Advent I: Teach Our Hearts to Welcome You
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Now the Heavens Start to Whisper
INVITATION TO DEEPER LISTENING:
Before you focus on pitches and rhythms on the page (they are only approximations of sound anyhow!), I invite you to a practice I learned from my colleague and mentor Alice Parker:
Read the text aloud, as you might read a piece of poetry. What words or phrases delight or surprise you? What do you notice in the shape of the words, the quality of the consonants, and the softness or directness of specific words and phrases?
Listen to the hymn through once, letting the words and music wash over you. What feelings does it suggest to you? Do you see colors or shapes? How does your body respond to the music? Do you hear certain words emphasized or diminished by the tune?
Then, sing along with the recording using a soft, listening voice. If you feel less confident as a singer, you can simply hum or chant along, paying special attention to the flow of text and music. What do you notice as you add your breath and voice to the tune? Has your relationship with the hymn changed? What are you aware of that you might not have been before, either within you or in the music?
FURTHER READING and LISTENING:
Dr. Mary Louis (“Mel”) Bringle is a hymn writer, translator, educator, scholar, and served as the hymnal committee chair for Glory to God, the recent hymnal of the Presbyterian Church (USA). A professor at heart, a published author and a theologian by training, Dr. Bringle is an award-winning hymn writer whose original texts and translations appear in hymnals around the world.
Here’s what she writes about the text in her hymn collection, In Wind and Wonder:
“In the fall of 2005, I was asked if I would write an Advent text “with a Celtic flavor” for the Welsh melody SUO GAN. To get into an appropriate frame of mind for the assignment, I went to the Brevard College library and checked out a few books on Celtic spirituality. I was very drawn to the notion of “thin places” – places where earth and heaven, or secular and sacred, seem to be in closer touch with one another than elsewhere. Advent strikes me as a “thin” – or at least a “thinning” – time, an idea reflected in stanza one of the text. Other images (the “softening” of hearts, Christ as the Sun of Justice, etc.) come from various Celtic prayers.”
SUO GAN is Welsh folk song first printed in the early 19th century. Like so much music from folk sources, the composer is unknown, as is its age. The song's title simply means lullaby (suo = lull; cân = song).
Listen to a setting of the song in Welsh, accompanied by harp. The first verse of the text and a literal translation are below.
Huna blentyn ar fy mynwes,
Clyd a chynnes ydyw hon;
Breichiau mam sy'n dynn amdanat,
Cariad mam sy dan fy mron;
Ni chaiff dim amharu'th gyntun,
Ni wna undyn â thi gam;
Huna'n dawel, annwyl blentyn,
Huna'n fwyn ar fron dy fam.
Sleep child upon my bosom,
It is cosy and warm;
Mother's arms are tight around you,
A mother's love is in my breast;
Nothing shall disturb your slumber,
Nobody will do you harm;
Sleep in peace, dear child,
Sleep quietly on your mother's breast.