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As we discussed in class yesterday, the language used in worship songs and hymns from the Psalms in previous centuries is very different than the language we are accustomed to in the twenty first century. Words such as “thy, thou, doth,” and “dost” are not part of typical language usage today. However, the language used… Continue reading The Evolution of Language in Worship Music

In class and in the reading, the use of paraphrase to make words fit into a specific meter was a big topic of conversation. It was also mentioned that this can be seen as wrong and how changing the words of the Bible seems almost a little dishonorable. However, I have grown up in a… Continue reading Paraphrasing

In class today, we learned about songs with the common meter and long meter. We also did a class “sing-along” for a few Bible verses that worked with some songs. For example, Psalm 23 fit to Amazing Grace. Yankee Doodle and Jack & Diane by John Mellencamp matched up to Bible verses, as well. Paraphrasing… Continue reading Meter + Melody = Music

Is the Bible easy to understand? Depending on the version you read, in my opinion. I find that the NKJV( New King James Version) is pretty easy to understand. But there are so many different versions that can make it hard to understand. When we were reading today I couldn’t understand any of the wording… Continue reading The Bible and its understanding

Talking about chanting made more sense to me than it did when I was reading about it. I understood more the difference between chanting vs singing. I feel like chanting can have musical aspects but not all chanting is musical. For example, we talked about how what we chant at BU games can be considered… Continue reading Chanting in the Church

Today we talked about the question, “Is the Bible easy to understand?” In my opinion, no the Bible is not easy to understand. It can actually be difficult at times to understand. The Bible has multiple meanings to a text which can get confusing. We need to take time to read and interpret what the… Continue reading Understanding the Bible

“Is the Bible easy to understand? Does the Bible have a single meaning?” In a short answer, no the Bible is not easy to understand, and there can be more than one meaning to the text of the Bible. Because the Bible is not easy to understand, it takes effort and time to decipher the… Continue reading Simplicity in the Bible?

Growing up and even still today I have many members in my extended family that are members of the Reformed Presbyterian church. Dr McGrath touched on this denomination a little bit today in class. To go a little deeper this denomination followed John Calvin’s theology in accordance with Psalmody. This means that they exclusively sing… Continue reading More Popular Hymns in Psalmic Meter

Today, Tuesday, September 7, 2021, we talked a little about the Protestant Reformation and its impact on music, as well as mainly focusing on metrical Psalms.  We started out with the Protestant Reformation and some of the main points such as the justification by grace through faith, the scripture as the ultimate authority, and its… Continue reading Metrical Psalms and Protestant Reformation

Today in class as we sang the same lyrics to different melodies, I found it very interesting to experience how melodies affect lyrics and vice versa. As we learned today, common meter gives us the ability to sing different lyrics to the same melody, but is this something we should do? Does changing the melody… Continue reading How does melody impact lyrics?