"Variety is the spice of life," it's said, and we would agree. As good as roast beef and mashed potatoes are, would we really want them every evening? As handsome as a black tuxedo is, would we want to wear one every day? As mov­ing as "By the Sea of Crystal" is, would we want to sing it every Sunday?

Why do we want and need variety? It's quite simple — we are created in God's image and we live in His creation. Our Creator is not a one-color, one-taste, one-texture creation. God loves diversity, and if you're not sure of that, just examine any one square foot of your backyard and see the diversity of miniature plants, insects, and animals that are there.

As God's creatures we sort of "brighten up" when we experience something new or fresh. We are not made to be stagnant creatures — we are dynamic — we go through changes, we love the variety that life brings.

Some Christians, though, would note that we live in a culture addicted to change. But, we need to be careful not to gauge our actions as Christians only as reactions to the world.

The question is not routine or variety. The question is how much routine, and how much variety. It's both! The key is balance. Let's take our cues from God. Some root the unity and diversity dis­played in creation in the God­head itself — one God, three Persons, each with specific yet unified function. This is reflected in creation — one concept of "trees" but many species and subspecies of trees.

We should not be afraid of variety in worship music either, but let pastoral wis­dom guide the amount of "new" things introduced. As some churches are working to recapture "the old ways," let's not forget the crystal clear command of Psalm 33:3, "Sing to Him a new song." We should not be afraid of this, because God has said it.

Repetition is a curious thing. If used well, it can make something memorable. If used too much, it can make something wearisome. If we do everything in worship exactly the same from week to week, with little variance and with limited choice of music and music styles, we are making a fertile ground for breeding boredom. We know that we are to be active­ly engaged in worship...we are to worship with intensity. And so, we need to be careful of those things which would lead themselves to mere repeti­tious worship. We need to be careful of always using the same doxology, or response to prayer, or the sung "amens" ... it takes extra mental effort to "mean" what we sing every time we have to sing it.

So, why a "new" song? Certainly it is not just to keep us from getting bored, although it will surely help in that. Dr. Nelson Kloosterman puts it well, "So glorious and exalted is the Lord and His praise that a 'new song' is required to express our joy. Often in the Bible a 'new song' is composed and sung to commemorate a new act of divine deliverance. So majes­tic and holy is the Lord that the best of our musical skills and the most intense of our religious affections are being solicited" (from Walking About Zion). We are so over­whelmed with God's powerful redemption that we need something "new" to express our joy and thankfulness.

What are some ways to "sing a new song"? Our discussion here may seem technical to some, while perhaps helpful to others. Bear with me, and it may be good to have a 1959 Blue Psalter at hand to refer to.

Well, the most obvious way to "sing a new song" is to actually learn and sing a com­pletely new song — something totally new in music and text. This takes some careful thought, though. It's not enough to just page through our hymnal and find some­thing we don't know. Some congregations do a "hymn of the month" and here are some suggestions:

1. Choose a truly good song (interesting harmonic struc­ture, music and text that suit each other, clear text, memo­rable melody that is easily learned. If unsure, ask some­one with musical training. If we're going to invest every­one's time and effort into learning a new song, let's make it worth it.

2. Use a choir to sing the new selection as a model of the "finished product." Most peo­ple learn a song easier by hearing it done right than by trying to read the music itself.

3. The organist/pianist can play the melody only, or at least parts of it in simple octaves to really solidify the way the tune goes. Or, if a strong leading instrument like a trumpet is available, it can be used to emphasize the melody which is what the con­gregation needs to really hear. Also, organists, don't slur together repeated notes — it's better to slightly separate the chords and bass notes to clearly delineate the rhythmic movement of the piece, at least until the congregation knows it well.

Another way to sing a new song is to use selections from other hymnals (make sure you do it legally). There are "gems" in the hymnals of other Reformed churches and we can benefit from them. It is good to have a collection of hymnals to peruse. I recently discovered the original rhyth­mic version of "Now Thank We All Our God" in the Lutheran hymnal and it makes that hymn come alive. (And we thought our forefa­thers were dull!)

Not being originally from Dutch Reformed circles, I had my first exposure to Genevan Psalms through the Blue and Grey Psalter hym­nals. Their musical style may seem strange to some congre­gations, but once learned well they give an unusually rich opportunity to sing with bold­ness and breadth and convic­tion. Every Reformed believ­er should have some of these rigorous Psalms in their "repertoire." I challenge American congregations especially, to invest some time in learning at least a few well-arranged Genevan psalms. It's our heritage.

There are other ways to do something fresh. Sometimes just singing familiar words to a different tune puts them in a new light and we can fill them with fresh heartfelt expres­sion.

One of my favorite tune substitutions is singing "I Will Sing of My Redeemer" (Blue Psalter #439) to the tune called "Hyfrodol" (Blue Psalter #151). The original tune of #439 lends itself to a sort of light, 3 sing-song approach, and that for techni­cal reasons: there are only 3 chords used in that piece, the melody is very repetitious, it rolls along in triplets — in car­icature, it almost borders on a circus musical style.

So why do we sing it? And why do we like it? I think because it is, in its own musi­cally limited way, "catchy" and therefore easy to sing. Also, the text is strong.

So, what if we match this strong text with a strong tune? If we look at Hyfrodol we see at least seven different types of chords each with sev­eral variations giving much harmonic nuance. There is strong forward harmonic movement — the song keeps pulling at the heart as you sing through it. It has a bit slower pace giving a sense of solidity and power which is much more suited to this text praising our dear Redeemer. The melody is easy to follow with only some repeated parts. For all these technical reasons, I feel the text becomes powerful on the lips of the believer and not just "lite."

By all this I do not mean to say that we can't sing #439 with heartfelt praise; I just feel the text takes on fresh strength in another tune.

How do we match a text to a tune? Next to the tune name there are some numbers or letters indicating what pattern the syllables are in each stan­za. Let's say we want to use the text of #161 (Ps. 84) but the tune is unfamiliar and dif­ficult. Its metrical identifica­tion is C.M.D. In the metrical index of tunes under C.M.D., there will be several other tunes to that metre. We could choose #194 (Ellacombe) but the angular motion of the melody is not so suited to our text as, let's say, #111 (The Green Hill). Different melodies shed different light on the same text, and the match needs to be appropri­ate. If unsure, inquire of someone who would know. A word of caution: we need to be careful of not doing too many tune substitutions — it can be frustrating to some in the congregation — but the occasional one can bring some freshness or also give us access to beautiful text that's locked away in a poor tune.

Other ways to bring some­thing "fresh" to our musical tastebuds are:

1. Use of descants sung by a group of women, which can especially make an ending stanza powerful.

2. Have men sing alone on a stanza of powerful text, and the women sing alone on a stanza of more gentle words...this can emphasize the text by the tone color used.

3. Sing antiphonally — one side of the congregation sings the first part of a line, the other responds with the last half of the line. Good exam­ples of this are "Give Thanks To God For Good Is He" (#284) and "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" (#356).

4. The organist can use some alternate harmonizations to sort of "shift" the musical fur­niture, without making the congregation sing a different melody.

5. Use different tone colors to match the text, either by using different stops on the organ, or using individual instruments (brass, stringed, and wind instruments) to bring fresh tones to the ear. The piano is the most limited in tone color so playing in dif­ferent octaves or improvising helps.

6. Sing a stanza without any accompaniment, especially on a well-known song where the parts are easily sung. There is beauty to the sound of voices alone, too.

By now, some are probably thinking, "This sounds like we're after variety for vari­ety's sake." That is not my intent. Once again, pastoral wisdom should guide to what extent these kinds of things are employed. Our goal is intense, heartfelt praise that pleases the Lord. It is not nec­essary to do all of these things all of the time. But we do need some variety to aid us, to help us in not becoming perfunctory. It must always be to the end of increasing our heartfelt praise to God. And remember, our God is diverse. He created a wide palate of tone colors, rhythmic patterns, harmonic struc­tures, musical styles, and He delights in the good use of His created gifts.