A legacy of sacred music

BY SARAH HUNT Daily Herald

In June 2018, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a request for members around the world — to submit original sacred music for the new hymnbook.

As the new international hymnbook draws closer to completion, members of the church are fondly remembering previous editions.

Lois Waterman, a lifelong church member, remembers first learning to play the piano at 11 years old for her calling as a branch pianist. The role wasn’t her first choice — everyone who could

Hymnbooks

play piano in her branch had moved away, and she had been selected for the job by her father, the branch president.

“I told him he knew I cried every time I tried to accompany them in Family Home Evening. I just couldn’t play while people sang. He told me they would set me apart and then with practice he knew I could do it,” Waterman recalled. “It worked just like he said! Every week I practiced like crazy an opening, closing and sacrament hymn.”

Every hymn she first learned came from the 1948 edition of the hymnbook. This version came encased in a brown or navy blue cover, with blue being the most remembered among members. Waterman also played for Primary using a small bluish-green song book titled “The Children Sing,” published in 1951.

“When I was 13, we got an organ (for the sacrament hall), and the man who installed it gave me 30 minutes of instruction on how to play it. I was the organist until I was 18,” she said.

When the green hymnbook was released in 1985, she noticed a few changes, including an updated bass clef sign and the addition of a few hymns, including of “How Great Thou Art” and “Our Savior’s Love.” New music was also paired with lyrics from classic hymns like “Know This, That Every Soul Is Free” and “If You Could Hie to Kolob.”

The hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” was missing from this version. It was included in the 1841, 1845 and 1948 editions but was rarely known at the time, so it was omitted.

“Many don’t know that ‘Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing’ (by far the most requested hymn for the current revision) is in the current hymn - book in 10 languages — just not in the English edition. … When Mack Wilberg created a beautiful new choral arrangement of the hymn in 1993, members of our church — and Christians around the world — fell in love with this hymn all over again,” said Steve Schank, music manager for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Arrangements specifically made for choirs were another feature that was left out of the green hymnbook.

“I really loved having choir music right in the (blue) book. Some of those hymns were incorporated for the congregation in the green hymnbook, but many were no longer used,” Waterman said.

Some of the popular hymns of Waterman’s youth are not as well known today, but that hasn’t affected her affinity for “Hail to the Brightness of Zion’s Glad Morning,” “Welcome Welcome Sabbath Morning” and “Thanks for the Sabbath School” to name a few. She is excited to see what the new hymnbook will offer.

“It will be interesting to see new hymns, and nice to have the same ones worldwide. I played for the Spanish ward on our mission. There is a hymn in the current Spanish hymnbook that I love that I hope they will translate and include. It’s on page 190, Hay Un Hogar Eterno,” Waterman said

Current foreign hymnbooks frequently contain hymns that incorporate traditions, culture, sayings and meanings that are unique to a specific language or region.

“It is common for all non-English language editions to include unique hymns and songs that are