who instead of choosing hymns the congregation knows and is united and singing with the spirit they try to pick every obscure, but lovely hymn that leads to awkward plodding and silence from half the congregation. And then they have the nerve to complain about no one singing along. Choir is the place to learn new hymns. Sacrament meeting is the place to be united and strongly feel the spirit. If we have to sing the spirit of God, How Firm a Foundation, come come ye saints, and Praise to the man, etc week that’s perfectly fine. If you want to introduce the new ones? Sure, skip the obligatory “let’s find the shortest possible closing hymn” I can find and chose a new one couple times a month. And it’s not a sin to sing the same hymn more than once every six months.” Aug 27, 12:11
- on Anti-Mormon Depictions So Bad They’re Good: “I got interested in the Church after reading Catholic apologist William Whalen’s book “Latter day. Saints in the Modern World “While the book was complimentary in some parts there sections painted Joseph Smith as a fraud. I therefore decided to check out this strange sect. My first visit to church was to see what kind of weirdos professed belief in gold plates magic stones and other absurdities. As I waited outside the chapel which was a rented Methodist church building I expected the attendees to be the cast of Hee Haw with a combined IQ of 20 or less. Instead contact with the members revealed a very Christlike group of individuals this made me curious to know more It took several years and burning my Book of Mormon and a visit with my parish priest before I was baptized.” Aug 27, 11:50
- on Everything wrong with the new hymn book (1799 edition, colorized): “Now I will feel justified when I keep my inevitable criticism to only 30 or 40 pages. I agree with Mack the Turtle that the reduction in musicality in our worship is disappointing. I went to a rock concert recently where near the end the performer did one song with a section of three-part vocals for the audience to fill in. He said that he doesn’t normally perform this song, but “you people out here just sing so well”. (Or something to that effect.)” Aug 27, 09:16
- on Everything wrong with the new hymn book (1799 edition, colorized): “Way to get out ahead of the BCC critiques!” Aug 27, 07:39
- on Everything wrong with the new hymn book (1799 edition, colorized): “Thanks, Jonathan. I will reserve the right to criticize the new hymn book using each of your approved criteria! I’m less concerned about the individual hymns that will be included or excluded from the pending collection. Sure, I have preferences and favorites (and plenty of hymns I can’t stand – new and old). My main concern is with the direction the new collection seems to represent for Church singing. Less emphasis on part singing, registers that are not palatable for many voices, and simplified melodies. Yes, I’m a music snob, but I have always been proud of the quality of singing the current hymnal produced and feel like that is being abandoned. I won’t weigh in on the actual text of the new hymns (those that have been released, thus far). Ridiculous? Definitely. But I sing all sorts of pieces with either blasphemous or nonsensical text and don’t give it a second thought as long as the music is rewarding.” Aug 27, 07:22
- on Everything wrong with the new hymn book (1799 edition, colorized): “I love how the Dresden hymnal was published in Strasbourg. Maybe the Church will publish its new hymnal in Vancouver.” Aug 27, 06:55
