Table Talk Radio: Show 65

Table Talk Radio, everyone's favorite Lutheran talk show on the internet featuring a game show format, has just posted their latest episode.

Show #65: You Might be a Pietist If...

You have to listen this week as we go through the top 10 list for, "You Might be a Pietist if..." we also play "Name that Church Body."

The description of each show tend to disappear when a new show is aired, so said descriptions will appear here on All for Hymn, starting with the current episode.

You can comment on the show both on this blog and at TTR's forum.

Choir Director vs. Lead Singer

Kantor (also spelled Cantor) Phillip Magness has a thought-provoking article on appropriate times for choir directors, organists, and even pastors to lead by singing.  Of course, when to sing and when not can depend on the circumstances in the individual congregation.  You can join the dialog by leaving a comment on the post at Fine Tuning.

Kantor Magness serves at Bethany, Naperville, IL, and was instrumental in organizing the hymn festival that supported Lutherbrook and LCFS.

Embedded Experiment

So, blogging is new to me, and this is my first attempt at embedding a video into a blog.

This is the Benjamin Britten setting of the Te Deum Laudamus. 



If for some reason this doesn't post, you can find it here on Seminarian Josh Schroeder's blog.  Josh is attending Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.  I don't know him apart from his blog, but I want to thank him for posting this.

A blog series of the Te Deum is probably in order at some point down the road, perhaps for the season of Pentecost next year.

HYMN FESTIVAL: Lutheran Child and Family Services

Over at Round Unvarnish'd Table, there is a post about a hymn festival highlighting Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois (LCFS).

For a link to the podcast,  a list of participants, and the order of the program check out the original post.

We want to thank Bethany, Naperville for posting the podcast and, as you will read in the comments over there, all those who contributed to this event.

I would like to put in a plug for LCFS, which has, among the many wonderful services it provides, a residential treatment center for children with severe emotional and behavioral difficulties.  Lutherbrook in Addison, IL, has been around for many, many years.  May the Lord bless them with many, many more!

Time Out #34: I Walk in Danger all the Way

Please check out this week's Time Out broadcast featuring the hymn, I Walk in Danger all the Way.

Hear Southern Lutheran Kantor at the organ and Layman Dan with his golden pipes.

I will be leaving a comment about this particular hymn over in the post's comment section either tomorrow or Thursday.

Turn up the volume on this one once the music starts playing.  The lower range of the organ can be heard better with the volume turned up.

Please note that Southern Lutheran Kantor improvises the accompaniment to each verse of the hymn, taking into consideration what the hymn is saying at any given time.  This is called "text painting," and Kantor does excellent improvisations on this broadcast.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Definitions, Part III: bulwark?!

BULWARK: I have no idea what this means.

In the Lutheran tradition we have a ton of words that we use that we assume people know, especially in the liturgy.  Words like Salutary, Nunc Dimittis, Absolution and Collect (this has nothing to do with the gathering offerings, and you place the emphasis on the first syllable).

For example, The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) contains the phrase, "It is truly meet, right and salutary..."

Lutheran Worship (1982) and Lutheran Service Book (2006) changed it up a little to read, "It is truly good, right and salutary..."

On Sunday, someone asked me what salutary meant.  After a brief brainstorm I came up with "beneficial - it's good for us!"

"Are you sure?" I was asked.

I bring all this up because we who have retained lots of big words over the years have not used "bulwark" in our hymnal.

I will leave it up to the readers to explain it.  This may take awhile, because I have all of two readers, and they belong to my tradition!

What I do have, though, is some TABLE TALK RADIO points that I have accumulated.  Yes, this is the Table Talk Radio ... everyone's favorite Lutheran radio program featuring theology within a game show format.

Yes, folks, that's Table Talk Radio ... where the points are like papal primacy to a Lutheran ... they are both good things for him to write about but he has to question the authority of both the points and the pope.

I will give 10 Table Talk Radio points to the person who can tell us all what a "bulwark" is in plain, simple terms.  Please use your own words and not something you found on wikipedia.

There are 10 bonus points on the line if you can provide a link to a photo of one.

I only have around 700 points total, so I must ration them out carefully.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Definitions, Part II: rhythmic

The rhythmic tune probably predates the isorhythmic tune.  It does not fit very nicely into a 3/4 or 4/4 time signature, and even The Lutheran Hymnal (1941, aka TLH) didn't try.  You find a mix of half- and quarter notes, and even a dotted rhythm or two.  Also, as you sing it, you feel like you are going from duple to triple meter. 

For Lutheran Service Book (aka LSB) #656, you get an example right off the bat!

duple meter: A mighty
triple meter: fortress is
duple meter: our God

Another good example is Jesus, I Will Ponder Now.  Here it is in an organ arrangement (.mp3 format), just scroll down to the first track.  Here it is with a rock beat (.mid format), just scroll down to rk140.  Both versions cite TLH as their source.  Both are arranged by Rev. Richard Jordan.  I do not know him, but we thank him for these examples.

triple meter: Jesus, I will
duple meter: ponder now
triple meter: on Thy holy
duple meter: passion

Sloppy playing (or singing) does not capture the duple-triple nature of these rhythmic tunes, so again we thank Rev. Richard Jordan for posting his fine examples to the internet.  It is especially tricky going from one phrase to the other.  The temptation is to hold out the last note longer than necessary before beginning the next phrase.  This does make it easier to sing, because it interrupts the rhythmic nature of the tune.  For you church musicians out there, if you must hold onto that last note a little longer, make it a really short hold, catch a short breath, and move on to the next phrase.

For the modern-classic version of the Rhythmic Mighty Fortress, check this out. LSB is cited.  Lutheran Service Book restored the TLH accompaniment, and I believe the text is the same as well.

For the Hans Leo Hassler's classic-classic version of the Rhythmic Mighty Fortress, check this out.  The group does not use the TLH/LSB text. We are going to come back to this recording when we talk more in-depth about meter.

For Rev. Richard's Rockin' Rhythmic Mighty Fortress inspired by TLH, click here and scroll down to rk262.

There are far fewer recordings of the rhythmic, mostly because we Lutherans might be the only ones who have sought to preserve it, and most hymnals only feature the isorhythmic.

While you can recognize the isorhythmic text when you see the word "bulwark," look for "a trusty shield" in the first few lines of the rhythmic text.

FYI: Luther's German version works best with the rhythmic text.  You can find it over at hymntime.