{"id":41194,"date":"2020-12-13T12:16:47","date_gmt":"2020-12-13T17:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.timesandseasons.org\/?p=41194"},"modified":"2020-12-13T12:16:47","modified_gmt":"2020-12-13T17:16:47","slug":"a-christmas-hymn-wishlist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2020\/12\/a-christmas-hymn-wishlist\/","title":{"rendered":"A Christmas Hymn Wishlist"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m always curious to hear what people think about music in the Church, particularly in recent years with the forthcoming new hymnbook.\u00a0 Usually this time of year is insanely busy for me\u2014with the bell choirs that I\u2019ve been a part of, ward Christmas parties and programs, etc., around now I\u2019m used to an endless series of rehearsals and performances of Christmas music.\u00a0 This year has been much more quiet, but both Christmas music and the recent update on the forthcoming hymnbook and children\u2019s songbook<\/a> have still been on my mind.\u00a0 As such, I\u2019d be interested to hear what is on everyone\u2019s wish list for the Christmas sections of the new music collections of the Church.\u00a0 What Christmas hymns and songs would you like to see included and why?\u00a0 Are there other changes with the Christmas music of our hymnal or children\u2019s songbook that you think should happen?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll share some of my wish list while I\u2019m at it.\u00a0 There are several Christmas hymns that are currently included in Latter-day Saint hymnals outside of the English language one<\/a> that I would love to see be included in the new hymnal.\u00a0 \u201cSing We Now of Christmas,\u201d \u201cHe Is Born, the Divine Christ Child,\u201d and \u201cWhat Child Is This?\u201d stand out among them for me.\u00a0 I also would not object if \u201cStars Were Gleaming\u201d (or the older text associated with the tune, \u201cInfant Holy, Infant Lowly\u201d) migrated from the children\u2019s songbook to the hymnal.\u00a0 And, of course, there are a number of Christmas songs that I would enjoy having in the hymn book of the Church, such as \u201cSussex Carol\u201d (\u201cOn Christmas Night\u201d), \u201cGo, Tell It On the Mountain,\u201d and \u201cO Holy Night,\u201d among others.\u00a0 And, to be honest, there are a couple hymns in the current hymnal that I could do without (I don\u2019t care for \u201cIt Came Upon the Midnight Clear\u201d or \u201cWith Wondering Awe\u201d).<\/p>\n

The biggest change I would like to see, however, is to include at least a couple Advent carols and songs in the hymnal.\u00a0 Advent<\/a> is not universally embraced or even known within the Church, but it has been discussed by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf<\/a> and some members with exposure to more traditional Christian churches or cultural areas will know about it.\u00a0 My personal opinion is that it would be worthwhile to include a few Advent songs, both to provide greater exposure and opportunities to celebrate Advent in the Church and to embrace those cultural areas that have a stronger tradition of celebrating Advent (the Nordic countries and central Europe, for example).\u00a0 These might include some well known songs (like \u201cO Come, O Come, Immanuel,\u201d \u201cCome, Thou Long-Expected Jesus,\u201d or \u201cSleepers, Awake!\u201d); some that have already been published in Latter-day Saint hymnals or other Church publications (\u201cWatchmen! Tell us of the Night\u201d<\/a> from the 1841 Nauvoo hymnal, \u201cAdvent\u201d<\/a> from the Swedish children\u2019s songbook, \u201cPrepare Ye the Way of the Lord<\/a>\u201d in the Swedish hymnbook, and \u201cCome, Lord Jesus\u201d<\/a> from \u201cThe Savior of the World\u201d musical performed at Temple Square stand out to me in that regard); or even some lesser known ones (I\u2019m fond of \u201cLet All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence\u201d and \u201cComfort, Comfort You My People\u201d).\u00a0 You could say that having a couple Advent songs may prove advantageous to the Church.<\/p>\n

The children\u2019s songbook is honestly where I see the most room for improvement when it comes to Christmas.\u00a0 There are 17 Christmas songs in the current English edition.\u00a0 Of these, there are three that I truly love (\u201cSamuel Tells of the Baby Jesus,\u201d \u201cStars Were Gleaming,\u201d and \u201cHe Sent His Son\u201d) and three more that I like (\u201cAway in a Manger,\u201d \u201cMary\u2019s Lullaby,\u201d \u201cPicture a Christmas\u201d), while the remaining 11 songs either fall into the categories of being completely unknown to me or songs I don\u2019t particularly care about.\u00a0 There are a few songs from the Church\u2019s current non-English children\u2019s songbooks that I wouldn\u2019t mind to have included, such as \u201cStar Bright<\/a>,\u201d \u201cWe Wish You a Merry Christmas<\/a>,\u201d \u201cWhat Child is This<\/a>?,\u201d the Czech song<\/a> \u201cCarol of the Shepherds<\/a>,\u201d and (as mentioned above), \u201cAdvent<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 And there are other pre-existing Christmas songs like \u201cA La Rue\u201d (\u201cO Sleep, Dear Holy Baby\u201d) or \u201cO Come, Little Children\u201d that I think would work in our children\u2019s songbook.\u00a0 So, those are my thoughts and wish list for Christmas music in the Church music collections moving forward.<\/p>\n

As far as what is likely to happen, there are a few things that I suspect.\u00a0 I think that the Christmas section of the hymnbook isn\u2019t going to see dramatic changes.\u00a0 There are 14 Christmas hymns in the English hymnal, and of these, 8 seem to be in the core 100 hymns<\/a> that are required in almost every hymnbook the Church publishes (\u201cAngels We Have Heard on High,\u201d \u201cAway in a Manger,\u201d \u201cJoy to the World,\u201d \u201cO Little Town of Bethlehem,\u201d \u201cOh, Come, All Ye Faithful,\u201d \u201cSilent Night,\u201d \u201cFar, Far Away on Judea\u2019s Plains,\u201d and \u201cHark! The Herald Angels Sing\u201d).\u00a0 It\u2019s highly likely that at least those 8 will be included, if not all 14 that are in the English hymnal.\u00a0 If any of the 14 do get dropped, based on the SingPraises.net survey<\/a> of how frequently hymns are sung in sacrament meeting, \u201cWhile Shepherds Watched their Flocks,\u201d was sung least frequently, followed by \u201cOnce in Royal David\u2019s City,\u201d \u201cIt Came upon the Midnight Clear,\u201d and \u201cWith Wondering Awe.\u201d \u00a0As what seem to be the least-used Christmas hymns, these four are probably most likely to go to the chopping block.\u00a0 All told, however, there are 48 Christmas hymns included in Latter-day Saint hymnals that are not in the current English hymnal<\/a>, and it is very likely that at least a couple of these will be included in the next iteration for the worldwide church.\u00a0 Of these, \u201cLo, How a Rose E\u2019er Blooming,\u201d \u201cFair Is Creation\u201d (AKA \u201cBeautiful Savior\u201d), \u201cO Ye Joyful People,\u201d \u201cWhat Child is This?,\u201d \u201cHe Is Born, the Divine Christ Child,\u201d and \u201cA Babe is Born in Bethlehem\u201d are included in multiple translations (5, 5, 3, 3, 2, and 2 languages for these hymns, respectively).\u00a0 My guess is that these six hymns are going to be the top contenders for being added to the new hymnbook\u2019s Christmas section.\u00a0 The children\u2019s songbook is a bit more of a wildcard to me (partly because I\u2019m less familiar with that as a topic compared to the hymnals), so I don\u2019t have much in the way of speculation there.\u00a0 Regardless, we still have a few years before we get to see what happens to both the hymnal and the children\u2019s songbook.<\/p>\n

Now that I\u2019ve rambled on about Christmas (and Advent) music, sharing my wish list and speculations for the forthcoming music collections, I\u2019d love to hear yours.\u00a0 As asked above: What Christmas hymns and songs would you like to see included and why?\u00a0 Are there other changes with the Christmas music of our hymnal or children\u2019s songbook that you think should happen?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m always curious to hear what people think about music in the Church, particularly in recent years with the forthcoming new hymnbook.\u00a0 Usually this time of year is insanely busy for me\u2014with the bell choirs that I\u2019ve been a part of, ward Christmas parties and programs, etc., around now I\u2019m used to an endless series of rehearsals and performances of Christmas music.\u00a0 This year has been much more quiet, but both Christmas music and the recent update on the forthcoming hymnbook and children\u2019s songbook have still been on my mind.\u00a0 As such, I\u2019d be interested to hear what is on everyone\u2019s wish list for the Christmas sections of the new music collections of the Church.\u00a0 What Christmas hymns and songs would you like to see included and why?\u00a0 Are there other changes with the Christmas music of our hymnal or children\u2019s songbook that you think should happen? I\u2019ll share some of my wish list while I\u2019m at it.\u00a0 There are several Christmas hymns that are currently included in Latter-day Saint hymnals outside of the English language one that I would love to see be included in the new hymnal.\u00a0 \u201cSing We Now of Christmas,\u201d \u201cHe Is Born, the Divine Christ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-and-poetry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41194"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41195,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41194\/revisions\/41195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}