One tune to sing all 150 Psalms!

A core design principle of the Scottish Psalter is that a single tune can be used to sing all 150 psalms. So all you need to sing any psalm (e.g. at family devotions) is a single tune!

How

1. Pick any of the CPRC psalm tunes here, or just use the tune to “Amazing Grace”
2. Pick any psalm from the Scottish Psalter (here’s a nice web version) and sing!
   Note: Some psalms have multiple “versions”. If the first version doesn’t work with the tune from step 1, try the second version (the difference is in the “metre”, explained below)

Explanation

The Scottish Psalter achieves this by providing a “versification” of each psalm to the same “metre”.

Versification is the process of putting a text (in this case, the psalms) into poetic form appropriate for singing.

For example, here’s the start of Psalm 1 from the KJV which is not versified:

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

KJV Psalm 1

If you try singing this to any of the tunes mentioned above, it won’t work – the words won’t “fit”. To fix this, the words are put into rhythmic form suitable for singing – and this is versification.

Here is the Scottish Psalter versification of the same text:

¹ That man hath perfect blessedness,
who walketh not astray
In counsel of ungodly men,
nor stands in sinners’ way,

Nor sitteth in the scorner’s chair:
² But placeth his delight
Upon God’s law, and meditates
on his law day and night.

Scottish Psalter, Psalm 1

Even just reading the above you will notice that it is in rhythm. This is called a metre. There are different metres, and the above is the Common Metre (CM for short).

Metres are described by the number of syllables in each line. For the CM this is 8686, that is, a verse has 4 lines: the first line has 8 syllables, the second 6, the third 8 and the last 6 again. (Try it by counting the syllables in the above Scottish Psalter versification of Psalm 1.)

In the Scottish Psalter, all psalms are versified to CM, and therefore you can use any CM tune to sing any of the 150 Psalms! And all the tunes mentioned above are in CM.

(Note: Some psalms in the Scottish Psalter have 2 “versions”, where usually the second versification is in a metre other than CM.)