Monday, February 21, 2011

New Favorite Psalm Tune

The other day, a psalm-singing friend from Scotland commented on my blog and shared the link to a collection of psalms that he has posted online.  These psalms were recorded at a weekly Bible study in Glasgow.  I have enjoyed listening to the recordings; and I've just added them to this list so that you can enjoy them too. 

One recording in particular caught my ear--the tune is "Land of Rest" which I had not heard before.  I like this tune a lot.  It reminds me of Maitland, or Retreat, or Cunningham; in other words, it's a very American-sounding tune.  When I googled the tune, I found that it is in fact an American folk tune.  I tried to find a midi file or the score for this tune, but the closest thing I could find had very different harmony, and wasn't nearly so appealing.

If anyone has a midi file or written music for "Land of Rest" with the parts as they are in this recording, I would be delighted if you would e-mail it to me via the e-mail address on the "About Me" page (click on the tab above).

The parts kick in on the second verse--wait for it:

  Psalm 36 (v 5-9) - Land of Rest by Niallags

Psalm 36
5. Thy mercy, Lord, is in the heav'ns;
thy truth doth reach the clouds;
6. Thy justice is like mountains great,
thy judgements deep as floods:

Lord, thou preservest man and beast.
7. How precious is thy grace!
Therefore in shadow of thy wings
men's sons their trust shall place.

8. They with the fatness of thy house
shall be well satisfy'd;
From rivers of thy pleasures thou
wilt drink to them provide.

9. Because of life the fountain pure
remains alone with thee;
And in that purest light of thine
we clearly light shall see. 

3 comments:

  1. Land of Rest is in the Free Church Sing Psalms version of the Psalter. I have the sol-fa edition and I am pretty sure it is the same parts as sung here.
    Donnie (from the PB)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh and it is Psalm 36 that they are singing it to.
    Donnie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the info, Donnie! It's good to know where I can find the tune. If I can get my hands on the parts for it, I might be able to persuade some other people to learn it with me. :)

    Oops--didn't realize I had put Psalm 37 instead of Psalm 36--I'll correct that.

    ReplyDelete

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