I’ve been asked to put this announcement up and am pleased to do so:
Hymn Project Notice and Requests Notice
Emma Smith was commanded to put together a hymn book for the saints.
“And it shall be given thee, also, to make a selection of sacred hymns, as it shall be given thee, which is pleasing unto me, to be had in my church. For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.”
Like many aspects of the restoration effort done in Joseph’s time, Emma’s hymns have largely been forgotten or cast aside. As in the days of Emma, songs were a means to remind the saints of God’s promises and were used to reinforce beliefs particular to or representative of the restoration of truth. Emma used original songs and also adapted familiar Christian tunes to reflect the work of the Lord in that day. We believe this is as important to us now as it was then. Though many people use songs online to worship, we believe the day will come when a written hymn book reflective of the covenant and truth restored will be of great worth.
A group of people are working on a hymn books project to fulfill this for our day. This will be comprised of at least two volumes, possibly more. The first one will have many original songs from people who have taken the covenant, that are representative of our desire to preserve the restoration, sing about correct doctrine, worship Christ, etc.. We will also include some old favorites that we feel will enhance our worship. The book will feature songs in several styles: Traditional hymns, songs to teach children, contemporary worship songs, and sacrament songs. At present most submitted songs will be put in the book, as our belief is if it touches one – it will touch others. Not all people like the same kinds of music so the variety is good. All the songs have piano and guitar notation. We hope that those who don’t have pianos can use a guitar for accompaniment.
We currently have about 75 songs and have many more coming in volume one. We anticipate we will have between 100- 150. We will add more songs or volumes while we can.
The second volume will be focused on Emma’s hymns. There are many hymns in this category so it too could be more than one volume of songs.
Requests
- Please send any original songs you may have (which you would like to be included in this publication) to [email protected]. Your sending the song permits us to use the song in these volumes of work.
- Requests for familiar favorites are also welcome. These must be copyright-free (or used with permission from the composer).
- Many public domain tunes can have restoration words put to them. Feel free to write words you feel represent the restoration and put it to the music you have chosen. Again, send these to [email protected]
- If you can help notate music on a computer, locate songs, or want to help in any way, please contact us. [email protected]
- We would like to have a music conference when this is finished or tie into another conference, with the hope that we have time to teach many of the new songs. We are hoping someone who is organizing a conference will reach out to us if they can incorporate the presentation of the hymn book (s). We think the timing will be perfect for the fall conference.
To fully appreciate the scope of this work, we hope adequate time will be spent in worshipping through music at this conference. We anticipate that some of the songs could be sung as musical numbers that are learned by individuals/groups before the conference and many others as congregational hymns. It would be nice to have some youth learn some of the “teaching songs” included in volume one and present them at the conference. It would be fun to experiment with different styles of presentation as well. For instance, Kurt F. Kammeyer stated this about the Kirkland Temple Dedication and Emma’s Hymns.
“The placing of the choir in the four corners of the hall might seem to be a logistical nightmare nowadays; but for those accomplished shape-note singers in 1836, it was merely a variation on the usual ‘hollow box’ singing school arrangement. The four sections (treble, alto, tenor, bass) were probably seated as sections in each of the four corners, while Brother Davis led them from somewhere near the center of the hall, in the best ‘fasola’ tradition. The effect must have been quite stunning, as the congregation was in effect surrounded by the choir.
It is apparent from the dedication program that the Saints wasted no time in putting their brand-new hymnals to use. Every hymn sung at the dedication was taken from the new hymnal. They were eager to follow the counsel of Emma Smith when she stated in her preface that
‘Notwithstanding the church, as it were, is still in its infancy, yet, as the song of the righteous is a prayer unto God, it is sincerely hoped that the following collection, selected with an eye single to his glory, may answer every purpose till more are composed, or till we are blessed with a copious variety of the songs of Zion.”
- Can you please reach out to us and let us know if you have an interest in the hymn book for home use, in a conference where songs are sung or presented, or again if you can help?
- If tying into the fall conference won’t work, is there someone who would like to help plan a music conference?
Of course, any conference to present the music will be dependent on the interest and help we can get. Thank you. We hope this work will prove to be a blessing in the end.
There will be a hymns project website. It is currently up but still under construction. TheHymns.info