1650 Scottish Metrical Psalter

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Aside from accuracy, historical usage, etc., one of the main reasons I prefer the Scottish Psalter is the ease of singing compared with other Psalters. When my wife and I sing in family worship, we never have to pause at a selection, go over the tune, figure out if we know it or could possibly struggle our way through. We just sing.

Sean,

While not contradicting anything you write here (in fact agreeing with it - the simplicity of the CM tune in SMV is genious), it may be useful for me to say that one of the reasons we went with the psalter we did was because as ex-almost-exclusive-hymn-singers we were able to take up the 2004 RPCI Psalter and use it in the way you desribed because it a) has an excellent tune/psalm index and b) many of the tunes were straightforward hymn tunes that we were well used to - resulting in almost instant usefulness and every psalm having an appropriate tune we knew, without us having to think about an appropriate tune.

Just a point of interest especially useful for family worship application to those 'coming into' psalm singing. To a lessor extent this is a useful feature in The Book of Psalms for Worship as well (see back of psalter) as long as you know the tune names!
 
We are not high tech at our house. We like CDs and hardcopies of books!

That said, we purchased this a while back and found it is worth the price tag...
The Book of Psalms for Worship Starter Kit
It is like buying 4 CDs & getting 2 Psalters for only $10 more.
And, we can listen to the CDs in our car etc. I love them.

However, as I said earlier, the PfW is more of my own preference, NOT my children's. They love the 1650 SMV & I am learning to love it as well. If you decide to go with the PfW rather than the SMV, just be honest and say it is your own preference. Don't blame it on the kids! We like to dumb things down a lot but our children are hungry beyond our expectations. If you tell your children that the 1650 is archaic, outdated, or in another language... they will start to believe that lie. If you use the 1650 and don't complain in front of them about your own lack of comprehension, you will all grow to love the 1650 more. I am speaking from experience (and speaking to myself as well).

What ever you decide, I'm glad you are singing God's Word with your family!

I love the SMV and I enjoy singing and listening to it. But the language is without question outdated as in we dont talk or communicate this way in our day. Now you may mean somthing completely different when you say outdated so feel free to correct me if im wrong. I may stick with this version because it of so well spoken off and easy to use but we have to be honest about some of the older forms of language. I'm looking for Psalters that are faithful to the original which of course the 1650 seems to be, but I also hear many good things about BoPW. I'm interested in Sing Psalms by the Free Church of Scotland as well but haven't found much imormation on it.
 

Hi Tim. Thanks for sharing. Has there been a change of opinion after the revisions have been made to BoPW? What psalter does your Church use?

Tyrese, my congregation uses the Book of Psalms for Worship. To the best of my memory, the revisions concern the "insertion of uninspired words in Psalms" criticism in the review being discussed; I don't think the other concerns have been satisfied. I will be checking on this, however.

Being that your Church uses BoPW would you say it's really good or a fail compared to the SMV.
 
I would recommend sticking with the Scottish Psalter.

Aside from accuracy, historical usage, etc., one of the main reasons I prefer the Scottish Psalter is the ease of singing compared with other Psalters. When my wife and I sing in family worship, we never have to pause at a selection, go over the tune, figure out if we know it or could possibly struggle our way through. We just sing.

I created a website (that needs some updating) advocating the use of the Scottish Psalter. Hope you might find some of it useful.

The 1650 Psalter | Faithful. Simple. Still a Classic.
Thanks for sharing
 
If you tell your children that the 1650 is archaic, outdated, or in another language... they will start to believe that lie.

Respectfully, I disagree that I am lying to my children. Not sure if this is referring to me or not since I did say earlier in the thread that we did not use it because I felt it was outdated.

It was not referring to anyone in particular yet I was careful to include myself among those to whom it may be directed.

If you decide to go with the PfW rather than the SMV, just be honest and say it is your own preference. Don't blame it on the kids! We like to dumb things down a lot but our children are hungry beyond our expectations. If you tell your children that the 1650 is archaic, outdated, or in another language... they will start to believe that lie. If you use the 1650 and don't complain in front of them about your own lack of comprehension, you will all grow to love the 1650 more.

Yes indeed! Children are language-learning machines.

That was the point I was trying to make! Thank you for saying it better than I could.
The author of the original post has voiced concern about teaching his children "the language" of the 1650. However, we are the ones with the language barrier, NOT our children. They are sponges & they desire to learn "the language" of the 1650... That is, unless they hear us grumbling & complaining about it.
 
We are not high tech at our house. We like CDs and hardcopies of books!

That said, we purchased this a while back and found it is worth the price tag...
The Book of Psalms for Worship Starter Kit
It is like buying 4 CDs & getting 2 Psalters for only $10 more.
And, we can listen to the CDs in our car etc. I love them.

However, as I said earlier, the PfW is more of my own preference, NOT my children's. They love the 1650 SMV & I am learning to love it as well. If you decide to go with the PfW rather than the SMV, just be honest and say it is your own preference. Don't blame it on the kids! We like to dumb things down a lot but our children are hungry beyond our expectations. If you tell your children that the 1650 is archaic, outdated, or in another language... they will start to believe that lie. If you use the 1650 and don't complain in front of them about your own lack of comprehension, you will all grow to love the 1650 more. I am speaking from experience (and speaking to myself as well).

What ever you decide, I'm glad you are singing God's Word with your family!

I love the SMV and I enjoy singing and listening to it. But the language is without question outdated as in we dont talk or communicate this way in our day. Now you may mean somthing completely different when you say outdated so feel free to correct me if im wrong. I may stick with this version because it of so well spoken off and easy to use but we have to be honest about some of the older forms of language. I'm looking for Psalters that are faithful to the original which of course the 1650 seems to be, but I also hear many good things about BoPW. I'm interested in Sing Psalms by the Free Church of Scotland as well but haven't found much imormation on it.

With all due respect, it is my understanding that even at the time the KJV & SMV (aka 1650) were written, most of the common people didn't "talk like that then" either. The KJV & SMV were written in the late phase of the Early Modern English period. The simple fact that the KJV is read & the SMV is sung in corporate worship to this day, all around the globe, is proof enough that the language is not outdated but is rather timeless. Both, the KJV & SMV translate the Original language faithfully to English (with English being our vulgar/common language).

I am thrilled that you are singing the Psalms in family worship. And, I am trying to encourage you. I hope you can tell that by reading each of my post. I hope more people come to the same convictions about singing God's Word.
 
Case for the 1650 Scottish Metrical Psalter

1. Faithful to the Original Language

2. A Wonderful Heritage

3. User Friendly: Almost every psalm is Common Metre. This means if someone only knows the tune for Amazing Grace, they can still sing the whole psalter. With the modern versions, you end up with a plethora of meters and set tunes for each selection meaning you've got to know that tune to sing it. I'm not saying that is a bad thing. Simply that it makes it less user friendly to someone who doesn't read music.

4. Public Domain: The Scottish Psalter has no copyright! Its contents are free and readily available online. With the newer Psalters, much of their contents are under copyright (words and tunes) meaning they are not usually available online and can only be used with permission from the publisher. To be honest, I don't understand why those producing Sacred Music feel compelled to copyright the contents of their hymnals and Psalters. Just my 2¢.

5. Economical: $8 from Trinitarian Bible Society ($5 for the pocket edition) vs. $20 or $30 for the newer psalters.

I like modern Psalters. I have copies of most all of them. I really enjoy the BPFS & the BPFW. But because of the things mentioned above, I prefer the Scottish Psalter.
 
Just wondering... If an app were made for the Scottish psalter that is similar to the RP app, would that increase the value of the Scottish Psalter and/or make you more likely to use it/use it more often? (Just a note: I don't know how to make an app, but I do have the Psalter text in html/xhtml format, For what it's worth.)
 
I would recommend sticking with the Scottish Psalter.

Aside from accuracy, historical usage, etc., one of the main reasons I prefer the Scottish Psalter is the ease of singing compared with other Psalters. When my wife and I sing in family worship, we never have to pause at a selection, go over the tune, figure out if we know it or could possibly struggle our way through. We just sing.

I created a website (that needs some updating) advocating the use of the Scottish Psalter. Hope you might find some of it useful.

The 1650 Psalter | Faithful. Simple. Still a Classic.

Great site! Thanks for the tip :sing:
 
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