Playing Hymns Too Slowly

[elijah23]

It seems to me a lot of people don’t like hymns because they are sometimes played so slowly. To me, playing a hymn too slowly zaps the life out of it. I like to accompany hymns on guitar and make sure they are not played too slowly.

What do you think?

 

[Cheyenne K]

I tend to yawn at really slow hymns, even though I like hymns in general. I don't mind if they're not played with modern instruments, or a guitar, or what have you, as I grew up on hymns sung and played on piano only. But really slow ones have a tendency to make me yawn.

 

[Lewis]

I still like some hymns, but not that many anymore, I still love Mahalia Jackson though. But I am a contemporary man, even my church is well know for doing modern R&B type contemporary Gospel. We tend to do the latest stuff out. We even get famous Gospel artist stopping by to sing like Hezekiah Walker, and James Fortune and Stephanie Mills. We still do some old stuff, but not that much of it like old times. We have the senior choir which I am on, and we do hymns once a month, or when ever the Holy Ghost prompts us to do so. The face of Gospel music has changed and I am glad, I get bored behind the drums playing hymns, with the same old 1-2 beat so I really don't like playing them when I am behind the drums, even though I am good at it, I just get bored with it.

 

[elijah23]

I still like some hymns, but not that many anymore, I still love Mahalia Jackson though. But I am a contemporary man, even my church is well know for doing modern R&B type contemporary Gospel. We tend to do the latest stuff out. We even get famous Gospel artist stopping by to sing like Hezekiah Walker, and James Fortune and Stephanie Mills. We still do some old stuff, but not that much of it like old times. We have the senior choir which I am on, and we do hymns once a month, or when ever the Holy Ghost prompts us to do so. The face of Gospel music has changed and I am glad, I get bored behind the drums playing hymns, with the same old 1-2 beat so I really don't like playing them when I am behind the drums, even though I am good at it, I just get bored with it.

If I were in charge of music at my church, I don't know what I'd do. I enjoy a mixture of old and new, but I think (old) hymns are much more inspiring if we don't let them drag.

 

[dhoenisch]

I agree with the original post. Hymns do seem to be played too slowly. I'm a bluegrass musician, so of course, I tend to play everything fast. When I was in a church bluegrass group, we'd speed up some of the hymns and it would breathe new life into them.

There's one problem though, and that's getting the congregation to sing them faster.

One Sunday, the church bluegrass group was asked to lead worship that morning, so we chose three songs from the hymnal. We didn't make them super fast, but just turned it up a couple of notches. But, the congregation was still singing as slow as they do with the piano player. So, we, unfortunately, had to slow it down for the rest of the songs. I mean, how can you sing "I'll Fly Away" so slowly that you fall asleep? Well, that's about what they did. That was the first and last time we ever led worship at church. If we were playing bluegrass, it was special music.

Dan

 

[Free]

It seems to me a lot of people don’t like hymns because they are sometimes played so slowly. To me, playing a hymn too slowly zaps the life out of it. I like to accompany hymns on guitar and make sure they are not played too slowly.

What do you think?

I think the life of a hymn is based on playing it the way it way it was intended to be played, whether fast or slow. I cannot stand it when hymns that should be slow are played fast.

And there are many hymns I prefer over many modern songs. Hymns tend to focus on God; modern worship songs tend to focus on self.

 

[Acebopata]

I like both slow and fast hymns. But I've cought myself actually making a slower remix of a song using Aducity, so I guess I prefer slow songs.

 

[dhoenisch]

I think the life of a hymn is based on playing it the way it way it was intended to be played, whether fast or slow. I cannot stand it when hymns that should be slow are played fast.

And there are many hymns I prefer over many modern songs. Hymns tend to focus on God; modern worship songs tend to focus on self.

I agree with you on this, however, do we truly know what the original tempo of the hymn is? In some hymnals, for some songs, there is a notation for how fast the tempo should be, so in that case, I agree with you, and have no problems having it or playing it at that speed. However, a lot of hymns don't seem to have that, so it seems like it would be a rough guess as to how fast it should be played, and I think that through the years, we've just grown accustomed to how it is typically played at a church.

One song example is "Victory in Jesus." That song is played moderately fast as it's an upbeat song, but the church I attend, depending on who's playing it, is either at the upbeat tempo, or a really slow tempo. So, when I don't see a tempo signature on a song, I kind of figure it's up to the musician playing it. Of course, knowing the song and the message it is getting across will speak to you as to how fast it should be played.

I also have to agree with you on the contemporary worship songs. I am definitely more into the hymns as I feel they are for worship to God and for reflection.

Dan

 

[Vic C.]

I agree with the original post. Hymns do seem to be played too slowly. I'm a bluegrass musician, so of course, I tend to play everything fast. When I was in a church bluegrass group, we'd speed up some of the hymns and it would breathe new life into them.

There's one problem though, and that's getting the congregation to sing them faster.

One Sunday, the church bluegrass group was asked to lead worship that morning, so we chose three songs from the hymnal. We didn't make them super fast, but just turned it up a couple of notches. But, the congregation was still singing as slow as they do with the piano player. So, we, unfortunately, had to slow it down for the rest of the songs. I mean, how can you sing "I'll Fly Away" so slowly that you fall asleep? Well, that's about what they did. That was the first and last time we ever led worship at church. If we were playing bluegrass, it was special music.

Dan

I do the same thing with the hymns sometimes. Just a little tweak to the tempo is all you need. But I do like the country style gospel the best. I have the pleasure of choosing songs for one of our sets next Sunday:

Soon and Very Soon (moderato shuffle tempo)

(Medley)(fast, allegro tempo)
Are you washed in the blood?/
I saw the light/
I'll fly away/
Are you washed in the blood (reprise)

Fortunately, our congregation likes the faster tempos and has no problem following along. :yes

 

[Nick]

As a musician (drummer), I sometimes get sucked into the "I like this song because it's fun to play along to" or "I don't like this song because there's nothing musically I can do with it". I catch myself thinking the latter about hymns sometimes. Those two attitudes completely miss the point of worship and singing as it focuses on self rather than serving the congregation, so that they may better praise and worship God together.

If you take the time to actually read and understand the lyrics of many of these old hymns, I think you'll find many of them are more directly Biblical and God-centred than much of the contemporary Chrisitan music that currently comes out.

 

[Classik]

The musicbook is the rule...playing loco.


The instrumentalist truly controls the nature of Hymns.


However, I love converting Hymns into jazz. And I use electric piano voice or a mixture.