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Hymn metre - how it works


ian-worsfoldThe Revd Ian Worsfold gets the measure of hymn metre


One way to describe describe hymn metre is:
"the way you describe the number of syllables that you can sing to any line of a tune".

There's a little more to it than that, of course, and in “Metre in hymnody - the basics!”, minister and musician Ian Worsfold demystifies the way metre works, how it is described – and what some of the pitfalls are.

Download Metre in hymnody – the basics as a PDF.

You can search for all hymns and songs in a particular metre in Singing the Faith by using the Metrical Index, either in the back of the hymn book (music edition only) or here on Singing the Faith Plus, using the Metrical Index in our Resources section.