PART II
Once the message of a song is clearly fixed in your mind through memorizing the words and analyzing the subject and the arrangement of the thoughts, you will be surprised to find yourself doing much more shading and interpreting than you have ever done before. Now you have made it your mes sage. You are not merely repeating something some author wrote.
"This Is My Father's World/' No. 646 in the Church Hymnal, is a number that I love to sing, particularly in the spring of the year. I had a great deal of difficulty memorizing it until I took a little time to analyze what the author was trying to say. In other words, I found that I was simply singing words and not a message. There is a great difference, you know. I was so concerned about keeping the right words in the right place that I had no time to think about the message. I am afraid much of our singing, if we are not careful, can easily degenerate into simply singing words. And, of course, in altogether too many cases the words are not even completely intelligible; hence the listeners hear only a melody.
Let us look at the words of Maltbie D. Babcock (1858-1901) from the book Thoughts for Everyday Living, which are used by permission of Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
"This is my Father's world, And to my listening ears, All nature sings, and round me rings The music of the spheres. This is my Father's world; I rest me in the thought Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; His hand the wonders wrought. "This is my Father's world, The birds their carols raise; The morning light, the lily white, Declare their Maker's praise. This is my Father's world; He shines in all that's fair; In the rustling grass I hear Him pass, He speaks to me everywhere. "This is my Father's world, O let me ne'er forget, That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet. This is my Father's world; Why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King; let the heavens ring! God reigns; let the earth be If you have never sung this number as a special, let me warn you that no matter how perfectly you may memorize the actual words, if you do not take time to study and analyze the message of the number, you will never sing it well, and to your auditors it will always be a hodgepodge of mere words unless some sensitive, poetic souls in the audience get a message out of it in spite of your efforts!
Let us keep in mind first of all that perhaps this author, like others, treats different thoughts in the different stanzas. We studied this aspect of song lyrics in our article last month. Here we notice that the first stanza begins in an a mosphere of "listening." I am out in nature in "my Father's world," and "my listening ears" are attentive as all about me "all nature sings." Yes, even "the music of the spheres" seems to be audible. Truly, "this is my Father's world," and I relax and "rest me in the thought of" but notice here that the author introduces the theme he is going to take up in the second stanza.
Up to this point the "listening" has been very general, but now we begin to listen to the music of specific objects the "rocks and trees, . . . skies and seas," all "wonders wrought" by the "hand" of God. Here, before he reaches the end of the first stanza, the author begins enumerating specific things that are singing about God. Others are to be considered in the second stanza.
Now I am listening more specifically. I try to pick out certain instruments and singers in the symphony of "my Father's world" and listen as "the birds their carols raise"; and I see "the morning light" and "the lily white" as they "declare their Maker's praise." Yes, this is truly "my Father's world; He shines in all that's fair." Even in "the rustling grass I hear Him pass," and actually "He speaks to me every where!"
Now in the third stanza the author draws a great spiritual lesson, and this is the most important part o£ the song. Nothing more is said about nature, but here we learn the lesson that when in our own human lives everything seems to go wrong, we should never forget "that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet." Then "why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King" and He is still ruling over all, so "let the heavens ring!" and "let the earth be glad," ever assuring me that "God reigns" and all will be well with me.
Briefly the various thoughts in the three stanzas have been analyzed. Once we have these clearly in mind and it takes just a few moments to clear them up then we can memorize the words. In a song like this one, it will be even easier to memorize if we endeavor to see some of these things in the mind's eye as we read about them in other words, try to picture our selves as being right out in nature and noticing the glorious morning light at dawn, the unspotted whiteness of the lily. Can't you just hear God walking as the wind rustles the blades of grass? Impress every part of the mind with the message of the song. Then as we give it, these things will rise up to help inspire us to bring the message to our listeners as if we were genuinely inspired.
Two Inflexible Rules
Here are a few suggestions to those who have never tried to sing a song from memory in public. First of all, why not subject yourself to a new rule? you will never again in public sing a song out of a book or from a sheet of music! You will make no exceptions to this rule. Very few people have any difficulty memorizing a melody, so that problem can easily be taken care of, unless, of course, we are asked in an emergency to sing something new on short notice at a funeral or some very special emergency. So our first rule is never again to sing from a book or a sheet of music.
Now, if we have not made a practice of singing from memory, and we .are going to go on the platform to sing a number with a great deal of uncertainty, then we will certainly not trans fer the message of the song to the people. How shall we overcome some of this uncertainty?
First of all, type the words on a small piece of card. Make the card or piece of paper no larger than absolutely necessary to get the words on it. Use both sides, and so make it smaller still. Hold it in as unobtrusive a way as possible when you sing. One good way is to take your Bible with you on the platform in sacred singing. Keep the Bible closed, but on the side facing you hold your little slip of paper. And then do not glance at it more frequently than you absolutely must. Try to memorize the song completely beforehand, but have this present just in case something drops out of your mind. Endeavor also to have mentally in mind a picture of exactly where the words are on the card. In other words, if you are singing the second stanza and have a sudden lapse of memory, then you will not merely glance at the card and begin a frantic search, but you will know exactly where to look.
Rule No. 2: You have typed this song, and you have sung it in public. Now by all means do not file this card with the words on it or keep it around. Tear it up, and throw it away as soon as you have sung the song! This is another inflexible rule you have decided to obey. The next time you sing it, if you are still not sure of yourself, then type it out again. After you have done this typing two or three times, you are bound to have it perfectly memorized just by the assistance of that process alone, so that the second or third time you sing it you will not be looking at the words at all, and sooner or later you will be trusting your memory completely. The two rules we have just mentioned, if adhered to strictly, will lead you into a path where you will soon be singing 90 percent of your songs from memory, and the other 10 percent from just a card of key words.
Key Words
You will soon find that you will automatically come to the place where you will write down only the key words a sort of shorthand system of your own. For instance, notice the words we have italicized in the poem "This Is My Father's World." These are all the words that you may need on your little card.
It is just my own little system. You may not need some of these words, but may wish to add one or two of your own. Or the first time or two you try a new song, you may want to have the entire poem, but underline the key words in red to have them stand out. It is not necessary to write down the first line, which is also the title of the song. It is used so frequently that you can't forget it if you try; so your card might look like this:
"listening ears nature sings, . . . rings music of spheres. . . . rest in thought . . . rocks and trees; His hand wonders wrote " and the other stanzas in sequence. Notice, as you look at the above lines, how "nature sings" automatically brings to mind the corresponding phrase "and round me rings"; hence the word "rings" does not even need to be on the card. Similarly "rocks and trees" immediately reminds us o£ "skies and seas."
As another aid it might be well to add the rhyming words at the end of each line to the key words. Then again there are times when we can almost use the rhyming words alone as the key words, the mind automatically filling in the entire line.
I hope some of these suggestions will prove valuable. I believe they will. Adapt them, and evolve a method of your own. If you get any "bright ideas," please drop me a line and share them with me. I am always looking for new and better ways, and I believe you are too. That's the reason I wrote this article!
