We're moving Hogfiddle to a new platform ...

Our revels, at least at this address, are ended. We're moving to https://hogfiddle.wordpress.com/.

In the meantime, here's a tune to speed us on our way ...

At least for the foreseeable future, I will continue to maintain this blog, and all others that I've had on Blogger, as an archive.

På Gud och ej på eget råd -- a 17th-century German chorale in Wallin's psalmbook of 1819 and (hopefully) the key to deciphering L.P. Esbjörn's psalmodikon mss. at Augie

CONTENT ADVISORY -- This post wanders all over the place, dragging in stuff from several obscure nooks and crannies of 19th-century Swedish and American hymnody, the history of different box zithers, the deployment of Yankee regiments in Middle Tennessee before the Battle of Chickamauga and other trivia. But that's the way it rolls sometimes, and the hymn I found (or, rather, really noticed for the first time even though I'd seen it before, helps me fit some of the trivialities together. Nice hymn, too.

På Gud och ej på eget råd - Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan - Jens Fredborg

Found this afternoon, while I was trying to track down an online forum thread on the psalmodikon, a page from the 1846 edition of Johannes Dillner's arrangements of the Svenska Psalmboken in siffernoter for psalmodikon. It wasn't what I was looking for -- my best discoveries come to me that way -- but EverythingDulcimer.com contributor "razyn" posted it in an unrelated thread, "The Tennessee Music Box" (scroll down to 6:15 p.m., Nov. 6, 2008) at http://everythingdulcimer.com/discuss/viewtopic.php?t=17860. The title page is pictured just below at right.

It turned out to be the missing piece in a puzzle. I’ve studied other pages from the 1846 edition, the title page and a couple of excerpts from the introduction, but never had access to the music.

I was glad to find the sifferskrift, which I'd previously overlooked, for two reasons:

• It was in four-part harmony, and the psalmodikon was mostly used to teach rural congregations to sing in parts.

• The Rev. Lars P. Esbjörn, first Swedish pastor in the Midwest and founder of Augustana College, had a hand in preparing it.

The hymn, or psalm in Swedish, is No. 252 in Johan Olof Wallin’s 1819 psalmbook, På Gud och ej på eget råd in Swedish. After puzzling through the siffernoter, comparing it to the musical notation and hearing the melody on Jens Fredborg’s invaluable Swedish hymnody website, I can add a third reason:

• It’s a really nice hymn. There’s even a Bach cantata (BWV 99) on the original 17th-century German chorale melody by Severus Gastorius, Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan in German (translated into English as "What You, My God, Ordain Is Good").

The book was published in Gävle, and Esbjörn, then a young protege of Johannes Dillner who hadn't yet come to America, helped Dillner put it together. [See Sam Rönnegård, Prairie Shepherd: Lars Paul Esbjörn and the Beginnings of the Augustana Lutheran Church, trans. G. Everett Arden (Rock Island: Augustana Book Concern, 1952), pp. 10-11, 49-53; cf. Hjalmar Linnström, Svenskt boklexikon. Åren 1830-1865 (1896, rpt. 1961. Projekt Runeberg, 2005, p. 257 http://runeberg.org/linnstrom/2/0261.html)].

Like so many of the Swedish psalms of the 1800s, according to Wikipedia, På Gud och ej på eget råd is Johan Olof Wallin's translation of a German chorale, with words written in 1757 by German hymn-writer Christian Fürchtegott Gellert. The melody was composed by 18th-century German cantor (town musician and choir director) Severus Gastorius.

Gastorius' tune, WAS GOTT TUT, became very popular in 17th- and 18th-century Germany, where it was sung to another text. According to Hymnary.org: "Severus Gastorius (1647-1682) was a cantor in Jena, central Germany. ... One of his friends, Samuel Rodigast, wrote the hymn "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" for Gastorius when he was sick (to cheer him up as Rodigast writes in his dedication). Even before he recovered, Gastorius set it to music based on a melody by Werner Fabricius. The tune became widely known in Germany as the cantor students of Jena cantor[ei] sang it every week at Gastorius' door as well as when they returned home."

Translated from the German as "What God Ordains Is Always Good," it is in the LC-MS Lutheran Service Book (2006, No. 760), and has appeared in a number of German-language Lutheran, Reformed and Mennonite hymnals. In Germany the chorale was arranged by Pachelbel and Bach. Catherine Winkworth's translation was "Whate’er my God ordains is right."

Why it matters

I've had copies of a manuscript notebook of siffernoter in Esbjörn's handwriting in the Esbjörn Family Papers at Augustana College, but I've not been able to relate all of the tablature to hymns in the 1819 psalmbook. This hymn compares well with my copy of the 1892 Chicago edition of the Svenska Psalm-Boken, however, and I believe (crossing my fingers and knocking on wood) it'll help me figure out how he handled four-part harmony.

Svenska Psalm-Boken (Chicago: Engberg-Holmberg, 1892)

Here, by way of background, is what I wrote in my notes for a workship I called "Pastor Esbjorn’s Singing School" at the 155th anniversary celebration of the Augustana Lutheran Synod, Andover, Ill., April 25, 2015:

Later, as a professor at a Lutheran college in Springfield that was a forerunner of Augustana seminary in Chicago and Rock Island, he taught hymns – they were called psalms in the old country – to the Scandinavian students. “Both for edification and for practice, services with Swedish or Norwegian sermons and simultaneous singing out of both hymnals, using, the same melody, have been held every Sunday afternoon, likewise one evening each week a so-called prayer meeting,” he reported in 1859. We have other evidence as well. In the L.P. Esbjorn Family Papers at Augustana College, we have two undated notebooks of psalmodikon tablature, or siffernoter (numerical notation) of Swedish psalms and Anglo-American hymns in Esbjorn’s hand. They are housed with a grade report on students at the seminary in Chicago and several pages excised from The Hallelujah, a tunebook by Lowell Mason, an influential educator and composer of hymn tunes from Boston. One of the tunes Esbjorn tabbed out for psalmodikon is from a Norwegian psalmbook of the day, and I believe that suggests he used the notebook in Springfield or Chicago, where he had both Swedish and Norwegian students.

And this:

Two handmade notebooks containing siffernoter are included in the Esbjorn Family Papers in Special Collections at Augustana College. One contains Swedish and Anglo-American hymns in four-part harmony. The other, which I have not yet analyzed in detail, appears to consist of harmony parts for hymns from Olof Wallin’s Svenska Psalmbok of 1819, among them “A Mighty Fortress is our God” and several German chorales and Swedish psalms. Included in the first manuscript are four-part arrangements of Gustavus Adolphus’ Krigspsalmen (“Be not dismayed, O little flock”) and Hosianna, a beloved Advent and Palm Sunday anthem that did not appear in the 1819 psalmbook, along with music from collections by Peder Håkansson Syréen and other Swedish spiritual songsters. But the bulk of Esbjorn’s manuscript consists of Anglo-American hymns including Old Hundred, Pleyel’s Hymn and Lowell Mason’s Missionary Hymn (“From Greenland’s icy mountains”). Two hymns are attributed to a “Lutheran Hymnbook,” and no less than four to Lowell Mason’s Hallelujah. In all Esbjorn’s notebooks suggest a keen interest in American hymnody. [Footnotes omitted. Following common American practice, I used the English alphabet is spelling Esbjörn's name.]

That other thread

The other thread I was chasing, typically, had nothing to do with the hymn I found.

It was in a thread on how the psalmodikon might have influenced a box-shaped American dulcimer called the "Tennessee music box" during the Civil War. Rayzn, a.k.a. Richard Hulan, a folklorist with whom I share several interests, posted a page from the 1846 psalmbook with instructions, in Swedish, on how to build a psalmodikon and suggested "[a] theoretical Union soldier might have left behind his hymn book (easier to carry, and to lose, than a psalmodikon). But it's unlikely that a Tennessean who found it would get much out of these instructions."

The page of instructions, a sharper copy of which Hulan graciously sent me several years ago, is copied to Hogfiddle in a 2012 post where I translated it when I was getting specifications for a psalmodikon in the Steeple Building museum in Bishop Hill, (permalink http://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/2012/09/psalmodikon-in-steeple-building-at.html). But what especially interested me was a linked Swedish psalm, in siffernoter at http://s197.photobucket.com/user/razyn_photo/media/WasGotttutdasistwohlgetan.jpg.html. It's No. 252 in Wallin's 1819 psalmbook.

I've long been skeptical about these supposed links between the psalmodikon and the American dulcimer -- see for example my July 11, 2010 Hogfiddle post "Swedes on Cumberland Gap?" (permalink http://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/2010/07/swedes-on-cumberland-gap.html) -- but Hulan knows more about both instruments than I do. He cites a Minnesota cavalry battalion, including "at least five Norwegian-born soldiers," that served in Middle Tennessee in 1862 and 1863. "Any of the above might have had a psalmodikon, and might have left it (or the idea of it) in the area in which -- as far as we know -- the TMB [Tennessee music box] form arose almost immediately after the Civil War," he adds.

Hulan also says, "There may also have been Swedes in the unit; my source only tracked Norwegian Americans." He's careful not to claim too much, noting that the strongest evidence for some influence is organological -- i.e. based on the similar boxy shape of the two instruments. He concludes only, "I have no evidence that these specific Norwegians carried a psalmodikon to the Tennessee Valley. But there ARE several documented soldiers from the psalmodikon-using population who were stationed, at length, in the most relevant part of the Tennessee Valley during 1862 and 1863."

I'm still skeptical, but I don't want to rule it out altogether.

I addressed these issues before in my 2010 post, when an instrument builder from New York state named Nils R. Caspersson hypothesized that Swedes around Cumberland Gap, Tenn.-Va.-Ky., might have had psalmodikons, and I still have the same questions.

While you can't prove a negative, I located Caspersson's "Swedes" (who were probably descended Scottish-English borderers named Sweeten) just north of Chattanooga. But they were in dulcimer country, so you can't entirely rule it out. By the same token, could a psalmodikon-totin' Norwegian Lutheran of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Cumberland, have met up with a "damsel with a dulcimer" between the battles of Murfreesboro and Chickamauga and compared musical notes? I still don't think it's very likely, but I guess it's not beyond the realm of possiblity.

See? I warned you this was going to wander all over the place. The Swedish psalm is nice, though, and I want to learn it on my psalmodikon. The Bach cantata is especially nice, too.

The Bach cantata (BVW 99)

J.S. Bach, Kantate BWV 99: Nr. 6 Choral „Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan“

Source. J.S. Bach, Kantate BWV 99 „Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan“: Nr. 6 Choral „Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan“ | solistenensemble stimmkunst | Stiftsbarock Stuttgart (Konzertmeisterin: Christine Busch) | Leitung: Kay Johannsen.

Praise team's playlist for blended traditional-contemporary service at Peace Lutheran Church -- Christ the King Sunday (Nov. 20)

All Hail The Power Of Jesus' Name - Paul Baloche

Here's the music for the service:

Call to Worship: "Open Up the Heavens" (solos on verses, team on choruses) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg5dqbNaan8.

Opening Hymn/Song: "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-N9_SdxW4c.

Praise Song: "Shout to the Lord" (team on verses, choir + congregation on choruses) - we'll lead into this with a Psalm reading https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn5CMSSAx_c.

Creed: "We Believe" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjZ01FcK0yk.

Communion: "The Table" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peeqJ1bmT_w.

Closing Hymn: "Now Thank We All Our God" (all musicians will lead)

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Sunday's congregational hymn at Peace Lutheran probably won't sound like this German boys' choir from Dresden, but it's a magnificent piece of music -- from a heritage we're in danger of losing in America.

Dresdner Kreuzchor "Nun danket alle Gott" Johann Crüger
"Festakt 800 Jahre Dresdner Kreuzchor" 2016

Two Swedish songs for the price of one for the Prairieland Strings' next jam -- "Björnen sover" and "Gubben Noak"

*Gonzo Sombrero - Ukko Nooa / Gubben Noak with Yamaha LL6

Blast email I just sent to the Prairieland Strings mailing list --

Our next slow jam at Peace Lutheran Church, 2800 West Jefferson, is from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17. Here's a story to help get you in the mood:

Saint Peter is interviewing newly arrived musicians at the Pearly Gates. He asked the first musician, "So, what did you do?"

"I was first violin with the London Philharmonic," stated the first musician.

"Fine, you may enter," said Saint Peter. He then asked the second guy, "What did you do?"

"I was a school band leader," said the second guy.

"Great, you may also enter," replied Saint Peter. Finally, Saint Peter asked the third guy, "So, what did you do with your life?"

"Well," replied the third guy, "I really wasn't a great musician--I played casual banjo in a bluegrass band. We mostly played for barbecues, bar mitzvahs, and the like..."

"Oh," replied Saint Peter, "Oh, all right, but go around the back, OK? ..." (http://bluegrassbanjo.org/banjokes.html)

Here are links to the songs for our Christmas program, at the Peace Lutheran soup supper for the second Wednesday in Advent, Dec. 7 (details later):

• Joy to the World -- http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/resources/media/Joy_to_the_World.pdf
• What Child is This -- http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/resources/media/What_Child_Is_This2.pdf
• Jingle Bells -- http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/files/tab/jingle_bells.pdf
• Away in the Manger -- http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/files/tab/away_in_a_manger4.pdf
• Silent Night -- http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/files/tab/silent_night.pdf

> And here's a Swedish tune I want to call when we go around the circle:

• Björnen sover -- http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/files/tab/bj_rnen_sover.pdf

"Björnen sover" means "the bear is sleeping" in English. It's an old, old children's song in all the Nordic countries, and it has the same melody as a famous song by Swedish composer Carl Michael Bellman called "Gubben Noak" (old man Noah). I'll post a video or two to Hogfiddle:

http://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/2016/11/bjornen-sover-and-gubbe-noach.html

Hope to see you there! No agenda for Thursday (other than the Swedish song I want to sneak into the playlist). Let's just run through the Christmas songs and go around the circle.

-- Pete

__________

* Gonzo Sombrero - Ukko Nooa / Gubben Noak with Yamaha LL6 He writes Aug 27, 2011: "Playing with Yamaha LL6 -guitar. This is a traditional song here in Finland. Origin of the composition is unknown, but the words were made by Carl Michael Bellman from Sweden. It's really a drinking song, but also a tune that children will usually learn in the first place. In english the title might translate into 'Old man Noah'." More than you ever wanted to know posted to Hogfiddle Sept. 11, 2013, at http://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/2013/09/gubben-noak-at-augie-1870s.html.

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Björnen sover

Björnen sover -- Guitar cover by YouTube user tossepjong

He writes on YouTube: Published on Oct 14, 2015. Me playing "Björnen sover" in a jazz version. The content of the lyrics in English would be something like this; The bear is asleep in its nest. He is not dangerous, but beware, if you disturb his sleep, he will kill you!

Blow Ye the Trumpet Blow

"Blow Ye the Trumpet, Blow" Old Carroll Primitive Baptist Church

... When Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, in January, 1863, [Fredrick] Douglass was in Boston with “an immense assembly,” largely of black abolitionists. “We were waiting and listening as for a bolt from the sky, which should rend the fetters of four millions of slaves,” Douglass recalled. The crowd sang the hymn “Blow Ye the Trumpet, Blow”: “Ye mournful souls, be glad.” -- Jill Laporte, “Wars Within,” New Yorker, Nov. 2016 http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/11/21/aftermath-sixteen-writers-on-trumps-america

Peace Lutheran -- contemporary service -- Pentecost XXVI (Nov. 12)

Official audio of Chris Tomlin’s “Good Good Father”

Here is the music set for this coming Saturday. We'll meet at 2:45 to rehearse (or as soon as the Worship & Music Committee meeting is done -- hopefully that will be before 2:45 to give the committee members a few minutes before we need to start).

Call to Worship/Gathering: "Psalm 100" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaL_VeHil6U

Worship Songs:

• "Blessed Be Your Name" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du0il6d-DAk
• "Your Grace is Enough" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpYtYYaTFGQ
• "Good Good Father" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqybaIesbuA

creed: "We Believe"

sung Lord's Prayer

Sending Song: "I Will Follow" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ohvhmGSfxI

"O Jesus Christ, all praise to Thee" (Lovet være du Jesu Christ / Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ), a Christmas chorale by Martin Luther and Johann Walther in Norwegian sifferskrift

An early Reformation hymn for Dec. 14 when I demonstrate the psalmodikon at an Advent soup supper at Springfield's Peace Lutheran Church. I'm especially tickled to be able to use it since Johann Walther, who co-authored it with Luther, was my great-great-great- [maybe nine "greats" in all] great-grandfather, according to my paternal grandmother [farmor]. We've traced it back to a Caspar Walther, who emigrated from Germany to Norway about 1763. A family story traces his ancestry back to Luther's co-author. -- pe

Source: Jacob Andreas Lindeman. Choral-Melodier for Psalmodicon : til de i Kingos, Guldbergs og den evangelisk christelige Psalmebog forekommende Psalmer. Christiania [Oslo]: Hoppes Forlag, 1841. http://www.nb.no/nbsok/nb/4a48740f7938461aeb5de72fa424bdc9?lang=no#101.

Scanned by Nasjonalbiblioteket (the Norwegian national library), Henrik Ibsens gate 110, Oslo, and posted to their website. Wikipedia (https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Andreas_Lindeman) has this: "Lindeman tok avgangseksamen ved Trondhjem skole i 1827 og teologisk eksamen i 1832. Fra 1826 til 1840 var han organist ved Vår Frelsers kirke i Christiania, og fra 1832 til 1836 underviste han i musikk og var samtidig lærer i religion og musikk ved Eugeniastiftelsen. Fra 1836 til 1839 var han lærer ved Asker seminar. I 1839 ble han utnevnt til residerende kapellan i Leikanger og ble ordinert 5. juli 1840. Han ble da etterfulgt som organist av broren Ludvig M. I 1845 ble han sogneprest i Davik, hvor han døde brått året etter."

Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ

One of the first Christmas hymns that Luther and Johann Walther composed by reworking vernacular German materials. I haven't been able to find it in the Augustana Synod's 1901 hymnal, but it is included in the Norwegian-American Lutheran Hymnary of 1913 as well as Norwegian psalmbooks of the 1800s. According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelobet_seist_du,_Jesu_Christ):

"Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ" ("Praise be to You, Jesus Christ") is a Lutheran chorale of 1524, with words written by Martin Luther. It was first published in 1524 in the Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn. For centuries the chorale has been the prominent hymn (Hauptlied) for Christmas Day in German speaking Lutheranism, but has also been used in different translations internationally. It has appeared in hymnals of various denominations including the Catholic Church.

Text

Luther expanded a pre-Reformation stanza which is attested in Northern Germany in the 15th century, mainly in prayerbooks from the convent of Medingen, based on Grates nunc omnes, the Latin Sequence of the midnight mass for Christmas, by six stanzas.[1][2] Each stanza ends on the acclamation Kyrieleis. The hymn was published in Eyn Enchiridion in Erfurt in 1524.[1]

Tune

The tune was first printed in Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn, a booklet of spiritual song, collected by Johann Walter but is attested also in the prayerbooks from the convent of Medingen and even appears on an antependium made by the nuns in the late 15th century.[3] It seems likely that both Luther and Walter collaborated to modify an older melody.[4] In the first verse, the highest notes accentuate important words such as Jesu, Mensch (man), Jungfrau (virgin), Engel (angels).

Johann Walther was a kantor, or court musician, in the court of chapel of Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony. "Johann Walter [Walther] was a German composer, one of the earliest of the composers in the Lutheran Church," says Aryeh Oron in his biography on the Bach-Cantatas website (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Walter-Johann.htm). "As Martin Luther's friend and his musical adviser, Walter helped Luther to construct a new liturgy and composed tunes for many Lutheran hymns." (Brackets in the original. "Walther" is the spelling that was handed down in my family.)

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At left: The Lutheran Hymnary. Published by Authority of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the Hauge's Evangelical Lutheran Synod and the United Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1913. https://books.google.com/books?id=B3HpCuJR9dUC&source=gbs_navlinks_s

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Some YouTube clips:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT6ZgVdlD74 -- ohann Walther (1524) "Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ" Garçimuñoz (garcimunoz.com) Rómulo Vega-González, Luis Carlos Hernández, Erik Hernández

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgdnOt2RVzE -- Der Bachchor Siegen mit Bachorchester Siegen unter der Leitung von Ulrich Stötzel präsentiert den lutherischen Weihnachtschoral.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIQwKlMKO3Q -- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau "Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ"

"I sommarens soliga dagar" -- a Swedish tune for Clayville

I sommarens soliga dagar -- Olof Samuelsson

Published on Jun 19, 2012. Allsångskonsert för Gunnel och Dick Samuelson 16 juni 2012. Barn och barnbarn. Bibi, piano, Lasse, bas, Karin, fiol, Olof Gitarr, Ludvig, cajon.

* * *

Email that I sent to Clayville-Prairieland list this afternoon --

Hi everyone --

Our regular first-Saturday-of-the-month session of the Clayville Pioneer Academy of Music is in the barn at Clayville from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 5. After giving it a whirl in B minor Tuesday night, we decided to try Ron Zuckerman's dulcimer tab, with guitar chords in E minor, on the Everything Dulcimer website, available at:

http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/files/tab/star_of_the_county_down_fingerpicked.pdf.

Lyrics, with chords, available at:

http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/irish-folk-music/irish%20songs/Star%20Of%20The%20County%20Down.htm.

* * *

Afterwards, let's just go around the circle and call fun tunes we enjoy playing. I'm attaching a copy of tab that Judy wrote out of a Swedish song called "I sommarens soliga dagar" (in summer's sunny days). It's not really a session tune, either here or in Sweden, but it certainly qualifies as fun. Debi and I heard it at the annual Nordiska Psalmodikonförbundet meeting in Sweden this summer -- the Swedes sang it after dinner, and we taught them "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" (yeah, yeah, I guess you had to be there) -- and I wrote it up on my blog Hogfiddle (http://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/2016/08/ostervala-1-i-sommarens-soliga-daga.html). Judy played the embedded YouTube clip, and she decided to tab it out.

Here's a YouTube clip of a family group in Sweden singing, with a keyboard, two guitars and a fiddle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuIUIIvR1Dk.

Let's take a whirl at it. But let's not even think about "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall."

Vom himmel hoch in Norwegian sifferskrift

Lindeman, J. A. Choral-Melodier for Psalmodicon : til de i Kingos, Guldbergs og den evangelisk christelige Psalmebog forekommende Psalmer. Christiania : Hoppes Forlag, 1841. http://www.nb.no/nbsok/nb/4a48740f7938461aeb5de72fa424bdc9?lang=no#101.

Nasjonalbiblioteket, Henrik Ibsens gate 110, Oslo

* * *

The Lutheran Hymnary. Published by Authority of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the Hauge's Evangelical Lutheran Synod and the United Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1913. - Hymns, English - 778 pages https://books.google.com/books?id=B3HpCuJR9dUC&source=gbs_navlinks_s

A moment of solidarity as Sámi artists lead water protecters in singing joik, the traditional vocal music of the indigenous people of Norway and Sweden, at Standing Rock

Sami Women at Standing Rock

It was one of those moments when things converge in odd, but significant, ways.

In the encampment where the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their allies from around the world have gathered to block construction of an oil pipeline across the Missouri River upstream from their water supply, a picture of Sámi musicians from the Arctic regions of Norway and Sweden and members of the Lumbee Tribe from North Carolina. They are leading a group in a joik [pron. "yoyck"], a traditional song, in honor of the earth.

The Lumbee people are best known, at least to me, for busting up a Ku Klux Klan rally in eastern North Carolina in 1958. They may be descended from Sir Walter Raleigh's "lost colony" on Roanoke Island.

So I sat up and took notice when I noticed a YouTube video that showed the Sámi, in their distinctive national costume, leading a song under a Lumbee Indian banner. It was posted Oct. 9 to the UTISETA YouTube channel (which has only the one video on it), with this caption:

Sofia Jannok, Inger Biret Kvernmo Gaup. and Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska (members of the Sami tribe) share a joik [pron. "yoyck"] song for Mother Earth during a traditional gifting ceremony at Standing Rock.

This was in solidarity with the Native Americans fighting against the creation of the Dakota Access Pipeline on their lands.

To learn more and help support the movement, please visit: http://sacredstonecamp.org/.

A bit of background

At the beginning of October, the Sami musicians visited the "water protecters" who have flocked to the Standing Rock campground from all over the world in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in their fight to stop the pipeline. The Sámi people (formerly called "Lapps," which like many terms used for indigenous peoples, was a insult coined by whites) are the semi-nomadic indigenous people of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and parts of Russia. They are no strangers to fighting over water rights, and they brought a Sámi flag to fly among the hundreds of other tribal flags at Standing Rock.

A reporter for Indian Country Today put it in a context of indigenous peoples' rights worldwide:

When opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline galvanized the support of hundreds of U.S. tribes, it became an unprecedented show of Indian country unity and resolve.

Now, it’s a global indigenous movement.

Members of tribal communities from around the world have joined in activism led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. A Sami group from Norway was the latest to arrive on Friday. This resistance campaign, many say, has emerged as part of a greater global crisis—a united struggle in which indigenous lands, resources, and people are perpetually threatened by corporations and governments often using military force. Integral to this shared narrative is the routine ignoring of treaties.

In their continued struggle, the Lakota Sioux are advancing an Indigenous agenda that calls for governments to acknowledge the unique and inherent rights of First Peoples.

While Indigenous Peoples reflect only about 5 percent of the world’s population, they represent roughly 15 percent of the global poor. With the exception of majority populations in places like Bolivia and Guatemala, Indigenous Peoples are typically the minority in their respective countries.

But they have land. And their tribal territories are among the healthiest ecosystems on the planet—and under constant threat from mining, logging, and dam and oil development. ...

So they have plenty in common with the Standing Rock water protectors.

Source: Jenni Monet. "Standing Rock Joins the World’s Indigenous Fighting for Land and Life." Indian Country Today Oct. 7, 2016. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/10/07/standing-rock-joins-worlds-indigenous-fighting-land-and-life-166001.

The vocalists

According to Wikipedia, Brita Maret "Sofia" Jannok (born September 15, 1982) is a Swedish-Sami artist, singer, songwriter and radio host. Several times, she has publicly taken a stance in social media against the establishment of mines on land used by Sami reindeer herders. ... Her music is inspired from diverse musical influences, like folk, pop, jazz and yoik. She sings mostly in Northern Sami, but also sings and writes lyrics in Swedish and English as well. [She's on the left in the video, with the drum.]

According to her webpage, Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska "... is a Sámi joiker from the reindeer-herding community of Guovdageaidnu in Finnmark County, northern Norway. Born into a family of skillful joikers, she is best known for her work with Adjágas, the acclaimed Sámi band who blend joik with various contemporary influences." She records with Sylvia Cloutier, an Inuit throat singer from Nunavut in Quebec, Canada.

Sámi Joik

From Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska and Sylvia Cloutier's website: "The Sámi people are a transnational minority living in “Sápmi”, an area of land stretching across the borders of northern Scandinavia, Finland, and throughout the Kola Peninsula of north-western Russia. Joik (also spelt yoik or jojk) is the Sámi’s characteristic vocal tradition, consisting (as with some forms of Native American chant) of specific vocal sounds, or “vocables”; syllables such as “yo”, “lo”, and “la”. These sounds have traditionally operated as ‘units of meaning’, and have been used to invoke a person, animal, place, or experience."

Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina

According to Wikipedia (that handy-dandy source of all human knowledge), "The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state recognized tribe of approximately 55,000 enrolled members, most of them living in Robeson and the adjacent counties in southeastern North Carolina. The Lumbee Tribe was recognized by the US Congress in 1956 but was not given access to federal funds set aside for Indian tribes. According to the 2000 US Census report, the population of the town of Pembroke, North Carolina, is 89% Lumbee Indian and that of the county is nearly 40% Lumbee."

Its moment in history, when it chased the Ku Klux Klan out of its community, went down like this:

Klan Grand Dragon James W. "Catfish" Cole. Cole began a campaign of harassment against the Lumbee, claiming they were "mongrels and half-breeds" whose "race mixing" threatened to upset the established order of segregated Jim Crow South.[citation needed] After giving a series of speeches denouncing the "loose morals" of Lumbee women, Cole burned a cross in the front yard of a Lumbee woman in St. Pauls, North Carolina, as a "warning" against "race mixing."[citation needed] Emboldened, Cole called for a Klan rally on January 18, 1958, near the town of Maxton. The Lumbee, led by recent veterans of the Second World War, decided to disrupt the rally.

The "Battle of Hayes Pond", also known as "the Klan Rout", made national news.[33] Although Cole had predicted over 5,000 Klansmen would show up for the rally, less than 100 and possibly as few as three dozen attended. Approximately 500 Lumbee, armed with guns and sticks, gathered in a nearby swamp, and when they realized they possessed an overwhelming numerical advantage, attacked the Klansmen. The Lumbee encircled the Klansmen, opening gunfire and wounding four Klansmen in the first volley, none seriously. The remaining Klansmen panicked and fled. Cole was found in the swamps, arrested and tried for inciting a riot. The Lumbee celebrated the victory by burning Klan regalia and dancing around the open flames.

The Battle of Hayes Pond, which marked the end of Klan activity in Robeson County, is celebrated as a Lumbee holiday.

James Fallows on the latest "October surprise" -- ** UPDATED ** with an update by Fareed Zakaria

James Fallows. The Atlantic, online edition, Oct. 30, 2016. "Trump Time Capsule #150: James Comey and the Destruction of Norms." https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2016/10/trump-time-capsule-james-comey/505904/.

Comes now James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic who has written for the magazine since the late 1970s. He once served as a speechwriter for President Carter, and he has written frequently -- and eloquently -- over the years of the erosion of standards in American political life by celebrity culture and the demands of a celebrity-obsessed 27/ news cycle, among other topics ranging from small-engine aircraft (he's a licensed pilot) to industrialization in China. His book Breaking The News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy (1997) especially shaped my thinking.

This year Fallows has been writing a series of time capsules on the following premise: "People will look back on this era in our history to see what was known about Donald Trump while Americans were deciding whether to choose him as president. Here’s a running chronicle from James Fallows on the evidence available to voters as they make their choice, and of how Trump has broken the norms that applied to previous major-party candidates." Today's is about FBI Director James Comey's "October surprise":

The rules in politics haven’t changed that much in recent years. What has changed is adherence to norms, in an increasingly destructive way.

I made that case, using examples different from the ones I’m about to present here, nearly two years ago. The shift in norms is also a central part of Thomas Mann’s and Norman Ornstein’s prescient It’s Even Worse Than It Looks, and Mike Lofgren’s The Party Is Over, plus of course Jonathan Rauch’s “How America Went Insane,” our very widely read cover story (subscribe!) this summer. [Links, including to a subscription page, in the original.]

[Examples, mostly concerned with the U.S. Senate's refusal to schedule hearings on President Obama's U.S. Supreme Court nominee but also including Justice Ginsberg's offhand remark on Donald Trump, omitted.

* * *

The official rules didn’t change in these circumstances. The norms—that is, the expectation of what you “should” do, what you “really have to do,” what is the “right thing” to do, even if the letter of the law doesn’t spell it out—have changed. For its survival, a democracy depends on norms. That’s why the shift matters.

And that is the context in which I think about James Comey’s plunge into electoral politics, with his announcement about whatever “new” Clinton-related email information the FBI may or may not have found.

No one knows what this will mean for the election. Millions of people have already voted; in the nine days until official election day there’s not enough time to fully vet and consider what Comey may have found. Will the announcement re-energize Hillary Clinton’s supporters, making them worry that the race may be tightening again? Depress them? Motivate team Trump? Bolster the “they’re all terrible” case for third-party candidates?

We don’t know. But anyone experienced in politics, as Comey obviously is, would have known for dead certain that his intrusion would change the process in a way that cannot be undone. This is apparently what other officials in the FBI and Justice Department were telling Comey before he took this step. Two former deputy attorney generals—Jamie Gorelick, who served under Bill Clinton, and Larry Thompson, who served under George W. Bush—made that point in a new Washington Post essay that lambastes Comey for his self-indulgent decision (emphasis added) ...

[Extended quotation omitted]

* * *

Last week I mentioned the ongoing cultural/“norms-enforcing” challenges that had plagued the Philippines, which I’d written about back at the end of the Marcos era in a piece called “A Damaged Culture.” The rules by which the Philippine Republic is governed are fine. A big problem involved norms—the things that powerful people did, just because they could get away with it.

The rules of American governance are still more or less OK, despite the increasing mismatch between the 18th-century structural decisions built into the Constitution and the realities of 21st-century life. It’s time to worry about the norms.

---

Fareed Zakaria. "America's poisonous politicized path" CNN, Oct. 30, 2016 http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/30/opinions/criminalizing-public-policy-differences-zakaria/.

(CNN)There are so few details provided by FBI Director James Comey that it is impossible to know what to make of his decision to inform Congress about new emails relating to Hillary Clinton's server. The timing is unfortunate, since Justice Department guidelines expressly advise its officers to be careful not to do anything through action or announcement that could interfere with elections or the democratic process.

It also raises a larger issue. The United States has gone too far down the road of criminalizing public policy. When your opponents do something wrong, even profoundly wrong, in politics, it is often best to treat it for what it is -- bad judgment, bad policy, bad ethics -- and make the case to the electorate to hold those people accountable. It should not be standard practice to instantly begin searching for ways to treat that behavior as criminal.

This has been a bipartisan problem. When Democrats controlled the legislature under the Reagan administration, they turned the Iran-Contra affair into a legal matter, which resulted in the appointment of an independent counsel, years of inquiries, and bitter partisan divisions. Then came the Clinton years, when this zeal exploded. The investigations of Bill Clinton consumed public attention, cost tens of millions of dollars, and resulted in an impeachment that was totally unrelated to the alleged original offense, Whitewater, on which no charges were ever filed. I realize that in some of these cases, laws were broken or circumvented and people should be held accountable for that. But when you appoint special prosecutors with unlimited mandates and budgets, who inevitably define success as finding a crime, you are changing the basic codes of Anglo Saxon law.

* * *

The last two presidencies have seen something of a respite from these witch hunts, though there were some Democrats who wanted to try George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld as war criminals. In any event, it seems we are ramping up again for a round of criminalization of partisan differences. House Republicans are promising years of hearings and inquiries should Hillary Clinton be elected president. This would be a terrible outcome for a country; it would mean gridlock, venom and a political system consumed with depositions and trials rather than serious public policy.

The FBI and Justice Department in particular should stand as independent institutions and not be swayed by demands made by partisans of either side. James Comey seems like a fair-minded person, but his decision to provide color commentary on his decision not to indict Clinton, to testify to Congress about it, to send Congress raw FBI data, and now fire off this vague letter are all a break with longstanding practice and established procedures. Not since J. Edgar Hoover has an FBI director positioned himself as a player in the political realm. It does not help Republicans or Democrats to have the FBI at the center of a bitterly fought election.

The power to use the state to put someone in jail is an awesome authority; it should not be used in any way that might appear to be partisan. This is why I have always been suspicious of elected attorneys generals, who have the ability to use the police powers of the state to further their political careers.

Again, I know that sometimes there are real high crimes and misdemeanors. But that has become an excuse to turn every political divide into a search for a crime. And it has had ruinous effects in American politics. It poisons the public arena and makes politics a life and death affair, where people don't just want to defeat their opponents but to jail them. It reminds one of third world banana republics, not an advanced democracy.

Peace Lutheran, contemporary service, Saturday, Oct. 23, Pentecost XXIV (Reformation Day)

Matt Maher - Holy, Holy, Holy (God With Us)

Here is the music for this weekend's service:

Call to Worship/Gathering: "Faithful" - Adam and Jamie will lead, we may add some voices on the chorus -- let me listen to this one some more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN3YCgcyWdY

Worship Songs:

• "Holy is the Lord" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIwMYktdBg8
• "Holy Holy Holy (God with Us)" - be sure to listen to the rhythm on this one - we're tending to drift back to the traditional hymn style https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRUTAhBmCIY

creed: "We Believe" (Newsboys)

sung "Lord's Prayer"

during communion distribution: "The Table" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peeqJ1bmT_w

Closing Song: "Forever" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks86XlVKaB8

Look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday. This is Reformation Weekend.

Forever - Michael W Smith - with Lyrics

Pope Francis: Who is better, Catholics or Lutherans?

Pope jokes in ecumenical meeting: Who is better - Catholics or Lutherans? *ROME REPORTS in English

xxx

The pope met in the Vatican with this group of Catholics and German Lutherans who have traveled to Rome together.

The pope had the scarf for Catholic pilgrims, and it was symbolically tied to the one worn by Lutherans, so he wore both at the same time. Later, the pope held this funny dialogue with them, where they tried to trip him up with "trick questions."

"One important element of this meeting is the anticipation of the spirit with which Pope Francis will travel to Sweden in late October, for the start of the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation." [Boldface type in original.]

Source: "Pope jokes in ecumenical meeting: Who is better - Catholics or Lutherans?" Rome Reports, Oct 13, 2016. http://www.romereports.com/2016/10/13/pope-jokes-in-ecumenical-meeting-who-is-better-catholics-or-lutherans.

__________

* ROME REPORTS, http://www.romereports.com/en, is an independent international TV News Agency based in Rome covering the activity of the Pope, the life of the Vatican and current social, cultural and religious debates. Reporting on the Catholic Church requires proximity to the source, in-depth knowledge of the Institution, and a high standard of creativity and technical excellence. As few broadcasters have a permanent correspondent in Rome, ROME REPORTS is geared to inform the public and meet the needs of television broadcasting companies around the world through daily news packages, weekly newsprograms and documentaries.

"Star of the County Down" -- ** UPDATED ** w/ some mountain dulcimer clips and a painless intro to the Dorian mode

Star of the County Down -- Lizzy Hoyt

Lizzy Hoyt performing at the Canadian Folk Music Award Nominee Showcase on December 3rd, 2011 at Hugh's Room in Toronto, ON. Lizzy's album HOME was nominated for Traditional Singer of the Year. To hear samples of her nominated CD, visit: www.lizzyhoyt.com

* * *

Star of The County Down - Van Morrison and The Chieftans

xxx

Since it's a slow air, it can be played in different keys to accommodate a singer's voice. (Yea!) The Session website has two setting in A minor and one in E minor, and most of the players who commented seem to play it in Am. xxx has it in Bmin, although I think it's actually in B dorian. It plays well on a mountain dulcimer in either mode,

Mountain dulcimer

• Dorian Mode-Kingsfold ("Star of the County Down")-DAG tuning. Played in the Dorian mode (using DAG tuning) on an all cherry 5-string dulcimer. A traditional English tune thought by some to date back to the medieval period, it is probably most famous today as the tune for the Irish folk song "Star of the County Down" (lyrics by Cathal McGarvey ca. 1890s-1920s). It is also the tune for several sacred songs, including "O Sing a Song of Bethlehem" and "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say."

• Kingsfold in DAA ("Star of the County Down") Dr. Bill's Mountain Music - Appalachian Dulcimer Demo's -- Played on an all cherry 5-string dulcimer. I have played this song drone-style in minor modal tunings, but I wanted to show that, by use of chords, it can also be played in standard DAA tuning. Ionian, Dorian, and Aeolian are modes of play based on scales, NOT methods of tuning.

• Star of the County Down (My Love Nell) Katie LaRaye Waldren -- Katie arranged this beloved Celtic tune on the mountain/lap dulcimer using both finger picking and strumming styles. Tune to DAD, capo on the first fret.

Dorian mode made easy

Well, that's "easy" like if you're really, really into music theory.

https://thesession.org/tunes/4320. Also known as Diversus And Lazarus, Diverus And Lazarus, Dives And Lazarus, Gilderoy, Kingsfold, The Star Of County Down, The Star Of The County Down March, When First I Left Old Ireland. ... As Dives and Lazarus.

Among the comments: Many songs to that tune This is the plain tune of the song and has little to do with a reel. The melody is used for quite a few songs. Amongst them: Crooked Jack, Dives an Lazarus … The list ist longer but I would have to do a longer search.

# Posted by Ranks 11 years ago. ... Anyone ever play this as an air? Being a bassoonist as well, I’ve played Vaughn Williams’s "Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus" and the melody sounds great slower, and I think it could be really heart-wrenching given the right inflection. ...

Re: The Star Of The County Down The melody is in English County Songs, 1893, collected by John Maitland, later harmonised by Ralph Vaughan Williams as the hymn tune Kingsfold and used with words by Horatius Bonar, "I heard the voice of Jesus say, ‘Come unto me and rest’ ".

Bob Dylan awarded Nobel Prize for Literature

Mr. Tambourine Man (Live at the Newport Folk Festival. 1964)

Shared to my Facebook page: "Well-written tribute by the editor of The New Yorker. But the links are why I'm posting here, from Newport 1964 to last week. Also audio of a 2001 press conference in Rome."

I hadn't suspected David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, has the exquisite timing of a borscht-belt comedian. But his tribute to Bob Dylan, posted to the magazine's website when it was announced today that Dylan has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, was pitch-perfect. He even tied in an oblique reference to Donald Trump, deftly implying a contrast between the worst in American popular culture and the Swedish Academy's recognition of the best.

The setup:

God is a colossal joker, isn’t She?

We went to bed last night having learned that the Man Who Will Not Go Away was, according to the Times, no mere purveyor of “locker-room talk”; no, he has been, in fact, true to his own boasts, a man of vile action. The Times report was the latest detail, the latest brushstroke, in the ever-darkening portrait of an American grotesque.

And then, as swiftly as a standup comic, the punchline:

Then came the news, early this morning, that Bob Dylan, one of the best among us, a glory of the country and of the language, had won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Ring them bells! What an astonishing and unambiguously wonderful thing! There are novelists who still should win (yes, Mr. Roth, that list begins with you), and there are many others who should have won (Tolstoy, Proust, Joyce, Woolf, Nabokov, Auden, Levi, Achebe, Borges, Baldwin . . . where to stop?), but, for all the foibles of the prize and its selection committee, can we just bask for a little while in this one? The wheel turns and sometimes it stops right on the nose.

Like they say, timing is everything.

Source: David Remnick. "Let's Celebrate the Bob Dylan Nobel Win." New Yorker. Oct,. 13, 2016. http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/lets-celebrate-the-bob-dylan-nobel-win.

Bonus track (linked to Remnick's post)

A distillation of Dylan at mid-career, with a long, rambling intro that builds into call-and-response with his backup musicians, calling to mind the black gospel tradition, and ends at 5:50 with "Slow Train Coming."

bob dylan speaks to crowd toronto 1980

Contemporary service music, Faith Lutheran, Saturday, Oct. 15 (Pentecost XXII)

Chris Tomlin - Made to Worship LIVE w/subtitles and lyrics

Here is the worship music for this weekend.

Call to Worship: "My Savior, My God" - Adam and Jamie

Worship Songs:

• "Made to Worship" (with congregation) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9taG2SSp8k
• "We Fall Down" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FIZUyAr9_E
• "Open the Eyes of My Heart" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnqb7Vn4AEE

creed: "We Believe"

sung Lord's Prayer

Closing Song: "How Great is Our God" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKLQ1td3MbE

diddley bow

Scott Ainslie plays cigar box guitar at the Ships of the Sea Museum

Blues Musician and Historian Scott Ainslie playing his "Didley-Bow" and a Museum model 3-string cigar box guitar at the Ships of the Sea Museum in Savannah Georgia on April 7, 2011 in advance of a building workshop on August 20, 2011. For more information, email tonypizzo@shipsofthesea.org or visit www.shipsofthesea.org. For more info on Scott, visit http:cattailmusic.com. Michael Jordan

Shane Speal -- https://www.youtube.com/user/InsurrectionRex/about "King of the Cigar Box Guitar" Concert footage along with lessons for cigar box guitars, deep blues, performance secrets and taking the music industry back to the people.

• How to Play Diddley Bow pt. 1 "The Magic Note"

• How to Play Diddley Bow pt 2: "I'm a Man riff" https://youtu.be/t5q0HJ_mbPQhttps://youtu.be/t5q0HJ_mbPQ

• How to Play Diddley Bow pt. 3: Play Shane Speal's song "16 Miles to Saltsburg" https://youtu.be/MxkHPfJQOFshttps://youtu.be/MxkHPfJQOFs

• How to Play Diddley Bow pt 4: "Using your ear" https://youtu.be/GMd4IKB3l34https://youtu.be/GMd4IKB3l34

xxx

... how to play it with feeling, and how to play it with attitude"

Beat the Crap Out of Your Cigar Box Guitar

Two three new tunes for Clayville-Prairieland jam sessions -- ** UPDATED ** w/ lead sheet for "Ode to Joy" in G

Blast email sent to my Clayville and Peace Lutheran jam session lists at 7:14 p.m. today --

Hi everybody -- October is sneaking up on us, and it's about to pounce. Saturday is Oct. 1, and that means it's our regular monthly session of the Clayville Pioneer Academy of Music at Clayville, from 10 till noon Saturday morning in the barn at Clayville Historic Site, Ill. 125, Pleasant Plains.

On the, ahem, syllabus this month are two lovely ballads out of the Anglo-Celtic and American tradition of balladry. No, OK, we'll have *one* lovely ballad -- "Wild Mountain Thyme" -- and one raucous bluegrassy novelty song called "Five Pounds of Possum (in my Headlights Tonight"). Lead sheets are available on the Dogwood Dulcimer Association website in Pensacola, Fla.

-- "Five Pounds" http://www.gulfweb.net/rlwalker/dogwood/alltunes/Five%20Pounds%20Of%20Possum%20(D).pdf.

-- Wild Mountain Thyme" http://www.gulfweb.net/rlwalker/dogwood/alltunes/Wild%20Mountain%20Thyme%20(D).pdf.

There are video clips and more on Hogfiddle at http://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/2016/09/five-pounds-wild-mountain-thyme.html.

We'll also finalize our Christmas play list and hand around a book of Irish slow airs. Hope to see you there!

** UPDATE ** Excerpts from blast email Monday, Oct. 4, at 5:05 p.m.:

Hi everybody -- Our next session is tomorrow, from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, at Peace Lutheran Church. Saturday morning at Clayville we had a great time switching back and forth from D to G, so let's try it some more.

Which means, if you play the mountain dulcimer, you have two excellent choices: (1) bring and capo; or (2) come tuned in DAD and be ready to retune the middle string to G. It takes about as much time to do it either way.

One song we've done in D that works a little better in G (for most people's voices) is the "Ode to Joy" theme from Beethoven's 9th, aka "Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee." Let's try it in G.

Here's a link to a lead sheet in G, on Michael Kravchuk's website:

-- "http://michaelkravchuk.com/free-lead-sheet-joyful-joyful-adore-thee/

I can't find dulcimer tab for DGD, but the "Strumbly Songbook" has the fret numbers in DGD at:

-- https://www.harpkit.com/mm5/pdf/Strumbly_Songbook1.pdf

It's on page 8 ... the entire songbook, for a kind of portable dulcimer called a "Strumbly" is available online, and it has fret numbers (no chords and no notation, though) for a bunch of songs in G. ...

We never got around to "Five Pounds of Possum (in my headlights tonight ...)" Saturday, which broke my heart because it's such a tender, lyrical ballad. But I've posted links to Hogfiddle at:

-- http://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/2016/09/two-new-tunes-for-clayville-prairieland.html

The other tune is "Wild Mountain Thyme." Don't believe my web address -- they're not new, they're both tunes we've played before that we haven't done lately, but they're worth bringing back. We had a lot of fun Saturday with "WMT." Let's try them both Tuesday.

Hope to see you there.

Link to Gunnar Fredelius' sound files of (mostly) psalmodikon

https://www.facebook.com/npsalmodikonforbundet/posts/10206346278169973 Jag har väl nästan mailbombat sidan med låtar. Vi är ju faktiskt många medlemmar och jag gissar att de flesta spelar. Jag tycker det vore kul att höra flera!

I stället för att mailbomba denna sida tänkte jag att jag lägger upp några spellistor hör i stället. En gång för alla. Det blir då dels min bror Erik, som fokuserar på de äldre psalmböckerna. 1937-års psalmbok men främst kanske de riktigt gamla. På en del låtar använder han stråke, på andra inte. Helt enligt tradition.

Först en lista jag skapat på SoundCloud med Eriks låtar. https://soundcloud.com/gunnar-fredelius/sets/erik-fredelius Inte bara, men mest, psalmodikon

Sedan en YouTubelista https://www.youtube.com/playlist…

Jag spelar väl en och annan andlig låt , men mitt fokus ligger på folkmusik. Bland annat låtar jag vet spelades på psalmodikon på spelmanstävlingar i början på 1900-talet. Även i vår släkt spelades en gång i tiden till dans på psalmodikon, I smyg :) Jag har en del psalmodikon på YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist…

Bättre ljud och lite "bättre" låtar på SoundCloud. https://soundcloud.com/gunnar-f…/…/psalmodikon-med-nygammalt I guess I have almost mailbombat page with songs. We are, in fact, many members, and I'm guessing that most of the play. I think it would be fun to hear more!

Instead of mail-bomb this page, I thought I put up a few playlists hear in this place. Once and for all. It will be partly my brother Erik, that focuses on the older psalmböckerna. 1937-Year-old hymnal but mainly maybe they really, really old. On some songs he uses bow, on the other not. According to tradition.

First a list I made on soundcloud with Erik's songs. https://soundcloud.com/gunnar-fredelius/sets/erik-fredelius Not only, but mostly, psalmodicon

Since a youtubelista https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDo4JMdJQIuez7vFMKf79-8HGr4XkKE3x I'm playing a and other spiritual song, but my focus is on folk music. Among other things, I know the songs played at psalmodicon spelmanstävlingar in the early 1900th century. Even in our family was played once upon a time to dance on psalmodicon, on the sly :)

I have some psalmodicon on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDo4JMdJQIueJu-nGYuR_Qz948ZwPYTQ4 Better sound and a little "better" songs on soundcloud. https://soundcloud.com/gunnar-fredelius/sets/psalmodikon-med-nygammalt

Oct. 1 https://www.facebook.com/gunnar.fredelius/posts/10206366841724049?pnref=story Julafton. Dvs jolakvold -- langspil Ágústa Sigrún Jólakvöld on Soundcloud

Någon kanske frågar sig varför jag pratar hummel och psalmodikon i samma andetag. Svaret är att termerna använts så oprecist så när det står långharpa eller långspel i äldre källor, så vet vi inte vad som avsågs. Om hummel var så vanligt som man får intryck av, så varför finns inte flera bevarade? För att de förstördes under den tid på 1800-talet, och i en del landsändar ända in under min levnad? Det bidrar nog, men många nyckelharpor och fioler överlevde... Å andra sidan så överlevde nyckelharpan främst i Uppland. För att den bara fanns där säger några då. Men den finns omnämnd även på andra ställen. Inte vet jag om den religiösa instrumentutplånarivern var mindre i Uppland än tex Västergötland och Norrbotten, där ett par speciella rörelser ju var starka... Psalmodikon var det vanligaste instrumentet i stugorna under en tid. De spreds ju just för att användas till andlig musik. Men för den som tidigare spelat tex hummel, eller fått sin fiol uppeldad, kliade det nog i fingrarna att spela låtar på psalmodikonet, när ingen alltför folkmusikfientlig var i närheten. / [Some may wonder why I'm talking hummel and psalmodicon in the same breath. The answer is that the terms used so imprecise so when it says långharpa or långspel in older sources, so we do not know what it was intended. If Hummel was as common as you get the impression, so why aren't more preserved? Because they were destroyed during the time in the 1800 s, and in some tracts of all the way in during my life? It helps, I think, but many nyckelharpor and violins survived... on the other hand so survived the nyckelharpa mainly in uppland. Because it was only a few say that then. But it is also mentioned in other places. I don't know if the religious instrumentutplånarivern was less in uppland than tex västergötland and norrbotten, where a couple of special movement was strong... Psalmodicon was the most common instrument in the cottages for a period of time. They spread precisely in order to be used for spiritual music. But for the one who previously played Tex Hummel, or had his violin pumped, scratched it in my fingers to play songs on psalmodikonet, when no one is too folkmusikfientlig was in the neighborhood.]

Notes on psalmodikon and Swedish hummel in Stig Walin's "Die Schwische Hummel."

Important discussion below of the relationship between a Swedish hummel and a psalmodikon on my Facebook feed this morning. Link here or click on permalink address just below this screenshot to see the original:

https://www.facebook.com/peter.ellertsen/posts/1746168588977513

Background: This morning I posted to Facebook my pictures of the Dillner Museum behind the church in Östervåla, and Gunnar Fredelius questioned whether the instrument identified in the museum as a hummel toward the end of my photo album wasn't really a psalmodikon. This led to threads on my FB feed and Gunnar's, where he had posted a copy of my pix.

Upshot: I quickly agreed the instrument in question was a psalmodikon, but one with a body shape modeled after a hummel -- at least it resembles my Frisian hummel (Friesische Hummel) made by Willfried Ulrich of coastal East Frisia in Germany (pictures at http://s642275850.website-start.de/neue-hummeln/). I'll won't repeat the thread here. Instead I'll link to:

• https://www.facebook.com/peter.ellertsen/posts/1746168588977513 -- my FB feed.

• https://www.facebook.com/gunnar.fredelius/posts/10206337747396709 -- Gunnar's.

In the process of researching the Ostervala psalmodikon, I consulted Stig Walin's "Die Schwedische Hummel" and copied his discussion of psalmodikons below, along with an unedited Google translation. Rely on it at your peril, but it'll give you a rough idea of what he says.

If I am reading Walin correctly, both the hummel and the psalmodikon traced their origins back to the medieval monochord and a related folk instrument in parts of northern Europe called a långspel. (The word is Swedish, and I think it might be a generic term for an stringed instrument played lengthwise -- i.e. up and down a single string over a fretboard on the long side of the instrument. Cf. Icelandic langspil.) Like an American dulcimer or any other instrument where the melody is played on a single string.

Background on hummel. Långspel and långharpa are also words for the hummel (see discussion in Wikipedia, which is unusually informative, at https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummel_(musikinstrument): "Hummeln är ett (troligen medeltida) instrument som funnits i hela Europa i lite olika varianter. Instrumentet var vanligt i Nederländerna, Nordtyskland och Danmark under 1700-talet. I svensk bondekultur finns belägg för instrumentet först från 1600-talet och det verkar ha förekommit mest i de södra delarna. Under 1800-talet ansågs hummeln vara ett primitivt bondeinstrument och dess popularitet avtog men några entusiaster har, med start från 1970-talet, återupptagit traditionen att spela hummel." [Google trans.: Hummeln is a (probably medieval) instruments that existed throughout Europe in a few different directions. The instrument was common in the Netherlands , northern Germany and Denmark during the 1700s. In the Swedish farming culture is evidence of the instrument to the 1600s, and it seems to have been mostly in the southern parts. In the 1800s it was considered Hummeln be a primitive peasant instruments and its popularity waned, but some enthusiasts have, starting from the 1970s, resumed the tradition to play Hummel.]

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Stig Walin, Die Schwedische Hummel: Eine Instrumentenkindliche Untersuchung. Stockholm: Nordiska Museet, 1952. Ethnomusicology http://allourmusic.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/wallin_hummel/. pp. 95-96.

Unedited excerpts in English translation are by Google. Use at your own risk. [One example will suffice: When the text refers to "bumblebee," it is Google's translation of the name of the instrument. The name comes from the buzzing sound made by the drone (bourdon) strings.] I am putting these pages, Walin's only mention of the psalmodikon, up on the blog for convenient access. I am not attempting a translation at this point.

Around 1830 began the incredible fast triumph of Psalmodikons over the areas.1 The instrument was developed by the powerful revivals of 40s and the following decades put into use. but Still the Tonwerkzeug could never so quickly can spread and would in the tradition-bound Rural population never come to immediate application, if not the bottom of the related older zither type Hummel as good would have been prepared. As a popular Tool of a purely secular musical culture (Including dance) had the Hummel many places as hard considered a sin and therefore burdened aside been pushed or simply destroyed be 2 to instead of Psalmodikon to be replaced, the 3 t the beginning of A an instrument for worship and house devotion was. Where the Hummel despite everything further held that both types could be confused.

The Hummel was also certain constructional details of Psalmodikons acquire. The right in Fingerboard cut chromatic Bund series at G 40 we have already by above as a sign of the influence the Psalmodikon angenommen.4 Maybe has the same effect at the chromatic (re) grouping the frets at G 2 9 5 asserted, the instrument I. Westerlund, the various religious purposes served. W hen but also to Psalmodikon victoriously penetrated, it possessed but far from the same tradition force as the bumblebee.

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This is, inter alia, from his Mold development produced. Dill Ner original instrument supposedly now in N M under N r. 14152 is, has an elongated body with straight sides and the same width Later the web as in Sattel.6 but the Psalmodikon was often with extensions and bulges of various Article provided. but these have not the formal unity and the organic Beauty, which bulges the the native bumblebee ajjszeichnen. It often seems as if they quite by accident and not natural Way from the actual basic shape developed hätten.7 In the rich flora of this form Psalmodikons can be of different influences feel sides - in a few notable cases of the Bumblebee! Three Psalmodikon in Västergötland Museum, Skara, N r. 13754, 41966 and 45778, with respect to the outer body shape a side bulged Hummel's amazing ähnlich.1 order but it is not enough. also regarding the size they close the Hummel at. Dill former Psalmodikon has a gr. L. 1027 mm.2 The three about equally large instruments in Skara are However, considerably shorter. No. 41966 has a gr. L. 810 mm. The gr. L. of Most native bumblebees is between the limits 692- 890. The Psalmodikon therefore closes this Plurality of. According to the catalog information originates the instrument of Vastergotland, 3 of the landscape, in the "långspel" already on widespread at the beginning of the 18th century was, of which we only a bumblebee (G 26) have registered. The Psalmodikon however, shows that the Hummel tradition in the countryside in the 19th century was strong. Perhaps one could even the "långspel» -Tradition say. The length of the "långspel" was about 890 and the width of about 223 mm. The corresponding V alues ​​of Psalmodikons N r 41966 are 810 and 215 mm.

W hen we now again the question over the age of zither instrument from Type Hummel turn in Sweden, we must say that a type of instrument, already at the beginning of the 18th century. Century in at least a portion of the spread Swedish country areas and was popular and then in spite of all unfavorable conditions around the country one such striking force Tradition showed spoken of here, that such type of instrument, as already indicated, a local history must have that far out stretched on the said date. The sources of this ancient history but are difficult to access and uncertain. One reason for this is the terminology Ambiguity. Google Translate for Business:Translator ToolkitWebsite TranslatorGlobal Market Finder

Hör hur tempelsången stiger [Herre, signe du och råde in gammal psalmbok, No. 500 in Wallin's 1819 psalmbook)

Hör hur tempelsången stiger - Jens Fredborg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AdDkNkLHkY

[Fredborg also gives titles: Giv, o Jesus, fröjd och lycka - Ljus av ljus, o morgonstjärna.]

The last song the Nordiska Psalmodikonförbundet played at Östervålakyrka was Hör hur tempelsången Svenska Psalmbok (1986), No. 77. It's very old, dating back to the gamla psalmbok of the 1690s. Wikipedia has the background at https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herre,_signe_du_och_r%C3%A5de. The last verse, beginning "Herre, signe du och råde," has been commonly used as a benediction or "sending" song -- although the other verses have swapped around considerably in the 1819, 1937 and 1986 hymnals. Says Wikipedia:

Herre, signe du och råde (även känd som Du som fromma hjärtan vårdar, Hör hur tempelsången stiger och Dagar komma, dagar flykta) är en psalm ursprungligen skriven av Jesper Swedberg 1694, som utökades med sex verser av Johan Olof Wallin 1816.

I 1695 års psalmbok utgjorde Swedbergs vers "Herre, signe du och råde" den sista psalmen (nummer 413 under rubriken "Om thet ewiga Lifwet"). Även i 1819 års psalmbok och 1937 års psalmbok stod psalmen sist (som nr 500 resp 600), men då hade Johan Olof Wallin lagt till ytterligare sex verser, så därmed fick den titeln "Du som fromma hjärtan vårdar" med Swedbergs sista vers som ståvers.

I Den svenska psalmboken 1986 ströks de två första verserna och psalmen gavs inledningen "Hör hur tempelsången stiger" som psalm nr 77 i den ekumeniska delen av psalmböckerna 1986 års Cecilia-psalmbok, Psalmer och Sånger 1987, Segertoner 1988 och Frälsningsarméns sångbok 1990.

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Särskilt sjungen är Jesper Svedbergs vers, "Herre, signe du och råde", som dels var självständig psalm i 124 år, dels ofta fick avsluta folkskolans arbetsdagar i minst ett sekel till.

Med ursprunglig stavning löd versen 1695:

Herre signe tu och råde Och beware nu oss wäl Herre titt Ansicht i nåde Lyse altijd för wår siäl! Herre Gudh titt Ansicht wänd Och tin frijd oss allom sänd! O Gudh Fader, Son och Ande Tigh ske prijs i allo lande!

Melodi i psalmboken av Johann Schop ur Himmlischer Lieder från 1642 (F-dur, 2/2, samma som till Gud, i mina unga dagar och mest känd som melodin för just "Herre, signe du och råde".) Redan i 1697 års koralbok anges att melodin är densamma som för psalmerna Giv, o Jesus, fröjd och lycka (nr 139), Helge Ande, hjärtats nöje (nr 184), Ack, vi ästu dock så blinder (nr 278), Ljus av ljus, o Morgonstjärna (nr 356), Öpna tigh min munn och tunga (nr 376), Var nu redo, själ och tunga (nr 377). Det tyska originalets titel är Werde Munter.

Lutheran contemporary worship music links -- (with bonus track, "We come now to the hungry feast ...")

D R A F T

Bonus hymn: "We Come to the Hungry Feast" by Ray Makeveer (WOV 766, ELW 479)

• Lutheran Contemporary Music Resources. Victoria _________, pastor Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Steelton, Pa. Blog post "... that I hope will be particularly useful for Lutheran pastors who are either trying to make a foray into the world of contemporary Christian music, start contemporary services, or who are trying to get their congregations to rock out with their Bach out." "Lutheran Contemporary Music Resources," Lutheran Moxie, Aug. 30, 2012. https://lutheranmoxie.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/lutheran-contemporary-music-resources/

• True Vine Music! "Our mission is to provide Christ-centered, Biblically-grounded, contemporary worship songs for the church. We provide original congregational worship songs on many themes including Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the Liturgy." [LC-MS] http://www.truevinemusic.com/lutheran.htm

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Heard "We Come to the Hungry Feast" for the first time (at least the first time I was paying attention" in the traditional service at Peace Lutheran this morning. It's not Christian contemporary -- sounds almost like an American folk hymn, nice and melodious. Reminds me of Marty Haugen's liturgies, definitely a keeper.

Ray Makeveer a campus pastor at the University of Minnesota and music director at Lutheran churches in the Twin Cities, wrote it in 1984 for use in a communion liturgy. Sheet music (from ELW) at http://www.hymnary.org/text/we_come_to_the_hungry_feast.

Mary Munson, church musician of Camano Island, Wash., recorded the hymn for her choir at Camano Lutheran Church, as an aid in learning the tune. She has quite a few hymns, mostly from the ELCA's "cranberry book," Evangelical Lutheran Worshop, on her YouTube channel, plus occasional cat videos, including a piano transcription of Sergei Prokofiev's cat melody from "Peter and the Wolf." You can tell she has cats!

Psalmodikon player's repertory in fiddlers' contest (spelmans-tävlingarna) in Uppsala, 1912

‎Gunnar Fredelius‎ to Nordiska Psalmodikonförbundet, September 7 at 10:38am · https://www.facebook.com/npsalmodikonforbundet/posts/1063797997037441

Vid spelmanstävlingarna i Uppsala 1912 spelade August Eriksson upp på psalmodikon. Ebba Brahes brudvals och en gånglåt som kallades Tredjedag Jul. Jag försöker nu ta reda på hur de låtarna går.

Ebba Brahes brudmarsch är välkänd i gammelharpkretsar. Men Ebba Brahes brudvals vet jag inget om annat än att den sägs vara vacker.

Denna psalmodikonspelman hade följande repertoar när det gäller spelmansmusik. 4 marscher,1 skänklåt, 4 polskor, en mycket gammal brudpolska, 7 valser och tre galopper

Kuriosa: En spelman en gång i tiden, berättade att som liten spelade han psalmodikon. Vid ett tillfälle då han spelade i kyrkan hade han skadat en fot. Han stod därför på ett ben och spelade. Han sa "det var som det skulle. En sträng, ett ben"

Herr Prof. Google translates as follows:

At Spelmanstävlingarna in uppsala in 1912 played August Eriksson up on psalmodicon. Ebba Brahes Bridal Waltz and a gånglåt called Tredjedag Christmas. I am now trying to find out how the songs go. Ebba Brahes Wedding March is well known in gammelharpkretsar. But Ebba Brahes Bridal Waltz, I know nothing about other than that it is said to be beautiful. This psalmodikonspelman had the following repertoire when it comes to traditional Nordic Dance music. 4 Marches, 1 Skänklåt, 4 Polish, a very old brudpolska, 7 Waltzes and three galopper.

Factoid: A Fiddler, once upon a time, told me that as a kid, he played psalmodicon. At a time when he played in the church, he had a hurt foot. That is why he was standing on one leg and played. He said " it was as it should. A String, a bone "

BACKGROUND Spelmanstävling Wikipedia https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelmanst%C3%A4vling:

En spelmanstävling är ett evenemang med tävlan mellan spelmän eller spelgrupper. 1906 anordnades den första i Sverige och de närmaste decennierna därefter blev detta sedan en fluga och runt om i landet ordnades en mängd sådana spelmanstävlingar, ofta i samband med andra evenemang, såsom utställningar, hembygdsevenemang, idrottsevenemang etc. [Google: A fiddler contest is an event with the rivalry between musicians and gaming groups. 1906 organized the first in Sweden and in the decades thereafter became then a fly and around the country held a variety of such folk competitions, often in conjunction with other events, such as exhibitions, local events, sports events, etc.]

more info, incl. list of annual events 1906-1945, including Uppsala, 1912.

Jeg ved en lærkerede -- Danish children's song on psalmodikon

Jeg ved en lärkerede [I know a lark's nest]

Gisli Olsen https://www.facebook.com/gisli.olsen/posts/1164484980289626 Facebook

Här spelar vi några verser av den välkända danska dikten "Jeg ved en lärkerede". Vi spelar "Grovt och grant", Solveig på sopran- och jag på alt-psalmodikon. Dikten är tonsatt av Carl Nielsen. [Trans. Google: Here we are playing a few verses of the famous Danish poem " jeg ved a lärkerede ". we play " rough and grant ", solveig on soprano and I on the alt-Psalmodicon. The poem is tonsatt by Carl Nielsen.]

According to Wikipedia (https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeg_ved_en_l%C3%A6rkerede), it is Denmark's best-known children's song. Composer Carl Nielsen arranged it:

Esbjorn: "I sow the seed in hope ..." -- cf. Reformed, Lutheran attitudes on new birth in baptism

"Last Years in Andover" p. 307, n5 -- Tidskrift, 1899, pp. 284f.

C.A. Blomgren, Review of Tidskrift for Svensk Ev. Luth. Kyrko-Historia 1899, The Lutheran Church Review, Volume 17 (1898), pp. 631-32.

polemic against Unionus ... a masterly polemic.

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John Norton, ed. "Immigrant Pastor Lars Paul Esbjörn's 1851 Recruiting Pamphlet: Greetings to the Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish Emigrant." Swedish-American Historical Quarterly 60.4 (October 2009), pp. 167-73. http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/ref/collection/npu_sahq/id/5955

... At home, you perhaps did not ask much about the welfare of your soul. You were perhaps satisfied, when no one could bring you to commit a major criminal act ... theft, murder, adultery, swearing, breach of the Sab-bath, and such ... or that you were no worse than others. You perhaps thought that all was well, when you were called “Christian” and went to church and Communion. O, my countryman! Thousands upon thousands of souls have gone to eternal damnation, because they trusted such weak grounds for faith, and wandered the broad road with the masses. (Matthew 7:13). And if you never before cared 170 about Jesus’ words, that without being saved, and become as chil-dren, you will not come into Heaven (Matthew 18:3), do it now. Now you have arrived at completely new conditions, you have come to a land where people generally are not content with the externals and form of Christianity: now you have the best opportunity in the world to convert yourself, so that your soul may be saved from the coming wrath (Matthew 3:7). Do not ever believe that a human, who by knowingly sinning breaks their baptismal compact, can be saved without conversion. There are certainly thousands of people in all the cities and parishes of Sweden, Norway and Denmark who believed this, but it is against God’s word, and God’s word shall not perish, even if heaven and earth shall perish. (Matthew 24:35). No, if you have not been converted before, you have never experienced any anguish in your heart for your sins, and have no fear of damna-tion, as well as having a new, blessed life in your heart, then hasten to turn yourself to Jesus Christ; like the Lost Son, confess your sins to Him (Luke 15) and pray for grace and forgiveness in His name, so you may be given grace to become a child of God, so that your soul dies in grace, when you are called home.

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You believe, according to God’s word that your children were born again in their baptism, through Jesus’ righ-teousness and forgiveness. You will find few outside the Lutherans who believe that way. When you take communion, you find a blessed comfort in the truth that the body and blood of Our Savior are truly present in the bread and wine; but other congregations in this coun-try, except the Lutheran, say that the bread and wine are only sym-bols or signs of Jesus’ body and blood, and that Jesus’ body and blood are partaken of only spiritually and in a heavenly way, by faith, and in many other respects. Thus, stay with that to which you have already come, and if you accept anything else, let God reveal it (Phil. 3:15-16), and do not accept it from men, however learned, pious or good they may be. Take these words of welcome to heart, dear countryman! They are spoken in heartfelt concern for you, and for the spiritual well-being of your children, by one who has carefully tested the teachings of this land, who wishes to see the true light of God’s word shine among his countrymen, and who shall finally answer to God if he fails to educate and watch over his brothers. We shall there, before 173 God’s judgment throne, see each other again, and have eternal joy with Him, if we have been his children and faithfully kept the profes-sion of hope (Hebrews 10:23) until the end. Yes, Amen, so be it! In the northern part of Illinois there are many Swedes, hundreds, especially in Andover, Henry County, Rock Island, and Moline on the Mississippi. There are even three Evangelical Lutheran congrega-tions, at Andover, Moline and Henderson, served by God’s word and the Holy Sacraments, by a Swedish pastor, sent by the Swedish Mission Society in Stockholm, and truly ordained in his holy calling. Other sects and parties are also found in the area, but do not hold the pure faith. The surest sign of a congregation or teacher is that they recognize the Lutheran church’s symbolic books as containing God’s word and true teaching. The way to Andover is from New York to Albany by steamboat; to Buffalo by canal boat or railroad; to Chicago by steamboat; to Peru or LaSalle by canal boat; and to Andover by land using rented or, better yet, purchased horses. Those who can leave Sweden in the fall by sea to New Orleans, can in the spring quickly and easily come by steamboat up the entire Mississippi to Rock Island and Moline. During the winter there are good work opportunities in New Orleans and St. Louis, but during the summer it is unhealthy there. Printed in New York by H. Ludwig & Co., 1851.