Springtime

Crimond

Pretty much anybody who has ever set foot in a Christian church will be familiar with the hymn: "The Lord's My Shepherd". The tune is named "Crimond" and the words are commonly attributed to the Puritan Francis Rous and based on the text of Psalm 23 in the Bible. The tune was written and set to the words in the village of Crimond in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Jessie Seymour Irvine was the daughter of the Rev Alexander Irvine, a Church of Scotland minister who served in Crimond. According to various sources she wrote the tune in 1871 as a setting for the words and asked David Grant, a musician from Aberdeen, to reharmonise it for her. David Grant was compiling a new hymnal at the time and when it came out in 1872 the tune was published with Grant's harmonisation but the tune was credited solely to Grant.

Jessie did not dispute the claim in her lifetime but her sister did after her death claiming that Grant merely did the harmonisation. The editors of the hymnal disputed this however claiming that the sister had confused the tune with another that Jessie had submitted for publication. Who actually wrote the tune remains a matter of controversy and will likely remain so but it is usually attributed to Jessie these days.

Regardless of this point the fact remains that it is a charming tune with an equally charming harmonisation and it is one of the most popular hymns in the Christian canon. It is sung in churches EVERYWHERE at almost any occasion! I only go to Church when forced to but I have heard it numerous times and I guess the same is true for everyone that lives in a nominally Christian country.

The tune speaks to me of green pastures, peace and satisfaction. For this reason I chose springtime as the subject for my adaptation. Although the tune is justly famous, it does have one serious shortcoming: (literally!) It is too short! A verse only takes 16 bars of 3/4 and that means that you will be hearing the whole thing at least 5 times without the total song length being too long. I wrote what I thought were 3 normal verses but I then realised that in fact the tune would need to be sung twice for each verse and I put my foot down and said: "Too much repetition!".

Clearly the tune needed to be doubled in length so I sat down at the piano and experimented. I split the tune in two and added another 16 bars in the middle. No doubt there will those that decry such action as "sacrilegious!" but let them rave. It is out of copyright and I can do with it what I will. I really like the result and I was inspired to write a piano solo with variations on the theme even before I finished the SATB harmonisation. I commend it to you all and hope you don't find it lacking.

Springtime

The start of Spring is the most positive time of the year. Primitive cultures in the temperate regions all revere this time and celebrate it's advent with festivals. It is the rebirth of life after a the desolate winter, it is the rebirth of hope after months of depression, it is the affirmation of a positive future and the signal for optimism and the investment of time and effort. When Spring strikes we wander out into the world and reconnect with it again almost as though we had forgotten life entirely. Of course the land bursts forth with growth at this time like no other with massive flowering and mating and the birth of many small creatures. It's a wonderful time to be alive and we all need to experience it and treasure it.

I don't have any ideological axe to grind over the subject and have merely put as many wonderful and fun things about it into the text as I could. What human, plant or animal doesn't like Spring? Let's all enjoy it!

Tune: 50% "Crimond" either Jessie Irvine or David Grant, 1871 and 50% Warren Mars 2022
Arrangement: 50% David Grant, 1871 and 50% Warren Mars 2023
Words: Warren Mars, 2022

The world is green, the sky is blue, life returns to the land.
The days grow long to challenge the night, the air begins to warm.
The earth emits the smell of spring, the snow melts from the hills,
The flowers bloom, the leaves shoot forth, the little ones are born.

It's time to give the house a clean and open the windows wide.
Let springtime's breeze dispel the stench of winter's closeted gloom.
Let this new year bring all good things for all that work to achieve.
Be optimistic, put forth some trust, win happiness and success.

So put on your shorts and take a hike, play sport or fly a kite.
Get out in your garden and plant out your crop and feel the sun on your face.
Go pick some wild flowers and bring them inside. Get out and picnic somewhere.
Observe baby animals, catch a rainbow, listen to the birds and notice the bees.

The vocal score with chords is provided here.
I have also provided an SATB arrangement for choirs here.

Finally, I have provided a recording of my computer synthesizer playing the SATB arrangement. There is no singing and the synthesizer is very ordinary. Nevertheless the parts are all there and one can sing along with it or use it get an idea of how it should sound with your choir.