Psalmody, Worship, Singing and Composing Psalms
Singing the Lord's Song through Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs
Aug 15, 2009
Psalmody is both the singing of psalms in religious worship and the composing of music for the singing of psalms. In this context a psalm may be thought of as a “spiritual song.” Psalmody is a subset of hymnology, the scholarly study of religious song or hymns, particularly compositions for church choral groups and congregations.
The roots of psalmody as a religious observance are ancient, grounded in the Hebraic celebration of God through recitation, often with music, of the writings preserved in the Old Testament’s Book of Psalms. Paul’s reference in Ephesians is a natural extension of this ancient tradition of praise.
Biblical references to musical instruments are clues to the likelihood of musical accompaniment and the “singing” of psalms in praise of God. In I Chronicles 23 (NIV), for example, King David assembles four thousand Levites and instructs them in their duty “to praise the LORD with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose.” These instruments most certainly would have included harp, flute or pipes, cymbals and drum.
In the early Christian era, though, psalmody continued in its evolution as a Christian observance for a long time without musical instrument accompaniment, but rather as spoken recitation. Music returned with Gregorian Chant and plain song, which follow specific rules of tone and unmeasured melodic form, with human voice being the only musical instrument.
Reformation and Renaissance Changes
The Protestant Reformation and the Renaissance (and the printing press with them) were corresponding intellectual and spiritual phenomena of profound influence on forms of worship. Church music expanded from the limitations of trained clergical choirs to whole lay congregations. Hymnology, and psalmody as a form of it, came into its own. An underlying doctrinal rationale for psalmody as a musical worship form is the concept of sola scriptura, the belief that the words of the Bible – scripture – are the complete and pure spiritual authority of worship. Nothing more is required.
In particular, the unmeasured melodic tones of the older forms of chanting (e.g. eight psalm tones in Gregoian Chant) gave way to more secular, measured music applied to the poetic rhythms of the psalms, to bring them into the hands and voices of the whole congregation. Elements of rhyme and meter in the words of the common people's language were necessary to match the metric measure of the music: “Common Meter (8.6.8.6), Short Meter (6.6.8.6) and Long Meter (8.8.8.8).” (Richard C. Leonard, “Singing the Psalms: A Brief History of Psalmody.”)
Leonard further notes that according to musicologist Henry Wilder Foote, “Next to the English Bible and the Book of Common Prayer the metrical psalms were the most influential literary contribution made by the Reformation to the religious life of the English people.”
In 1621 Thomas Ravenscroft published a psalter (i.e., book of psalmody) containing both the words and 97 tunes to sing them. Leonard calls this book the “finest English psalmody available at the time.” According to Leonard, the Puritans’ Bay Psalm Book of 1640 was the first English book published in North America. It does not include music but refers to the Ravenscroft psalter, which does.
Psalmodic Compositions
Psalmody was not overlooked by the world’s classical great composers. A lovely example is “Hayden & his English Friends, The Six Psalms of 1794 and English Parish Church Music, Psalmody, the Parley of Instruments” (Peter Holman, Conductor). (Excerpts are available for listening online.)
Psalmody’s high point in American liturgical music continued from the Puritans through the Revolutionary days and began its wane as the central musical worship focus not long thereafter. Justin Morgan, the man of Morgan horse fame, was a singing master who composed and taught hymns, including psalmody, and fuguing tunes, in Randolph, Vermont.
His compositions are still available today, including the musical scores in an appendix, in Betty Bandel’s book, Sing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land: The Life of Justin Morgan (Associated University Presses, 1981). One of Justin Morgan’s best known works is his composition of Psalm 90, subtitled “Amanda” and also “Despair” in dedication to his wife, who died young.
The harsh demands of forging a country in the American wilderness were at odds with the use of organized congregational psalters. Songbooks were not plentiful on the frontier nor were people who could read them. Then, other musical worship forms, such as gospel and folk music adaptations, arose and became popular. Psalmody has never died out, though, and has retained a place in many denominations. Certainly the psalms in song have continued within Protestant hymn books. Also, psalm singing was introduced into Roman Catholic services after Vatican II.
Exclusive Psalmody
There is a worship practice called “exclusive psalmody” in certain Protestant denominations today. It is exclusive because in these denominations a metrical version of the Book of Psalms is the only songbook permitted in their worship service. One of these is the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. Another is the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia. A central practice in reformist Protestant sects of the 1600s has thus become a marginalized practice of a few denominations.
Renewed Inspiration
Surely the psalms have not been exhausted as a source of inspirational music. Psalmody is perhaps but a dormant fountain of creative imagination that may well find a refreshing voice of clarity and metric simplicity in a millennium of digital complexity.
 |
