Metrical Index for Singing the Journey

Singing The Journey is the 2005 supplement to the Unitarian Universalist Association's hymnal Singing the Living Tradition.

But it has no metrical index of the hymn meters, as noted at the UUA site for the book:

As there are few hymns with a traditional metric structure, there is not a metrical index or a hymn tune index. However, where appropriate, hymn names are given along with the metrical notation (number of syllables per line and number of lines) at the end of the piece.

Knowing the meter for a hymn lets us sing new melodies with old hymn lyrics, or sing new words for old hymn tunes. For example, try singing hymn #94, What Is This Life, which is in the Common Meter (C.M.), to the tune (named MAURO) of the new hymn #1055 How Sweet the Darkness. Any of the other 23 hymns in the older hymnal that are C.M. can also be sung to this new tune.

As one who loves such things, I figured I'd just type in the information from the book itself. Here are the songs in the new hymnal that indicate their meter. The numbers indicate how many syllables there are in each line of the tune, so you can sing a different text to a known melody, or vice versa. C.M. is an abbreviation for the often-used pattern 8.6.8.6. See the Wikipedia description of hymn meters for more information.

  Hymn #  Hymn tune	        Meter
  1000    MOUNTAIN MORNING	10.10.10.10
  1012    ETHICAL RELATIONS     Irregular
  1014    SINKFORD              7.6.5.5.8 with refrain
  1027    EL CAMINO             12.11.12.11.11
  1028    FIRE OF COMMITMENT    8.7.8.7 with refrain
  1029    ANGEL'S CAMP          C.M.
  1030    SIYAHAMBA             Irregular
  1046    HANSON PLACE          8.7.8.7 with refrain
  1055    MAURO                 L.M.
  1064    HYFRODOL              8.7.8.7.D
  1066    YE BANKS AND BRAES    8.8.8.8 D
  1071    EARTH DRUM            6.5.6.5
And here is the index by meter, in the same order in which they appear on page 664 in Singing the Living Tradition.
C.M.
ANGEL'S CAMP, 1029
L.M.
MAURO, 1055
6.5.6.5
EARTH DRUM, 1071
7.6.5.5.8 with refrain
SINKFORD, 1014
8.7.8.7 with refrain
FIRE OF COMMITMENT, 1028
HANSON PLACE, 1046
8.7.8.7.D
HYFRODOL, 1064
8.8.8.8 D
YE BANKS AND BRAES, 1066
10.10.10.10
MOUNTAIN MORNING, 1000
12.11.12.11.11
EL CAMINO, 1027
Irregular
SIYAHAMBA, 1030
ETHICAL RELATIONS, 1012

Please contact me at the address noted below if I've gotten any of this wrong. See also:


Neal McBurnett
Last modified: Mon Aug 6 16:05:56 MDT 2007