Recordings from the Scottish Psalter, Book 1, Psalms 1-41

Here is a list of psalm recordings from the first book of the psalms, i.e. psalms 1-41.

These recordings are all from the Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1650, are sung a cappella, and are free to download.

For more recordings, and for more information about the people who created these recordings, click here.

In order from left to right, we have: the psalm, the tune, and the people/group singing.  Click on the psalm to be taken to the hosting site where you can listen and/or download the recording.

I've put an "R" next to the tunes that repeat a line, since I know that not everyone appreciates those (as my brother says, "If that line was meant to be repeated, it would be repeated in the Bible.").

The quality of these may vary.

Where there are multiple recordings per psalm or section of a psalm, I've tried to pick out my favorites to include in the playlist I listen to regularly.  The recordings in my playlist are marked with an asterisk *.

	Psalm	Tune	Who's Singing?
	Psalm 1	St. Peter	CCRPC
	Psalm 1	Tallis	Santa Fe
*	Psalm 2	Westminster	CCRPC
*	Psalm 2:1-8	York	Connor Q
*	Psalm 3	Eden	CCRPC
	Psalm 4	Abbey	CCRPC
*	Psalm 4	Dunfermline	Niallags
*	Psalm 5:1-7	Stracathro	Santa Fe
*	Psalm 5:8-12	Denfield	CCRPC
	Psalm 6	Finnart	ConnorQ
*	Psalm 6	Soldau	Santa Fe
*	Psalm 7:1-8	St. Nicholas	CCRPC
*	Psalm 7:9-17	St. Cyril	CCRPC
*	Psalm 8	Land of Rest	Niallags
*	Psalm 8	Winchester	Santa Fe
*	Psalm 9:1-11	Stroudwater	CCRPC
*	Psalm 9:7-11	Stroudwater	Aberdeen FCC
*	Psalm 9:12-20	Manchester	CCRPC
	Psalm 10:1-4	Burford	CCRPC
*	Psalm 10:1-6	Glenluce	Niallags
*	Psalm 10:5-12	Comfort	CCRPC
*	Psalm 10:13-18	Belmont	CCRPC
	Psalm 11	Salisbury	CCRPC
*	Psalm 12	Kilsyth	CCRPC
*	Psalm 13	Ballerma	Santa Fe
	Psalm 13	Cheshire	CCRPC
*	Psalm 13	Stornoway	Connor Q
*	Psalm 14	Beatitudo	CCRPC
*	Psalm 15	Grafenberg	Connor Q
*	Psalm 16	St. Leonard	CCRPC
*	Psalm 17:1-6	Artaxerxes	Niallags
*	Psalm 17:1-7	Rest	CCRPC
*	Psalm 17:8-15	Palestrina	CCRPC
	Psalm 18:1-5	Lancaster	CCRPC
*	Psalm 18:1-6	Bishopthorpe	psalm-singing.org
*	Psalm 18:6-11	Ostend	CCRPC
*	Psalm 18:12-19	Evangel	CCRPC
*	Psalm 18:16-19	St. Magnus	Santa Fe
*	Psalm 18:20-27	Bedford	CCRPC
*	Psalm 18:28-35	Warwick	Connor Q
	Psalm 18:28-37	Main	CCRPC
*	Psalm 18:38-45	Bedford	CCRPC
*	Psalm 18:46-50	Tiverton	CCRPC
*	Psalm 19:1-6	Crediton	Santa Fe
*	Psalm 19:7-14	St. Andrew	CCRPC
*	Psalm 20	Edinburgh	CCRPC
*	Psalm 21:1-6	Free Church	Santa Fe
	Psalm 21:1-7	Arnold	CCRPC
*	Psalm 21:8-13	St. Bartholomew	CCRPC
*	Psalm 22:1-5	Dundee	Santa Fe
*	Psalm 22:1-8	Bangor	Niallags
*	Psalm 22:1-10	Bangor	CCRPC (octet)
	Psalm 22:11-21	Naomi	CCRPC
*	Psalm 22:14-20	St. Mary	Santa Fe
*	Psalm 22:22-26	Sheffield	Santa Fe
*	Psalm 22:22-31	Praetorious	CCRPC
*	Psalm 22:23-26	Old 22nd	Connor Q
*	Psalm 23	Bays of Harris	Connor Q
	Psalm 23	Covenanters R	psalm-singing.org
	Psalm 23	Crimond	CCRPC
	Psalm 23	Crimond	Highland Harmony Singers
*	Psalm 23	St. Columba/Erin	Santa Fe
	Psalm 23	St. Columba/Erin	Free Church
*	Psalm 23	Wiltshire	Niallags
*	Psalm 24:1-6	Southwell	CCRPC
*	Psalm 24:7-10	St. Asaph	CCRPC
	Psalm 24:7-10	St. Georges R	Highland Harmony Singers
	Psalm 25:1-5 (1st)	Franconia	Santa Fe
*	Psalm 25:1-7 (1st)	Dennis	ConnorQ
*	Psalm 25:4-10 (1st)	Dennis	Highland Harmony Singers
*	Psalm 25:15-22 (1st)	Golden Hill	Santa Fe
	Psalm 25:1-7 (2nd)	St. Paul	CCRPC
	Psalm 25:8-14 (2nd)	St. Andrew	CCRPC
	Psalm 25:15-22 (2nd)	St. Neot	CCRPC
	Psalm 26:1-6	St. Thomas	CCRPC
*	Psalm 26:1-7	St. Thomas	Connor Q
*	Psalm 26:7-12	Iconium	CCRPC
*	Psalm 27:1-5	Boston	RPCNA*
	Psalm 27:1-6	Durham	CCRPC
*	Psalm 27:7-10	St. Botolph	Connor Q
*	Psalm 27:7-14	Farrant	CCRPC
*	Psalm 28	Gloucester	CCRPC
*	Psalm 29:1-6	Old 29th	CCRPC
*	Psalm 29:7-11	Corona	CCRPC
*	Psalm 30:1-5	St. Minver	Santa Fe
*	Psalm 30:1-7a	Irish	CCRPC
*	Psalm 30:7b-12	St. Fulbert	CCRPC
*	Psalm 31:1-5	Consolation	Connor Q
*	Psalm 31:1-7	Gabriel	EPC youth
*	Psalm 31:1-8	St. David	CCRPC
*	Psalm 31:9-18	Consolation	CCRPC
*	Psalm 31:19-24	St. Lawrence	psalm-singing.org
	Psalm 31:19-24	Torwood	CCRPC
*	Psalm 31:21-24	St. Lawrence	Aberdeen FCC
	Psalm 31:21-24	St. Lawrence	Free Church
*	Psalm 32:1-6	Salzburg	CCRPC
*	Psalm 32:7-11	Spohr	CCRPC
*	Psalm 33:1-11	Scarborough	CCRPC
*	Psalm 33:8-12	Irish	Connor Q
*	Psalm 33:12-22	St. Bartholemew	CCRPC
*	Psalm 34:1-10	Perfect Way	Connor Q
*	Psalm 34:1-10	Stracathro	CCRPC
	Psalm 34:11-17	Kilmalcolm	CCRPC
*	Psalm 34:11-19	Stracathro	ConnorQ
	Psalm 34:18-22	St. Matthew	CCRPC
*	Psalm 34:19-22	Wiltshire	Connor Q
*	Psalm 35:1-8	Evan	Niallags
*	Psalm 35:1-10	Morven	CCRPC
*	Psalm 35:11-16	Elgin	CCRPC
*	Psalm 35:17-23	Bangor	CCRPC
*	Psalm 35:24-28	St. Hugh	CCRPC
*	Psalm 36:1-7	Bristol	CCRPC
*	Psalm 36:5-10	London New	Aberdeen FCC
*	Psalm 36:5-12	London New	Niallags
*	Psalm 37:1-9	Felix	CCRPC
*	Psalm 37:3-7	Denfield	Connor Q
*	Psalm 37:10-21	St. Frances	CCRPC
*	Psalm 37:22-28	Downs	CCRPC
*	Psalm 37:29-34	Grafton	CCRPC
*	Psalm 37:35-40	Stockton	CCRPC
*	Psalm 38:1-9	Boswell	CCRPC
*	Psalm 38:10-15	Dundee	CCRPC
*	Psalm 38:16-22	Torwood	CCRPC
*	Psalm 39:1-6	Orton	CCRPC
*	Psalm 39:7-13	Dunlapscreek	CCRPC
*	Psalm 40:1-5	Ayrshire	Santa Fe
	Psalm 40:1-4	Ballerma	Connor Q
	Psalm 40:1-7	Ballerma	CCRPC
*	Psalm 40:5-9	St. Paul	Santa Fe congregation
*	Psalm 40:8-17	Moravia	CCRPC
*	Psalm 41:1-6	Resolution	CCRPC
*	Psalm 41:7-13	Humility	CCRPC

*In this recording, conference attendees are singing Psalm 27A from the Book of Psalms for Singing, but the text is the same as in the 1650 Scottish Psalter.

September 2010

As the weather begins to cool slightly, Texans are coming out of hibernation.  We've been spending more time outside, and we're not alone; when we go downtown on Saturdays, we find that the parks and jogging trails are beginning to fill up again (and parking spaces are harder to come by). 

One recent Saturday, when I went to pick up the boys, I found them (and their dad, of course) at the Miller Outdoor Theatre watching Bach's Brandenburg Concerto, played with period instruments.  We love the free performances at the Miller Theater, at least when they play classical.

The evenings are the best time to get out for a bike ride.  A few months ago, when the ex gave us this bike, I thought, "Oh dear, I'm not looking forward to teaching Elijah how to ride this."  But I needn't have worried; he taught himself within about fifteen minutes.

 
Noah's tricycle was a birthday present from Uncle Caleb and Aunt Leah.  I highly recommend these old-fashioned metal Radio Flyer trikes.  They are nice and sturdy, and big enough that they will last a child a long time.

It's funny, my boys are almost two and a half years apart, but people are always asking me "Are they twins?"  I guess it's because Noah is so tall for his age.  They are close enough to the same size that they are able to share most of their clothes.

Where were you on 9/11?

September 11, 2001.  I was a student at Indiana University.  When I walked into my astronomy class that morning, I was a few minutes late, and the lecture was underway.  My astronomy class was held in one of those big lecture halls in Swain East, with the seats sloping steeply down from the back of the room, and a huge projection screen on the front wall.

As I took my seat, I saw a hastily handwritten notice projected onto the screen: "The Dean of Students has announced that classes will continue today as usual."  Well, why wouldn't they?  I wondered to myself.  During the rest of class, I speculated as to what could have prompted such an announcement.  I concluded that someone must have died, perhaps the president of IU, or Bobby Knight.

At the end of class, as everyone stood up and started collecting books and papers, one of the associate instructors plugged something in and a movie started to play on the front wall.  In the movie, skyscrapers were collapsing in slow motion in huge billowing clouds of flames and smoke.  That's impressive, I thought, but why are they playing a movie, here, now?

I grabbed the first passing student.  "What's going on?"  I asked.  "What's that?"  I gestured towards the screen at the front of the room.

"We've been attacked.  Some terrorists hijacked some planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center," he told me, shakily.  I looked back at the screen in shock.  (Just imagine, if you will, that the first time you heard about 9/11 was as you watched it happen in an IMAX theater.  That's how it felt.)  As I watched in horror, an airplane plunged into the side of a tower, then again, from another angle.  I felt a little dizzy (dizziness enhanced by the steep slope of the room).  It couldn't be real.

I left and walked around campus feeling disoriented.  The campus was strangely empty and quiet.  In the common areas on campus, usually packed with students studying, eating, or napping on the couches, there were only a few people, huddled around TVs on black carts that someone had wheeled out of storage, watching the news channels replaying the same horrifying video clips over and over again.  Ironically, it was a beautiful fall day, crisp and cool, the sun shining brilliantly.

Most of the people I saw looked dazed.  Some were crying.

That afternoon I talked to my friend, an international student from Bangladesh.  He was holed up in his room at his fraternity and frantically trying to reach a relative who worked in the twin towers [she turned out to be okay].  He mentioned matter-of-factly that he and other Desi friends would have to stay out of sight for a while.  I didn't get it.  "Why?"  I asked.  "Why do you think?" he replied.  "I mean, hello, look at me.  Brown skin?  Black hair?"

I thought he was being paranoid.  Surely no one would be so stupid as to assume, based on his appearance, that his sympathies lay with the terrorists.  Needless to say, I was being naive.  He told me about a Pakistani friend who wore a headscarf.  She had been harassed and threatened by a group of men who had shouted, among other things, "Go home."

As I think back over the days and months surrounding 9/11, one thing that stands out in my mind is how Americans came together after the tragedy.  I was really moved to read about how people lined up for blocks to donate blood, and how people from around the country volunteered to help in any way they could.  I felt that we were united in grieving 9/11.  I even felt (briefly) united with and proud of President Bush.  In this day and age, I think it's easy to feel that you have little in common with the people around you (and I'm sure we could discuss for ages why that's so) but after 9/11, for a short while, we were all Americans together. 

Soooo...tell me your story.  Where were you on 9/11?  What stands out in your mind as you remember that day and the weeks around it? 

Being FP

I came across this article on Cath's blog about Free Presbyterian cultural identity.  I found it quite interesting and thought I would share here, though of course I must add the caveat that this is FP culture as seen through the eyes of one Scottish FP, and perhaps other FPs might differ with a few points.  For instance, FPs in the US and Canada--and a growing handful in Scotland--don't share the antipathy towards homeschooling, and find the association of homeschooling with monasticism to be particularly baffling (one can only assume that the Scots are not actually familiar with how homeschooling families usually operate).  But I digress.  Here is the link:

1893 and all that

Skip to the next-to-last paragraph if you're in a hurry. :)

While I'm linking, here is Cath's brief history of the FP church. 

FPism

Edit:  I'm tagging this post with "homeschooling" since that's the direction the comment discussion has taken. 

August Psalm Sing

On Saturday we had another psalm sing.  After lunch, we reviewed the two tunes we learned at our last psalm sing; so we sang Psalm 6 to Soldau, and Psalm 113 to St. Etheldreda.   Then we sang Psalm 1 to Tallis.  I won't post the ones we reviewed, as they sound pretty much like the recordings from last time; but here is Psalm 1 to Tallis.



You can hear little Carl singing along in this recording.  He's not even two years old yet (right?), but he knows Psalm 1 and can carry a tune. :)  I'm hoping that we can do Psalm 1 again some time when more children are here; it's so nice to hear children singing the Psalms.

Once again, if you'd like to download any of our psalm recordings to your own computer, they are available here:
www.archive.org/bookmarks/snikwad

Elijah Is Writing a Book

Elijah is writing a book.  While Elijah can read anything you put in front of him, he can not spell.  At all.  As you can imagine, this means that he requires quite a bit of assistance with writing a book.  When the scene below begins, we are halfway through the second chapter, which means I have been doing this for a. long. time.

Elijah: Mama, how do you spell "how"?
Me: H-O-W.
Elijah: what was that again?
Me: H-O-W.
Elijah: How do you spell "many"?
Me: M-A-N-Y.
Elijah: writes M-N-A-Y.
Me: Oh Elijah, that spells "mnay."  Erase the N and the A and switch them.
Elijah: Ohhhhhhhh.  *perplexed*  Why didn't you say so in the first place?
Me: *sigh*
Elijah: How do you spell "people"?
Me: P-E
Elijah *writes*: Okay, what else?
Me: O-P
Elijah: What else?  What else?
Me: *lost in thought*
Elijah: What else, Mama?  What else?
Me: What do you have so far again?
Elijah: P-E-O-P
Me: L-E.
Elijah: okay.  How do you spell "do"?
Me: D-O.
*a moment of blissful silence while Elijah spells "you" all by himself*
Elijah: How do you spell "want"?
Me: Um, how many chapters is this book going to have again?
Elijah: Four.
...
and this is the point where I start to think this is kind of funny, and head to the computer to write a blog post about it.  Which Elijah, of course, reads over my shoulder with a big grin on his face.  Oh, he wants me to tell you that the book's title is "Tass's Friend."  And both he and Noah are thrilled to see this picture on my computer screen:

Lined Out Singing, Primitive Baptist Style

A few weeks ago, Jesh and I were looking at psalm singing videos online, and came across this video.  These are some Primitive Baptists singing the hymn Amazing Grace, a capella, lined out with a precentor.



The people in this video are walking around shaking hands and greeting one another as they sing, which is kind of distracting, but you get the idea anyway.  Watch for the precentor who comes into view about six minutes in.

I recognize that this video will be entertaining to those who are used to hearing lined-out singing done Gaelic style--and I can't blame you for smiling when they sing "warsh" instead of "wash."  :)  But in my personal opinion, it's also kind of beautiful.  I think that music is almost always beautiful, and stirring, when performed from the heart by humble, ordinary people.  Even more so, of course, when it's the Word of God that is being sung (i.e. the Psalms of David).

Our next psalm sing, or psalmody class, or whatever you would like to call it, is this Saturday.  Lunch at noon, singing to follow; I'm looking forward to seeing at least a few of you there. :)

Chewy Coconut Cookies

Usually, if I'm in the mood for cookies, I make chocolate chip cookies or molasses cookies or maybe oatmeal raisin cookies, or, if I'm feeling ambitious, chocolate crinkles.  But the other day I tried out this coconut cookie recipe, and they were so chewy and delicious that I will have to add them to my usual repertoire.

Chewy Coconut Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cups flaked coconut

*The recipe didn't specify whether the coconut should be sweetened or not, but I used unsweetened, and the cookies were plenty sweet.  I know that unsweetened coconut can be harder to find, but if you live near here, Froberg's farm store carries 1/2 pound bags of unsweetened coconut for $1.50.*

Directions: Cream together the butter and sugars.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla until fluffy.  Gradually beat in the flour, then finally, stir in the coconut.

I used a cookie scoop, sorry I don't know what size but the balls were about 1 inch in diameter.  Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven for 13 or 14 minutes.

I made the recipe as written and they were quite good, but next time I will use 1/2 whole wheat flour and maybe add a little flax seed meal or oats or something.  I find that using whole grains enables me to eat lots of cookies without getting that nasty too-much-sugar feeling. :)

Okra

I like okra.  I like breaded-n-fried okra.  I like oven-roasted okra.  I like gumbo with okra.

And I really like growing okra in my garden.  I got off to a bad start when I let my okra seeds get moldy (long story).  I planted them anyway; half never sprouted, but the other half have been growing happily ever since, despite the fact that I totally ignore them.  It's 100 degrees outside and we haven't had much rain and our soil is like a brick, but the okra plants just soak up the sun and shake off the bugs and grow like weeds.

I love that I can run out to my little garden and come back with these

and I slice them with some onion and saute them with a little olive oil and end up with this

Mmmmmmm.....

I wish I'd planted twice as much.  Or three times as much.  Maybe next year.

Sabbaths

You may have heard me complain, on my blog or off, about the amount of driving I do.  I grumble especially about being so far from church.  We are about twenty-five miles from church, which means a half-hour's drive each way, or two hours per Sabbath spent on the road.

So, I was humbled the other day when I read about a woman in Scotland, many years ago, who walked thirty miles, one way, to church.  Here is her story:

To one, at least, the Sabbath journey was nearly thirty miles...Leaving home about midnight on Saturday, she walked across the hills regularly in summer and often in winter...After the service on Sabbath she returned to her home, and was ready to join in the labour of the farm next morning.  On that condition alone would her father allow her to come to Killearnan [where services were held], being more anxious about the state of his croft than about the salvation of himself and of his family.

Now I've often thought that it would be nice to be able to walk to church, as a nice walk does wonders for clearing my mind and helping me to focus.  But my idea of a "nice walk" would be two or three miles, not thirty.

Another quote from the same book:

On Sabbath, they all meet in the house of God.  The Lord himself is in the midst of them; the word is rightly divided; hungry souls are fed with "the finest of the wheat;" some of "the whole" are wounded; and some of the wounded ones are healed.  The public service over, the people return to their homes; and by the way, they form into companies around some of the Lord's people, who are speaking of the sermon, and bringing again, before themselves and others, the precious lessons which it furnished. In the evening, district meetings are held...After prayer and praise, and the reading of a portion of Scripture, a certain number of the questions of the Shorter Catechism are asked and answered, and notes of the sermons heard during the day are repeated.  Time is allowed for family duties, and in many a household the incense of prayer and praise ascends from the family altar to God.  Such was an ordinary Ross-shire Sabbath in the good days of the Fathers.

The book, of course, is The Days of the Fathers in Ross-shire by Rev. John Kennedy.  You can read it online here.  I saw the second quote above on Mr. Myers' blog  and was inspired to hunt through our bookcases until I had found our own tattered volume of the book (printed in 1885).  It was excellent.

I had just finished reading a similar book which was also excellent (perhaps even better), Ministers and Men of the Far North by Rev. Alex Auld.  It is out of print, I'm afraid, though you might be able to get a copy through Mr. Reynolds' used book store, and you can read it online here.

I'm currently reading John G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides, which I think I can safely recommend even though I'm only about halfway through it. :)  It's also available online, here.  Google Books is awesome.  Though I prefer to read from a real, live book rather than a screen, I do appreciate the fact that I can use Google Books to search within a book (it's how I re-located the two quotes above).

I like old biographies like the ones I've listed here.  Another one I'd like to read is The Life of John Kennedy, written by Rev. Alex Auld.  Do you have any others to recommend?