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76-509: In the early 1900s, clay tablets with an archaic form of the Sumerian cuneiform script began to appear in the antiquities market. A collection of 36 tablets was bought by the German excavators of Shuruppak (Tell Fara) in 1903. While they thought that the tablets came from Tell Jemdet Nasr , it was later shown that they probably came from nearby Tell Uqair . Similar tablets were offered for sale by

152-439: A sexagesimal system for animals and humans, for example, and a bisexagesimal system for things like grain, cheese, and fresh fish. Contemporary archives have been found at Tell Uqair, Tell Khafajah, and Uruk. The centralized buildings, administrative cuneiform tablets and cylinder seals from sites like Jemdet Nasr suggest that settlements of this period were very organized, with a central administration regulating all aspects of

228-547: A French antiquities dealer in 1915, and these were again reported to have come from Tell Jemdet Nasr. Similar tablets, together with splendidly painted monochrome and polychrome pottery, were also shown by local Arabs in 1925 to the Assyriologist Stephen Herbert Langdon , then director of the excavations at Tell al-Uhaymir . The Arabs told Langdon the finds came from Jemdet Nasr, a site some 26 kilometres (16 mi) northeast of Tell al-Uhaymir. Langdon

304-407: A cappella congregations, hymns are typically sung in unison. In some cases complementary full settings for organ are also published, in others organists and other accompanists are expected to adapt the available setting, or extemporise one, on their instrument of choice. In traditional Anglican practice, hymns are sung (often accompanied by an organ) during the processional to the altar, during

380-472: A hymn any way they felt led to; this idea was opposed by a writer of the time, Rev. Thomas Walter, who felt it was "like Five Hundred different Tunes roared out at the same time". William Billings , a singing school teacher, created the first tune book with only American born compositions. Within his books, Billings did not put as much emphasis on " common measure " - a quatrain that rhymes ABAB and alternates four-stress and three-stress iambic lines - which

456-596: A new focus: expressing one's personal feelings in the relationship with God as well as the simple worship seen in older hymns. Wesley's contribution, along with the Second Great Awakening in America led to a new style called gospel , and a new explosion of sacred music writing with Fanny Crosby , Lina Sandell , Philip Bliss , Ira D. Sankey , and others who produced testimonial music for revivals, camp meetings, and evangelistic crusades. The tune style or form

532-547: A novel and Catholic introduction to worship, which was to be rejected. All hymns that were not direct quotations from the Bible fell into this category. Such hymns were banned, along with any form of instrumental musical accompaniment, and organs were removed from churches. Instead of hymns, biblical psalms were chanted, most often without accompaniment, to very basic melodies. This was known as exclusive psalmody . Examples of this may still be found in various places, including in some of

608-470: A range of styles often influenced by popular music . This often leads to some conflict between older and younger congregants (see contemporary worship ). This is not new; the Christian pop music style began in the late 1960s and became very popular during the 1970s, as young hymnists sought ways in which to make the music of their religion relevant for their generation. This long tradition has resulted in

684-506: A rich hymnody from spirituals during times of slavery to the modern, lively black gospel style. The first influences of African-American culture into hymns came from slave songs of the United States a collection of slave hymns, compiled by William Francis Allen, who had difficulty pinning them down from the oral tradition, and though he succeeded, he points out the awe-inspiring effect of the hymns when sung in by their originators. Some of

760-551: A separate period. Since the first excavations at Tell Jemdet Nasr, the Jemdet Nasr Period has been found at numerous other archaeological sites across much of south-central Iraq, including Abu Salabikh , Shuruppak , Khafajah , Nippur , Tell Uqair , Ur , and Uruk . Older scientific literature often used 3200–3000 BC as the beginning and end dates of the Jemdet Nasr Period. The period is nowadays dated from 3100 to 2900 BC based on radiocarbon dating . The Jemdet Nasr Period

836-647: A single congregation, often between revivalist and traditionalist movements. Swedish composer and musicologist Elisabet Wentz-Janacek mapped 20,000 melody variants for Swedish hymns and helped create the Swedish Choral Registrar, which displays the wide variety of hymns today. In modern times, hymn use has not been limited to strictly religious settings, including secular occasions such as Remembrance Day , and this "secularization" also includes use as sources of musical entertainment or even vehicles for mass emotion. Hymn writing, composition, performance and

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912-490: A small percentage of the total assemblage and at various sites it has been found in archaeological contexts suggesting that it was associated with high-status individuals or activities. At the site of Jemdet Nasr, the painted pottery was found exclusively in the settlement's large central building, which is thought to have played a role in the administration of many economic activities. Painted Jemdet Nasr Period pots were found in similar contexts at Tell Fara and Tell Gubba, both in

988-476: A song in a hymn-like fashion such as " In Christ Alone ". In ancient and medieval times, string instruments such as the harp , lyre and lute were used with psalms and hymns. Since there is a lack of musical notation in early writings, the actual musical forms in the early church can only be surmised. During the Middle Ages a rich hymnody developed in the form of Gregorian chant or plainsong. This type

1064-468: A sophisticated accounting system. In this cultural region, tablets were never fired deliberately as the clay was recycled on an annual basis. However, some of the tablets were "fired" as a result of uncontrolled fires in the buildings where they were stored. The rest, remain tablets of unfired clay and are therefore extremely fragile. For this reason, some institutions are investigating the possibility of firing them now to aid in their preservation. Writing

1140-399: A wide variety of hymns. Some modern churches include within hymnody the traditional hymn (usually describing God), contemporary worship music (often directed to God) and gospel music (expressions of one's personal experience of God). This distinction is not perfectly clear; and purists remove the second two types from the classification as hymns. It is a matter of debate, even sometimes within

1216-760: Is based on Revelation 5:6, 8, 9, 10, 12. Relying heavily on Scripture, Watts wrote metered texts based on New Testament passages that brought the Christian faith into the songs of the church. Isaac Watts has been called "the father of English hymnody", but Erik Routley sees him more as "the liberator of English hymnody", because his hymns, and hymns like them, moved worshippers beyond singing only Old Testament psalms, inspiring congregations and revitalizing worship. Later writers took even more freedom, some even including allegory and metaphor in their texts. Charles Wesley 's hymns spread Methodist theology , not only within Methodism, but in most Protestant churches. He developed

1292-560: Is contemporary with the early Ninevite V Period of Upper Mesopotamia and the Proto-Elamite Period of Iran , and shares with these two periods characteristics such as an emerging bureaucracy and hierarchy. The hallmark of the Jemdet Nasr Period is its distinctive painted monochrome and polychrome pottery. Designs are both geometric and figurative; the latter displaying trees and animals such as birds, fish, goats, scorpions, and snakes. Nevertheless, this painted pottery makes up only

1368-558: Is known as pictograms . Pictograms are symbols that express a pictorial concept, a logogram , as the meaning of the word. Early writing also began in Ancient Egypt using hieroglyphs . Early hieroglyphs and some of the modern Chinese characters are other examples of pictographs. The Sumerians later shifted their writing to Cuneiform, defined as "Wedge writing" in Latin, which added phonetic symbols, syllabograms . Text on clay tablets took

1444-423: Is known as a hymnodist, and the practice of singing hymns is called hymnody ; the same word is used for the collectivity of hymns belonging to a particular denomination or period (e.g. "nineteenth century Methodist hymnody" would mean the body of hymns written and/or used by Methodists in the 19th century). A collection of hymns is called a hymnal , hymn book or hymnary . These may or may not include music; among

1520-1583: Is strengthened by the find of a sealing at Jemdet Nasr that lists a number of cities that can be identified, including Ur, Uruk, and Larsa . ( Shamshi-Adad dynasty 1808–1736 BCE) (Amorites) Shamshi-Adad I Ishme-Dagan I Mut-Ashkur Rimush Asinum Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi (Non-dynastic usurpers 1735–1701 BCE) Puzur-Sin Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi ( Adaside dynasty 1700–722 BCE) Bel-bani Libaya Sharma-Adad I Iptar-Sin Bazaya Lullaya Shu-Ninua Sharma-Adad II Erishum III Shamshi-Adad II Ishme-Dagan II Shamshi-Adad III Ashur-nirari I Puzur-Ashur III Enlil-nasir I Nur-ili Ashur-shaduni Ashur-rabi I Ashur-nadin-ahhe I Enlil-Nasir II Ashur-nirari II Ashur-bel-nisheshu Ashur-rim-nisheshu Ashur-nadin-ahhe II Second Intermediate Period Sixteenth Dynasty Abydos Dynasty Seventeenth Dynasty (1500–1100 BCE) Kidinuid dynasty Igehalkid dynasty Untash-Napirisha Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Smendes Amenemnisu Psusennes I Amenemope Osorkon

1596-560: Is technically designated "gospel songs" as distinct from hymns. Gospel songs generally include a refrain (or chorus) and usually (though not always) a faster tempo than the hymns. As examples of the distinction, " Amazing Grace " is a hymn (no refrain), but " How Great Thou Art " is a gospel song. During the 19th century, the gospel-song genre spread rapidly in Protestantism and to a lesser but still definite extent, in Roman Catholicism;

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1672-525: Is the Greco/Roman goddess of hymns. Although most familiar to speakers of English in the context of Christianity , hymns are also a fixture of other world religions , especially on the Indian subcontinent ( stotras ). Hymns also survive from antiquity, especially from Egyptian and Greek cultures. Some of the oldest surviving examples of notated music are hymns with Greek texts. Ancient Eastern hymns include

1748-405: Is the praise of God with song; a song is the exultation of the mind dwelling on eternal things, bursting forth in the voice.") The Protestant Reformation resulted in two conflicting attitudes towards hymns. One approach, the regulative principle of worship , favoured by many Zwinglians, Calvinists and some radical reformers, considered anything that was not directly authorised by the Bible to be

1824-520: Is unclear, but according to some it is due to the radical shift of style and devotional thinking that began with the Jesus movement and Jesus music . In recent years, Christian traditional hymns have seen a revival in some churches, usually more Reformed or Calvinistic in nature, as modern hymn writers such as Keith & Kristyn Getty and Sovereign Grace Music have reset old lyrics to new melodies, revised old hymns and republished them, or simply written

1900-560: The Homeric Hymns , a collection of ancient Greek hymns, the oldest of which were written in the 7th century BC, praising deities of the ancient Greek religions . Surviving from the 3rd century BC is a collection of six literary hymns ( Ὕμνοι ) by the Alexandrian poet Callimachus . The Orphic Hymns are a collection of 87 short poems in Greek religion. Patristic writers began applying

1976-892: The Ancient Near East , clay tablets ( Akkadian ṭuppu(m) 𒁾 ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform , throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age . Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylus often made of reed ( reed pen ). Once written upon, many tablets were dried in the sun or air, remaining fragile. Later, these unfired clay tablets could be soaked in water and recycled into new clean tablets. Other tablets, once written, were either deliberately fired in hot kilns , or inadvertently fired when buildings were burnt down by accident or during conflict, making them hard and durable. Collections of these clay documents made up

2052-498: The Hamrin Mountains . Apart from the distinctive pottery, the period is known as one of the formative stages in the development of the cuneiform script. The oldest clay tablets come from Uruk and date to the late fourth millennium BC, slightly earlier than the Jemdet Nasr Period. By the time of the Jemdet Nasr Period, the script had already undergone a number of significant changes. It originally consisted of pictographs , but by

2128-658: The Missouri Harmony , Kentucky Harmony , Hesperian Harp , D.H. Mansfield's The American Vocalist , The Social Harp , the Southern Harmony , William Walker 's Christian Harmony , Jeremiah Ingalls ' Christian Harmony , and literally many dozens of others. Shape notes were important in the spread of (then) more modern singing styles, with tenor-led 4-part harmony (based on older English West Gallery music ), fuging sections, anthems and other more complex features. During this period, hymns were incredibly popular in

2204-613: The Presbyterian churches of western Scotland . The other Reformation approach, the normative principle of worship , produced a burst of hymn writing and congregational singing. Martin Luther is notable not only as a reformer, but as the author of hymns including "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (" A Mighty Fortress Is Our God "), " Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ " ("Praise be to You, Jesus Christ"), and many others . Luther and his followers often used their hymns, or chorales, to teach tenets of

2280-478: The cymbals and the triangle only. The Indian Orthodox (Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church) use the organ . The Tewahedo Churches use drums , cymbals and other instruments on certain occasions. Thomas Aquinas , in the introduction to his commentary on the Psalms, defined the Christian hymn thus: " Hymnus est laus Dei cum cantico; canticum autem exultatio mentis de aeternis habita, prorumpens in vocem ." ("A hymn

2356-553: The 1860s musical reformers like Lowell Mason (the so-called "better music boys") were actively campaigning for the introduction of more "refined" and modern singing styles, and eventually these American tune books were replaced in many churches, starting in the Northeast and urban areas, and spreading out into the countryside as people adopted the gentler, more soothing tones of Victorian hymnody, and even adopted dedicated, trained choirs to do their church's singing, rather than having

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2432-600: The 19th century witnessed an explosion of hymn tune composition and congregational four-part singing in Wales . Along with the more classical sacred music of composers ranging from Charpentier (19 Hymns, H.53 - H.71) to Mozart to Monteverdi , the Catholic Church continued to produce many popular hymns such as Lead, Kindly Light , Silent Night , O Sacrament Most Holy, and Faith of Our Fathers . In some radical Protestant movements, their own sacred hymns completely replaced

2508-511: The 1st millennium BCE. Tablets on Babylonian astronomical records (such as Enuma Anu Enlil and MUL.APIN ) date back to around 1800 BCE. Tablets discussing astronomical records continue through around 75 CE. Late Babylonian tablets at the British Museum refer to appearances of Halley's Comet in 164 BCE and 87 BCE. Hymns A hymn is a type of song , and partially synonymous with devotional song , specifically written for

2584-801: The Egyptian Great Hymn to the Aten , composed by Pharaoh Akhenaten ; the Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal ; the Rigveda , an Indian collection of Vedic hymns; hymns from the Classic of Poetry ( Shijing ), a collection of Chinese poems from 11th to 7th centuries BC; the Gathas —Avestan hymns believed to have been composed by Zoroaster ; and the Biblical Book of Psalms . The Western tradition of hymnody begins with

2660-800: The Elder Siamun Psusennes II Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt Harsiese A Takelot II Pedubast I Shoshenq VI Osorkon III Takelot III Rudamun Menkheperre Ini Twenty-fourth Dynasty of Egypt Tefnakht Bakenranef ( Sargonid dynasty ) Tiglath-Pileser Shalmaneser Marduk-apla-iddina II Sargon Sennacherib Marduk-zakir-shumi II Marduk-apla-iddina II Bel-ibni Ashur-nadin-shumi Nergal-ushezib Mushezib-Marduk Esarhaddon Ashurbanipal Ashur-etil-ilani Sinsharishkun Sin-shumu-lishir Ashur-uballit II 32°43′01″N 44°46′44″E  /  32.71694°N 44.77889°E  / 32.71694; 44.77889 Clay tablet In

2736-657: The Feast of All Saints , or during particular seasons such as Advent and Lent . Others are used to encourage reverence for the Bible or to celebrate Christian practices such as the eucharist or baptism . Some hymns praise or address individual saints , particularly the Blessed Virgin Mary ; such hymns are particularly prevalent in Catholicism , Eastern Orthodoxy and to some extent High Church Anglicanism . A writer of hymns

2812-584: The New Testament, Saint Paul wrote to the Ephesian and Colossian churches, enjoining the singing of psalms and hymns for "mutual encouragement and edification." This was demonstrated when he joined Silas in singing hymns in the Phillipian jail, even during unfortunate circumstances. Psalms 30:4 and Revelation 14:3 , among other Scriptural verses, encourage Christians to sing hymns to praise God. As such, since

2888-433: The United States, and one or more of the above-mentioned tunebooks could be found in almost every household. It is not uncommon to hear accounts of young people and teenagers gathering together to spend an afternoon singing hymns and anthems from tune books, which was considered great fun, and there are surviving accounts of Abraham Lincoln and his sweetheart singing together from the Missouri Harmony during his youth. By

2964-624: The absence of instruments in worship by the church in the first several centuries of its existence, and adhere to an unaccompanied a cappella congregational singing of hymns. These groups include the 'Brethren' (often both 'Open' and 'Exclusive'), the Churches of Christ , Mennonites , several Anabaptist-based denominations—such as the Apostolic Christian Church of America — Primitive Baptists , and certain Reformed churches, although during

3040-465: The chanting ( bhajan and kirtan ) of the devotional songs of the poet- sants ( Basava , Chandidas , Dadu Dayal , Haridas , Hith Harivansh , Kabir , Meera Bai , Namdev , Nanak , Ramprasad Sen , Ravidas , Sankardev , Surdas , Vidyapati ) in local languages in a number of groups, namely Dadu panth, Kabir panth , Lingayatism , Radha-vallabha , Sikhism , completely or significantly replaced all previous Sanskrit literature . The same and with

3116-407: The clay tablet. Some of the recipes were stew, which was made with goat, garlic, onions and sour milk. By the end of the 3rd Millennium BCE, (2200–2000 BCE), even the "short story" was first attempted, as independent scribes entered into the philosophical arena, with stories like: " Debate between bird and fish ", and other topics, ( List of Sumerian debates ). Communication grew faster as now there

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3192-428: The clay; the clay tablets themselves came in a variety of colors such as bone white, chocolate, and charcoal. Pictographs then began to appear on clay tablets around 4000 BCE, and after the later development of Sumerian cuneiform writing, a more sophisticated partial syllabic script evolved that by around 2500 BCE was capable of recording the vernacular, the everyday speech of the common people. Sumerians used what

3268-487: The earliest times, Christians have sung "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs", both in private devotions and in corporate worship. Non-scriptural hymns (i.e. not psalms or canticles) from the Early Church still sung today include ' Phos Hilaron ', ' Sub tuum praesidium ', and ' Te Deum '. One definition of a hymn is "...a lyric poem, reverently and devotionally conceived, which is designed to be sung and which expresses

3344-449: The economy, from crafts to agriculture to the rationing of foodstuffs. The economy seems to have been primarily concerned with subsistence based on agriculture and sheep-and-goat pastoralism and small-scale trade. Very few precious stones or exotic trade goods have been found at sites of this period. However, the homogeneity of the pottery across the southern Mesopotamian plain suggests intensive contacts and trade between settlements. This

3420-458: The entire congregation participate. But in many rural areas the old traditions lived on, not in churches, but in weekly, monthly or annual conventions were people would meet to sing from their favorite tunebooks. The most popular one, and the only one that survived continuously in print, was the Sacred Harp , which could be found in the typical rural Southern home right up until the living tradition

3496-634: The faith to worshipers. The first Protestant hymnal was published in Bohemia in 1532 by the Unitas Fratrum . Count Zinzendorf , the Lutheran leader of the Moravian Church in the 18th century wrote some 2,000 hymns. The earlier English writers tended to paraphrase biblical texts, particularly Psalms ; Isaac Watts followed this tradition, but is also credited as having written the first English hymn which

3572-536: The first archives. They were at the root of the first libraries . Tens of thousands of written tablets, including many fragments, have been found in the Middle East. Surviving tablet-based documents from the Minoan / Mycenaean civilizations, are mainly those which were used for accounting. Tablets serving as labels with the impression of the side of a wicker basket on the back, and tablets showing yearly summaries, suggest

3648-550: The first hymns in the black church were renderings of Isaac Watts hymns written in the African-American vernacular English of the time. The meter indicates the number of syllables for the lines in each stanza of a hymn. This provides a means of marrying the hymn's text with an appropriate hymn tune for singing. In practice many hymns conform to one of a relatively small number of meters (syllable count and stress patterns). Care must be taken, however, to ensure that not only

3724-407: The forms of myths, fables, essays, hymns, proverbs, epic poetry, business records, laws, plants, and animals. What these clay tablets allowed was for individuals to record who and what was significant. An example of these great stories was Epic of Gilgamesh . This story would tell of the great flood that destroyed Sumer. Remedies and recipes that would have been unknown were then possible because of

3800-472: The gospel-song genre is unknown in the worship per se by Eastern Orthodox churches, which rely exclusively on traditional chants (a type of hymn). The Methodist Revival of the 18th century created an explosion of hymn-writing in Welsh , which continued into the first half of the 19th century. The most prominent names among Welsh hymn-writers are William Williams Pantycelyn and Ann Griffiths . The second half of

3876-741: The holy scripture of the Sikhs, regarded as the teachings of the Ten Gurus. The role of Guru Granth Sahib, as a source or guide of prayer, is pivotal in Sikh worship. Sutra chanting is a religious action recommended for Shin Buddhist followers to carry out in their daily lives. Temple service chanting may include: dedications to the Three Treasures ( Buddha , Dharma , Sangha ) common to all Buddhist traditions; selections from The Three Pure Land Sutras , which record

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3952-524: The hymnals without printed music, some include names of hymn tunes suggested for use with each text, in case readers already know the tunes or would like to find them elsewhere. A student of hymnody is called a hymnologist , and the scholarly study of hymns, hymnists and hymnody is hymnology . The music to which a hymn may be sung is a hymn tune . In many Evangelical churches, traditional songs are classified as hymns while more contemporary worship songs are not considered hymns. The reason for this distinction

4028-814: The last century or so, several of these, such as the Free Church of Scotland have abandoned this stance. Eastern Christianity (the Eastern Orthodox , Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches) has a variety of ancient hymnographical traditions. In the Byzantine Rite , chant is used for all forms of liturgical worship: if it is not sung a cappella , the only accompaniment is usually an ison , or drone . Organs and other instruments were excluded from church use, although they were employed in imperial ceremonies. However, instruments are common in some other Oriental traditions. The Coptic tradition makes use of

4104-580: The late 19th century Ira D. Sankey and Dwight L. Moody developed the relatively new subcategory of gospel hymns . Earlier in the 19th century, the use of musical notation, especially shape notes , exploded in America, and professional singing masters went from town to town teaching the population how to sing from sight , instead of the more common lining out that had been used before that. During this period hundreds of tune books were published, including B.F. White's Sacred Harp , and earlier works like

4180-413: The metre of words and tune match, but also the stresses on the words in each line. Technically speaking an iambic tune, for instance, cannot be used with words of, say, trochaic metre. The meter is often denoted by a row of figures besides the name of the tune, such as "87.87.87", which would inform the reader that each verse has six lines, and that the first line has eight syllables, the second has seven,

4256-479: The publishing of Christian hymnals were prolific in the 19th-century and were often linked to the abolitionist movement by many hymn writers. Stephen Foster wrote a number of hymns that were used during church services during this era of publishing. Thomas Symmes, a clergyman of the third generation of Puritans in New England, spread throughout churches a new idea of how to sing hymns, in which anyone could sing

4332-453: The purpose of adoration or prayer , and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification . The word hymn derives from Greek ὕμνος ( hymnos ), which means "a song of praise". A writer of hymns is known as a hymnist . The singing or composition of hymns is called hymnody . Collections of hymns are known as hymnals or hymn books. Hymns may or may not include instrumental accompaniment. Polyhymnia

4408-540: The qualities of God and why one should meditate on God's name. The Guru Granth Sahib is divided by their musical setting in different ragas into fourteen hundred and thirty pages known as Angs (limbs) in Sikh tradition. Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), the tenth guru, after adding Guru Tegh Bahadur 's bani to the Adi Granth affirmed the sacred text as his successor, elevating it to Guru Granth Sahib . The text remains

4484-576: The receiving of communion, during the recessional , and sometimes at other points during the service. The Doxology is also sung after the tithes and offerings are brought up to the altar. Contemporary Christian worship , as often found in Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism , may include the use of contemporary worship music played with electric guitars and the drum kit , sharing many elements with rock music . Other groups of Christians have historically excluded instrumental accompaniment, citing

4560-526: The same hymn (e.g., the hymn "I Sing a Song of the Saints of God"), the meter is called Irregular. The Rigveda is the earliest and foundational Indian collection of over a thousand liturgical hymns in Vedic Sanskrit . Between other notable Hindu hymns ( stotras and others) or their collections there are: A hymnody acquired tremendous importance during the medieval era of the bhakti movements . When

4636-512: The same time both the Uruk and Ubaid periods had been defined. It has later been shown that some of the material culture that was initially thought to be unique for the Jemdet Nasr Period also occurred during the preceding Uruk Period and the subsequent Early Dynastic Period. Nevertheless, it is generally believed that the Jemdet Nasr Period is still sufficiently distinct in its material culture as well as its socio-cultural characteristics to be recognized as

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4712-509: The songs of Baul movement. That is, the new hymns themselves received the status of holy scripture. An example of a hymnist, both lyricist and composer is the 15th–16th centuries Assamese reformer guru Sankardev with his borgeet -songs. The Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib ( Punjabi : ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ Punjabi pronunciation: [ɡʊɾu ɡɾəntʰ sɑhɪb] ), is a collection of hymns ( Shabad ) or Gurbani describing

4788-448: The tablet were carbon dated ) to before 4000 BCE, and possibly dating from as long ago as 5500 BCE, but their interpretation remains controversial because the tablets were fired in a furnace and the properties of the carbon changed accordingly. Fragments of tablets containing the Epic of Gilgamesh dating to 1800–1600 BCE have been discovered. A full version has been found on tablets dated to

4864-602: The term ὕμνος , or hymnus in Latin , to Christian songs of praise, and frequently used the word as a synonym for " psalm ". Originally modelled on the Book of Psalms and other poetic passages (commonly referred to as " canticles ") in the Scriptures, Christian hymns are generally directed as praise to the Christian God . Many refer to Jesus Christ either directly or indirectly. In

4940-459: The third line eight, etc. The meter can also be described by initials; L.M. indicates long meter, which is 88.88 (four lines, each eight syllables long); S.M. is short meter (66.86); C.M. is common metre (86.86), while D.L.M., D.S.M. and D.C.M. (the "D" stands for double) are similar to their respective single meters except that they have eight lines in a verse instead of four. Also, if the number of syllables in one verse differ from another verse in

5016-661: The time of the Jemdet Nasr Period it was already adopting simpler and more abstract designs. It is also during this period that the script acquired its iconic wedge-shaped appearance. While the language in which these tablets were written cannot be identified with certainty, it is thought to have been Sumerian . The texts deal without exception with administrative matters such as the rationing of foodstuffs or listing objects and animals. Literary genres like hymns and king lists , which become very popular later in Mesopotamian history, are absent. Two different counting systems were in use:

5092-539: The trade of sheep, grain, and bread loaves, where transactions were recorded with clay tokens. These, initially very small clay tokens, were continually used all the way from the pre-historic Mesopotamia period, 9000 BCE, to the start of the historic period around 3000 BCE, when the use of writing for recording was widely adopted. The clay tablet was thus being used by scribes to record events happening during their time. Tools that these scribes used were styluses with sharp triangular tips, making it easy to leave markings on

5168-420: The worshipper's attitude toward God or God's purposes in human life. It should be simple and metrical in form, genuinely emotional, poetic and literary in style, spiritual in quality, and in its ideas so direct and so immediately apparent as to unify a congregation while singing it." Christian hymns are often written with special or seasonal themes and these are used on holy days such as Christmas , Easter and

5244-569: The written Bible. An example of this, the Book of Life (Russian: "Zhivotnaya kniga") is the name of all oral hymns of the Doukhobors , the Russian denomination, similar to western Quakers . The Book of Life of the Doukhobors (1909) is firstly printed hymnal containing songs, which to have been composed as an oral piece to be sung aloud. Many churches today use contemporary worship music which includes

5320-524: Was "re-discovered" by Alan Lomax in the 1960s (although it had been well-documented by musicologist George Pullen Jackson prior to this). Since then there has been a renaissance in "Sacred Harp singing", with annual conventions popping up in all 50 states and in a number of European countries recently, including the UK , Germany , Ireland and Poland , as well as in Australia . African-Americans developed

5396-503: Was a way to get messages across just like mail. Important and private clay tablets were coated with an extra layer of clay, that no one else would read it. This means of communicating was used for over 3000 years in fifteen different languages. Sumerians, Babylonians and Eblaites all had their own clay tablet libraries. The Tărtăria tablets , the Danubian civilization , may be still older, having been dated by indirect method (bones found near

5472-490: Was not a direct paraphrase of Scripture. Watts (1674–1748), whose father was an Elder of a dissenter congregation, complained at age 16, that when allowed only psalms to sing, the faithful could not even sing about their Lord, Christ Jesus. His father invited him to see what he could do about it; the result was Watts' first hymn, "Behold the glories of the Lamb". Found in few hymnals today, the hymn has eight stanzas in common metre and

5548-522: Was not as we see it today. In Mesopotamia, writing began as simple counting marks, sometimes alongside a non-arbitrary sign, in the form of a simple image, pressed into clay tokens or less commonly cut into wood, stone or pots. In that way, the exact number of goods involved in a transaction could be recorded. This convention began when people developed agriculture and settled into permanent communities that were centered on increasingly large and organized trading marketplaces. These marketplaces were purposed for

5624-481: Was sufficiently impressed, visited the site and started excavations in 1926. He uncovered a large mudbrick building containing more of the distinctive pottery and a collection of 150 to 180 clay tablets bearing the proto-cuneiform script. The importance of these finds was realized immediately and the Jemdet Nasr Period (named after the eponymous type site) was officially defined at a conference in Baghdad in 1930, where at

5700-669: Was sung in unison, in one of eight church modes , and most often by monastic choirs. While they were written originally in Latin , many have been translated; a familiar example is the 4th century Of the Father's Heart Begotten sung to the 11th century plainsong Divinum Mysterium . Later hymnody in the Western church introduced four-part vocal harmony as the norm, adopting major and minor keys, and came to be led by organ and choir. It shares many elements with classical music . Today, except for choirs, more musically inclined congregations and

5776-492: Was the typical way hymns were sung. Noting in his preface the fondness of other compilers for tunes in common measure, Billings promised his subscribers a well-balanced collection, with "a Sufficiency in each measure ". And indeed The Singing Master's Assistant has many tunes whose declamation is based on the dactyl in duple time . Boston's Handel and Haydn Society aimed at raising the level of church music in America, publishing their "Collection of Church Music" in 1822. In

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