What Makes a Good Hymn?
The number of hymns available on the Discipleship Ministries website would constitute a good-sized hymnal if they were all printed out and bound. Each one has been submitted, evaluated, and made available only after careful consideration. Others have been submitted, considered, and returned to the composer unpublished. They were judged unacceptable for any number of reasons, and the question is often asked, "By what standards do you judge hymns? What makes a hymn good or not-so-good?"
Answers to those questions will vary depending upon who answers. It can all be quite subjective. However, I believe there are some standards and qualities for measuring a good hymn, just as there are some personal preferences I use in judging a hymn. Here are the major points I consider:
- I look first for an overall sense of perfection — that the words communicate the thoughts in the best way, that the language is understandable and not contrived, not overly flowery, not stretching for wit or language that will call attention to the text rather than to the thought behind it. I realize perfection is unrealistic, and find it only infrequently, but it remains an ideal.
- Second, that the text can be matched with a tune in a manner that presents both as equal partners.
- Consistency of rhythm — that there are not uneven or unmatching numbers of syllables in the meter, that the meter holds throughout the text; this principle is often ignored in contemporary worship songs and praise/worship choruses.
- Exactness of rhyme — that the rhyme is actually a rhyme and not an approximation or a similarity of vowel sounds.
- That textual accents are not incongruous with musical accents; that textual climaxes are supported well by the music.
- That symbols and metaphors are easily grasped rather than stretched or contrived, and that their use actually contributes to insight or understanding.
- That there is a lack of sentimentality and emotionalism — certainly not entirely, but that these two qualities aren't the real reason for the text's existence.
- That the hymn places words in the mind and mouth of the singers that helps them articulate thoughts and expressions that they would not have been able to articulate by themselves.
- Sound theology, scriptural basis.
- Lacking obscure references.
- In a text generated from something like September 11, the space shuttle explosion, war, or the tsunami, that the main focus is not on the pain, suffering, and misery, nor on the doubt and questioning that may follow such an event, but rather on the ultimate hope, comfort, and healing that comes from God's grace.
- That there is a logical plan or sequence to the stanzas; that they make sense individually and collectively; and that there is a unity to them.
- That all of this is accomplished in language that is simultaneously natural, even conversational, perhaps, but also language that raises us out of our suffering, grief, and emotions. In his own time and manner, there was no one better at this than Charles Wesley. There is a fine line between language that describes events/emotions in a manner that helps the singers and language that keeps us mired in those events/emotions. I can't tell you where that line is; I can't describe it; I can only observe when a hymn comes down on one side or the other.
See Music Musing #27, "Where Is My Lingua Franca?" for related thoughts.)
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