By Jeremy Bell
I am going to share my personal study on Psalm 117 using groupings from my motif analysis. I have taken these groupings of the Psalm and put them together. So, the entirety of the Psalm will be posted, but these groupings will present the text in a different order. These groupings are highlighted in my book, Psalms in Motif Visualization.
The Ostinato
Ostinato is an Italian word that means stubborn. Stubborn in the English language is having or showing dogged determination not to change one’s attitude or position on something, especially in spite of good arguments or reasons to do so. An English-speaking person might even call that kind of person obstinate. This Italian word also describes a musical event. It connects to a musical motif.
In music, when a phrase, or selection, of music repeats with the same musical voice in the same pitch, it is called an Ostinato. It’s included in multiple genres of music from classical, to jazz, to rock. It is very common to hear it in contemporary church music. Most of the time, musicians do not refer to this as an Ostinato, they usually called it a vamp.
More on the Vamp
The vamp in modern ears also includes a repeated rhythmic pattern. Musicians will find ways to creatively alter the vamp slightly, adding harmonics every once in a while, by changing the rhythm occasionally, and mostly by applying a range of dynamics. In this way the vamp takes a detour from the strict ostinato, or ostinati. Vamps are often referred to as riffs in jazz and rock. Improvisational solos can be applied over them to the soloist’s delight. There is a lot of freedom in vamps for the artists to express themselves and often a vamp is an artistic way to express the unending story, emotion, or idea a music artists suggests.
In movies, the ostinato, vamps, and riffs are used to build emotion during less visually dynamic scenes. Jaws may be the most memorable example. Tension builds as people get near water and sharks get near people. The movie maker moves the audience with a simple riff, just two notes. They go back and forth for as long as it takes, sometimes changing rhythmically to suggest urgency. (Dun-dun, dun-dun, dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun, da-na-na…)
Hey …
In August of 1968 a pop-rock song enjoyed a nine-week stay as number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the longest song to hit the charts up to that time. The vamp made it long. The vamp, or ostinato, made it better, better, better, better, better, better… yeah. This is impressive because pop songs had to be three minutes, or the radio would not play them. This started because of the material music could be created on in the early days. The material could only handle three minutes. Technology changed, but the ears of radio listeners did not. Neither did the profit per song model of the FM radio stations. Songs that were shorter meant more songs to be played. The more songs, the more profit.
Hey Jude was seven minutes and eleven seconds. The Beatles were an impressive and popular band. They had a following, but there was something more special about this song. John Lennon was going through a divorce and would be ready to marry another soon. He also had a child. Friend and bandmate, Paul McCartney turned his attention to John’s son, Julian. Paul knew divorce was terrible for the children, he knew it was terrible for Julian. He recognized Julian’s pain and sadness and he wrote a song for him. He wanted Julian to take a sad song and make it better. Artistically, he changed the name from Jules to Jude, and he composed.
Anyone who knows the song knows there is a riff. It lasts over four minutes. Three minutes for the story; for the pop song and another four for the ostinato, the vamp, the riff. This riff to build on the better. To revel in the hope that in the end things will work out. To build the memory that things can turn around. This vamp engaged the audience. People hear hope and run to embrace it. They want to shout it and sing it in their day from the rooftops. This is why it surpassed the profits and the rules of pop song length.
For All the World
Psalm 117 is very short. Paul quotes it in Romans 15:11 as an encouragement to those outside the Jewish family and faith. The customs of music and Psalms in ancient times were often rhythmic and meditative. I like to think this one was energetically meditative. I like to think it was an ostinato, or vamp, to engage the people of Israel to remember. Remember what God is like and that the hope they have in him is not a crossing the fingers hope. It is sure and permanent and with basis in observation, experience, and fact.
This may be short, but there are obvious groupings in this Psalm. Here, I will post the groupings together to give fresh perspective of what the author desires to convey. Go back and read it as is for proper understanding but try repeating it several times. Try reading it with your favorite instrumental vamp. Repeat read it using different physical gestures of worship. Repeat it with different emphasis on each word.
[ Psalm 117 ]
Grouping A
Praise Yahweh, all you nations!
Extol him, all you peoples!
Praise Yah!
Grouping B
For his loving kindness is great toward us.
Yahweh’s faithfulness endures forever.
Way Back When
Starting around the 1930’s sheet music began using the term ‘Vamp till ready’ to engage the musicians until the vocalist was ready to begin. Wedding musicians will vamp until the bride is ready to proceed down the aisle. Rock musicians vamp to shine light on the talent of the arpeggiating vocalist and the stylings of the guitarist. Today’s church music fills the sanctuary with the ostinato and the vamp typically on a chorus that can sometimes last 20 minutes. Emotions are stirred, tension and release are audibly prompted, and meditation is expected.
Ostinato for Grounding
The arts have a way of stirring emotions and music is certainly no different. In the church, sometimes we block emotions out of fear of them touching something false. This is a healthy fear, though, it is a mistake to allow that fear to keep us from emotions. God’s word is truth. Allow it as an ostinato, or vamp, in your life, in your praise, and in your spirit. Ground your emotions in what it says but let them find security and safety in God through Jesus. We need to remember that in Jesus, things will work out and get better. For thousands of years by thousands upon thousands of people, God’s people remember His loving kindness and faithfulness. This is rock solid. This is His nature. When we remember Him and who He is, we are rock solid in the Nature of Joy.
Resources and Notes
All scripture in this article is from the WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE (WEB). The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. The World English Bible is based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament.
For more related to this blog, check out my post on Unity in the Bible Truths About God.
This is a reliable translation, but it is always good to read other translations as well. Biblegateway.com has a multitude of translations to read from. It is a great resource.
Another great resource is Biblehub.com. There are multiple translations, commentaries, and so much more. Great research can be done on this platform.
One more I use regularly is Gotquestions.org. This is a great site to answer questions and find threads of related questions.
There are many resources. The key is that God wants relationship directly with you, the individual. His primary source for revealing who He is and growing in intimacy is His word, the scriptures. Don’t just read for instruction. Analyze and read for understanding. Explore, ask questions, and be transformed in Jesus every moment you possibly can. There is no dispute this is a key desire of God. People are brough to the Father, in the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This… This is the Nature of Joy.
Jeremy is an author, musician, and business intelligence manager. His mission is to equip and encourage those in Christ, to equip and encourage others in Christ. Jesus, Christ, is the Nature of Joy and melody of the heart. Jeremy unites business analytics (business intelligence), songs, and Scripture for Christian living in the power of the Holy Spirit.