John Wesley’s Directions for Singing is found in the front of some Methodist hymnals.
1. Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.
2. Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.
3. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a single degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.
4. Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, then when you sung the songs of Satan.
5. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.
6. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing to slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.
7. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.
From John Wesley’s Select Hymns, 1761
I am the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship; husband to Jen; Dad to Katherine, Elias, Madeline, and Kilian. If you're in town you can probably find me in the local coffee house or running through the neighborhoods.
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You don’t hear the worship leader exhorting the congregation to “sing lustily” enough these days. I love it!
Wesley would have a fit with the recent movement to re-write hymns to new music. He doesn’t appear to be messing around with number 2.
Micah, I am not sure. I know at least one of the melodies for a hymn penned by him and his brother was borrowed from the secular arena.
Micah,
I’m almost certain that Wesley was referring to the words of his hymns and not the tune. I have read in several places that Charles got irritated over changed lyrics.
Micah, good point (especially with the Wesleyan “And can it be”/”Amazing Love” rewrite), but I would guess the intent behind #2 was more about consistency/universality rather than crotchety purism.
Perhaps he also thought that his hymns would be sung in heaven if enough people knew the exact same arrangements of them.
Most of the hymns were written by Charles Wesley. He only wrote the lyrics, not the tunes. Because they are now nearly 300 years old, it might be time to thing about finding ways for the rich theology to reach our generation. I have been working on a project where I’ve taken some of Charles’ hymns and dug out his theology while wrapping them in new melodies and lyrics. You are welcome to a free download of the leadsheets from my webpage. http://www.wesleyputnam.org Let me know what you think.
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