This just makes me laugh. It is found in the front of Methodist hymnals.
John Wesley when asked
How shall we guard against formality in singing?
Answer
- By choosing such hymns as are proper for the congregation.
- By not singing too much at once; seldom more than five or six verses.
- By suiting the time to the words.
- By often stopping short, and asking the people, “Now!, do you know what you said last? Did you speak no more than you felt?"
- Do not suffer the people to sing too slow. This naturally tends to formality, and is brought in by those who have either very strong or very weak voices.
- In every large society let them learn to sing; and let them always learn our tunes first.
- Let the women constantly sing their parts alone. Let no man sing with them, unless he understands the notes and sings the bass as it is composed in the tunebook.
- Introduce no new tune till they are perfect in the old.
- Recommend our tune-book; and if you cannot sing yourself, choose a person or two at each place to pitch the tune for you.
- Exhort every person in the congregation to sing, not one in ten only.
- Sing no hymns of your own composing.
- If a preacher be present, let him alone give out the words.
- When the singers would teach a tune to the congregation, they must sing only the tenor.
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