Kingdom songs

Kingdom songs are the songs sung by Jehovah's Witnesses at their religious meetings, analogous to hymns. In earlier decades, the lyrics were sometimes set to established tunes or themes from classical music. Beginning with the book "Singing and Accompanying Yourselves with Music in Your Hearts" (in 1966), only original music composed especially for the purpose was used; this practice has continued in the current song book from 1984, "Sing Praises to Jehovah", which comprises 225 songs.

Orchestral arrangements of the songs, known as "Kingdom melodies", are also available; they take many liberties with the original form of the songs, and are not intended to accompany singing. These arrangements are used for the music interludes that introduce programmes at conventions and assemblies of Jehovah's Witnesses.

History

In the late 19th century, the Bible Students (from which Jehovah's Witnesses arose) used many well-known songs and melodies. They also used well-known melodies set to their own texts. These melodies were often works of famous composers, including Ludwig van Beethoven and Joseph Haydn. Since then, the practice of using music at their gatherings has gone through many developments. At the end of the 1930s, they stopped singing as a regular element at the local meetings. In 1944 the practice was reintroduced, and from then they put much more work in making all of their songs characteristic of Jehovah's Witnesses. The melodies and texts today have all been composed by members of the religion.

Previous song books

Their first song book, "Songs of the Bride", was published in 1879. This was a collection of 144 songs. The next was "Poems and Hymns of the Millennial Dawn" from 1890, with 151 poems and 333 songs, most of which were well-known compositions. This was followed up with with 11 song texts appearing in the 1 February issue of The Watchtower in 1896, written by members of the denomination. Another collection was released in 1900, with 81 songs, many being written by a single individualWho|date=September 2008. In 1905, a songbook was released, including the 333 songs published in 1890, with musical notation. This book was released in a number of other languages, mainly in a shortened version. In 1925, they published a book, "Kingdom Hymns", with 80 songs, especially made for children and youths. In 1928 they published the songbook, "Songs of Praise to Jehovah", which included 337 songs, some new and some old. [“Jehovah’s Witnesses – Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom” –1993, © Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania | chap. 16 p. 240 Meetings for Worship, Instruction, and Encouragement]

"Kingdom Service Song Book" was released before 1944 , including 62 songs.

This was followed by the release of "Songs to Jehovah's Praise" in 1950, with 91 songs. Some of the music was relatively newly written (and continued into later song-books, including the current one), but some tunes were established hymn-tunes as found in other churches, or, in one or two cases, based on themes from classical music (for example, Beethoven's Piano Sonata no. 23 in F minor, op. 57 ("Appassionata")).

"Singing and Accompanying Yourselves with Music in Your Hearts" was released in 1966, with 119 songs. Melodies that were found to be of origins outside the congregation were replaced, as, for the first time, a policy was adopted of including only material written and composed by Jehovah's Witnesses, though some songs composed by non-Witnesses were unwittingly included.The Watchtower 10/15/86 p.23 Praising Jehovah With Music | "Two new melodies were composed for favorite words because it was learned that the melodies previously used had not been composed by Witnesses. How could that have happened? A composer may hear a little-known tune. When it later comes to his mind, he might imagine that he composed it."|] Some of this Witness-written material consisted of older songs retained from the previous song-book, and much of it consisted of many new songs appearing for the first time.

"Sing Praises to Jehovah"

In 1984, the current song book, "Sing Praises to Jehovah", was released, which includes 225 songs. It was subsequently introduced in many other languages. Two songs had the melodies changed. Various textual revisions also took place. In addition, a few more songs were dropped from the previous book which had been found not to have been written by members of Jehovah's Witnesses. Several dozen new songs appeared for the first time in this book. The names of the text authors and composers do not occur in the song book, in the same manner as the writers of their other publications are kept anonymous.

Many songs in the current book were present in the previous two books, with small changes made to many songs, as well as some more significant changes in a few. The musical arrangements have become progressively more elaborate and complex, and some of them are for the first time in pianistic arrangements, instead of the traditional four-part choral style used in the previous two song-books, similarly to most standard hymn-books. The 225 songs currently in use are about all aspects of Christian service. All song titles are connected with a scripture. Musically, the songs show a great variety: while all have a certain dignity, they express many different feelings or sentiments, some solemn, some gentle, and some melancholy. Some of the songs are march-like, some hymn-like; some are more animated, and others have a waltz-like lilt.

Many of the songs are quite different to conventional hymns in style, tending to be lighter and more varied in style and harmonic idiom. Some of the songs are in march or waltz tempos, and other stylistic elements not typical of hymns. One of the songs is even in quintuple rhythm (5/4 metre)Clarifyme|date=September 2008 ; a few have the verse and refrain in different, unrelated keys.

"Kingdom Melodies"

"Kingdom Melodies" is the name of a series of music recordings issued by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, and consists of orchestral arrangements of the Kingdom songs. These orchestral arrangements are instrumental arrangements, generally in the light orchestral music style. They are intended for listening, and are not well fit for accompanying singing. Certain episodes draw quite markedly on the harmonic and orchestral techniques of late-romantic or impressionistic music.Fact|date=September 2008The earlier recordings in the series were from the 1966 song book "Singing and Accompanying Yourselves With Music in Your Hearts", and the later ones from the song book "Sing Praises to Jehovah", which since 1984 has been the source of songs sung by Jehovah's Witnesses at meetings in their Kingdom Halls.

Installments in the "Kingdom Melodies" recordings were issued in cassette form annually during the 1980s ; a couple of them were rerecorded some years later in revised form, in order to drop a few songs which were in "Singing and Accompanying Yourselves With Music in Your Hearts", but not in "Sing Praises to Jehovah". Apart from dropping the obsolete songs, the new versions of these recordings are rearranged to some extent, but fairly closely resemble the earlier ones.

The entire series was reissued in CD form some years later , with only the later versions of the recordings included in this edition. The earlier versions and their revisions are not marked or labelled in any way as different editions, apart from the cited copyright years.

The individual tracks tend to consist of several different songs linked together into a short medley, with interludes between them which may be based on motifs from the songs, but not exactly quoting them. Solo piano parts with the orchestra accompanying appear in some of the tracks.

These recordings are normally distributed only by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, either directly by mail or in Kingdom Halls, and are not sold in retail outlets. Beginning in September 2008, the songs also became available for download at the Watchtower's media site, jw.org. They are of value to Jehovah's Witnesses who know the songs well from their meetings, but can also be enjoyed as light orchestral music, without overt religious connotations. In addition, the piano recordings used for congregational singing are also available through mail or ordering direct from a Kingdom Hall. Assembly accompaniments, however, are not made available.

Use in worship

Normally three songs are sung at the congregational meetings. Usually a piano recording on CD is played along while the congregation sings, although some congregations have a piano. Meetings open and close with a song and prayer, and the two sections of the meeting are parted by the singing of a song. Songs are chosen with themes matching the program of the meetings. The songs opening the Ministry School and the Service Meeting are found in issues of the newsletter, "Our Kingdom Ministry", and those for the Watchtower study are in each issue of "The Watchtower". The song used to introduce the public talk is normally chosen by the speaker. Songs are also used at assemblies and conventions, and sometimes at different events in Bethel.These accompaniments for singing, however, are all orchestral. Older ones use a full orchestra, while relatively recent or new ones use strings or other individual instruments.

See also

* Kingdom Hall
* Beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses

References

* "Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom", chapter 16
* "Watchtower" 1986, October 15

Footnotes

Exterior Links

* Kingdom Melodies on MP3 [http://www.jwbrothers.org/play_audio.php?audio=280 Kingdom Melodies ]