First of series:  Cadence and rhyme essential to retaining message of hymn

What is it about a hymn that makes one more memorable than another that is no less profound?  Take for instance Amazing Grace, the most popular hymn of the last two centuries.  Of course the theme and the words have wonderful meaning that go to the heart of all who know it, but it isn’t the words themselves that strike a chord in us, nor is it the theology we eventually learn from it that helps us retain the song.  It is, rather, the cadence of the poem.  Many tunes have been written for Amazing Grace, but the tune in most hymnals expresses the cadence of the words very well. That is what we remember.  It is the simple cadence of the poetic form used that causes us to recall the words.  Amazing Grace is written in “common meter”: four lines; line one and three are eight syllables; line two and four have six syllables; the accent is on every second syllable throughout the poem.  The fact that Newton used this cadence in his poem is what makes the message memorable.

Poetry that we learned as children had such a cadence, and we can still recite these rhymes easily…without thought.  Other poetry, most written in modern times, is less memorable for the simple reason that it is free form.  It is more difficult form to learn the non-rhythmic lines.

And what is my point?

Contemporary music is often written in free form.  The only parts that stick in our minds are the repetitive phrases.  The music must be written to accommodate the poetry rather than the cadence.  Many thought provoking hymns are being written today, but they are both difficult to memorize and we miss the theology.

Of course in the older hymnody there is the rhyme aspect that aids the memory.  Again in Amazing Grace we hear the rhyming words at the end of the first and third lines and the second and fourth.  That pattern is called “a-b-a-b”: “sound” rhymes with “found”; “me” rhymes with “see”.  This is the simplest form of rhyme.  Although free form poetry may employ rhyme, it doesn’t do so in any particular pattern.  The serious student of poetry will find this as they dissect the poem.  To sing in free form is ludicrous, because we spend our time trying to figure out the tune and a great portion of the words get lost in the exercise.  Admittedly, there are some newer hymns that have taken hold of our congregations, but what they have in common is one or two phrases that stand out and are, therefore, memorable.  It takes a musical genius to write a good tune to a free form poem.  It will be the melodic line rather than the cadence that makes it memorable.  We learn the tune rather than the words.

Since the words are the most important, it is of equal importance to construct the words in a manner that the singer will retain the thought set in the words.

When I see a church bulletin listing a group of hymns under the heading of “Worship Time”, I cringe.  The entire service is worship…or should be.  Indeed, the purpose of hymnody is to worship God, but there is much more to worship than a pep rally. 

Another aspect of hymn singing is harmony.  That is a subject all of its own, and I will address that issue at another time.  Look for more next week…