From the Organist & Choirmaster

If you have ever spent any time looking at the bottom of the pages where our hymns lie in the hymnal, you have most likely noticed tiny, printed text with people’s names and an italicized word or group of words at the very bottom. These are the various ‘tune names’ for the hymns! Most of the time the hymn tune is independent of the particular text, but the numbers and letters at the bottom right “LM,” “CM,” “77.77.77” represent the meter of the text. “LM” meaning “Long Meter,” “CM” meaning Common Meter, and “77.77.77” the numbers representing the number of syllables in each line of a stanza. This provides a very fun, but not always easy game of “pick the tune!” One example of this is that Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, a hymn in common meter, could be sung to the same tune as Joy to the world! Wouldn’t that prove interesting! This is one of the reasons a ‘Hymnal’ is called a hymnal. There are other names, hymnbook and hymnary most popular, are simply collection of texts set to either their original tunes, or tunes hymnal editors for particular churches believe fit the context of their specific church better. One of my favorite hymnals was first published in 1861 during the Oxford Movement, Hymns: Ancient and Modern. It strove to trace hymn texts back to their original tunes (after many texts and melodies were changed, prohibited or deemed only for the choir) and did so very successfully. It first started with 273 hymns and through many years of additions it now contains 847 hymns, chants, and service music. Next time you sing a hymn, peep down to the bottom of the page and notice if you recognize any names or places. By having the hymn tunes, organists and choirmasters are able to trace the origins of essentially every hymn tune!