Younger people playing old humns?

[Norman]

I have been wondering if any of the younger people that play piano or keyboard or guitar have any interest in playing the old hymns, Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, etc. If you are a young musician I would like to know if you can play some of the old hymns.

[Esaias]

What's considered "young" these days?

(Or is that a "if you have to ask you ain't" kind of thing?)

[Norman]

What is considered young? How about under 40.

[Monterrey]

What is an old HUMN?

Kinda like HUMMING TO , SAY, AMAZING GRACE?

When the roll is called up yonder, in the Hummed key of MMMMMM?

Guess this tune!

Hummm hum hummmm hummm hum hum hummm hummm huuuum,

Opening stanza....

Huuuuuummmmmmahummmmmaaha

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Norman

What is considered young? How about under 40.

I object!

[Norman]

I would consider a hymn to be old if it was written over 40 years ago and I don't know how you could humm it on a piano or guitar.

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Norman

I would consider a hymn to be old if it was written over 40 years ago...

Son, you must be pretty young to be saying these things.



One thing I know, when I was 16 my dad didn't know anything. By the time I got to 30, he knew quite a bit. But when I hit 40 I found out he knew pert near everything.

As to the topic... we sing 'the old hymns' quite a bit. We even sing stuff from the 1500s (Scottish Metrical Psalter, where the Psalms have been placed into rhyming (!) Common Meter). Some of the old hymns from the 1800s are beautiful and unbelievably rich. Sadly, a lot of the melodies from that era leave quite a bit to be desired. So some of the old hymn tunes we have modified, or even come up with entirely different melodies for singing them.

I have been thinking about adapting some of the older hymns' lyrics as well. Quite a few use phraseology and vocabulary that simply doesn't work nowadays, but the concepts and many of the visuals created by the lyrics are awesome and astounding, it's a shame they are largely being forgotten by today's generation of believers. The only ones keeping them alive are churches that cater to the 50-something crowd using the world's goofiest tunes packed with as much musical cheese as possible. It's a shame.

The church needs to keep the old hymns as well as write new hymns. And I mean actually write new hymns and songs, not just pay licensing fees for pop star music that didn't make it in Hollywood so they took it to Branson or Nashville or whatever and gave it a Christian veneer. The church needs to safeguard it's musical heritage for future generations.

[Norman]

"Son, you must be pretty young to be saying these things."

You shouldn't address older people as "Son."

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Norman

"Son, you must be pretty young to be saying these things."

You shouldn't address older people as "Son."

Okay, ELDER, my apologies.