Customer Reviews

Lift Every Voice and Sing II: An African American Hymnal

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

These are beautiful arrangements of African American religious songs and melodies, not too difficult for someone with intermediate piano-playing ability. I got this as a Christmas present, and have used it happily ever since. My only suggestion for improvement would be a spiral-bound edition, to make it easier to keep the book open on the piano stand.

I've read the other reviews and I don't think they present all the information we should know about this hymnal. I'm going to give a critical review so that buyers can make an informed decision.

Uses: This is mainly for corporate worship/hymn singing. I use it twice weekly in a church setting. About half of the hymns we sing come from it.

Content: There are some good old hymns in here; obviously this is a specialty hymnal, though, and reprinting the same hymns as every other hymnal would be silly. There are quite a few traditional spirituals, some standard hymns and gospel songs, and some odd stuff that you won't find anywhere else. For instance, there are hymns for black and African saints, such as Cyprian of Carthage (#47) and Simon of Cyrene (#49). I've never sung them and I doubt that most churches would be interested in singing them. As well, you may find some of the 20th century (and even 19th) hymns to be a bit schmaltzy and theologically empty. Finally, the versions of old spirituals that many of us know are slightly different in L.E.V.A.S. As an example, I would cite #114 "Every Time I Feel The Spirit." The words tend to be standardized and the rhythms are different or simplified from what I'm used to hearing and singing.

I do appreciate some of this hymnal's unique content, though. I think the hymnal really shines in its communion hymns, which may be unfamiliar to many churchgoers, but are useful in worship, and theologically provocative. There are only 10 of them, #146-#155. They are all worth singing as far as I'm concerned. I also have found hymns like #117 "I'm Goin'-a Sing When the Spirit Says Sing" and #141 "Shall We Gather at the River" to be uplifting and fruitful hymns for worship. There are very few spoken liturgical or psalter elements in it, mostly hymns.

As with any hymnal, there will (probably) be quite a few hymns that you cannot recognize. BUT most hymnals I have used have over 400 hymns, and some have more than 600. This hymnal has 280. If, for instance, you cannot recognize (or do not want to sing) 100 of the hymns, then more than one-third of the book is useless to you. I do not think that most of the arrangements are brilliant or provocative. There is nothing wrong with most of them, though. I would say that the hymn selection, the lyrics, and the arrangements are okay. Look to this hymnal to bolster your hymn selection in a few key areas, like communion and spirit hymns. It will *not* be a great source of hymns for processional/recessional if your worship includes that sort of thing. If you need service music (Gloria, Agnus Dei, Sanctus, Pater Noster, etc.), there are quite a few choices that you will not find everywhere. For traditional churches that are multi-ethnic or willing to experiment, you may find in L.E.V.A.S. a source of inspiration and creativity.

Binding: By far the worst part of buying and using this hymnal. I do not know whether the problem has been fixed, but almost all of the hymnals we have are falling apart at the seams (even the ones that otherwise appear to be new. It's one of the worst bindings I have ever seen. Many of our hymnals have the first few pages falling out, and MOST of the bindings have come apart exactly after #110, with pages missing into the #130s or #150s. It's disgusting to see such shoddy binding on a book that demands durability so that it can be used by many different people over a long period of time. My recommendation is not to buy a used one, because it will be, quite literally, falling apart at the seams. If buying a new one, realize that it may fall apart. If buying for church, I suppose you should get a warranty or insurance policy. If you plan on playing at a piano or organ, do yourself a huge favor and purchase the spiral-bound accompaniment version, which you will have to find on another website or in a brick and mortar store (as of Jan 2010 when I am writing this review).

It is a wonderful hymnal. I would like to order more used copies.

My husband and I purchased many copies of this hymnal to give as a gift to our church. I direct a children's choir and have used many of the hymns in the hymnal for the children to sing. The congregation loved the songs so much that I thought it would be nice if they were able to sing along too. The hymns are beautiful, particularly the communion hymns such as "In Remembrance of Me" and "One Bread, One Body". I also have played many selections during services when I have filled in for the pianist, such as "Spirit Song" and "You are Near". It is a wonderful compilation of new songs and some old favorites too like "The Old Rugged Cross" and "Joshua Fit da Battle of Jericho". I love playing the hymns and I am very pleased with the purchase.

The only negative I would like to impart is that I wish there was an Organists version. It is very hard to keep the book open to the page you are playing since it is a hard cover and unlike most hymnals, the book does not stay open very well. Some of the songs go onto the next page and turning the page and keeping the book on the music stand is a challenge. It would be very helpful if it came in a spiral backed copy.

This is a good, sturdy, high-quality hymnal. It's very user-friendly with a wide variety of hymns and a useful, easy-to-follow index. I'm Episcopalian, and our church uses this hymnal in conjunction with the more typical 1982 with great success. The old spirituals and classic hymns you'll find here are great for every denomination and skin color, such as 'Just a Closer Walk With Thee' 'In The Garden' and 'How Great Thou Art.' The tunes are very traditional and familiar and we use it every Sunday in our worship service.

However, some of the arrangements have key signatures that might be a little complicated for intermediate players (five or more sharps or flats are in some of the key signatures), and some of the arrangements are meant to be sung by large gospel choirs, so if you have a small church with no choir, I suggest you look at the hymns first with a musical eye before putting them in your program. Also, I have to use other books in order to make the book stand upright on the piano so I can play, making page-turns (which occasionally happen in odd places) difficult.

The book is great. I want to incorporate African American hymns in my liturgy and this book is a wonderful resource.

This book brings back memories of songs I grew up with, plus new songs I have never sung before, and no, I am not an African American, but I did grow up in the South, and went to a Baptist Church, and sang many of these songs.

A member of our church choir brought a copy of this hymnal to choir practice and we sang a few of the songs in church services. I should mention that our church is racially about 90% white and 10% black. The songs from this great hymnal got more favorable response than most other songs that we had done during the year. I was familiar with many of the songs from my college (Yale) glee club experience but the good comments I got from parishioners were from people who said they'd never heard the songs before. Buy these hymnals and revive your church!

It has been over a month since I ordered and I have not received this order. I am miffed! Contacted the provider and am still waiting!