What Do We Do with the Difficult Hymns?

Music Musing 201, "The Most Difficult Hymns," named and discussed the hymns in The United Methodist Hymnal most often cited by musicians as the most difficult to learn and sing. We see them in the hymnal, and we most often just pass them by. The more adventurous musicians may attempt one or more with a soloist or the choir, but seldom do we ask the congregation to sing them.

There are a number of characteristics that contribute to a hymn being thought of as difficult to teach to a congregation and difficult for a congregation to sing. These include:

1. Syncopation
2. Wide melodic range and leaps
3. Nondiatonic melodies
4. Accompaniment that does not support the melody
5. Multiple or changing meters
6. Dissonant harmonies
7. Many accidentals
8. Harmonies that do not resolve in a traditional manner, or that do not resolve at all
9. Lack of tonal center; bitonality

Conventional wisdom among traditional musicians is that the more of these characteristics a hymn possesses, the more difficult the hymn is to sing. The more difficult the hymn is to sing, the less likely it is to be included in the congregation's worship repertoire.

I would like to challenge that conventional wisdom. When I attend worship in a church that sings predominantly alternative and nontraditional songs, or songs that come from the latest popular Christian recording artists and groups rather than from the hymnal, I am often amazed at the facility with which the people sing songs that exhibit a number of the difficult characteristics above. Much contemporary music employs syncopation, melodic leaps and a wide range, dissonant melodic notes, changing meters, accidentals and dissonant harmonies; and congregations accustomed to singing these newer musical styles seem to take it all in stride. They don't stumble. Indeed, they are more likely to sing with joy, even abandon, as they clap, sway, and sometimes move about with great enthusiasm.

Why the difference? What accounts for the contemporary congregation being able to sing these songs while traditional congregations might balk? I'd like to suggest two reasons:

1. We musician leaders have convinced ourselves and our people that these characteristics make a hymn difficult to sing. We may call attention to this by having the congregation rehearse a song prior to the start of worship. We may even tell them the reason we're doing this is that the song has some difficult spots and we don't want to surprise them.

2. For some of us, the truth is that these difficult songs are really songs that we simply do not like because of the style. We use difficulty as an excuse to ignore the songs rather than admit our own stylistic preferences.

Contemporary musicians have found the secret to overcoming the obstacles of difficulty that many of us use in order to avoid certain hymns and songs. They ignore them. They use the simple technique of repetition to teach these songs. They don't rehearse them; they don't point out the rough spots; they don't tell the people that the songs are difficult to sing. They just sing them; and after a few uses, the people have picked them up. And they do so usually with only the words projected on a screen, without the aid of any printed music. I am convinced the same technique will work for traditional musicians introducing difficult hymns.

Such repetition does little, of course, to overcome the personal objections the musician or congregation may have to the musical style or sound of a particular hymn or song. That is truly a matter of education and long-term change, or it may never happen. It is also important for musicians to take care with how often these songs are used. Introduce and use them as a part of an overall repertoire that also includes old favorites, traditional hymns, choruses, spirituals, and new favorites. A balanced diet is a good thing, for food and nutrition as well as for hymns and songs in worship.