I've been lax with my posting, and apologize. Just a few postings into it and I'm getting busy. Here's this week's tidbit, for those of you that haven't tried these tricks.
Most congregations like to sing what they know. Very few embrace new songs as quickly as we (as music ministers) would like. This can be especially true if you're coming into a parish that has never had a "modern" music ministry with a "Worship Band". Even well established bands may find that the most well sung hymns are ones that the congregation has known for years. You can tap that energy we lovingly direct to our Father by using some easy techniques to update the sound of the hymns, making them relevant to the hearts of the young and young at heart.
- Use 6/8 and 12/4 time
- Don't' change lyrics or rhythm
- Keep it simple
If you haven't used these time signatures before, they hold a great treasure for unlocking the potential of "modernizing" some old standards. I've heard great renditions of songs like "O Come, All Ye Faithful", "Come, Holy Ghost", and "Alleluia, Sing to Jesus" all thanks to these time signatures! You can swing an acoustic guitar easily in these signatures, bust out a killer groove, or do something else creative with the song.
Take something simple like, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel". To update this song, I wrote an arrangement around a 12/4 time signature. (If you're having trouble hearing it your head, think the groove to "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears.) Since the original song is written almost entirely in quarter notes, the triplet subdivisions do not interfere with the melody. I then put a Bruce Hornsby-esque jazzy piano to the arrangement, along with some innovative bass playing from our bassist Rhoscoe, and we built what has to be one of our most complimented Advent songs. We made sure to keep the arrangement subtle, but made sure to re-enforce the mood of the song.
With this in mind, I do want to stress a couple things when updating songs. No matter how clever you are, the original (or well known) lyrics and rhythm must be left alone. Completely alone. Part of the advantage of using an older hymn is about familiarity, connecting to our eternal God, and leveraging people's knowledge of the hymn so they can direct their praise to Him, rather than a songsheet. If we change the lyrics, the rhythm, or the pitch of the notes, we lose a lot. The congregation still has to re-learn the hymn, you'll lose people's connection with the past, and it will cause a train-wreck of lyrical mush - hardly unifying. Instead, make sure to just keep the melody intact - you can freely changing the chords and voicing around the melody and make things fresh without abandoning the familiar.
Leave the mood of the song intact. If you can take such feelings like "anticipation", "joy", "remorse" or "patience" further in your arrangements, do so. Don't feel the need though to change the mood or setting. It'd be quite funny to hear Sum 41 do "Hail Mary (Gentle Woman)", but then it would only be a caricature, and not capture our focus.
When using an older hymn, you will almost invariably want to keep it simple. There was a time in the Church that the very idea of polyphony was branded as heresy. Your arrangement should not be complex, and the focus should still remain on the praise to God in the song itself. If you're updating a hymn, changing anything about the song will be enough, and it need not show itself in full force to be "new".
I once had a high school student demand that we "up the ante" in the group by doing some more ambitious arrangements like the setting of "Joyful, Joyful" as done in "Sister Act". While well intended, this type of arrangement is not really what we should be after - even in the movie, that arrangement served as a vehicle for the attention of the arranger. We must always are remember that we serve the community to provide it a means by which to praise our God. We cannot offer praise on their behalf. All present must be active participants in this Holy Eucharistic feast.
