One of you readers has asked for more detail on this 100 Hymns Project. Glad to oblige!
A few months ago I got tired of hearing fragments of songs flit through my mind, but being unable to recall the full text and tune of these favorite hymns. So I decided that having 100 hymns deliberately and thoroughly memorized was a reasonable goal.
Here's the strategy:
1) Choose only the first 10 hymns. Choose the next set of 10 after the first set has been thoroughly memorized.
2) Select which version of the hymn to memorize. (I usually research the original lyrics and then pick the most agreeable tune.)
3) Copy out or photocopy that version. This is helpful for (a) punching holes in the hymn and sticking it in a three-ring binder for handy review, and (b) marking recurring phrases, synonymns, alliteration--all to help me memorize and get a fuller meaning of the text. (I do this with psalms from the Bible, too, although I'm rarely so careful about photocopying them before marking up the sacred page with my own system of underlines, boxes, circles, and squiggles.)
4) Mark the date of memorization next to the title in the expanding table of contents (in the front of the three-ring binder). This not only encourages me to see the progress, but keeps me from getting too ambitious with other memorization projects, since I note I have been memorizing only about three hymns per month (starting #13 this month!).
5) Decide on some system of review. Every couple hymns, I review all the other hymns in groups of 2 to 5. The review alone takes a week or two. When I know I've missed a word or when a phrase comes too stiffly, I jot it down with the hymn title and stanza number on a piece of scratch paper. The next day, I review only those sections jotted down on the paper, before proceding to the next review group or new hymn. (I like to keep the scratch paper until the next time those hymns pop up in a review session, to see if I'm still missing the same things or if the memory gaps have changed.)
If you try this yourself, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE LOW OR NO EXPECTATIONS about how long this project will take to complete. People memorize at different rates and have different standards for how well something should be memorized, for how securely it sits in their brain. They also have varying demands on their time and varying abilites for self-motivation.
If you haven't memorized anything in years, you may want to start with 1 hymn, 5 hymns, or 10 hymns--or even 1 stanza of 1 hymn. Baby steps, darlings, baby steps.
More on the actual hymns I chose later.
Please let me know if any of you have tried this in the past, are trying this at present, or are suddenly inspired!
3 comments:
Rebecca,
I'm in.
And I think I will offer it as a suggestion to others at my church (not sure what committee to go through yet) as a Lent meditation/ observance.
How much more to be gained than giving up chocolate.
I won't even ruin my excitement by telling you what book our associate Pastor is planning on teaching/studying for Lent.
I am excited to start picking out hymns. I think I will head straight for Ambrose first
thanks. Anticipating this is one of the few things that has lifted my very heavy spirits of late.
Thanks for the comment! I hadn't thought of suggesting this for a Lenten meditation. Memorizing these hymns has been a lonely activity from the beginning, since I'm not part of a church community that values memorization or practices steady, consistent teaching of hymns--and it's a feat of coordination just for my husband and me to pray together in the morning. So it didn't occur to me that other people might be in churches with clusters of members who could share these values. How wonderful!
Even if this does become a purely personal activity for you, though, it sounds like you're in the right spirit to benefit from it. This Lent, here's to Ambrose and chocolate! But perhaps more of one than the other....
Christ keep you.
Thank you for your comment, Mary Jane! I did visit your web site and may check in again. Good work.
Congratulations on starting the 100 Hymns Project! You did read the bit about not having to pick 100 but picking what you can manage, yes? :)
What a fascinating heritage you have. How very postmodern. I father's parents were Baptist, my mother's parents Dutch Calvinist Christian Reformed, I went to Catholic school for a year and a half, and attended all kinds of churches. Right now I serve in an Episcopal church but give concerts and hymn festivals for almost anyone who will invite me. (There are limits--but that's for another discussion.)
How did you (or your parents) become Roman Catholic?
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