Metrical Psalms are back

If I may quote the Master for a moment:

On afternoons of drowsy calm
We stood in the panelled pew,
Singing one-voiced a Tate-and-Brady psalm
To the tune of "Cambridge New."

Reinstated West Gallery, Stinsford Church

Let's leave aside the whole question of why you'd want to sing "Cambridge New", which has a nice fugue effect, one-voiced -  and instead consider that what Thomas Hardy (for it is he) is reflecting fondly on is the singing of a metrical psalm to a set tune.

With the advent of the Victorian hymn-writing plague, singing the old psalms the old way went away. But you can't keep a decent tradition down. So the church musician and serpent-player Kathryn Rose (aka blogger "The Artsy Honker") has set up Psalter Commons. You can find psalms, contribute (old, out of copyright) ones - or write your own.

So come on, get down there and let's re-invent a genuine tradition!