The Curious Case of the Enigmatic Hymn Tune Name and 7 Things You Might Not Know About It

RILEY. KINGSFOLD. ORA LABORA. OASIS. CWM RHONDDA. VILLE DU HARVE. CANONBURY. DRONFIELD. TRURO. WELLESLEY. MARTYRDOM. Ok, before you think I’m babbling some kind of nonsense, let me tell you that the words above do have something in common, as irrelevant and different as they seem. That is they are names of hymn tunes. And in…

The Wonder of It All

George Beverly Shea could have had an easily popular music career. After all, he had 500 vocal solos recorded on more than seventy albums. He was nominated for ten Grammy Awards, and actually won one in 1966. But fame and popularity aside, Shea chose to serve God instead. You would probably be more familiar with…

Harmony: The Soul of Music

Harmony. We love it. Even its name is being borrowed at everyday language to mean closeness, friendliness, human warmth, cooperation and well-being. Unlike rhythm and melody, harmony wasn’t part of music from the beginning, it’s an upstart…But what an upstart! –Howard Goodall In the story of Western music civilization, a single line of music or monophony was the main…