- Psalm 6 begins with a heading: "To the Leader" and indicates the use of stringed instruments.
- Psalm 22 was meant to be sung to the tune of "The Deer of the Dawn."
- Psalm 32 is called a "maskil," which is apparently some kind of musical style.
Psalter: a book of singable psalms |
Singing the psalms together as a congregation can revitalize a worship service while simultaneously offering a way to engage more deeply with scripture. Here are a few examples of metrical psalm texts available in English:
Seedbed offers metrical settings of all 150 canonical psalms, set to popular meters (that is, syllable arrangements). For example, Psalm 113 is set in a 87.87D meter, which means that it has alternating lines of 8 syllables and 7 syllables. This number is important when looking for a tune; most good hymnals will provide a metrical index showing which tunes fit each specific syllable count. Seedbed's site actually provides musical notation for popular hymn tunes. So for Psalm 113 there are four tune suggestions, including HYFRYDOL, which most people know as "Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus." Seedbed offers these settings freely for use in worship.
The Free Church of Scotland publishes a psalter called Sing Psalms, offering its full text online, along with its meters and suggested tunes. Some psalms even have more than one metrical setting. The Common Meter (86.86) is used for many of these psalms, which provides many options for singing, such as AZMON ("O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing") and "Amazing Grace."
Pastor Dale Shoening has also translated the psalms according to meter, which he also offers free of charge to houses of worship.
Psalter.org is a companion site to help you use a number of psalters. It is helpful for finding a tune that fits the meter of a given metrical psalm.
Here's a short Youtube clip that explains how to match a metrical psalm text with a tune that fits the words, using the psalter from the Free Church of Scotland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqFuGjzV-iA
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