{"id":55065,"date":"2026-11-06T05:37:44","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T12:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=55065"},"modified":"2026-11-02T08:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:49:09","slug":"breaking-the-auto-pilot-brent-yorgason-on-alternate-tunes-for-familiar-hymns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/11\/breaking-the-auto-pilot-brent-yorgason-on-alternate-tunes-for-familiar-hymns\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking the Auto-Pilot: Brent Yorgason on Alternate Tunes for Familiar Hymns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"first-token\" data-path-to-node=\"0\"><span class=\"\">Have you ever caught yourself singing all four verses of &#8220;Redeemer of Israel&#8221; in sacrament meeting,<\/span> only to realize you spent the entire hymn mentally reviewing your grocery list? When we sing the same pairings of sacred poetry and melody for decades, our brains naturally shift into autopilot. But this static relationship between text and tune was actually a relatively late development in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. BYU music theory professor and hymnologist Brent Yorgason has spent years exploring what happens when we decouple these elements, recently publishing the <i data-path-to-node=\"0\" data-index-in-node=\"576\">Sing a New Song<\/i> hymnal to pair familiar 1985 LDS hymnbook texts with over 700 alternate historical melodies. Yorgason recently sat down for an interview over at the Latter-day Saint history blog <i data-path-to-node=\"0\" data-index-in-node=\"771\">From the Desk<\/i> to discuss how using <a class=\"ng-star-inserted\" href=\"https:\/\/fromthedesk.org\/how-can-using-alternate-lds-hymn-tunes-enrich-worship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">alternate hymn tunes for Latter-day Saints<\/a> can revitalize modern Latter-day Saint worship music.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"0\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"amjUBj7oe3\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/fromthedesk.org\/how-can-using-alternate-lds-hymn-tunes-enrich-worship\/\">How Can Using Alternate Hymn Tunes Enrich Latter-day Saint Worship?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;How Can Using Alternate Hymn Tunes Enrich Latter-day Saint Worship?&#8221; &#8212; From the Desk\" src=\"https:\/\/fromthedesk.org\/how-can-using-alternate-lds-hymn-tunes-enrich-worship\/embed\/#?secret=RYIjWfrIKT#?secret=amjUBj7oe3\" data-secret=\"amjUBj7oe3\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"1\">The Historical Fluidity of Text and Tune<\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"2\">To understand how alternate tunes function, it helps to understand how hymns are constructed in the first place. Modern singers often assume that the words and music of a given hymn were born together in a burst of singular inspiration.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">&#8220;When hymnologists talk about hymns, they are generally referring to the hymn texts rather than the hymn tunes,&#8221; Yorgason explained. &#8220;These are most often created by two different people, perhaps widely separated by geography and time. Heavenly Father has blessed some of us with poetic abilities and others with musical talents, which means that we often need to collaborate with one another to create a meaningful and effective hymn.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">A fantastic example of this from Temple Square is David Warner and Mack Wilberg. Brother Warner is a fantastic poet who has provided thoughtful texts for the music that Brother Wilberg uses in his arrangements and original compositions through their collaborations. See, for example, the new hymn &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/music\/hymns-for-home-and-church\/how-i-love-the-house-of-god?lang=eng\">How I Love the House of God<\/a>&#8221; that was added to the hymnal last week, or &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=B9tpXw_3DIo\">To the Endless Day<\/a>,&#8221; which premiered this summer.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"To the Endless Day! | The Tabernacle Choir\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/B9tpXw_3DIo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\">Because hymn texts were traditionally written in standardized poetic meters, a single poem could be sung to dozens of different melodies that shared the same metric rhythm. Early Latter-day Saints heavily relied on this modular system. Emma Smith&#8217;s 1835 <i data-path-to-node=\"4\" data-index-in-node=\"254\">A Collection of Sacred Hymns<\/i> contained only lyrics, meaning congregations in Kirtland and Nauvoo had to draw upon a shared repertoire of tunes they had memorized from popular shape-note singing schools.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">In fact, it wasn&#8217;t until the publication of the <i data-path-to-node=\"5\" data-index-in-node=\"48\">Latter-day Saints&#8217; Psalmody<\/i> in 1889 that an official Church hymnal regularly included sheet music. Even then, it took decades for certain pairings to become permanent. (And gratefully, the music formatting didn&#8217;t permanently follow the bizarre setup in the <em>Latter-day Saints&#8217; Psalmody<\/em>.) Eliza R. Snow\u2019s &#8220;O My Father,&#8221; for example, was published with six different tunes in official Church materials\u2014including melodies by Lowell Mason, <a href=\"https:\/\/fromthedesk.org\/tracy-cannon-lds-hymbook-evolution\/\">Tracy Y. Cannon<\/a>, and Joseph Haydn\u2014before it was finally wedded to its current tune in 1927.<\/p>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"6\">Defamiliarization and Ward Choir Worship<\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">The goal of pairing familiar lyrics with alternate melodies is not to replace the beloved tunes in the 1985 hymnal, which Yorgason affirms are highly appropriate and spiritually resonant. Rather, the goal is to trigger a literary concept known as defamiliarization.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\">When you sing a beloved text like &#8220;I Stand All Amazed&#8221; to an entirely different, perhaps more somber or reflective historical melody, the jarring shift pulls your mind out of its familiar rut. You are suddenly forced to pay attention to the specific words you are singing, often uncovering fresh doctrinal insights or emotional nuances in the sacred poetry that you had previously glossed over.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"9\">&#8220;When we sing hymns, the music should support and enhance the poetic meanings, inviting the spirit to testify of the truthfulness of the words,&#8221; Yorgason noted. &#8220;I believe that the Holy Ghost can communicate to us both through words and through music, but some of the strongest spiritual experiences come when both words and music are carefully wedded together.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\">By exploring these alternate historical matches, ward choirs, soloists, and families gathering for home devotionals have a highly practical way to introduce musical variety into their worship. It allows local music programs, like ward choirs, to present something fresh and musically engaging to the congregation while strictly utilizing approved, familiar sacred poetry.<\/p>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"11\">Conclusion<\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"12\">The interview with Brent Yorgason includes much more, including a fascinating discussion of the history of &#8220;While of These Emblems We Partake,&#8221; the long Christian tradition of cross-pollinating 13th-century texts with 17th-century melodies, and how the rollout of the new global hymnbook continues this collaborative tradition. I highly recommend reading the full interview on <a class=\"ng-star-inserted\" href=\"https:\/\/fromthedesk.org\/how-can-using-alternate-lds-hymn-tunes-enrich-worship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Latter-day Saint worship music<\/a> over at <i data-path-to-node=\"12\" data-index-in-node=\"420\">From the Desk<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"13\">While you&#8217;re there, check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/fromthedesk.org\/j-golden-kimball-quotes\/\">J. Golden Kimball Quotes<\/a> page!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever caught yourself singing all four verses of &#8220;Redeemer of Israel&#8221; in sacrament meeting, only to realize you spent the entire hymn mentally reviewing your grocery list? When we sing the same pairings of sacred poetry and melody for decades, our brains naturally shift into autopilot. But this static relationship between text and tune was actually a relatively late development in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. BYU music theory professor and hymnologist Brent Yorgason has spent years exploring what happens when we decouple these elements, recently publishing the Sing a New Song hymnal to pair familiar 1985 LDS hymnbook texts with over 700 alternate historical melodies. Yorgason recently sat down for an interview over at the Latter-day Saint history blog From the Desk to discuss how using alternate hymn tunes for Latter-day Saints can revitalize modern Latter-day Saint worship music.<\/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":[2890],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-desk"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55065","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=55065"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55068,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55065\/revisions\/55068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}