Hymn of the Week: O Kind Creator (TALLIS' CANON)

From the

 Hymn title: O Kind Creator, Bow Thine Ear

Tune name: TALLIS' CANON

Meter: LM (88 88) 

O Kind Creator is a wonderful Lenten hymn that brings the whole purpose of Lent to the forefront: 

"Give us the self-control that springs
From discipline of outward things;
That, fasting, inward, secretly,
The soul may purely dwell with Thee."

It is appropriate throughout the entire season, though better for the start where the focus is on us. As a nice bonus, the final verse can be repeated as a canon, with a new voice entering on the fourth beat of each subsequent bar. I made a little "director's cut," with Amens to lengthen the verse so that all voices end together, as a a bonus track of sorts for you - it should be sung a cappella, but that is only a minor challenge, as the tune is very simple.

Remember that Lenten hymns don't have to say the words "forty days" to be usable; that Lent need not be mentioned; that the word "ashes" should not be mentioned after day one, and if then, only during the imposition of such.

Click Here to print the hymn for free!

Click Here for the bonus canon verse!

Comments

Post a Comment

Others are reading...

On Working With Priests

From the
(This article is primarily aimed at music directors, but applies at least a little to every parish musician.) Ah yes. If you work for the Catholic Church, you will have to know how to work with priests. This is a special power hierarchy dynamic that you don't get in the workplace in other jobs. It's a little bit like how I imagine working with princes would be - there is more at play than the person himself. Depending on your own position in the parish, you will have to work with Fr Person, Fr Pastor, and Fr Persona Christi. (And sometimes Fr Confessor, so if you grouch or gossip about your pastor, this can get awkward fast. Ask me how I know.) When in a meeting with your pastor, remember your respective positions. By virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, Fr Pastor has grace of state to guide his flock. That doesn't mean he can't be wrong, but it does mean that it is wrong to work against him. (There are always at least fifty times more things going on in your parish ...
Keep reading »

Resource Review: the Choral Public Domain Library

From the
 The first resource that changed my life as a choir director was the Choral Public Domain Library , a huge crowd-sourced repository of public domain choral works. As of this writing, they host scores for over 40,000 works by more than 4000 composers, all free for downloading. Nothing on the website costs money, and you do not need to sign up to acquire anything. With the multi-category search tool , you can filter your search results by language, voicing, musical era, genre, accompaniment, and more. Most composers have biographies and historical context pages, and translations are available for most common texts. After using the site for a while, you'll start to find editors that you trust - since anyone can upload their scores, you're bound to find errors in your music sometimes. Some editors clearly have priorities other than ease of reading the score, so check multiple editions for staff spacing, readable fonts, and so on. My favourites are David Fraser, Brian Marble, Rafael...
Keep reading »

Hymn of the Week: Let Thy Blood In Mercy Poured (JESUS, MEINE ZUVERSICHT)

From the
 Hymn Title: Let Thy Blood In Mercy Poured Tune Name: JESUS, MEINE ZUVERSICHT Meter: 78 78 77 All right, Laetare Sunday is behind us, and Passiontide is actually approaching now, so we can start pulling out The Good Stuff. Just in case you actually had more time to cram in more Passiontide music, here is another incredible hymn for Holy Week.  Let Thy Blood has four verses in which the same musical line is sung twice, followed by a simple refrain, so in effect you are only learning two lines of music. The bass goes no lower than G, the melody no higher than D (but the melody does dip to B-flat below middle C so warn your sopranos to limber up their lower range). The final verse can be given a little extra impact by singing it a cappella - the words are more personal. Be sure to have everyone watch for the poetic tie in the third verse "by the pain and death I now (music line break but not poetry line break) claim, O Christ" etc, and moderate their breathing accordingly. Ho...
Keep reading »