1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
This setting of Psalm 148 was written and submitted by Armenian American composer Tatev Amiryan. It represents a musical interpretation of Psalm 148, “Praise the LORD.”
Psalm 148
How does this psalm piece interpret the psalm?
The piece is a musical interpretation of Psalm 148, “Praise the LORD.” In this piece, the text plays a structurally essential role in the musical form. With its ascetic, restrained character and strictly metrical setting the vocal part resembles Armenian monophonic chants used in the Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The syllabic and somewhat recitational text setting is designed to emphasize the text and highlight its meaning. The theme in the vocal part is based on a scale of diminished 4ths, typical to Armenian sacred music modes, and it incorporates a decoration style similar to vocal melodies of Armenian sacred music. The composer approached the text as a universal address to all humankind, regardless of race and nationality, and that is what she aimed to highlight in her piece through a musical language coming from different Christian traditions.
As a universal praise addressed to both heavenly and earthly beings, “Praise the LORD” conveys a powerful and unifying message and is fitting at the beginning of worship as well as for other occasions.
Text and Music: Psalm 148; Tatev Amiryan, © Tatev Amiryan
Used by permission.
Contact: Tatev Amiryan, musicofarmenia.com/tatevamiryan
Why and how did psalm singing become such a hallmark of Reformed worship? Join Dr. Karin Maag for a fascinating journey through time, from Reformation Geneva to Scotland and from the Netherlands to New England, exploring the roots and impact of metrical psalm singing. Along the way, we will hear the voices of early modern Christians as they learned how to sing the psalms, both in unison and in harmony.
Sister Kathleen Harmon of the community of the Ohio province of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Dayton, invites us to be transformed by the psalms and experience them as the whole story God is revealing to us. As we keep praying and singing them, the psalms interpret us, and that’s when the transformation comes.
Vinroy D. Brown Jr.—conductor, musicologist, educator, and minister of creative worship and music at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City—explores the vibrant intersection of Black sacred music and the psalms. He talks about Black composers and how they have reimagined the psalms through choral music, spirituals, and the gospel tradition for the benefit of everyone.
Why and how did psalm singing become such a hallmark of Reformed worship? Join Dr. Karin Maag for a fascinating journey through time, from Reformation Geneva to Scotland and from the Netherlands to New England, exploring the roots and impact of metrical psalm singing. Along the way, we will hear the voices of early modern Christians as they learned how to sing the psalms, both in unison and in harmony.
Sister Kathleen Harmon of the community of the Ohio province of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Dayton, invites us to be transformed by the psalms and experience them as the whole story God is revealing to us. As we keep praying and singing them, the psalms interpret us, and that’s when the transformation comes.
Vinroy D. Brown Jr.—conductor, musicologist, educator, and minister of creative worship and music at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City—explores the vibrant intersection of Black sacred music and the psalms. He talks about Black composers and how they have reimagined the psalms through choral music, spirituals, and the gospel tradition for the benefit of everyone.
John Goldingay, an Anglican priest and the senior professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, posits the psalms are the densest material in the entire Old Testament. They expound the nature of God as the compassionate, faithful, and committed one, but also as the one who makes demands upon us. The psalms help us talk to God, even about difficult things—and when we do, we are talking to someone who is in a position to do something about it.
