Need ideas for church tunes

[MaryC]

Here's everything from my "sacred" tune list - I'm not claiming that I can play 'em all (much less well ... but I'm sure they can be set on a whistle:

Praise to the Lord
Now Thank We All our God
Abide with Me
8-fold Alleluia
Praise to Your O Christ Our Saviour
Lay Your Hands
God of Day and God of Darkness
Come as You Are
Colours of Day
Gather Your People
Nearer My God to Thee
Garment of Praise
Immaculate Mother
What Wonderous Love
Crimond (Lords my Shepherd)
Lay Your Hands
Morning has Broken
O Blessed are Those
Be Thou my Vision
Irish Blessing - Chilcott
Tama Ngakau Marie
Look Around You
Be Still and Know
Jesus Christ is Risen Today
Story we Share - the
River of Life
Create in me a Clean Heart
Tallis Canon
Lord Make Me an Instrument
Come and Bless the Lord
Rejoice in the Lord Always
Amazing Grace
In Our Midst
We Come to Share our Story
Lord of the Dance
Table of Plenty
Bring Forth the Kingdom
Go Now You are Sent Forth
We are Friends
Behold Behold
Open my Eyes Lord
Here I am Lord
When the Saints go Marching In
Magnificat - Kearney
Ka Waiata
Ode to Joy
God Defend New Zealand
Israeli Mass - Holy Holy and Lamb of God
Awesome God
A Voice in the Wilderness
Be Still my Friends
Dance in the Darkness
Gloria - Anderson
Seek Ye First
Majesty
Alleluia Praise be the Lord
Strong and Constant
Pentecost Prayer
Enemy of Apathy
As the Deer
Sing of the Lord's Goodness
This is our Acceptable Time
On the Journey to Emmaus
Mo Maria
Te Aroha
Holy Ground
O Breathe on Me O Breath of God
Alleluia Alleluia, Give Thanks to the Risen Lord

(in no particular order)

[blackhawk]

Wow, what a list!

[IDAwHOa]

Oh My Father

I played it at my father in laws funeral on a Bleazey low d. Not a dry eye in the house, including mine. I didn't have time to memorize it and had difficulty seeing the page after about the 1st line.

[AnthonyBeers]

I realy enjoy Tú has vnido a la orilla or Lord, you have come to the lackeshore it is a simple spanish tune in one octave in D it is a very simple lovely song

[rhulsey]

Si Beag, Si Mor is a beautiful tune, especially when played slowly. it's on my list to play at a wedding in october.

My organist asked me to play "be thou my vision" along with organ accompaniment 2 weeks, ago - and many were moved to tears, and no fewer than 5 people asked me to play at their funerals... not bad for the first time i had played in church.

Idawhoa - i assume that "oh my father" is the mormon hymn? it's very beautiful - is there a score for it available - i have several hymnals, but not a mormon one.

Reg

[pancelticpiper]

Ah, Blackhawk, welcome to the world of traditional hymnody! In traditional hymns, the "hymn" is the text, the words. The "tune" is the melody. The two, traditionally, are rather seperate beasts, floating somewhat indepentantly. The tunes have their own titles which have nothing to do with the hymns sung to them. The tunes have their own index, usually called Index of Tune Names, at the back of hymnals.
Hymnals also have a Metrical Index. Each tune, and each hymn (set of words), has a meter, the number of syllables per line and number of lines. So a choir director, when picking out what the choir will sing at a particular service, would pick a hymn, then see what meter that text is by checking the Metrical Index, then pick a tune with the same meter. Therefore, the same text could theoretically be sung with any of the tunes sharing the same meter. The most common meter is abbreviated "CM" in hymals.
So, Amazing Grace, for example, might be listed:
Amazing Grace NEW BRITAIN CM
where Amazing Grace is the text, New Britain is the tune, and CM is the meter. There are dozens of other CM tunes in many hymnals and Amazing Grace could be sung to any of them. Following 911 the choir of the USMC sung Amazing Grace to a melody other than the usual New Britain (I can't remember which).
Anyhow you may be surprised to discover that Amazing Grace, though widely heard, actually appears if fewer hymnals than many another hymn. I did a year of research into hymns while writing a book of hymn tune arrangements for the Highland pipes, in which I gathered the hymnals of every major (and many minor) US Christian faiths convering around 97% of US Christians. Amazing Grace shows up is about half.
The most widespread tune (remember, I was researching tunes, not texts) was Hyfrydol, which occurs in every hymnal I collected.
Sung to this tune are:
Alleluia Sing To Jesus
Love Divine All Loves Excelling
Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus
Our Great Savior
Jesus What A Friend For Sinners
In Humility Our Savior
God The Spirit Guide And Guardian
I Will Sing Of My Redeemer
Call Jehovah Your Salvation
Praise The Lord Ye Heavens Adore Him
Holy Ghost Dispel Our Sadness
I Will Sing The Wondrous Story
Thou Whose Purpose Is To Kindle
Other tunes which have a large number of hymns sung to them are:
Saint Agnes
Nettleton
Azmon
Kingsfold
Hymn Of Joy
Wareham
Ellacombe
Forest Green
Saint Thomas
Regent Square
Beach Spring
Finlandia
Duke Street
Lasst Uns Erfreuen
Saint Peter
Which, between them, have several hundred hymns sung to them, often ten to fifteen each.
By the way, the tune of Morning Has Broken is called Bunessan, to which also is sung:
Baptized In Water
This Day God Gives Me
Child In The Manger
Praise And Thanksgiving
Love Is The Sunlight
While the tune to Be Thou My Vision is called Slane, to which is also sung:
Lord Of All Hopefullness
Lord Of Creation
Bridegroom And Bride
People who only know the texts used in their particular denomination will use titles perhaps unknown to people in a different denomination, therefore organists, choir directors, etc will often use the tune names to avoid confusion.

[jkrazy52]

Wow ... that's a great post, pancelticpiper! Lots of information ... some I knew, most I didn't. Thanks!

[IDAwHOa]

Idawhoa - i assume that "oh my father" is the mormon hymn? it's very beautiful - is there a score for it available - i have several hymnals, but not a mormon one.

Reg

Yes that is from the hymnal of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The hymnal (minus copyrighted songs) is available online at:

http://www.lds.org/cm/catalogsearchalph ... -1,00.html

The song itself is at:

http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmu ... seqend=ZZZ

The cool thing about this online hymnal is that you can transpose the song to whatever key you want and print it out. It will even play it for you. There are MP3's there as well.

Enjoy.

[TinwhistleJulian]

I would suggest two other Instrumental pieces I like to play if I perform in church services :
Planxty Irwin and St.Patrick's Cathedral

Slow airs should fit as well I think.

Julian

[blackhawk]

Idawhoa - i assume that "oh my father" is the mormon hymn? it's very beautiful - is there a score for it available - i have several hymnals, but not a mormon one.

Reg

Yes that is from the hymnal of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The hymnal (minus copyrighted songs) is available online at:

http://www.lds.org/cm/catalogsearchalph ... -1,00.html

The song itself is at:

http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmu ... seqend=ZZZ

The cool thing about this online hymnal is that you can transpose the song to whatever key you want and print it out. It will even play it for you. There are MP3's there as well.

Enjoy.

That's a beautiful song, IdaWhoa. Thanks for the link.

[blackhawk]

Ah, Blackhawk, welcome to the world of traditional hymnody! In traditional hymns, the "hymn" is the text, the words. The "tune" is the melody. The two, traditionally, are rather seperate beasts, floating somewhat indepentantly. The tunes have their own titles which have nothing to do with the hymns sung to them. The tunes have their own index, usually called Index of Tune Names, at the back of hymnals.
Hymnals also have a Metrical Index. Each tune, and each hymn (set of words), has a meter, the number of syllables per line and number of lines. So a choir director, when picking out what the choir will sing at a particular service, would pick a hymn, then see what meter that text is by checking the Metrical Index, then pick a tune with the same meter. Therefore, the same text could theoretically be sung with any of the tunes sharing the same meter. The most common meter is abbreviated "CM" in hymals.
So, Amazing Grace, for example, might be listed:
Amazing Grace NEW BRITAIN CM
where Amazing Grace is the text, New Britain is the tune, and CM is the meter. There are dozens of other CM tunes in many hymnals and Amazing Grace could be sung to any of them. Following 911 the choir of the USMC sung Amazing Grace to a melody other than the usual New Britain (I can't remember which).
Anyhow you may be surprised to discover that Amazing Grace, though widely heard, actually appears if fewer hymnals than many another hymn. I did a year of research into hymns while writing a book of hymn tune arrangements for the Highland pipes, in which I gathered the hymnals of every major (and many minor) US Christian faiths convering around 97% of US Christians. Amazing Grace shows up is about half.
The most widespread tune (remember, I was researching tunes, not texts) was Hyfrydol, which occurs in every hymnal I collected.
Sung to this tune are:
Alleluia Sing To Jesus
Love Divine All Loves Excelling
Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus
Our Great Savior
Jesus What A Friend For Sinners
In Humility Our Savior
God The Spirit Guide And Guardian
I Will Sing Of My Redeemer
Call Jehovah Your Salvation
Praise The Lord Ye Heavens Adore Him
Holy Ghost Dispel Our Sadness
I Will Sing The Wondrous Story
Thou Whose Purpose Is To Kindle
Other tunes which have a large number of hymns sung to them are:
Saint Agnes
Nettleton
Azmon
Kingsfold
Hymn Of Joy
Wareham
Ellacombe
Forest Green
Saint Thomas
Regent Square
Beach Spring
Finlandia
Duke Street
Lasst Uns Erfreuen
Saint Peter
Which, between them, have several hundred hymns sung to them, often ten to fifteen each.
By the way, the tune of Morning Has Broken is called Bunessan, to which also is sung:
Baptized In Water
This Day God Gives Me
Child In The Manger
Praise And Thanksgiving
Love Is The Sunlight
While the tune to Be Thou My Vision is called Slane, to which is also sung:
Lord Of All Hopefullness
Lord Of Creation
Bridegroom And Bride
People who only know the texts used in their particular denomination will use titles perhaps unknown to people in a different denomination, therefore organists, choir directors, etc will often use the tune names to avoid confusion.

Wow, great post!! Man, what a wealth of knowledge you have of this subject! Thanks for sharing, Piper!

[rhulsey]

Idawhoa - i assume that "oh my father" is the mormon hymn? it's very beautiful - is there a score for it available - i have several hymnals, but not a mormon one.

Reg

Yes that is from the hymnal of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The hymnal (minus copyrighted songs) is available online at:

http://www.lds.org/cm/catalogsearchalph ... -1,00.html

The song itself is at:

http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmu ... seqend=ZZZ

The cool thing about this online hymnal is that you can transpose the song to whatever key you want and print it out. It will even play it for you. There are MP3's there as well.

Enjoy.

Thank you!

[Anita's Dad]

This is an old Scots-Irish carol that we used to sing at Christmas. It's in old Presbyterian hymnals from Appalachia. I've been told that someone has done a modern adaptation.

Gorgeous melody --would be a great slow air.

[IDAwHOa]

This is an old Scots-Irish carol that we used to sing at Christmas. It's in old Presbyterian hymnals from Appalachia. I've been told that someone has done a modern adaptation.

Gorgeous melody --would be a great slow air.

Which one are you referring to?

[pastorkeith]

What about Mack Hoover's Whistle and Squeak?
http://www.geocities.com/whistleandsqueak/

When I first started I always picked tunes from there.
Now I have enough whistles and a modicum of experience and play pretty much everything that our hymnals throw at us each Sunday.

Let me suggest The Iona Abbey Music Book - Songs from the Iona Abbey Worship Book(Wild Goose Publications) uses a lot of traditional Irish tunes (and some new ones) with some great lyrics on faith, justice, etc.

Others have shared their list - here are just a few of the many that I think are cool on the whistle
As the Deer
Canticle of the Turning
Holy Ground
Jesus, Name above all Names
Seek Ye First
The Summons
We are Called.
Ancient of Days
Be Thou My Vision
Beautiful Savior
Amazing Grace
Blessed Assurance
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Healer of my Heart
Make me a Servant
More Precious than Silver
O the Deep, Deep, Love of Jesus
There is a Redeemer
The Lamb
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
You are my All in All
You Have Come Down to the Lakeshore
and many, many, more!

Blessings
Pastor Keith