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Meters

Meter, at least to psalm singers, is a series of numbers in which each number defines the number of syllables in the corresponding line of the tune. For example, 87.87 (or sometimes 8.7.8.7) means that the first and third lines have 8 syllables, and the second and fourth have 7. Be aware that technically (ie. in poetry), meter is something different.

However, to make everything a little more difficult, and also to abbreviate things, people have given their favourite meters names, so as to be on more friendly terms with them. A table of these appears below:

Abbreviation	Full Name	Meter	Comment
CM	Common Meter	86.86	So named because it is quite simply the commonest meter
CM-6	Common Meter six lines	86.86.86
LM	Long Meter	88.88
LM-6	Long Meter six lines	88.88.88
SM	Short Meter	66.86
HM	Hallelujah Meter	66.66.88	Although the name doesn't seem to be used much at the moment by Reformed Presbyterians, the name seems to be about as old as the others, and has certainly been around for a long time.
11Q	11s Quatrain	11.11.11.11	The word "Quatrain" is taken from the definitions of the number of lines per stanza in standard poetic terminology.

Any of the above may be followed with the symbols "D" or "T" for "Double" or "Triple", in which case you double the number of lines, and repeat the pattern of the first half. An additional symbol (R) may also be used, which indicates that there is a "refrain", in this case, some kind of complexity which means that the tune is not quite as simple as its meter may otherwise indicate.

Finally, if the meter or feet (see below) just don't seem to correspond to any particular pattern, they are labelled "Irregular".

Feet

Feet are just as important, but less obvious. They determine the pattern of stressed vs. unstressed syllables. For example, the first line of a CM tune usually has the stress pattern -|-|-|-| , where | = stressed and - = unstressed. That line above may be divided into 4 feet, each of which goes -|. There are five kinds of feet:

Name	Stress pattern
Iambic	-|
Trochaic	|-
Anapestic	--|
Dactylic	|--
Spondee	| |

If you don't believe that feet are important, try singing some CM words to an 87.87 tune. CM is Iambic, and 87.87 is Trochaic, so the stress patterns are directly opposite.

As an aside, many Iambic tunes have some lines which begin with a Trochaic foot, just to make everything more complex.

As another aside, technical poetic meter is the number of feet per line, so LM is Iambic Quadrameter Quatrain (Iambic, 4 feet/line, 4 lines/stanza)

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