Maryville College Singing
Samuel Tyndale Wilson Center for Campus Ministry (CCM), Maryville College
Maryville, Blount County, Tennessee
Sunday, October 27, 2024
All selections from New Harp of Columbia, Restored Edition, 2001.
Minutes of the annual Maryville College singing at 1400h on Sunday, October 27th, 2024, in the old Lamar Memorial Library building, now the Samuel Tyndale Wilson Center for Campus Ministry. Tom Taylor was the convener.
Isaac Anderson, the first president of Maryville College, founded this group before the Civil War.
As is usual at this singing, basses (only 3 of them) in the (liturgical) East faced altos (9), leads (18!) in the South faced trebles (9). A total of 38 people were singing - I'm not actually sure how many sang the lead part. We sang 22 songs.
107, Holy Manna - Tom Taylor 73t, Oh, Sing to Me of Heaven - Andrew Whaley 114t, Zion - Gail Doss 28b, Maysville - Claudia Dean 80b, Shawmut - Roger Bland 42, Lenox - Jeremy Shipp 81b, Golden Hill A52, Evening Shade - Elizabeth Shipp 68t, Paradise - Sara Melton 14, Mear - Elizabeth Wood 44, Idumea - ? 39b, St. Martin's - Kathleen Mavournin 30, Sion's Security - Bob Richmond 74, Never Part Again - Judy Mincey 117, Coronation - Nathaniel Fleming 115, Northfield - Helen Hanks 206, Western Mount Pleasant - Tina Becker 144, Rowley - Bob Brylawski A22, Detroit - David Sarten 68b, Albany - Bill Gathergood 20b, Hebron - Andrew Whaley see Note 1 11, Old Hundred - Tom Taylor see Note 2
Note 1: Andrew Whaley led 20B Hebron in memory of Bruce Wheeler, with Bruce's version of the dynamics of the last verse (soft for “much of my time”, loud for “but he forgives”). Note 2: As we sang 11 Old Hundred, somebody piped up “formed us men... and women!” Turned out that somebody was Kathleen. I think we need an inclusive-language fix here. Our NHoC version is Isaac Watts's very loose metrical paraphrase of Psalm 100 (revised by John Wesley). The word used for “people” in the Hebrew (‘amo) is ungendered, as are the Septuagint (Greek, ~250 BCE, laòs), both Vulgate (Latin, ~400 AD, populus) versions, and English translations (KJV, NRSV). (Referring to God as “he” is a different issue, and I'm not going into it.)
I propose we change our usage (we got a right, it's our book, it ain't scripture). I propose:
His sov'reign without our aid,
Made us of clay, and formed us all,
And when like wand'ring sheep we strayed,
Back to his fold he did us call.
Introducing new singer Chantal Maher, who sang lead in the front row. Chantal lives at Asbury Place, our retirement community near Maryville College, and plans to continue singing. Please put her on the Oldharp email list.
Finally, it's time for me to retire from doing the minutes, for somebody who can hear better than I can these days to take over. We won't get to the Larry O. singing at Thanksgiving.
Minutes: Bob Richmond.