RPackham Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > "Follow The Prophet" is in a minor key, IIRC. > Also "We Three Kings" (is that still in the > hymnbook?)
They are getting rid of "We Three Kings" as it may be mistaken for a song promoting card playing...
I'm sure they can't be. Most of them probably are, but there's surely a few that aren't. There's a lot that switch between the two during the song aswell.
One example I can think of is "Nephi's Courage", where it is major when it goes "The Lord commanded Nephi to go and fetch the plates", changes to minor for "From the wicked Laban, inside the city gates. Laman and Lemuel were both afraid to try", and changed back to major for "Nephi was courageous, this was his reply" and the chorus.
If I have a time I might go through the song books later, and list some of the keys they use.
Many hymn keys have been lowered, so the sheeple can drone in the more comfortable lower ranges.
The purpose of Mormon hymns is to hypnotize the congregation into a stupor, like many of the talks. This prepares the mind to be brainwashed. I'm not kidding.
Thanks for the responses folks. I should have entitled this thread "Why are MOST LDS Hymns...etc".
I thought it may be something sinister, like what Forestpal mentions. Major key = happy, so therefore the congregation is happy too; to put it in the simplest of terms!
Possibly. But on the other hand, if most of them were in the minor key, we could say there's a sinister motive behind that too.
Also, in response to someone else saying how some songs are in lower keys in mormon hymnbooks, it's true. Infact, some songs are in different keys in different hymnbook. Like I Am a Child of God is C Major in the Children's songbook and D Major in the normal Hymn book. I might be wrong, as this is off the top of my head, but I know they're definitely in different keys.
Pop, rock, country, jazz, gospel, blues and even some classical compositions, for example, utilize the exact same progressions and such. Given the genre, said progressions and such are simply "phrased" differently.
No big whoop. You can take a number of mormon hymns and sing along with Rolling Stones lyrics.
This is the Gospel according to Timothy ... Next phase, new wave, dance craze, anyways, it's still rock and roll to me!
My mom used to be the Primary pianist. She has an all consuming passion for the pioneers and loves to play all the Primary pioneer songs -- especially "Here comes the ox cart." One day she was playing this very depressing sounding song as the prelude for Sharing Time as the kids filed in. Her friend who was a convert asked "Sister Chipsnsalsa's mom, why are you playing that funeral dirge?"
Hi, I'm the first person to say anything about this in 13 years apparently, and when I saw this I decided to share my thoughts: I'm pretty sure that C major and A minor are the same scale, so since it's never specified in the hymn book, around half the hymns are in minor keys.
You got the first part right - there is nothing in a key signature that tells you whether a song is major or minor. In fact, it is quite common for songs to include both major and minor chords.
Your conclusion goes off the rails: "so since it's never specified in the hymn book, around half the hymns are in minor keys."
That's like saying "since you can't tell whether a person is left-handed or right-handed by seeing them walk down the street, there is about a 50% chance that any person you see walking down the street is left-handed."
No. Not right. Not even close.
Hymns by and large are in major keys, but it is not at all unusual for them to include minor chords. Come Come Ye Saints is in D major, but includes Em, which is the IV chord for the relative minor of D, Bm.
I would have guessed that God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again would include some minor chords, but the chords I looked up online were all major. I bet a jazz dude like Eric could rearrange it to partly or totally minor chords.
I looked up Norwegian Wood (Beatles, for the children reading here), expecting that it was partly minor, and it indeed is. The main key is D, and the main minor chord is Dm, which is not even part of the relative minor scale that goes with D major. At one point, the Dm goes to an Em, which is part of the relative minor for D major. The Dm is essentially a temporary key change, which is what gives Norwegian Wood its haunting, wistful sound.
So, with some finagling and melody revision of the hymn, the chords for Norwegian Wood could be superimposed on Come Come Ye Saints. That could be entertaining. ;)
I'm sure El Gato will be gratified to know that "Praise to the Man" is in a rock-solid, tub-thumping major key. No minors involved. At least not in the music.
Is in a minor key, but I'm not sure it's in the hymnbook anymore. It is in the 1960s hymnal from my parent's house. It's actually a scottish or irish fiddle tune called "Star of the County Down" or When a Man's In Love ...IIRC.
I think the music at non mormon churches is so much better. I am bored stiff with the LDS hymns. Usually only accompanied by a piano and the congregation singing. The hymns are usually very simple. At the Christians churches I go to there are drums, guitars, keyboards, lights, trumpet, and several singers. It is so much more exciting. Plus the preaching is excellent and hardly ever disappointing. Whereas the LDS talks or speeches are hit or miss. Sometimes you get great speakers, sometimes it's just OK and sometimes boring or the same old stuff.
The so-called "new hymnal" w came out in 1985. It replaced an even worse older hymnal. DW collects Mormon hymnals, so we have the editions going back to the 1800's. They were filled with really sketchy songs like, "Where Is My Boy Tonight?", a song mourning a son who had left the church. The one just before the current one featured what could only be called a Clancy Brothers pub version of "If I could Hide to Kolob", which no one ever sang because it was embarrassing. But in the 1985 version, the church had co-opted (stolen) the Irish folk song, "The Star of County Down". It angers me. What makes me want to destroy things is when someone is playing or singing Star of County Down, and some Mormon in the room perks up and exclaims, "He's using the melody from If I Could Hie to Kolob!"