Hymn
[14] Patristic writers began applying the term ὕμνος, or hymnus in Latin, to Christian songs of praise, and frequently used the word as a synonym for "psalm".
In the New Testament, Saint Paul wrote to the Ephesian and Colossian churches, enjoining the singing of psalms and hymns for "mutual encouragement and edification.
[17][18] Non-scriptural hymns (i.e. not psalms or canticles) from the Early Church still sung today include 'Phos Hilaron', 'Sub tuum praesidium', and 'Te Deum'.
[19][20][21] The hymn 'Te Deum' is sung or recited in the Liturgy of the Hours and in thanksgiving to God for a special blessing such as the election of a pope, the consecration of a bishop, the canonization of a saint, [22] on December 31st to thank the Lord for the past year.
It should be simple and metrical in form, genuinely emotional, poetic and literary in style, spiritual in quality, and in its ideas so direct and so immediately apparent as to unify a congregation while singing it.
[31] Later hymnody in the Western church introduced four-part vocal harmony as the norm, adopting major and minor keys, and came to be led by organ and choir.
In traditional Anglican practice, hymns are sung (often accompanied by an organ) during the processional to the altar,[33] during the receiving of communion, during the recessional, and sometimes at other points during the service.
Thomas Aquinas, in the introduction to his commentary on the Psalms, defined the Christian hymn thus: "Hymnus est laus Dei cum cantico; canticum autem exultatio mentis de aeternis habita, prorumpens in vocem."
[50] Relying heavily on Scripture, Watts wrote metered texts based on New Testament passages that brought the Christian faith into the songs of the church.
Within his books, Billings did not put as much emphasis on "common measure" - a quatrain that rhymes ABAB and alternates four-stress and three-stress iambic lines[66] - which was the typical way hymns were sung.
Shape notes were important in the spread of (then) more modern singing styles, with tenor-led 4-part harmony (based on older English West Gallery music), fuging sections, anthems and other more complex features.
[73] By the 1860s musical reformers like Lowell Mason (the so-called "better music boys") were actively campaigning for the introduction of more "refined" and modern singing styles,[74][page needed] and eventually these American tune books were replaced in many churches, starting in the Northeast and urban areas, and spreading out into the countryside as people adopted the gentler, more soothing tones of Victorian hymnody, and even adopted dedicated, trained choirs to do their church's singing, rather than having the entire congregation participate.
But in many rural areas the old traditions lived on, not in churches, but in weekly, monthly or annual conventions were people would meet to sing from their favorite tunebooks.
The most popular one, and the only one that survived continuously in print, was the Sacred Harp, which could be found in the typical rural Southern home right up until the living tradition was "re-discovered" by Alan Lomax in the 1960s (although it had been well-documented by musicologist George Pullen Jackson prior to this).
Since then there has been a renaissance in "Sacred Harp singing", with annual conventions popping up in all 50 states and in a number of European countries recently, including the UK, Germany, Ireland and Poland, as well as in Australia.
[83] ==Hindu hymnody=="La Ilha Harti Papam Illa Ilaha Param Padam Janma Baikuntha Par Aup-inuti Janpi Namo Muhammadam" The Rigveda is the earliest and foundational Indian collection of over a thousand liturgical hymns in Vedic Sanskrit.
[84] Between other notable Hindu hymns (stotras and others) or their collections there are: A hymnody acquired tremendous importance during the medieval era of the bhakti movements.
When the chanting (bhajan and kirtan) of the devotional songs of the poet-sants (Basava, Chandidas, Dadu Dayal, Haridas, Hith Harivansh, Kabir, Meera Bai, Namdev, Nanak, Ramprasad Sen, Ravidas, Sankardev, Surdas, Vidyapati) in local languages in a number of groups, namely Dadu panth, Kabir panth, Lingayatism, Radha-vallabha, Sikhism, completely or significantly replaced all previous Sanskrit literature.
The Guru Granth Sahib is divided by their musical setting in different ragas[88] into fourteen hundred and thirty pages known as Angs (limbs) in Sikh tradition.
Usually associated with the Hindu and Jain traditions, stotras are melodic expressions of devotion and inspiration found in other Sanskrit religious movements as well.
[96] The Shijing, with its collection of poems and folk songs, was heavily valued by the philosopher Confucius and is considered to be one of the official Confucian classics.
[97] During the time of the Prophet Mohammed, Islamic music was originally defined by what it didn't contain: no strings, brass, or wind instruments and no female vocals.
[99] Albums by Sharjah's Ahmed Bukhatir and Kuwait's Mishary Rashid Al Afasy use studio trickery and manipulate backing vocals to sound like a synth piano or string section.
In the West, groups such as America's Native Deen and Australia's The Brothahood use hip-hop music to get their spiritual message across to a new generation of young Muslims.
Their services were enhanced by the addition of poetry for special occasions such as the major festivals (Shalosh r’galim) and the Yamim nora’im (High Holidays).
Most of these poetic insertions are rhymed, metrical hymns (piyyutim) and were the products of great literary figures during the Golden Age of the Jews in Spain (c. 950–1150).
[109] One of the main features of devotional music and hymns in Judaism, especially when utilized in synagogue ritual on the Sabbath and other holy days, is that it is almost entirely vocal.
Mi-kagura is strictly reserved and dedicated to the Imperial house and the highest nobility and clergy; rural kagura is a most colourful and vivid presentation of the popular feats of supramortal and mortal heroes.
They are arranged into five groups based on their meter:[112] The Gathas are also filled with word plays and deliberate ambiguities, and they were likely intended to be used by initiates as meditative instruments to enlightenment.
[112] Only occasionally do the Gathas give an exact and clear picture of Zoroaster's actual teachings, but in general they reflect them in a modified and elaborated form, many times marked by complexity and ornateness of style, the prophet demonstrating his poetical skill in order to stimulate Ahura Mazdā to fulfil his requests or to answer his questions.
