# Family Worship



## Pilgrim (Feb 24, 2008)

Does anyone have anything more to add than what is on this thread on introducing the psalms into family worship particularly for those who are not used to singing them (except for the versions and paraphrases in the Trinity Hymnal and will need some help with tunes, etc? 

I'm also interested to know about any other resources or suggestions. We have been following M'Cheyne's guide, usually in the evenings. Do any of you have daily morning and evening family worship?


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Feb 24, 2008)

http://www.puritanboard.com/f67/2008-year-family-worship-28681/


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## Croghanite (Feb 24, 2008)

The most beneficial thing that I have done with my family to help us to sing the Psalms was to listen to one Psalm being sung on a CD. We would listen to it a couple of times, start it over and sing along as we read from the Psalter. This was a great benefit to us. By far, using this method has helped us the most.

We first tried using the tunes by themselves from the link I posted on the thread you referenced in the OP. That was very hard for us because we have never sung them before.

I would say the best way for us when we first started was to listen to the tune and then use the CD to sing along with until you don't need assistance anymore.

If you want some CD's, send me a PM and I will mail them to you.


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## Pilgrim (Feb 24, 2008)

What suggestions do y'all have for choosing a Psalter?


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## MW (Feb 24, 2008)

Pilgrim said:


> What suggestions do y'all have for choosing a Psalter?



If the reason for singing the Psalms is not nostalgia or experimentation, but the conviction that God's own songs are best, then accuracy is a premium and the Scottish Psalter is the obvious choice.


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## Augusta (Feb 25, 2008)

We love the 1650 Scottish Psalter.


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## ADKing (Feb 25, 2008)

armourbearer said:


> Pilgrim said:
> 
> 
> > What suggestions do y'all have for choosing a Psalter?
> ...



The 1650 Psalter has several advantages:

1. Because almost all of the psalms are set in common meter, you can sing through the whole thing with a relatively few tunes. As you go along you can pick up more. The CM tunes are also easy to learn. As you progress you can learn the harmony etc. Plus, there are many recordings that can be obtained to help you learn appropriate tunes. 

2. As Rev. Winzer pointes out, the 1650 Psalter is a very accurate translation from the Hebrew text.

3. Personally, I love the fact that the text is before you in sequence. You do not have to read it like a hymnal. This gets rid of artificial breaks in the psalms that may or may not represent good divisions of the psalm itself. You can have the words before you and not be distracted by the music (although for those who want the music you can obtain split-leaf psalters with it).


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## Semper Fidelis (Feb 25, 2008)

ADKing said:


> armourbearer said:
> 
> 
> > Pilgrim said:
> ...



Are there any CD's that have the tunes that go with each song? We have the Psalms for Singing and have a CD full of short tunes so I can sing the song a few times and then, once I have the tune memorized, we start singing.

I'm not a music expert. By common meter, does this mean that you can use any of the tunes that work for any Psalm? Sometimes having a tune in my head for a specific Psalm aids my memory.


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## ADKing (Feb 25, 2008)

SemperFideles said:


> Are there any CD's that have the tunes that go with each song? We have the Psalms for Singing and have a CD full of short tunes so I can sing the song a few times and then, once I have the tune memorized, we start singing.
> 
> I'm not a music expert. By common meter, does this mean that you can use any of the tunes that work for any Psalm? Sometimes having a tune in my head for a specific Psalm aids my memory.


 
Common Meter means the words are arranged such that there are 8 syllables in the first line 6 in the second 8 in the third and 6 in the last. With this consistent pattern you can use any tune that follows this pattern with all the psalms (though diversity is nice!). 

I am not aware of any CDs that have matched a specific and different tune to all 150 psalms in the Scottish psalter. However, there are many that have done quite an extensive job--I think of the two wonderful CDs done by the PRC (which have identified psalms and tunes for me) as well as the 5 CDs by the Northern Presbytery Choir of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Ireland (available from Crown and Covenant).


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Feb 25, 2008)

ADKing said:


> I am not aware of any CDs that have matched a specific and different tune to all 150 psalms in the Scottish psalter. However, there are many that have done quite an extensive job--I think of the two wonderful CDs done by the PRC (which have identified psalms and tunes for me) as well as the 5 CDs by the Northern Presbytery Choir of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Ireland (available from Crown and Covenant).



Available here:

Psalm CDs - Presbyterian Reformed Church
Scottish Metrical Psalms Vol. 1 (CD) (see the other links to the four other volumes)


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## ChristopherPaul (Feb 25, 2008)

We use the Psalter that our church uses which is The Psalms for Singing. We also use the CD that Rich mentioned to help us learn the tunes that we don't remember from church. If our church used the Scottish Psalter we would use that, but right now we desire to learn what our Church uses for the sake of our kids who can't read yet.

Regarding the Scottish Psalter, I do appreciate that a common meter can be used for each Psalm, but I would also prefer one common tune for each Psalm for memorization purposes. 

I don't really like M'Cheyne's recommendations because it seems too chopped up. I like some order be that chronological or canonological - at least with the OT. My family reads a chapter after each meal and then studies the catechism at family worship.


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## Reformed Covenanter (Feb 25, 2008)

joshua said:


> ChristopherPaul said:
> 
> 
> > We use...The Psalms for Singing.
> ...



Where can you get the commentary by John Brown?


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Feb 25, 2008)

Daniel Ritchie said:


> joshua said:
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> 
> > ChristopherPaul said:
> ...



It's online here.


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## jaybird0827 (Feb 25, 2008)

There is a daily calendar for singing through the 1650 Psalter here. It is similar to The Comprehensive Psalter but the divisions are somewhat different and the tunes are the ones that people in our congregation are likely to know.

If you don't know the suggested tune you can always go with a tune that you know, given that the tune is paired with the number of syllables (see above); CM-CM, SM-SM and so on.

At home we add a little adaptation, since we have family worship twice a day. If the Psalm is easily sung in one sitting, such as Psalm 1 or 23 or 121, we sing that Psalm twice that day. If the Psalm is divided into 2 portions, we sing the first portion in the morning and the 2nd portion in the evening, and sing the Psalm for 2 days. This is helping us remember what we sing.


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## MW (Feb 25, 2008)

jaybird0827 said:


> There is a daily calendar for singing through the 1650 Psalter here.



Very good! Is that designed to go through the Psalter in a specific period of time?


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## Reformed Covenanter (Feb 25, 2008)

joshua said:


> Daniel, I'm not sure. It was given to me as a gift.



Its okay; I only need the online edition for reference.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Feb 25, 2008)

joshua said:


> Daniel, I'm not sure. It was given to me as a gift.



For what it's worth, I have the 1991 Presbyterian Heritage Publications edition. I see there is one copy available on Amazon-USA today for around $25.00. Kessinger Publications has also reprinted it in the last few years; there are copies available on Amazon-USA, Amazon-UK, and the Kessinger website.


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## jaybird0827 (Feb 25, 2008)

armourbearer said:


> jaybird0827 said:
> 
> 
> > There is a daily calendar for singing through the 1650 Psalter here.
> ...


 
Matthew,

Affirmative. That schedule will take you through the Psalter in a little under a year. The last few days of December we usually suggest some alternative versions; for example 25 II, and ending with another singing through of Psalm 90 the last 2 or 3 days of the year.

Many thanks!


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## MW (Feb 25, 2008)

jaybird0827 said:


> Affirmative. That schedule will take you through the Psalter in a little under a year. The last few days of December we usually suggest some alternative versions; for example 25 II, and ending with another singing through of Psalm 90 the last 2 or 3 days of the year.



Wonderful! I really like the mood categories and the easy links to the midi files. Blessings!


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