Singing the Psalms. . .

Everyone who reads the Bible has come across something like this:  “To the leader: with stringed instruments. A psalm of David” (Psalm 4:1).  But that is about as much as the Scriptures will tell us about how the Psalms were sung.  We know that they were sung -- the very name psalm presumes it -- but this was in an era before modern musical notation.  So what did it mean to sing the Psalms?

Though the Bible does not tell us much about how psalms were originally sung, it is possible to look at the evidence archeology provides and to look at other comparative cultures to see what might be learned about the music of Psalm singing right down to the first century BC.  We can ascertain that singing the Psalms was not an a capella but accompanied.  There is ample evidence of the musical instruments of the day and, as we saw above, some of the Psalm directions note that stringed instruments accompanied them..  Some of the Hallel Psalms detail lists of instruments on which the praise of the Lord was sung -- this was not some list made up but reflected actual practice of the day.  The concern here is not to recoup the melody or tune but to see what was done and how that affects what we do today.

Psalms have been a part of Christian worship since the very beginning of the Church's life.  Psalms were brought in from the worship of the Temple and the synagogue.  And they stayed.   Beginning in 1529, the Wittenberg hymnals prepared by Martin Luther included four-part harmonizations of the traditional Gregorian psalm tones, simplified for congregational singing in the vernacular.   Lutheran worship reflects this although it was the Reformed who limited congregational song only to paraphrased or direct quotations of Scripture -- especially the Psalms.  Today Psalm singing is seeing something of a revival although most Christians are probably more accustomed to saying rather than singing the Psalm of the Day.

Matins and Vespers, as well as the more modern revisions of those rites (Morning and Evening Prayer) have Psalms appointed and sung.  This has been normative for us for many years.  When Lutheran Worship added Psalm Tones to the hymnal, the impetus for more deliberate Psalm singing began.  Prior to LW, The Lutheran Hymnal had printed Psalms with no direction for singing (except for the few that were printed at the back of the hymn section of the book).  When Hymnal Supplement 98 and Lutheran Service Book came along, the push to restore the song to the Psalms was in full swing.  The Concordia Psalter is a single book containing only the Book of Psalms using the text of the English Standard Version of the Bible. The Altar Book of LSB simply says:  "The psalms are pointed for singing." (p. XX)

 Our cousins in the Wisconsin Synod had already developed an elaborate series of Psalm refrains to be used in the singing of Psalms with the publication of  Christian Worship in 1993.  Their new hymnal will most certainly continue in this tradition.  The ELCA and its group of associated church bodies has had Psalm singing since Luthreran Book of Worship in 1978 and it has expanded since the introduction of Evangelical Lutheran Worship.

There are always those who do not like to sing or do not have much of a voice.  They form a sometimes vocal minority who believe there is too much singing in Lutheran worship.  Maybe you are one of them.  In any case, it is hard to see how the Church today would forget how integral singing was to the use of Psalms in worship both in Judaism before Christianity and among Christians ever since.  While I love the Psalm tones of LSB and LW, what I truly enjoy most of all is Anglican chant and its style of Psalm singing.  This is possible with a congregation trained to sing them but is more likely the realm of a choir.  No matter what the style, the practice of singing the Psalm is not simply personal taste but the way the Psalms were intended.  I hope you agree that singing the Psalm is here to stay.