Short Guide No 28: How Choirs Contribute to the Singing and Interpretation of Hymns

How Choirs Contribute to the Singing and Interpretation of Hymns Sing, choirs of angels’; ‘Sing, sing, ye heavenly choir’; ‘How shall I keep from singing?’ Choirs, harmonious and heavenly Hymns are eminently flexible and can be sung by individuals or by larger groups of people making up a congregation. What, then, is the role of a choir in the singing … Read More

Short Guide No 1: What is the Point of Singing Hymns?

Hymn-singing as an activity is admittedly nowhere near as common as it once was, and that is probably true inside churches as well as beyond their walls. So what is the point of singing hymns? Here are ten benefits worth bearing in mind. Hymn-singing is Physical This may seem a strange thing to say, yet it is true. When we … Read More

Treasure No 72: What are we saying by singing?

Treasure No 72: What are we saying by singing? By Rowan Williams An article from Bulletin 249, October 2006 (A transcript of the paper given to the Conference of the Society in July 2006, printed with the author’s permission) chose that title because I am aware that there is a kind of assumption very often around in the church and … Read More

Bulletin 243 Volume 17 No10 April 2005

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Bulletin 242 Volume 17 No9 January 2005

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Treasure No 56: Ten Golden Rules

Treasure No 56: Ten Golden Rules by John Bell: An article from Bulletin 185, Autumn 1990, for enabling the least confident of people to teach new songs to the most cynical of congregations Believe in the voice which God has given you. It is the voice of an apprentice angel. Believe in the voices God has given other people. Years … Read More

Treasure No 55: Hymns in the Early Church

Treasure No 55: Hymns in the Early Church by John Ferguson: An article from Bulletin 180, Summer 1989 (Adapted from an address given to the William Temple Society, York) the ancient Greek world a hymn was a metrical address to a god. In Homer’s Iliad (1.472–4) we read:   They all day long sought to appease the god in song, … Read More

Treasure No 42: The Hymn Today

Treasure No 42: The Hymn Today: An article from Bulletin 138, Winter 1977 Under this title a symposium was presented at the Society’s Conference at Norwich last year. Here we print the substance of what each speaker said on that occasion (or, more accurately, what he would have said had time allowed). i. The Challenge of the Words by Brian … Read More