{"id":32,"date":"2022-11-08T22:00:54","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T22:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/chapter\/the-protestant-reformation-and-metrical-psalms\/"},"modified":"2023-01-25T20:53:09","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T20:53:09","slug":"the-protestant-reformation-and-metrical-psalms","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/chapter\/the-protestant-reformation-and-metrical-psalms\/","title":{"raw":"The Protestant Reformation and Metrical Psalms","rendered":"The Protestant Reformation and Metrical Psalms"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"the-protestant-reformation-and-metrical-psalms\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">In this chapter you will<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>explore the musical impact of the Protestant Reformation<\/li>\r\n \t<li>learn about the Bible and music in early colonial North America<\/li>\r\n \t<li>discover what meter is and how it allows the same words to be sung to different melodies<\/li>\r\n \t<li>create your own adaptation of a biblical text to a standard meter that can then be sung to a familiar tune<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_179\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"280\"]<a href=\"http:\/\/www.loc.gov\/exhibits\/bay-psalm-book-and-american-printing\/online-exhibition.html#obj002\"><img class=\"wp-image-179 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/bibleandmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/12\/Bay-Psalm-Book-Ps23.jpg\" alt=\"The beginning of Psalm 23 in the Bay Psalm Book.\" width=\"280\" height=\"164\" \/><\/a> The beginning of Psalm 23 in the Bay Psalm Book. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.loc.gov\/exhibits\/bay-psalm-book-and-american-printing\/online-exhibition.html#obj002\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre.<\/a> from American Imprints Collection, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/rr\/rarebook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rare Book and Special Collections Division<\/a>, Library of Congress, is in the public domain.[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-pf\">Do you know <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId127\" href=\"https:\/\/www.historyofinformation.com\/detail.php?id=380\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">the first book printed in colonial North America<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>? It was a collection of psalms known as the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Bay Psalm Book<\/em><\/span>. This tells us something about the centrality of the Psalms in the Protestant worship that these European colonists engaged in. The book was a collection of metrical psalms, meaning that the biblical psalms were translated not merely from the original Hebrew into English but into English verses that followed a regular meter. Meter in this context means a regular pattern of numbers of syllables and rhythms. Meter is not just a number of syllables; it also has to do with where the emphasis falls in words. That is why even though the tune \u201cYankee Doodle\u201d has the same number of syllables in each line as the melody you know as \u201cAmazing Grace,\u201d you cannot sing the words of one of them to the other melody and have it sound right and natural. The melody traditionally used for \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d is in what is known as common meter, so called because it was and is so widely used. It consists of groups of four lines that alternate between eight and six syllables. You may see this abbreviated in metrical psalm collections as CM (for common meter) or 8.6.8.6, indicating the actual meter.<\/p>\r\n<span class=\"pullquote-right\">The slogan\u00a0<em>sola scriptura<\/em> means \"scripture alone.\" This became a key slogan of the Protestant Reformation, emphasizing the Bible as ultimate (even if in practice never the\u00a0<em>only<\/em>) authority.<\/span>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The fact that the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Bay Psalm Book<\/em><\/span> was the first book to be printed in the American colonies tells us something. So too does the fact that a <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId128\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonbookblog.com\/history\/bay-psalm-book\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">printing press<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> was set up at such an early point. These facts together highlight some important things one can learn about the Protestant Reformation at the intersection of the Bible and music. You definitely will want to explore these things further if you are interested in this topic, and just as there are many <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId129\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nypl.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/06\/bay-psalm-book\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">copies<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> of and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId130\" href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/exhibits\/bay-psalm-book-and-american-printing\/online-exhibition.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">exhibits<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> about the <a class=\"rId131\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wdl.org\/en\/item\/3600\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em class=\"import-url-i\">Bay Psalm Book<\/em><\/a> online, there are <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId132\" href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/topics\/reformation\/reformation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">many<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId133\" href=\"https:\/\/human.libretexts.org\/Bookshelves\/Art\/Book%3A_Art_History_II_(Lumen)\/06%3A_15001600The_Age_of_Reformation-_Northern_Renaissance_Art\/6.03%3A_Introduction_to_the_Protestant_Reformation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">introductions<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> to the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId134\" href=\"https:\/\/www.khanacademy.org\/humanities\/world-history\/renaissance-and-reformation\/protestant-reformation\/a\/an-introduction-to-the-protestant-reformation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Protestant Reformation<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. In this context, we can sum up a few major points. One is an emphasis on individual Christians reading the Bible. English translations of the Bible are so numerous and widespread, and the act of reading it so common, that it can be hard to imagine a world without those things. The printing press was a major innovation around the time of the Protestant Reformation that made it possible and dovetailed into its emphases. Just as individual Christians should, according to Protestants, take responsibility for reading and interpreting the Bible, so too worship became more participatory, with all believers having the same access to God in prayer without a need for other human mediators and everyone joining together in song. Put these emphases together, and the composition of singable songs derived from Scripture is a natural direction to take things. In the seventeenth century, the English Puritan minister <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/e\/eebo\/A39936.0001.001\/1:4?rgn=div1;view=fulltext\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Thomas Ford called the singing of psalms a \u201cChristian duty.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a>[footnote]Thomas Ford, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Singing_of_Psalmes_the_duty_of_Christian\/ZSpkAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Singing of Psalmes the duty of Christians under the New Testament, or a vindication of that Gospel ordinance in V. sermons upon Ephesians 5. 19<\/a><\/em> (London: W. B., 1659).[\/footnote]<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Bay Psalm Book<\/em><\/span> is in the public domain (not surprising given its age), and so it can be <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId136\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wdl.org\/en\/item\/3600\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">read online<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> in a <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId137\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wdl.org\/en\/item\/2834\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">variety<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId138\" href=\"https:\/\/digitalcommons.cedarville.edu\/sing_psalters\/3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">places<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>, including <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId139\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Bay_Psalm_Book\/sCPDiU5BEeEC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;pg=PR2&amp;printsec=frontcover\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Google Books<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. You will undoubtedly find aspects of such an old book difficult to read, but at least <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId140\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Bay_Psalm_Book\/sCPDiU5BEeEC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;pg=PR2&amp;printsec=frontcover\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">take a peek inside<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_154\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"319\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Psalms_and_Hymns_imitated_in_the_languag\/-bpVAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=0\"><img class=\"wp-image-154\" style=\"font-size: 1em;\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/bibleandmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/12\/Isaac-Watts-300x161.png\" alt=\"Beginning of Isaac Watts' paraphrase of Psalm 100 in print edition.\" width=\"319\" height=\"171\" \/><\/a> Image from Psalms and Hymns, imitated in the language of the New Testament. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Psalms_and_Hymns_imitated_in_the_languag\/-bpVAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Psalms and Hymns, imitated in the language of the New Testament, p. 75<\/a>, by Isaac Watts, is in the public domain.[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In order to adapt the psalms to a regular meter, it is inevitably necessary to paraphrase them at least somewhat. Some settings diverge more significantly from the source material than others. That\u2019s the thing about translation and paraphrase: the one blurs into the other. No translation is without interpretation, and every genuine paraphrase remains connected to the meaning of the original. They represent a spectrum rather than two distinct and separate categories. Two settings by the famous hymnwriter <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId142\" href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/download\/Psalms_and_Hymns_imitated_in_the_languag.pdf?id=-bpVAAAAcAAJ&amp;hl=en&amp;capid=AFLRE71WP0R6Bn8MHKGZ4x2FJ9axRO1LjOdxECn1L0vHTIqw9gWzYqqJUTYxB9RTsRnbQu_vS1TJsKgWqJjUNUWlqOiXJFmIaw&amp;continue=https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/download\/Psalms_and_Hymns_imitated_in_the_languag.pdf%3Fid%3D-bpVAAAAcAAJ%26output%3Dpdf%26hl%3Den\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Isaac Watts<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> provide an example of how the same psalm might be rendered into metered English in two significantly different ways. Here are two renderings of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId143\" href=\"https:\/\/ccel.org\/ccel\/watts\/psalmshymns\/psalmshymns.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Psalm 100<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>, which he calls a \u201cplain translation\u201d and a \u201cparaphrase,\u201d respectively.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Two Renderings of Psalm 100 in Metrical Form by Isaac Watts<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<blockquote><strong>Psalm 100. A Plain Translation\u00a0<\/strong>\r\nYe nations round the earth, rejoice\r\nBefore the Lord, your sovereign King;\r\nServe him with cheerful heart and voice,\r\nWith all your tongues his glory sing.\r\n\r\nThe Lord is God; 'tis he alone\r\nDoth life, and breath, and being give;\r\nWe are his work, and not our own,\r\nThe sheep that on his pastures live.\r\n\r\nEnter his gates with songs of joy,\r\nWith praises to his courts repair;\r\nAnd make it your divine employ\r\nTo pay your thanks and honors there.\r\n\r\nThe Lord is good, the Lord is kind,\r\nGreat is his grace, his mercy sure;\r\nAnd the whole race of man shall find\r\nHis truth from age to age endure.<\/blockquote>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote><strong>Psalm 100. A Paraphrase<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSing to the Lord with joyful voice,\r\nLet every land his name adore;\r\nThe British isles shall send the noise\r\nAcross the ocean to the shore.\r\n\r\nNations, attend before his throne\r\nWith solemn fear, with sacred joy;\r\nKnow that the Lord is God alone;\r\nHe can create and he destroy.\r\n\r\nHis sovereign power, without our aid,\r\nMade us of clay and formed us men;\r\nAnd when, like wand'ring sheep, we strayed,\r\nHe brought us to his fold again.\r\n\r\nWe are his people, we his care,\r\nOur souls and all our mortal frame:\r\nWhat lasting honors shall we rear,\r\nAlmighty Maker, to thy name?\r\n\r\nWe'll crowd thy gates with thankful songs,\r\nHigh as the heav'ns our voices raise;\r\nAnd earth with her ten thousand tongues\r\nShall fill thy courts with sounding praise.\r\n\r\nWide as the world is thy command,\r\nVast as eternity thy love!\r\nFirm as a rock thy truth must stand,\r\nWhen rolling years shall cease to move.<\/blockquote>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"import-pcon\">Another famous setting of Psalm 100 has become known as \u201cOld Hundredth\u201d because it is one of the very early metrical settings of Psalm 100 (written by <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId144\" href=\"https:\/\/hymnary.org\/tune\/old_hundredth_bourgeois\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Louis Bourgeois<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> in Geneva for use in Reformer John Calvin\u2019s church), and its melody continues to be used to this day. There are many recordings of the psalm, including <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId145\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UXX_3nWbpTc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">instrumental ones that you can sing along with<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. Here is a recording by the Harvard University Choir, conducted by Edward Elwyn.[footnote]The recording is shared by Memorial Church Harvard on their YouTube channel.[\/footnote] The choir is accompanied by organ, which is how you will often hear it performed as well as sung in churches.<\/p>\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=X8EP6wGRz6k[\/embed]\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">You will also find that some of these melodies have been arranged by famous composers (in this case, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId147\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mj9w7IUQ5AU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Ralph Vaughan Williams<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> is an example) and that others may appear woven into other musical works. That\u2019s not something we\u2019ll explore here, but you may wish to if you haven\u2019t had enough of this music or want to see how it has been influential beyond the boundaries of religious communities. In at least one famous instance, a melody originally composed for use with metrical psalms has become more closely associated with other words: many know the tune \u201cOld Hundreth\u201d as the music to which they sing words known as the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hymnary.org\/text\/praise_god_from_whom_all_blessings_ken\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">\u201cDoxology.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a>[footnote]For those familiar with it or interested, <a href=\"https:\/\/christianhistoryinstitute.org\/magazine\/article\/where-did-we-get-the-doxology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the origins of the words for the Doxology can be traced to the hymnwriting career of Thomas Ken.<\/a>[\/footnote]<\/span><\/p>\r\n<span class=\"pullquote-right\">Some Reformed\/Presbyterian churches practice exclusive psalmody, meaning they consider Psalms to be the only biblically authorized words for Christians to sing in worship.<\/span>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Next you should try to participate in the singing and then the creation of metrical psalms yourself. Begin by singing along with some metrical psalms where the words and music are provided. Eventually, try adapting words from the Bible to a melody that you like, but start by finding a metrical psalm that already exists with words you like and then see if you can find a melody that suits it. Below I suggest some pairings of what may be familiar melodies with metrical psalms, but my musical tastes may not be yours, so look for ones that make sense for you. You can often find an instrumental karaoke track on YouTube to sing along with! Here are some suggestions:<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-ulf\" style=\"margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: 18pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId149\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cgmusic.org\/workshop\/smpsalter\/psalm-02.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Psalm 2<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> to the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId150\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gOhxPoh1hpY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">melody<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId151\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JCUUrtnpA3E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">\u201cAmerica the Beautiful\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-ul\" style=\"margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: 18pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId152\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/bible\/1365\/psa.42.mp1650\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Psalm 42<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> to the tune of the <a class=\"rId153\" href=\"https:\/\/allthetropes.fandom.com\/wiki\/Common_Meter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em class=\"import-url-i\">Gilligan\u2019s Island<\/em><\/a><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId154\" href=\"https:\/\/allthetropes.fandom.com\/wiki\/Common_Meter\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\"> theme<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-ull\" style=\"margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: 18pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId155\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cgmusic.org\/workshop\/smpsalter\/psalm-113.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Psalm 113<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> to the melody of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId156\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cJ-tBdK2d0k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">\u201cHouse of the Rising Sun\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">There are lots of different melodies that you already know that have a regular meter and thus to which it will be straightforward to sing any number of metrical psalms. There are <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId157\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thepsalmssung.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">free metrical<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> psalm lyrics <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId158\" href=\"https:\/\/freechurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Sing-Psalms-Combined-Words-Edition-incl.-Scottish-Psalter-with-bookmarks-Tune-Reccomendations.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">online<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>, many being in the public domain, such as the <a class=\"rId159\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cgmusic.org\/workshop\/smp_frame.htm\"><em class=\"import-url-i\">Scottish Metrical Psalter<\/em><\/a><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId160\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cgmusic.org\/workshop\/smp_frame.htm\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\"> of 1650<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. Metrical psalms also continue to be created, and there are recently published compilations that can be purchased. What happens when you sing an arrangement of a psalm to a tune you already know? What is the experience like? How does doing this influence your perception of the words and the music? Compare several different metrical arrangements of the same psalm. How do they convey the meaning of the original psalm in different ways? How much do they differ, and how much remains the same despite those differences?<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">For the record, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId161\" href=\"https:\/\/www.finebooksmagazine.com\/blog\/oldest-surviving-book-printed-americas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">the first printed book that we know for certain was published in the Americas was printed in Mexico<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. There is also very interesting early music from that era reflecting the Catholic tradition of the Spanish colonizers that draws on the Bible and more specifically the Psalms, with Hernando Franco\u2019s \u201cCircumdederunt Me\u201d as one of the very first. Here is a performance by the Coro Melos Gloriae, conducted by Juan Manuel Lara C\u00e1rdena.[footnote]Shared by Enrique Guerrero on his Early Latin American Music YouTube channel.[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2szu3kihEnA[\/embed]\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">For Further Reading<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Anderson, Fred R. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Singing God\u2019s Psalms<\/em><\/span>. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Bertoglio, Chiara. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Reforming Music: Music and the Religious Reformations of the Sixteenth Century<\/em><\/span>. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Duguid, Timothy. \u201cEarly Modern Scottish Metrical Psalmody: Origins and Practice.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Yale Journal of Music Religion<\/em><\/span> 7, no. 1 (2021): 1\u201323.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Mar\u00edn, Javier. \u201cHernando Franco\u2019s Circumdederunt me: The First Piece for the Dead in Early Colonial America.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Sacred Music<\/em><\/span> 135, no. 2 (2008): 58\u201364.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Stowe, David Ware. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">How Sweet the Sound: Music in the Spiritual Lives of Americans<\/em><\/span>. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Tierno, Alanna Ropchock. \u201cThe Lutheran Identity of Josquin\u2019s Missa Pange Lingua: Renaissance of a Renaissance Mass.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Early Music History<\/em><\/span> 36 (2017): 193\u2013249.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"the-protestant-reformation-and-metrical-psalms\">\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">In this chapter you will<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li>explore the musical impact of the Protestant Reformation<\/li>\n<li>learn about the Bible and music in early colonial North America<\/li>\n<li>discover what meter is and how it allows the same words to be sung to different melodies<\/li>\n<li>create your own adaptation of a biblical text to a standard meter that can then be sung to a familiar tune<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_179\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-179\" style=\"width: 280px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.loc.gov\/exhibits\/bay-psalm-book-and-american-printing\/online-exhibition.html#obj002\"><img class=\"wp-image-179 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/bibleandmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/12\/Bay-Psalm-Book-Ps23.jpg\" alt=\"The beginning of Psalm 23 in the Bay Psalm Book.\" width=\"280\" height=\"164\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-179\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The beginning of Psalm 23 in the Bay Psalm Book. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.loc.gov\/exhibits\/bay-psalm-book-and-american-printing\/online-exhibition.html#obj002\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre.<\/a> from American Imprints Collection, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/rr\/rarebook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rare Book and Special Collections Division<\/a>, Library of Congress, is in the public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-pf\">Do you know <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId127\" href=\"https:\/\/www.historyofinformation.com\/detail.php?id=380\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">the first book printed in colonial North America<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>? It was a collection of psalms known as the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Bay Psalm Book<\/em><\/span>. This tells us something about the centrality of the Psalms in the Protestant worship that these European colonists engaged in. The book was a collection of metrical psalms, meaning that the biblical psalms were translated not merely from the original Hebrew into English but into English verses that followed a regular meter. Meter in this context means a regular pattern of numbers of syllables and rhythms. Meter is not just a number of syllables; it also has to do with where the emphasis falls in words. That is why even though the tune \u201cYankee Doodle\u201d has the same number of syllables in each line as the melody you know as \u201cAmazing Grace,\u201d you cannot sing the words of one of them to the other melody and have it sound right and natural. The melody traditionally used for \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d is in what is known as common meter, so called because it was and is so widely used. It consists of groups of four lines that alternate between eight and six syllables. You may see this abbreviated in metrical psalm collections as CM (for common meter) or 8.6.8.6, indicating the actual meter.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"pullquote-right\">The slogan\u00a0<em>sola scriptura<\/em> means &#8220;scripture alone.&#8221; This became a key slogan of the Protestant Reformation, emphasizing the Bible as ultimate (even if in practice never the\u00a0<em>only<\/em>) authority.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The fact that the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Bay Psalm Book<\/em><\/span> was the first book to be printed in the American colonies tells us something. So too does the fact that a <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId128\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonbookblog.com\/history\/bay-psalm-book\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">printing press<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> was set up at such an early point. These facts together highlight some important things one can learn about the Protestant Reformation at the intersection of the Bible and music. You definitely will want to explore these things further if you are interested in this topic, and just as there are many <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId129\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nypl.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/06\/bay-psalm-book\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">copies<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> of and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId130\" href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/exhibits\/bay-psalm-book-and-american-printing\/online-exhibition.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">exhibits<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> about the <a class=\"rId131\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wdl.org\/en\/item\/3600\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em class=\"import-url-i\">Bay Psalm Book<\/em><\/a> online, there are <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId132\" href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/topics\/reformation\/reformation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">many<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId133\" href=\"https:\/\/human.libretexts.org\/Bookshelves\/Art\/Book%3A_Art_History_II_(Lumen)\/06%3A_15001600The_Age_of_Reformation-_Northern_Renaissance_Art\/6.03%3A_Introduction_to_the_Protestant_Reformation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">introductions<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> to the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId134\" href=\"https:\/\/www.khanacademy.org\/humanities\/world-history\/renaissance-and-reformation\/protestant-reformation\/a\/an-introduction-to-the-protestant-reformation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Protestant Reformation<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. In this context, we can sum up a few major points. One is an emphasis on individual Christians reading the Bible. English translations of the Bible are so numerous and widespread, and the act of reading it so common, that it can be hard to imagine a world without those things. The printing press was a major innovation around the time of the Protestant Reformation that made it possible and dovetailed into its emphases. Just as individual Christians should, according to Protestants, take responsibility for reading and interpreting the Bible, so too worship became more participatory, with all believers having the same access to God in prayer without a need for other human mediators and everyone joining together in song. Put these emphases together, and the composition of singable songs derived from Scripture is a natural direction to take things. In the seventeenth century, the English Puritan minister <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/e\/eebo\/A39936.0001.001\/1:4?rgn=div1;view=fulltext\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Thomas Ford called the singing of psalms a \u201cChristian duty.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Thomas Ford, Singing of Psalmes the duty of Christians under the New Testament, or a vindication of that Gospel ordinance in V. sermons upon Ephesians 5. 19 (London: W. B., 1659).\" id=\"return-footnote-32-1\" href=\"#footnote-32-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Bay Psalm Book<\/em><\/span> is in the public domain (not surprising given its age), and so it can be <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId136\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wdl.org\/en\/item\/3600\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">read online<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> in a <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId137\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wdl.org\/en\/item\/2834\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">variety<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId138\" href=\"https:\/\/digitalcommons.cedarville.edu\/sing_psalters\/3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">places<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>, including <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId139\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Bay_Psalm_Book\/sCPDiU5BEeEC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;pg=PR2&amp;printsec=frontcover\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Google Books<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. You will undoubtedly find aspects of such an old book difficult to read, but at least <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId140\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Bay_Psalm_Book\/sCPDiU5BEeEC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;pg=PR2&amp;printsec=frontcover\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">take a peek inside<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_154\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-154\" style=\"width: 319px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Psalms_and_Hymns_imitated_in_the_languag\/-bpVAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=0\"><img class=\"wp-image-154\" style=\"font-size: 1em;\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/bibleandmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/12\/Isaac-Watts-300x161.png\" alt=\"Beginning of Isaac Watts' paraphrase of Psalm 100 in print edition.\" width=\"319\" height=\"171\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-154\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image from Psalms and Hymns, imitated in the language of the New Testament. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Psalms_and_Hymns_imitated_in_the_languag\/-bpVAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Psalms and Hymns, imitated in the language of the New Testament, p. 75<\/a>, by Isaac Watts, is in the public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In order to adapt the psalms to a regular meter, it is inevitably necessary to paraphrase them at least somewhat. Some settings diverge more significantly from the source material than others. That\u2019s the thing about translation and paraphrase: the one blurs into the other. No translation is without interpretation, and every genuine paraphrase remains connected to the meaning of the original. They represent a spectrum rather than two distinct and separate categories. Two settings by the famous hymnwriter <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId142\" href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/download\/Psalms_and_Hymns_imitated_in_the_languag.pdf?id=-bpVAAAAcAAJ&amp;hl=en&amp;capid=AFLRE71WP0R6Bn8MHKGZ4x2FJ9axRO1LjOdxECn1L0vHTIqw9gWzYqqJUTYxB9RTsRnbQu_vS1TJsKgWqJjUNUWlqOiXJFmIaw&amp;continue=https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/download\/Psalms_and_Hymns_imitated_in_the_languag.pdf%3Fid%3D-bpVAAAAcAAJ%26output%3Dpdf%26hl%3Den\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Isaac Watts<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> provide an example of how the same psalm might be rendered into metered English in two significantly different ways. Here are two renderings of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId143\" href=\"https:\/\/ccel.org\/ccel\/watts\/psalmshymns\/psalmshymns.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Psalm 100<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>, which he calls a \u201cplain translation\u201d and a \u201cparaphrase,\u201d respectively.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Two Renderings of Psalm 100 in Metrical Form by Isaac Watts<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<blockquote><p><strong>Psalm 100. A Plain Translation\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\nYe nations round the earth, rejoice<br \/>\nBefore the Lord, your sovereign King;<br \/>\nServe him with cheerful heart and voice,<br \/>\nWith all your tongues his glory sing.<\/p>\n<p>The Lord is God; &#8217;tis he alone<br \/>\nDoth life, and breath, and being give;<br \/>\nWe are his work, and not our own,<br \/>\nThe sheep that on his pastures live.<\/p>\n<p>Enter his gates with songs of joy,<br \/>\nWith praises to his courts repair;<br \/>\nAnd make it your divine employ<br \/>\nTo pay your thanks and honors there.<\/p>\n<p>The Lord is good, the Lord is kind,<br \/>\nGreat is his grace, his mercy sure;<br \/>\nAnd the whole race of man shall find<br \/>\nHis truth from age to age endure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Psalm 100. A Paraphrase<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sing to the Lord with joyful voice,<br \/>\nLet every land his name adore;<br \/>\nThe British isles shall send the noise<br \/>\nAcross the ocean to the shore.<\/p>\n<p>Nations, attend before his throne<br \/>\nWith solemn fear, with sacred joy;<br \/>\nKnow that the Lord is God alone;<br \/>\nHe can create and he destroy.<\/p>\n<p>His sovereign power, without our aid,<br \/>\nMade us of clay and formed us men;<br \/>\nAnd when, like wand&#8217;ring sheep, we strayed,<br \/>\nHe brought us to his fold again.<\/p>\n<p>We are his people, we his care,<br \/>\nOur souls and all our mortal frame:<br \/>\nWhat lasting honors shall we rear,<br \/>\nAlmighty Maker, to thy name?<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ll crowd thy gates with thankful songs,<br \/>\nHigh as the heav&#8217;ns our voices raise;<br \/>\nAnd earth with her ten thousand tongues<br \/>\nShall fill thy courts with sounding praise.<\/p>\n<p>Wide as the world is thy command,<br \/>\nVast as eternity thy love!<br \/>\nFirm as a rock thy truth must stand,<br \/>\nWhen rolling years shall cease to move.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"import-pcon\">Another famous setting of Psalm 100 has become known as \u201cOld Hundredth\u201d because it is one of the very early metrical settings of Psalm 100 (written by <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId144\" href=\"https:\/\/hymnary.org\/tune\/old_hundredth_bourgeois\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Louis Bourgeois<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> in Geneva for use in Reformer John Calvin\u2019s church), and its melody continues to be used to this day. There are many recordings of the psalm, including <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId145\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UXX_3nWbpTc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">instrumental ones that you can sing along with<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. Here is a recording by the Harvard University Choir, conducted by Edward Elwyn.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"The recording is shared by Memorial Church Harvard on their YouTube channel.\" id=\"return-footnote-32-2\" href=\"#footnote-32-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a> The choir is accompanied by organ, which is how you will often hear it performed as well as sung in churches.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"Hymn: All People That on Earth Do Dwell (OLD HUNDREDTH)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/X8EP6wGRz6k?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">You will also find that some of these melodies have been arranged by famous composers (in this case, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId147\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mj9w7IUQ5AU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Ralph Vaughan Williams<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> is an example) and that others may appear woven into other musical works. That\u2019s not something we\u2019ll explore here, but you may wish to if you haven\u2019t had enough of this music or want to see how it has been influential beyond the boundaries of religious communities. In at least one famous instance, a melody originally composed for use with metrical psalms has become more closely associated with other words: many know the tune \u201cOld Hundreth\u201d as the music to which they sing words known as the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hymnary.org\/text\/praise_god_from_whom_all_blessings_ken\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">\u201cDoxology.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><a class=\"footnote\" title=\"For those familiar with it or interested, the origins of the words for the Doxology can be traced to the hymnwriting career of Thomas Ken.\" id=\"return-footnote-32-3\" href=\"#footnote-32-3\" aria-label=\"Footnote 3\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"pullquote-right\">Some Reformed\/Presbyterian churches practice exclusive psalmody, meaning they consider Psalms to be the only biblically authorized words for Christians to sing in worship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Next you should try to participate in the singing and then the creation of metrical psalms yourself. Begin by singing along with some metrical psalms where the words and music are provided. Eventually, try adapting words from the Bible to a melody that you like, but start by finding a metrical psalm that already exists with words you like and then see if you can find a melody that suits it. Below I suggest some pairings of what may be familiar melodies with metrical psalms, but my musical tastes may not be yours, so look for ones that make sense for you. You can often find an instrumental karaoke track on YouTube to sing along with! Here are some suggestions:<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-ulf\" style=\"margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: 18pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId149\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cgmusic.org\/workshop\/smpsalter\/psalm-02.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Psalm 2<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> to the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId150\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gOhxPoh1hpY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">melody<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId151\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JCUUrtnpA3E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">\u201cAmerica the Beautiful\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"import-ul\" style=\"margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: 18pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId152\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/bible\/1365\/psa.42.mp1650\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Psalm 42<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> to the tune of the <a class=\"rId153\" href=\"https:\/\/allthetropes.fandom.com\/wiki\/Common_Meter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em class=\"import-url-i\">Gilligan\u2019s Island<\/em><\/a><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId154\" href=\"https:\/\/allthetropes.fandom.com\/wiki\/Common_Meter\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\"> theme<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"import-ull\" style=\"margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: 18pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId155\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cgmusic.org\/workshop\/smpsalter\/psalm-113.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">Psalm 113<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> to the melody of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId156\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cJ-tBdK2d0k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">\u201cHouse of the Rising Sun\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">There are lots of different melodies that you already know that have a regular meter and thus to which it will be straightforward to sing any number of metrical psalms. There are <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId157\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thepsalmssung.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">free metrical<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> psalm lyrics <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId158\" href=\"https:\/\/freechurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Sing-Psalms-Combined-Words-Edition-incl.-Scottish-Psalter-with-bookmarks-Tune-Reccomendations.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">online<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>, many being in the public domain, such as the <a class=\"rId159\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cgmusic.org\/workshop\/smp_frame.htm\"><em class=\"import-url-i\">Scottish Metrical Psalter<\/em><\/a><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId160\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cgmusic.org\/workshop\/smp_frame.htm\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\"> of 1650<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. Metrical psalms also continue to be created, and there are recently published compilations that can be purchased. What happens when you sing an arrangement of a psalm to a tune you already know? What is the experience like? How does doing this influence your perception of the words and the music? Compare several different metrical arrangements of the same psalm. How do they convey the meaning of the original psalm in different ways? How much do they differ, and how much remains the same despite those differences?<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">For the record, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId161\" href=\"https:\/\/www.finebooksmagazine.com\/blog\/oldest-surviving-book-printed-americas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><span class=\"import-url\">the first printed book that we know for certain was published in the Americas was printed in Mexico<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>. There is also very interesting early music from that era reflecting the Catholic tradition of the Spanish colonizers that draws on the Bible and more specifically the Psalms, with Hernando Franco\u2019s \u201cCircumdederunt Me\u201d as one of the very first. Here is a performance by the Coro Melos Gloriae, conducted by Juan Manuel Lara C\u00e1rdena.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Shared by Enrique Guerrero on his Early Latin American Music YouTube channel.\" id=\"return-footnote-32-4\" href=\"#footnote-32-4\" aria-label=\"Footnote 4\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"oembed-2\" title=\"Circumdederunt me- HERNANDO FRANCO~ Renaissance Music in the New Spain (S. XVI)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2szu3kihEnA?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">For Further Reading<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Anderson, Fred R. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Singing God\u2019s Psalms<\/em><\/span>. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Bertoglio, Chiara. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Reforming Music: Music and the Religious Reformations of the Sixteenth Century<\/em><\/span>. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Duguid, Timothy. \u201cEarly Modern Scottish Metrical Psalmody: Origins and Practice.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Yale Journal of Music Religion<\/em><\/span> 7, no. 1 (2021): 1\u201323.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Mar\u00edn, Javier. \u201cHernando Franco\u2019s Circumdederunt me: The First Piece for the Dead in Early Colonial America.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Sacred Music<\/em><\/span> 135, no. 2 (2008): 58\u201364.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Stowe, David Ware. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">How Sweet the Sound: Music in the Spiritual Lives of Americans<\/em><\/span>. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-sbul hanging-indent\" style=\"margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 36pt;\">Tierno, Alanna Ropchock. \u201cThe Lutheran Identity of Josquin\u2019s Missa Pange Lingua: Renaissance of a Renaissance Mass.\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Early Music History<\/em><\/span> 36 (2017): 193\u2013249.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-32-1\">Thomas Ford, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Singing_of_Psalmes_the_duty_of_Christian\/ZSpkAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Singing of Psalmes the duty of Christians under the New Testament, or a vindication of that Gospel ordinance in V. sermons upon Ephesians 5. 19<\/a><\/em> (London: W. B., 1659). <a href=\"#return-footnote-32-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-32-2\">The recording is shared by Memorial Church Harvard on their YouTube channel. <a href=\"#return-footnote-32-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-32-3\">For those familiar with it or interested, <a href=\"https:\/\/christianhistoryinstitute.org\/magazine\/article\/where-did-we-get-the-doxology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the origins of the words for the Doxology can be traced to the hymnwriting career of Thomas Ken.<\/a> <a href=\"#return-footnote-32-3\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 3\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-32-4\">Shared by Enrique Guerrero on his Early Latin American Music YouTube channel. <a href=\"#return-footnote-32-4\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 4\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"menu_order":4,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/32"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":860,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/32\/revisions\/860"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/32\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/thebibleandmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}