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A Survey of Christian Hymnody Summer Course
June 11, 2019 - June 14, 2019
Brite Divinity School and the Church Music Institute will host an overview of the church’s hymnody and congregational song in a two hour credit course at the Bass Conference Center at TCU from Tuesday, June 11 to Friday, June 15. Morning Prayer will precede the classes at 8:00 a.m., and Evening Prayer will conclude them at 4:10 p.m., both in the chapel. A hymn festival will follow the class Friday evening, June 14, at 7:00 p.m., at St. Stephen Presbyterian Church, the choir for which will be comprised of class participants and community members.
The course may be taken for credit or audit. It will be developed historically by readings, lectures, discussions, papers, and the writing of a hymn or hymn tune which the whole class will sing. Musicians, pastors, and other interested persons are welcome to join the class—anyone accepted into study at Brite Divinity School, with or without musical or theological training. Various perspectives and backgrounds will inform and enrich the study, not only in the church’s hymnody itself, but in the class. Textbooks will include William J. Reynolds and Milburn Price, A Survey of Christian Hymnody. 5th ed, and Paul Westermeyer, Let the People Sing: Hymn Tunes in Perspective.
Paul Westermeyer, Professor Emeritus of Church Music at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, will teach the course. He will be joined by Michael Joncas, University Artist-in Residence and Fellow for Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and David Cherwien, Cantor at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Westermeyer will then join Cherwien and others in a separate workshop entitled "All Times and Places Praise the Lord" on Saturday, June 15, at St. Stephen Presbyterian Church. Church music and theology will be discussed with sessions on repertoire and the experiences of the Lilly scholars at the Church Music institute. Class members and others are welcome. The day of workshops will expand on the course, but not depend on it.
