**the peasant folk might learn these essentials all the better if they could sing them**
So true. In working with pre-school children, if I could teach a concept through song — it stuck!
Lex orandi, lex credenti
That is why I am very cautious about jumping on the latest "cotemporary" worship bandwagons. People begin to believe what they sing--and much of what passes for hymnody these days will at best produce a shallow faith.