Gymanfa Ganu metrical shorthand

Thu, 08/26/2010 - 13:14 — Haruo

In starting a spreadsheet on Welsh and English hymns and anthems (reformatted) (Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association, Inc., 1995) I confront the issue of what to enter as the Meter. The hymns all have notations that are clearly meter indications, e.g. (J76) 77. CRIMOND says "(M.C.)", clearly "CM" i.e. 8.6.8.6, and 46. PEN Y BRYN says "(11. 12.) with refrain". But some of the tunes have odd things prefixed to the normal-looking meter descriptors, and I don;t know for sure if these are even meter notes, though my guess is they are. For example, 45. MALVERN has "M.30.(66.4.666.4)"; the part in parentheses is a straightforward statement of the meter, but for crying out lloud (however you say that in Welsh!) what does the "M.30." refer to? Anybody know? Almost makes me want to write to the Welsh and ask.

Comments

Thu, 08/26/2010 - 15:54 — hutcheson

I suspect that's a reference

I suspect that's a reference to "Meter #30", which corresponds to the index or table of contents in a tunebook ("Tonau something-or-other") used by the same community.

Fri, 08/27/2010 - 03:35 — Haruo

tunebook reference

That's a reasonable surmise. Anyone have a tunebook to nominate? I probably should write to the Gymanfa Ganu.

Haruo

My Little Hymnblog
North America's leading Esperanto hymn writer and hymnologist
Webmaster, Fremont Baptist Church, Seattle

Mon, 08/30/2010 - 21:08 — hutcheson

My 1907 Welsh hymnal "Y

My 1907 Welsh hymnal "Y Caniedydd Cynnulleidfaol" is printed without music (but there is in the endpapers an advertisement for TWO DIFFERENT tunebooks: "Caniedydd yr ysgol sul" and "cyhoeddedig o dan nawdd yr undeb a'r cyfundebau sirol"--each with hundreds of "Donau" (tunes, I think.)

The texts are sorted by meter, from M.1 up to M.70. I note a couple of things:

(1) after M.70, there are several other meters without numbers (6.5, 6.5 D, 10.10, etc.). I deduce, then, that this metrical index was standard at the time--neither created nor modified for this hymnal.

(2) M.30 is lieted as "6.6.4", although (looking at the texts), it's obviously what we'd call 6.6.4.6.6.6.4. Either this is a BIG coincidence, or this is the same metrical index your book uses.

Tue, 08/31/2010 - 04:00 — Haruo

Interesting and plausible

I wonder how difficult it will be to find the original of this index. I've written to the Gymanfa Ganu (who are actually meeting in Portland, OR, this coming weekend; I'm tempted to go down in person) but have not received a reply.

Haruo

My Little Hymnblog
North America's leading Esperanto hymn writer and hymnologist
Webmaster, Fremont Baptist Church, Seattle

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