This Week's Dulcimer Arrangement "Oh, How I Love Jesus"

You may remember this song from Sunday school; along with other songs like "Jesus loves me" and " I love to tell the story." This hymn classified as a "gospel hymn." No, this doesn't mean that you'll only hear this hymn in Arfican-American gospel choirs, but the name refers to the harmonic progressions and when did the hymn originate. Most gospel hymns came from the mid to late 1800's. Why? Because Sunday schools became very popular around this period. Those children sang along to songs like "Nothing but the blood" and "Blessed Assurance." What do you think they will want to sing when they get older...They want to sing songs they grew up with! That's why we still sing them today.

Gospel Hymns can be easily identified by their "harmonic progressions". Harmonic what? A the harmonic progression is essensally the harmonic rhythm. Let me explain, Some hymns have chord changes every beat, every two, every four, some even every eight beats. Gospel hymns Harmonies usually change every 4-8 beats. Remember, they were Sunday school songs. So you can easily say that "A Mighty Fortress" or "O Worship the king" are not Gospel Hymns. See/hear the difference? Try looking for other gospel hymns and check the dates to see if you are right. Also, almost every Fanny Crosby hymn is a Gospel hymn. I hope you enjoy this arrangement.

                  -Ben

''O How I Love Jesus''