“Come Sunday”

In Music Musing #104, "Lost Hymns of The United Methodist Hymnal," I wrote about the hymns I've found to be among the least sung in our churches. One of those "lost hymns" was 728, Duke Ellington's "Come Sunday." I wrote, "This song contains a number of non-hymn traits, including the introductory phrase's "Oo" text, jazz-pop harmonies, wide leaps, an extreme melodic range, and a line of spoken text. Duke Ellington's sacred song was never intended for congregational singing."

"Come Sunday" is not an unknown song. It is part of a longer Ellington instrumental work from 1943 to which he added words in 1958, recorded by Mahalia Jackson and others. Jazz instrumentalists and singers have known and performed it, and its inclusion in Ellington's First Sacred Concert of 1965 helped pave the way for including jazz, pop, and blues in contemporary worship.

Hymnal editor Carlton Young wrote, "While most of the Hymnal Revision Committee welcomed the song into our hymnal, it was generally perceived as a choir and solo work that would need a skilled accompanist, choir, and soloist to recast it as congregational song." (Companion to The United Methodist Hymnal, Abingdon Press, 1993, p.299)

Feedback from church musicians about why they don't sing this hymn includes the following obstacles:

• Measures 1-4: It opens with "ooo-ing," a device common to pop music, but not to hymnody. Hymns don't including "ooo-ing" and congregations will be reluctant. Is it indicative of a moan, pain, ecstasy?
• Measures 1-6: The opening six measures bridge a range of a tenth, and the entire song a range of two octaves minus one step -- an extraordinarily large range with very high and very low limits for congregations to sing.
• Measures 5-6, 13-14: There is a melodic leap of a seventh, almost unknown in hymn melodies.
• Measures 14-16: There are small notes on the melodic staff. Only trained musicians will know that these are descant notes, either optional as melody or to be sung by the choir or soloist.
• Measures 21-22: The second stanza calls for the suspension of singing and one phrase to be spoken. Hymns are almost always sung, and when they are not, usually the entire text is spoken or read silently. Congregations would not know how to mix singing and recitation within successive phrases. It is awkward and uncomfortable.
• Throughout: The use of 9th, 11th, 13th, diminished 7th chords, chromatic harmonies, and nonharmonic tones are common to jazz and pop songs, but almost unknown in congregational song.
• Throughout: To sing this song authentically and with stylistic integrity, a congregation would need to sing expressively and emotionally, not with a strict regularity of rhythm and pulse, as with most hymns. There needs to be a relaxation of the rhythm, a phrasing of the singing according to the expression of the text, a give-and-take known to musicians by the term rubato. This technique is extremely rare in congregational singing, though well-known and used by singers such as Mahalia Jackson, Barbra Streisand, and so many others.

These are formidable and intimidating obstacles, to be sure. As Carlton Young observed, it could be sung well by a soloist or choir, but congregations will be frustrated by it. I have never agreed with Dr. Young's and most church musicians' assessment, and for many years have encouraged pastors and directors to include this hymn in their congregation's repertoire, mostly unsuccessfully. I have suggested introducing it one Sunday instrumentally, then the next Sunday using it with soloist or choir, pointing out the areas of difficulty so the congregation could hear and observe them. The next Sunday, gather the people prior to the opening prelude and again point out the problem areas and briefly rehearse them in how to sing through them. On the fourth Sunday, just include it as a normal congregational hymn.

This is a typical plan for introducing a new congregational hymn, and it has worked for many church musicians. But I have now come to believe that all this is unnecessary. I used this hymn in our weekly Upper Room Chapel worship service for Discipleship Ministries staff and guests this week. While a few present admitted to having heard it before, no one had ever sung it congregationally. I took no more than thirty seconds to introduce the hymn, merely mentioning things such as spoken phrases, unusually high and low notes, "ooo-ing," smaller descant notes, and emotionally expressive phrasing; and we sang it without rehearsal.

I was pleasantly surprised with the congregation's response. Oh, they missed some notes, rushed some phrase entrances, mumbled the text a bit; but the most remarkable thing was that by the middle of the second stanza, they had gotten the hang of it. They were singing, anticipating the pauses and phrases, and adapting their voices to notes they could sing. The experience was thoroughly satisfying and delightful, and truly worshipful.

I wonder if we musicians are too protective of our congregations when it comes to expectations of their singing ability. I wonder if we burden them down with our own expert musical prejudices and technical demands. Maybe we ought to have more faith and freedom in planning and leading their singing. Perhaps the congregation will always find its voice, sometimes despite our best efforts otherwise.