The Council Room

[David Bentley]

Seeing a post by me relative to music is second in hilarity only to a post relative to music by my father, which any of the men who stood near him will attest to, I'm sure. However, I do want to draw your attention to a website on which you can bring up and listen to music we used to sing in the Chapel, ie., 108, 145, etc. Although these tunes are done so as to conform to the generally accepted notes as written, close your eyes and you can imagine voices from the past, and instrument players. Sort of a fun few minutes if you have some spare time. I invite you to try the following website: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/index.htm and have your speakers on (!).
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C-1 49 J-7 52 S-3 55 J-10 58
C-7 50 J-7 53 S-2 56 J-8 59
C-8 51 J-4 54 S-7 57 (JA) J-8 60 - 64
1965 - 1968 Military service
Pine Cone 68 - 75 (with wife,Sherry,
and daughter Tracey)
Wolfeboro - full-time since 1997

[Mike Freeland]

That is a cool site, Dave. Thanks for posting the link. You're right about closing your eyes and traveling back over the years to the sound of the boats out on the harbor, the occasional ringing of the office phone bell on the chapel porch, and the sound of the Catholic boys and men returning from town, as we sang those hymns.

Funny you should mention # 108 -- That one (Are Ye Able...) was Pat's favorite. For my part, it was # 91. Anyone remember which one that was? I'll disclose it if I don't get any calls in the next 10 minutes. It was played at Walt Scheirer's funeral by Burt Vaughan, which reduced me to a puddle. That was a tough day to begin with, and that hymn just put a cap on it. Another favorite of mine was # 149 (Once to every Man and Nation). It had 4 flats (F minor) and was killer to play. I chose it for a vespers or chapel service one day and Steve Downes was ready to shoot me for making him play it. And how could anyone forget # 145 (God of our Fathers) with its brass fanfare intro? (Pat, Ray Hillyard, Bob Arnot, Dave Ayars and I all variously played that up next to the big desk where Bob Vaughan and Jerrey Hoyt presided over the camp publications for so long.

The choir also sang some things from the ol' "Hymns for Creative Living" book, specifically "Hear Our Prayer O Lord", and the Dresden and Threefold Amens. Remember those?

It's an interesting coincidence that you posetd this thread Dave (B), because I was going to ask your assistance in another area. I'll start a new thread for that. Have a look.
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'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[DavidAyars]

Oh, yeah, sure: Dear Lord and Father of Mankind might have rivaled Holy Holy Holy on the hit parade of 1960s and 1970s Wyanoke hymnsings.

I love the backstory to that hymn on the cyberhymnal website, too:
The words [in "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind"] are from a long, nar­ra­tive poem, “The Brew­ing of So­ma.” It de­scribes Ve­dic priests go­ing in­to the for­est and drink­ing them­selves into a stu­por with a con­coct­ion called “soma.” They try to have a re­li­gious ex­per­i­ence and con­tact the spir­it world. It is af­ter set­ting that scene that Whit­tier draws his les­son: “Dear Lord, and Fa­ther of man­kind, for­give our fool­ish ways…” This hymn is as rel­e­vant to­day as when it was writ­ten. In a mod­ern con­text, it speaks to the drug cul­ture, and those look­ing for an “experience” to prove the re­al­i­ty of God.

Oh, the sermons and services we could have had if only we'd known some of this stuff.

That hymn can be played upbeat, but I can recall some dreary, WI-hungover renditions of it as well, which might account for its frequent flyer status on the birchbranch-roofed hymnboard.
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Camper: J-8 1965 (Kevin Ryan), J-8 1966 (Mike Freeland), S-6 1967 (Russ Hatch), S-3 1968 (Jeremy Cripps), and JA-2 1969 (Dan Mannis).
JC: J-2 1970 (Bill Bettison) and J-3 1971 (Gene Comella). Councilor 1972, J-5 1973, and JA-1 1974 & 1975

[Pat Freeland]

A bunch of us have copies of the Wyanoke Hymnal Carl Shaifer printed. It's a treasure. I looked up Once...Nation to confirm a memory, its nickname is Ton-Y-Botel. Then I did a Google search on the Welsh words and found it means Tune in a Bottle, because according to possibly apocryphal legend the composer found the tune in a bottle on the beach.

I agree with others' opinions of favorite hymns, and at the other end of the scale I never want to hear the following again:
I would be true
I sing a song of the saints of God
Jacob's Ladder

Another hymn which I heard for the first time last Christmas but wasn't in our hymnal is Brightest and Best (Are the Sons of the Morning). I like it as much as 108.

A music posting by Dave B?!?!? I'll try my hand at a sports posting. Say, how bout them Red Socks! Think they'll clinch the pendant and win the Super Bowl again next spring. Not if their goalie lets a lot of field goals in, I'll tell you that!
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Living with wife Vicki happily retired after we moved back to Cornwall, Pa.

[David Bentley]

Well, Pat, I'd say your "A" is about 441. However, I'll give you great credit for your foray into Sport-talk. Now, if you could only erase your college training, your Navy training, and most of your high school training, you might actually sound like an athlete. Let's not forget, R K Irons was an expert tennis player and student of the game, Bob Fox was very at home in the water, and even Dan Mannis was aquatic - despite the fact that all of these gentlemen were intellectuals. But, this has nothing to do with the hymns of Camp.

I believe Jim Graves is correct about the author of the Wyanoke Camp Prayer. I have a framed pen and ink copy of the prayer and the name 'Hyde' appears at the bottom edge. Over the years there were some very interesting speakers. Oh, with respect to meal time grace: I think Bob Vaughan is the fountain of all knowledge in this area. There was a time when brevity was in vogue. I remember a grace something like, "Dear Lord, For these and all Thy gifts, we give Thee thanks. Amen." This eventually became, "Dear Lord, Thanks for these gifts. Amen"

As far as grace 'on the trail', I think God knew we were appreciative of all he did for us while on a trip, including the food, and He didn't necessarily expect us to thank Him separately just for the food. I do remember being on a couple of Presidential Range Trips during which I was mighty thankful to see the next cairn. Talk of prayer reminds me of the discussions about taking 'religion' and 'prayer' out of the school system. Well, anyone who ever took sophmore math (trigonometry) knows there will ALWAYS be prayer in the classroom (at least in the math classroom).
_________________
C-1 49 J-7 52 S-3 55 J-10 58
C-7 50 J-7 53 S-2 56 J-8 59
C-8 51 J-4 54 S-7 57 (JA) J-8 60 - 64
1965 - 1968 Military service
Pine Cone 68 - 75 (with wife,Sherry,
and daughter Tracey)
Wolfeboro - full-time since 1997