Living In The Hymns

What’s the first thing that runs through your head when you wake up? For many of us, it’s

probably some sort of annoyance at our alarm, maybe some sort of emotion positive or negative about

the upcoming day—in most cases, the thought is something quite physical and/or reactive. But what if

your first thought was the words of some psalm or hymn? Now, this anecdote probably isn’t anything

original or new to you, and the answer to the purported problem isn’t as well; when people say “but

what if your first thought was a Scripture passage, or a prayer,” we tend to either feel accused that we

aren’t holy enough or we dismiss it as pietistic and impractical. Despite our qualms, however, it

remains true that we, like David, should at least do our best to “wake the dawn with our song” (Ps. 57).

How do we do this? By memorizing psalms and hymns (yes, in the plural).

I’ve never been a memory whiz, and it still usually takes me a long time to memorize even

simple poems or quotes. But hymns have been an integral part of my life, and I’ve found that they’re

relatively easy to memorize compared to poetry or prose even despite my memory trouble.

Something about words put to music makes memory much easier, so here I’ll write about both why

you should be memorizing hymns and how I think it can best be done.

First, the why. Not only is it good and beneficial to wake up with a psalm or hymn goin

through your head, it’s also helpful throughout the day. God puts a “new song on our lips” for a reason

—music speaks, as Hans Christian Anderson said, when words fail. Did you get some terrible news

halfway through the workday? “Behind a frowning providence, God hides a smiling face.” “God is my

refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Maybe later on you look back on that trouble and

the many ways God blessed you through it; “though great distress my soul befell, the Lord my God did

all things well: to God all praise and glory.” Are you driving to work or school and catching some

beautiful scenery? “Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite? It breathes in the air, it shines in the

light; it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain, and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.”

Hymns give us musical reflections and reactions to events both commonplace and extraordinary

reactions that don’t exalt the self or forget about the God who gives, but rather direct every occurrence

and any circumstance to the God that ordained it, and offers praise to Him regardless of our feelings or

emotions.

But I’m writing for a music academy blog, not some church or theology website. Sure, the

spiritual benefits are there, but why hymns specifically and not just plain Scripture? Of course,

should all be memorizing Bible passages as well, and as we’ll see, in some cases music and Bible go hand

in hand. But hymns have a simplicity and immediacy that makes them a particularly accessible tool for

daily doxology compared to straight prose; something about music makes it much easier to memorize

compared to prose or even spoken poetry. And so we come to the how: how can we commit a lot of

psalms and hymns to memory?

1. Start simple. Starting out, I really like Dr. David Erb’s psalm settings, which you can find

recordings of here and sheet music for here. I particularly recommend Psalm 100 or 121 as good

starting points. Wherever you begin though, and with whatever song, the principle remains the same:

start simple, don’t try jumping straight into the 12-verse God of Abraham Praise or anything radical

like that. Stick with baby steps.

2. Listen to the hymn over and over again. Don’t try just saying the lyrics repeatedly; listen

to a recording, sing along with it, whether in the car, at home, at work, anywhere. Music has a way of

sticking, and this is only emphasized by constant repetition.

3. Set realistic goals. I like to memorize a hymn every two weeks, or maybe a month if it’s a

longer one. Whatever your time frame, commit to it and get it done; don’t let it be one of those things

that you’ll do “tomorrow” and “tomorrow,” etc.

4. Memorize a wide variety. As you learn to commit hymns to memory quicker and more

efficiently, don’t just stick to one genre or time period. Maybe you start out with Dr. Erb’s psalms, but

don’t just stay there. Memorize great hymns of the German Reformation (A Mighty Fortress, Lord

Keep us Steadfast, My Soul, Now Bless Thy Maker). Memorize the British hymns of giants like Wesley

and Watts (When I Survey, And Can It Be, For All the Saints). Memorize more recent American folk

hymns (I Know that My Redeemer Lives, Now Shall My Inward Joys Arise, Blessed Assurance). In doing

this, not only do you give yourself a variety of different texts that are applicable to a variety of vastly

different situations, you praise God with saints not just of one time and place, but throughout the age

and from all over the world.

5. Keep memorized hymns in a rotation. Once you’ve memorized something, don’t just

forget it the next week. Sing it one or two times day, it’s just two minutes. If you keep to it, before you

know it you’ll have dozens of hymns at the tip of your tongue, ready to go.

Memorize hymns by starting simple, listening to them on repeat, setting realistic goals, finding

a wide variety, and keeping them in a rotation. Why? Because by memorizing hymns we better

ourselves and glorify God throughout the day. We’re musical beings, and keeping a bank of hymns at

the tip of our tongues is a wonderful way to channel that musicality to the praise of God.

-Jaeger Winckler, BMA Professor of Piano and Voice.