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Rommel N. Angara
Like any other educational institution, Mount Carmel College of Baler (MCCB) has an official
hymn which embodies its goals, ideals, and aspirations. A question, then, is worth asking: If you
call yourself a Carmelian, how well do you know “Mount Carmel Hymn”?
What Went Wrong?
I started to study at MCCB in 1993. I was a high school freshman then. One of the songs I
learned by heart then was “Mount Carmel Hymn.” My English-language teacher and music
teacher explained it in detail and taught us its lyrics thoroughly. We students were asked to be
conductors on several occasions when it had to be sung to the guitar accompaniment.
Sixteen years later, when I retraced my steps back to the college, I could not believe that
many grade school pupils, high school and college students did not know all the words to the
college hymn. When I underwent pre-service teacher training in the Integrated Basic Education
Department (IBED), I observed that faulty hymn charts had been posted on some classroom
walls. I also noticed that messed-up song lyrics appeared in printed programs for commencement
exercises.
Errors in Song Rendition
Here are the most common errors committed by many Carmelians in their rendition of the
college hymn, including the corrections to these errors and brief explanations about the
corrections made:
Incorrect: Correct:
Honor, worship let us pray Honor, worship let us pay
Name of glory, victory. Name of glory, victory.
The verb used in the original hymn is “pay,” not “pray.” In fact, the statement “Honor,
worship let us pay” (Line 5) is in the inverted order. If you convert it into its normal order, it
would be “Let us pay honor, worship.” To pay honor and worship is to show respect, courtesy, or
reverence. The idea is similar to that of the idiom “pay homage.” An observation is that many
Carmelians say “pray” because they wrongly associate it with “worship.”
Incorrect: Correct:
Dearest school, we’re proud of thee; Dearest school, we’re proud of thee;
Suffer not a step astray. Suffer not our steps astray.
Since the Carmelians speak in the song themselves, as implied by the personal pronoun
“we,” it is proper for them to say “our steps” instead of “a step.” Take note that there is not just
one but more than one speaker in the hymn. The pronoun “we” is plural, so it has to agree in
number with the noun “steps.” The line “Suffer not our steps astray” (Line 8) should, therefore,
be kept in mind.
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Incorrect: Correct:
We will stand and fight for thee, We will stand and fight for thee,
Might and hand and heart for thee. Might in hand and heart for thee.
The composer correctly used parallelism in “Might in hand and heart for thee” (Line 12)
with the pattern noun + preposition + noun + conjunction + noun + preposition + pronoun (noun
equivalent). There might be parallelism, too, in “Might and hand and heart for thee,” but the
repetition of the conjunction “and” between “might” (i.e. power or strength) and “hand” and
between “hand” and “heart” is no good.
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9). Besides, he used words with perfect end-rhymes when he wrote “Loud we praise in song of
glee. / One and all, we’ll faithful be” (Lines 3 and 4) and “Nothing can thy pow’r withstand; /
None can pluck us from thy hand” (not “hands”) (Lines 9 and 10).
The Songwriter
Since 1948, when Mount Carmel High School of Baler (MCHSB) (now MCCB) was
founded by the American Carmelite missionaries, “Mount Carmel Hymn” has been its official
hymn in which the Carmelians express their desire to “stand and fight” for their alma mater (Line
11). Who really composed this awe-inspiring musical piece remains a big mystery to me. My
assumption, however, is that the school pioneers, the Carmelites themselves, could have created
it, for its content highlights the Christian values they promoted, like optimism, as suggested by
the word “glee” (Line 3), solidarity, as implied by the phrase “one and all” (Line 4), and
faithfulness, as indicated by the clause “we’ll faithful be” (Line 4).
To retain the original content and form of “Mount Carmel Hymn,” therefore, is to honor the
memory of the MCCB pioneers, the Carmelites. Such an act is but one way of introducing
yourself as a Carmelian at heart.
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