1.  What is the difference in a stanza and a verse?

 

2.  What are the typical number of stanzas in a hymn?

 

3.  What is hymn meter and how is it notated?

 

4.  Which of these poetic and literary devices or patterns are found in the following hymns?  apostrophe, alliteration, anaphora, hyperbole, climax, paradox, Hebrew pattern, itemization

     "O for a thousand tongues to sing" (M57)

     "Make me a captive, Lord" (M421)

     "Go to dark Gethsemane" (M290)

     "O God, our help in ages past" (M117)

     "O Love that wilt not let me go" (M480)

 

 

Chapter 2 - The Hymn and Music

 

1.  Describe the following types of hymn tunes:

     Plainsong

     Lutheran Chorale

     Calvinian Psalm Tune

     Victorian Part-Song Tune

     Folk Tune

     Gospel Hymn Tune

 

2.  What are problems with matching tunes and text?

 

 

Chapter 3 - The Hymn and Scripture

 

1.  In addition to the Psalms, what other book of the Old Testament is frequently found in hymns?

 

2.  Who wrote the hymn, "At the Name of Jesus," and from what passage of scripture does it come?

 

3.  Looking at the scripture passages in parentheses and the text, describe each of the names listed on pp. 57-58 and tell how you might introduce these names to the congregation.

 

4.  Using Spencer's Hymn and Scripture Selection Guide, how would you find hymns related to Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 91, Colossian 3:15-17, and Matthew 5:1-12?

 

5.  How might you convince ministers and educators in your church to allow you to incorporate a study of hymns and choruses into a Bible study or evening worship service?

 

 

Chapter 4 - Early Church and Pre-Reformation Traditions

 

1.  What type of hymn did Jesus and his disciples probably sing after the Last Supper?

 

2.  What are the Nativity Canticles?  Give their English and Latin equivalents and tell their scriptural bases.

 

3.  What is the canon (kanon) and who was the most likely originator?

 

4.  Who is the greatest of the Greek hymnists?

 

5.  Who was Prudentius and for what hymn is he most known?  Is it in the Methodist hymnal and in Renew!?

 

6.  Who was Theodulph of Orleans and for what hymn is he most known?  When might this hymn be most appropriately used in the worship service?

 

7.  What is a sequence hymn?

 

8.  What is a carol?

 

 

Chapter 6 - Reformation Traditions

 

1.  What is a chorale?

 

2.  How did the Thirty Years' War affect hymnody?

 

3.  What was Pietism and what was its influence on hymnody?

 

4.  Who are the Moravians?  How did they influence the Methodist tradition?

 

5.  What 19th century German hymns are sung at holidays in the United States?

 

 

Chapter 7 - British Traditions

 

1.  Who was Isaac Watts and for what hymns is he most known?

 

2.  What are the characteristic traits of a Watts hymn?

 

3.  Who were the Wesleys?

 

4.  What are the characteristics of Weslyan hymns?

 

5.  Who was Reginald Heber and for what hymn is he most known?

 

6.  What three developments occurred in the 19th century and what are the characteristics of each?

 

7.  What happened in each period of English hymnody?

     1900-1955

     1955-1970

     Post-1970

 

 

Chapter 8 - American Traditions

 

1.  What is a singing school and what hymns come from this tradition?

 

2.  What is shape-note hymnody and why was it created?

 

3.  What are characteristics of camp-meeting songs and black spirituals?

 

4.  What was the Sunday School era and who were the major hymnodists?

 

5.  Who were Moody and Sankey and what was their contribution to church music?