Gibbons: Choral and Organ Music
Gibbons is often better represented in the hymn book than in the serious music of a service - and this CD helps demonstrate why that's a shame. With a mix of verse and full anthems, plus both sets of Mag and Nunc, and a smattering of organ music it gives a good picture of Gibbons' church output. If you like the sound of madrigals, you'll like some of the church music, but there are also works in here to rival more heavy duty compositions - Out of the deep, for example. Both evening services are fun - the contemplative verse settings of the second service and the livelier short service.
Hymn books
The New English Hymnal - the hymn book favoured by most UK cathedrals. Good range of traditional hymns, mostly with better harmonies than Ancient and Modern, and a lot of the Victorian detritus in the earlier A&M swept away thanks to Vaughan Williams' new broom. Usually the musician's choice.
There's a melody only version if you want to save cash (and arm strain) for your sopranos and trebles:
Hymns are sometimes dismissed by choir members, but they remain at the heart of most church music. These hymn books with music will help boost congregational singing.
If you have no organist, see our no organist page for information on different ways to accompany hymns and worship songs.
Looking for CDs of hymns? Click here for hymn accompaniment CDs and Click here for general hymn CDs
Hymns Ancient and Modern New Standard - The other great British hymn book, probably more common than English Hymnal. Combines much of the old faithful with the two more modern books '100 Hymns for Today' and '100 more'.
Available in a cheaper melody only version for your sopranos/trebles.
Songs of Fellowship I - Probably the best of the modern song books, it makes a good companion to NEH or A&M, though serious choirs would not rely on SoF for the traditional hymns as harmonies and sometimes words aren't always spot on. Even so, when combined with volume two it's a great worship resource.
Songs of Fellowship 2 - There's a great reason for getting this as well as volume one: in the back of the book is a CD with the words of all the songs in both volumes. This is excellent if you want to find a particular song but can't remember the name - and with an appropriate licence you can use the disk to generate word sheets or overheads for your congregations.
Songs of Fellowship 3 - Remarkably, 2003 saw yet another volume of Songs of Fellowship arrive with 540 more songs and hymns for today's church. This is the music edition, but you can also get a words-only version that includes the previous two volumes for the congregation.
Common Praise - Although Hymns Ancient & Modern New Standard (see top of page) is a relatively new edition, it is very much a "traditional" hymn book. The closest it comes to modern music are 1960s numbers like Lord of the Dance. This, from the same stable is an attempt to produce a book that will suit the mixed musical content of a typical 21st century all age service. Bearing in mind this is inevitably going to be a compromise, it works reasonably well. The old essentials are there, as are some of the best of the new, with inevitable inclusions like Shine, Jesus, Shine and Be Still (though some notable omissions like There is a Redeemer). While the ideal is probably to get one of the "real" hymn books from the top plus at least the first two volumes of Songs of Fellowship, this is a fair single book alternative.
Complete Mission Praise - It's not cheap, but bear in mind that this is the Mission Praise equivalent of Songs of Fellowship 1&2 combined - it has over 1,000 hymns and songs. Particularly useful for family services and the more evangelical end of the church spectrum, but every organist ought to have a copy.
Complete Junior Praise - Combines Junior Praise 1 and 2 with 100 extra songs, so a meaty children's worship resource with over 600 items - the original Junior Praise is no longer available. The complete volume contains a varied selection of material including traditional hymns, choruses, spirituals and contemporary songs, together with a wide range of season items for major Christian festivals such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. This volume includes revised and improved piano arrangements, and has been reset, improving on the old rather crabby print.
Seasons and Occasions - Subtitled "a collection of hymns and songs in various styles, this new hymn book contains 50 items applicable to subjects from Advent to Trinity and from bereavement to peace. Although the songs are newly written, the language is traditional, so will fit better with users of books like English Hymnal and Ancient and Modern than with churches using Songs of Fellowship. A few items are best suited to choir rather than congregation. Altogether a very useful collection, not as the main hymn book but as a way of expanding resources.
Hymns from the Classics - A very clever idea here - taking well known popular classics and using them as hymn tunes. It's not a new concept, but David Grundy and John Waddington-Feather have made a whole hymn book based on this idea, with 50 new hymns set to classical themes including a couple designed to incorporate choreography). Like the pair's "Seasons & Occasions" book, not an everyday hymn book but a good support resource. It's not yet available through Amazon, but you can get it direct from the authors at http://www.waddysweb.freeuk.com
Songs of Praise - Not to be confused with BBC Songs of Praise (see below), this is the original 1925 book which Percy Dearmer, Ralph Vaughan Willams and Martin Shaw used to pull (mostly) school hymn singing into the 20th century much as Vaughan Williams' English Hymnal did for the church. (It's new to us, not to the world! This is the 1963 edition with some updating.) Seems rather old fashioned nowadays, and horribly expensive, but still available if you need one to make up a set, or to have access to some of its rarer content.
BBC Songs of Praise - Reflecting the breadth of musical coverage of the BBC TV Songs of Praise show, this book combines traditional hymns, more modern hymns and worship songs.
Inevitably populist, it's a good compromise if you want a mix of familiar oldies with singable new stuff.
