Hymns at Church

I never could resist piling on. When I read Hymns at Church in the current issue of Gilbert, my fingers started to tingle. I just had to add my two cents. (Full disclosure, I'm a convert from the Episcopal Church) In my youth I sang in a paid church choir for several years. The choir was directed by Mr. Clifford Balshaw. He was an accomplished organist and choirmaster. To this day when I hear a good organist play something by Bach, I get chills up my spine. (See some of the organ pipes in the picture at right. The picture is from St. Stephens Church, Wilkes-Barre, PA, in the 1960s. ) St. Stephen's choir consisted of about 10-15 boys (sopranos) 4 women (altos) and about 8 men; four tenors and four basses. (There are now girls in the choir.) My brother also sang in the choir. I remember that rehearsals were about and hour long, twice a week. What little I know about singing and music I learned from Mr. Balshaw. I know he said many, many interesting things. We occasionally sang in Latin, so I learned how to pronounce a very limited amount of Latin. However the day he told my brother to sit up straight and "get out of his Cleopatra slouch", is one I'll never forget. My brother was embarrassed and so was I. After that we both kept our feet flat on the floor and sat up straight in our chairs.

But, to the point. I occasionally sing in our local church choir (St. Benignus in Greenfield, OH). Usually there are only two or three of us. On a good day their might be five of us. We usually sing in unison. I really don't care for most of the newer hymns in the Heritage Missal. Now for my rant on the newer hymns. Since when does a hymn to be sung by a congregation, the majority of whom can't read music, count time, etc. start with a rest, have triplets, and multiple notes floating around in the measure to accommodate words that make the rhythm change on every verse? I call them "hokey hymns". The choir director is not always amused. I just remind myself that no matter what I think about the hymns, we are helping in the liturgy. And, I'll always get to sing Barbershop on Thursday nights. Barbershop songs, of course, are not "Hokey". By the way, the choir director sings with the Sweet Adelines in Columbus, so I cut her some slack!