Praising Jehovah in a United Chorus
‘THE singing was something that sent thrills up the spine and brought tears to the eyes—it was so beautiful. No musical instruments were needed, and what seemed to be complicated part-singing was handled with wonderful ease. The harmony was exquisite.’
This expression was made by former president of the Watch Tower Society, Nathan H. Knorr, after attending an assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Zambia. It well describes the stirring sound of hundreds of African voices raised in harmonious song.
Singing is a part of African culture. In a typical African village, it is not rare to see the women hoeing to the rhythm of traditional songs, youths humming their favorite melodies as they milk the cows, and men chanting repetitive tunes as if to encourage their oxen to pull their heavy load. There is a song for just about every activity in the village.
In many African schools, children are taught to sing by means of the tonic sol-fa system. What is tonic sol-fa? Basically, it is the “do, re, mi” approach that was popularized by a famous film musical some years back. Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do correspond to the eight notes of a scale played on Western musical instruments. This letter-notation system uses colons, dashes, commas, and rules to indicate the number of beats in a bar and the duration of the notes. The four voices (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) are set out one below the other, and it is this blending of the voices that produces such soul-stirring music. Many agree that this method is far easier to learn and sing by than the more widely used staff notation.
Hence, the melodies in the songbook used by Jehovah’s Witnesses, Sing Praises to Jehovah, were transcribed into tonic sol-fa for all the African editions. First, many hours were spent at a piano to adapt the melodies to conventional four-part harmony. Then, each of the voices in turn was changed into the letter-notation of tonic sol-fa. Next, someone familiar with the sol-fa system was assigned to sing through each voice of every song to check the accuracy of each note. Computers were then used to line up the tonic sol-fa with the words of each song. At last it was possible to prepare for printing the easily readable music you see reproduced on this page.
The result? Jehovah’s Witnesses in Africa can blend their voices in joyous praise to Jehovah. The words of one of the songs express their feelings well: “We shout in triumph, clap our hands. So much has God done for us! Our voices swell in joyful praise in a united chorus.”
[Diagram of kingdom song in sol-fa method on page 27]
(For fully formatted text, see publication)