Learned from the Hymn Book

The premise is the hymns are written for the voices of the congregation; that is to say, no special training required.
The range of most melodies stays within one note above or below the octave. For example,the notes of the popular "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" in CMaj fall on or between the e notes. ( "clo-ser" is lower a-e. "dai-ly walk-ing" is higher e-e-e-e)
To sing that tune requires the use of one octave plus or minus one note. Does that come as a surprise to anyone? It did to me.
Even the dreaded "Silent Night" can be sung by a vocalist whose range is limited to three notes above the octave. My score in eb has a range from eb to ab. Even the best are not beyond reaching for it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOylzf9_EBU
Though most of the hymns I work with were written in the 18th and 19th centuries, I suspect the idea was to include at least one low note and one high, to give expression to both bass and soprano voices. Just guessing.
The range of "Old Rugged Cross" is e to e. Normally, we can hear the men strain to hit that high e for "sin-ners" while the men often carry the pickup, "On a."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrXH3xe4mHY

Last edited by edshaw; 12/29/18 12:38 PM.
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