Singers of all ages needed for the audio version of the new hymnbook, which will be a central component for incorporating the new music of the Church. Though singers will be contracted on a period basis, the scope of this project will span multiple years.<\/p>\n
This paid project will produce two final resources for members of the Church:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n
- \n
Melody only recordings \u2013 solo voices will help members of the Church learn the melodies of the hymns through accurate and appealing recordings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
4-part recordings \u2013 vocal quartets will provide sing-along recordings for families and small Church units, as well as support learning the written harmony lines.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The submission deadline is September 17th, so they are moving fast on this, with the caveat that they note: \u201cDates for this entire project will span up to several months.\u201d Regardless, though, this was an exciting indication that hymns are selected and ready for recording.[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n
An additional bit of news came in conjunction with BYU\u2019s Education Week, where members of the committees overseeing the hymnbook and children\u2019s songbook project spoke<\/a>. They noted, in respect to the publication date, \u201ccommittee members say a press release with more information can be expected soon.\u201d They also explained why the project is taking so <\/em>long. (As an aside, I feel like the project has actually moved along at a decent pace for this type of thing, it just takes time to do good work.) A few things that were noted as being causes of it taking over five years:<\/p>\n
\n
- The committee read all 48,000 responses they received from the survey they sent out<\/li>\n
- A little thing called the COVID-19 pandemic threw meetings and work into chaos for a little while<\/li>\n
- Efforts to make the hymnbook more inclusive meant coordinating with people from all over the world to take part in the process<\/li>\n
- They had over 17,000 new hymns and songs they had to review (in addition to the 500+ hymns included in current Latter-day Saint hymnals, let alone reviewing possibilities from other Christian denominations)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In an article recording the BYU, Anna Molgard, a member of the hymnbook committee, described the process by which the 17,000 new submissions of hymns have been reviewed:<\/p>\n
Molgard said the process consists of a blind review by teams across the globe. The reviewers are asked to rate how well the piece achieves the five goals of sacred music and to note any concerns about the music or text.<\/p>\n
Of the initial 17,000 submissions, 900 continued on to be reviewed by the hymnbook and children\u2019s songbook committees, according to Molgard. She said people who submitted pieces that make it to the final consideration will be contacted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So, they had a lot to go through, a worldwide team to coordinate, and a global pandemic with which to contend. In addition, there are considerations around formatting and translating the hymns in preparation for simultaneous release in the many languages spoken by members of the Church (the previous hymnal is currently in 43 languages, for comparison). And of course, there\u2019s the matter of final decision making by the First Presidency. Five or six years is pretty reasonable with all that taken into account, if you ask me.<\/p>\n
Latter-day Saint hymnals and songbooks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Indications are good about the hymnbook having an intention of inclusivity. At the education week, Krenicky noted that: \u201cHow can you make sure that everyone sees themselves in this hymnbook regardless of race, nationality, socioeconomic status, gender. \u2026 We have to represent everything because the Lord\u2019s children are everywhere.\u201d Ryan Eggett added that \u201cthe committee analyzes a song\u2019s sensitivity to cultures, gender and social issues.\u201d Even hymns currently in the hymnbook have undergone this analysis and may be subject to some editing. As Stephen Schank said: \u201cMost of the changes are moderate, but some might be more significant, especially if doctrine needs to be clarified or be more inclusive because it\u2019s not unifying members.\u201d[2]<\/sup><\/a> I appreciate that there are some ongoing efforts to make the hymnbook and songbook more inclusive.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure exactly what that inclusivity might look like, but I have a few guesses. The mention of gender could be an indication of an effort to make the language more gender-neutral. As an example from outside of the hymnal, I noticed that during the Tabernacle Choir\u2019s Christmas concert in recent years there have been efforts to do this type of adjustment in the hymns and carols they perform. For example, in \u201cSussex Carol\u201d, the lyrics changed from \u201cThen why should men <\/strong>on earth be so sad? \/ Since our Redeemer made us glad\u201d to something like: \u201cThen why should we <\/strong>on earth be so sad? \/ Since our Redeemer made us glad.\u201d (As a side note, several members of the committee are associated with the Tabernacle Choir, so it is somewhat relevant to mention the Choir.) Gender-specific (usually masculine) references are common in the current hymnal, but I have heard from many women, for example, that it is a barrier to them seeing themselves in the hymnal and that it isn\u2019t something that is very unifying for them. For one example of this type of gender-neutral adjustment of our hymns, I recommend an article by Ziff (over at Zelophehad\u2019s Daughters) called \u201cGender-Neutralizing the Hymns: A Proof of Concept<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mention of race and nationality being a focus of inclusiveness is probably the one that intrigues me the most. I\u2019m guessing that might mean the inclusion of hymns and tunes from a broader array of cultures. That\u2019s something I would be excited about (particularly if it means the inclusion of some of the African-American hymns). It likely also could mean the exclusion of some of the more elaborate choral-style hymns (like \u201cThe Wintry Day Descending to its Close\u201d or \u201cLean on My Ample Arm\u201d) and the Utah\/Deseret focused texts (like \u201cThe Wintry Day Descending to its Close\u201d or \u201cOh Ye Mountains High\u201d). Those are, however, themes I\u2019ve discussed at length before.<\/p>\n
In any case, it\u2019s exciting to hear of progress in the work on the new Latter-day Saint hymnal and children\u2019s songbook.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nFurther Reading<\/strong><\/h2>\n
For more past updates on the hymnal that I\u2019ve shared, here are a few links:<\/p>\n
\n
- \u201cThe New LDS Hymnbook: Changes and Possibilities\u201d<\/a> (June 2018)<\/li>\n
- \u201c\u2018Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing\u2019 Throughout the Restoration\u201d<\/a> (March 2019)<\/li>\n
- \u201cSpanish Hymns and the Future Hymnbook\u201d<\/a> (April 2019)<\/li>\n
- \u201cUpdates on the New Hymnbook\u201d<\/a> (May 2019)<\/li>\n
- \u201cA New Update on the New Hymnbook\u201d <\/a>(November 2020)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
And of course, there\u2019s also my series on The Mexican Mission Hymns<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in more about some information about some previous Hispanic hymnals the Church has used.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nFootnotes<\/strong><\/h2>\n
[1]<\/sup><\/a> \u201cNew Hymnbook Audio Recordings,\u201d The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/em>, https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/serve\/casting\/new-hymnbook-audio-recordings?lang=eng<\/a>, accessed August 29, 2023.<\/p>\n
[2]<\/sup><\/a> Emma Butler, \u201cNew Church hymnbook updates announced at Education Week,\u201d The Daily Universe<\/em>, August 24, 2023, https:\/\/universe.byu.edu\/2023\/08\/24\/committee-members-give-an-update-on-the-new-hymnbook\/<\/a>. Accessed August 29, 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been a bit since we last had an update on the new hymnbook and children\u2019s songbook, but it sounds like we\u2019re getting close to an announcement of the project coming to full fruition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":45410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2909,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hymns","category-music-and-poetry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Latter-day-Saint-Hymnbook-and-songbook.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45401","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=45401"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45413,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45401\/revisions\/45413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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