Happy Music Monday! Here I have for you a free download of the hymn “As I Ponder My Eternal Value”. Click the download button below to save, download and/or print it.
Composing a Hymn
Composing a hymn was a little more difficult than I thought it would be because of the structure of the way a hymn is set up. When I compose a contemporary song, I have a lot of freedom to switch up the rhythms and melody from verse to verse or even chorus to chorus to suit changes in lyrics.
Hymns are different. Because each verse, (generally speaking) needs to fall under one main musical structure, you can’t switch up rhythms and melodies to accommodate the words from verse to verse. This made it a little more difficult for me to line up the lyrics in a way that made sense, fit well with the melody, rhymed appropriately and emphasized the proper beats of the words. Basically in the past I could change up something in the music to make the lyrics work, but with a hymn, if I changed anything in the music, it would affect all three verses, thus having a ripple effect.
It took quite a few revisions to get to the final product. But it was totally worth it. 🙂
Unison Singing
After figuring out the basic structure of the music, I decided to set up this hymn for unison singing, rather than for four part harmony. It just kind of turned out that way and felt right. Because the music was going to be an accompaniment rather than four vocal parts, I made sure to add some held out notes and contrasting movements in the alto and bass lines to add interest and beauty.
Using other hymns for inspiration
I then chose to write an introduction. Some of the hymns in the LDS hymn book have introductions, but not very many. One of my favorites, “Families Can be Together Forever” does. So I used that as a reference and did somewhat of a similar idea. That hymn, incidentally is also in unison.
Finishing touches
The fermata toward the end of the song also has a purpose. It was a natural way to separate the climax of the song (the previous few measures) with the ending; since the ending is meant to have a soft and intimate feeling to it.
Overall, I really enjoyed this project. Thank you for letting me share it with you! Marilee
PS. Next week I’ll be sharing another Church song – I added a second verse to an existing song out of Children’s songbook! Any ideas on which one you think it might be? Stay tuned for the sheet music.