Heavenly Highway Hymns

     Wes and I had a conversation last night about the beauty of this little book and the wonders within its pages.  As more and more churches move toward praise hymns, and projector screens are used to display lyrics even when hymns are being sung, we believe that the South is slowly losing an important tradition-- the natural musical inclination of its children.  Most people my age, and certainly those from past generations, can pretty much all relate to the memory of following along in the hymn book at church.  I learned the following from that experience:

• Words mean something...they're not just symbols.
• Those funny looking shapes above the words are the language of music, and you can learn to read them too, just like words!
• Words can and sometimes do move with rhythm and at different speeds, and you can set a mood through that arrangement
• The more you notice about the spacing of the notes above the words, the more sense the whole thing makes
• It's important to follow along with the reader (in this case the song director) or else you'll get lost, and tracking with your finger help

     As a teacher, who happens to teach reading, I realize how much "following along" helped me grasp the concept of print at a very young age.  I also mourn the fact that music education isn't more present in our schools, but know that I picked up on ALOT of musical knowledge just by looking at that "Heavenly" book all those years.

     As for how this relates to Southern Culture in general, is that alot of these hymns are part of our heritage.  It makes me sad to think that future generations might not ever know, "When the Roll is Called up Yonder," "When We All Get to Heaven," "Precious Memories," "How Great Thou Art," "Victory in Jesus," and all the other wonderful hymns that are being sung less and less.  Furthermore, the South has always been a wellspring of musical talent, respected even on the national stage.  Many of those artists first learned to love music and developed their talents in churches that taught the congregation to sing in harmony (which the old hymns emphasize).  They also, as I pointed out in my list of things I learned from hymns, learned alot about music in general from this practice (Every church-raised child knows that there are verses and a chorus and how they make up the structure of song-writing).  In fact, many famous musicians openly cite their backgrounds in church as their primary reason for falling in love with music.

     Now, of course, the Bible simply commands us to, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord." Psalm 100:1.  And, I am a firm believer that God accepts any and all forms of worship as long as it is the worshiper's intent to give HIM the glory.  It is not my intent to speak against contemporary Christian services, only to ask churches not to abandon my beloved hymns.  My husband and I are both pretty liberal, progressive people, and yet we agree on this....surely there are others even in our age group or younger that feel the same way!  We should speak up, and ask that it not be assumed that all young people prefer the more modern styles.  It seems that I have a choice...go to church with people my own age and hear mostly praise style music....or go to church with a slightly older crowd and sing hymns.  It shouldn't be this way....the services (traditional and contemporary) should be combined, with aspects of both existing interchangeably.