Annual competition recognises Bishop Timothy Dudley-Smith
Bishop Timothy Dudley-Smith, whose hymn-writing career took off fifty years ago with the publication of the hymn ‘Tell out my soul’, has written words specially for a composition competition organised by the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM). Aspiring church music composers are asked to set three verses of a new text from Bishop Timothy which begins “How shall we sing salvation’s song”.
In previous years, entrants for the annual Harold Smart Composition Competition have often had to compose an anthem, but this year the genre is hymnody, and marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of the first Hymns Ancient and Modern. Information about how to enter, including Bishop Timothy’s complete text, is available on the RSCM website at www.rscm.com/haroldsmart. The closing date is 1st October 2011, and the competition will be adjudicated by a panel which includes the hymn composer John Barnard. The winner will receive a prize of £500; their hymn may also be showcased in a special service in London to mark the 150th anniversary celebrations of Hymns Ancient and Modern.
Bishop Timothy, who is to receive an Honorary Fellowship from the RSCM later this year, also offers advice to would-be entrants in a downloadable podcast on the RSCM website. He says hymns have to be a good marriage of words and music. “A good text set to a bad tune – so that it’s a dirge when it should be a celebration – can’t be a good hymn; it’s got to be a good text, and a good tune for that text.” He goes on to explain more about his set text which celebrates the place of singing in Christian worship.
The RSCM’s annual competition in memory of Dr Harold Smart is sponsored this year by Hymns Ancient and Modern to mark its anniversary. Bishop Timothy also speaks in the podcast about the succession of hymn books since Hymns Ancient and Modern first appeared in 1861. “It’s been a continuing and developing tradition. I think it’s been immensely influential in terms of hymnody. Hymns Ancient and Modern is the trunk of the tree as far as Anglicans are concerned. Lots of branches have come off it since then.”
Further information about the competition including how to enter can be downloaded from the RSCM website, www.rscm.com. The interview with Bishop Timothy can be found at www.rscm.com/info_resources/media/TDS_podcast.php.