III. IMPORTANCE OF THE TUNES
As has been incidentally suggested in the course of the illustrative progress, no small importance is to be attached to the selection of the tunes to be used with the hymns. The preacher cannot always afford to trust the compiler of the hymnal which he uses. That learned gentleman does not know what tune the preacher’s people can sing with a given hymn to the best advantage. He has to meet the difficulty of providing every hymn with an appropriate tune without having well-known and effective tunes enough to go round; he cannot repeat them over and over, but must use less popular tunes. Who shall judge him harshly, therefore, if in this dilemma he occasionally follows his own personal taste rather than the vaguely conceived needs of miscellaneous congregations.
But the minister must study the tunes in his hymnal lest he limit his song service to the small number he happens to know well. To use a dozen or so tunes again and again will cut the nerve of musical interest in his musical helpers and in his congregation as well.
Hence, it is the minister’s task to re-edit the hymnal in part, remating hymns and tunes in order to secure the greatest results with his own people. Nor need he suffer with a sense of presumption. The important consideration is the results of the singing of hymns in an effective way, not loyalty to his church hymnal at the expense of those results.