My friend and colleague, David Erb, wrote a new tune setting a few years back of Edward Mote’s 1834 text that begins with the well-known “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less” and includes the refrain, “On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand: all other ground is sinking sand.” While William Bradbury’s SOLID ROCK tune is not a bad one at all, it is not the gem that this newer tune that Erb has named FUNDAMENTUM is. This may be one of Dr. Erb’s best hymn contributions for how singable, fitting, and moving it is when set to this text.
This newer setting was published in 2018. It is a “fuging tune,” which means it has four parts that start in the same rhythm and then seem to chase each other pleasingly. The video above has my combined junior and senior Musicianship Class at Geneva Academy in West Monroe, Louisiana, singing this at the end of our most recent Friday class meeting. It’s a one-take wonder I captured on video/audio, so you wouldn’t have to take my written word for the joy of singing and hearing this piece. Instead, you could listen to how hearty and rewarding it is to sing this version. Additionally, the score is on the screen, so you can follow along with how the song is composed rhythmically and melodically.
This kind of song (fuging tune) inspires and cheers those who sing it in ways that simpler hymns just aren’t able to do. You cannot sing this hymn by yourself. You need a group to get the full payout of this kind of song form. That in itself is a good reminder for Christians to see the value of one another as we function in the body of Christ, doing different things that come together in a glorious whole. If you are what you eat and what you sing, then singing fuging tunes like this can only help reinforce some of what it means to be the body of Christ. So much of worship music hyper-focuses on the individual and God. The form and style of a fuging tune keep the focus on the corporate qualities of congregational singing. This becomes a good antidote for Christians today, who are bombarded with individualism and sentimentality in worship music.
Fuging tunes have often been the catalyst type of hymnody that gets people to sing in the Church community. It is challenging and rewarding. It has been the material for many singing school tune books in colonial America. It is also beloved in many of the churches in my denomination, and for good reason. Some of these tunes may be less polished in their harmony. But what they sometimes lack in harmony, they make up for in zeal and enthusiasm to sing.
Additionally, they have repetition and accented phrasing, where different parts of familiar texts get a new hearing or focus. I highly commend them to the church or family that wants to grow in their singing ability and joy of congregational song. Watch the video again, print it out, and play/sing through it with friends, family, and fellow church members.
Here’s a PDF of this setting so you can start learning this one and others like it!
Nothing Less Than a Solid Alternate Tune