All Creatures of Our God and King (GOLDEN WOOD LMD)
  • mrcoppermrcopper
    Posts: 653
    The tune and harmony are finalizing, more corrections warranted. (edit) Transposed down a step from original post.
    0591c_golden_wood.pdf
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    0591c_all_creatures.mp3
    1M
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,184
    A quick look reveals the congregation to hold a high E. I would be uncomfortable with that. Just one person's thoughts. Others may feel different.
    Thanked by 2Spriggo CHGiffen
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    I concur with Kevin - an untrained Contralto or Bass in the congregation would feel uncomfortable with that high E. The range of the tune as written doesn't descent below an F#, so transposing down to C major would seem a reasonable solution.

    It is a lovely tune. And I like the tune name.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,944
    The problem will be more evident when this is sung earlier in the day....the problem is not so much the E, but that the tessitura overall rides over the passaggio of untrained amateur baritones especially (consider the bulk of men are baritones; the bulk of women are mezzos; so, when writing for a congregation, one has to avoid assuming an abundance of true SATB voices therein).
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,151
    Just for clarification: A better description of the meter (instead of 8888. 8888 or 8888. D) is L.M.D. (Long Meter Double), which is the standard for iambic meters. When one sees 8888 (or 8888. D) as the meter, it usually connotes a trochaic meter.
    Thanked by 3Salieri Liam mrcopper
  • mrcoppermrcopper
    Posts: 653
    Yes, thanks. I transposed it down a step, although a quick look through that fine old Hymnal the 1940 Episcopal one showed many an E. In C, a side benefit, makes the unusual looking B# a more ordinary A#.

    0591c_golden_wood.pdf
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  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    I think the King of Hymnals resumed congregational SATB part singing, whereas most hymnals today presume unison.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,151
    In 1940, thanks to a rich singing tradition, people sang much more than they do now and hence had voices with wider ranges, especially at the top end. The idea that the typical treble ambitus of a hymn should be about a major ninth, from C4 to D5, reflects a dumbed down cultural bias that caters to non-singers and does nothing to encourage them to grow, musically. No wonder the U.S. National Anthem, with an ambitus of a perfect twelfth (typically B-flat3-F5), has become, not an anthem, but the National Solo.
  • mrcoppermrcopper
    Posts: 653
    Right. What I've heard the last many years is 'the National Solo with improvised melody". And, in response to another thread, this is NOT for Massachusetts, where one might hear "Our Cod and King".
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