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The American Guild of Organists (AGO) is an association comprised of organists, choir directors, and other interested people in the United States and abroad whose purpose, according to its mission statement, 'is to enrich lives through organ and choral music.' The Guild was founded in 1896 and currently has approximately 19,000 members. Leadership is by volunteers at the national, regional, and local levels, with a small staff of full-time employees headquartered in New York City. There are...
Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (ALCM)
The Association of Lutheran Church Musicians nurtures and equips musicians to serve and lead the church's song. Music is a vital expression of Lutheran worship. By sharing the knowledge, experience, and passion that honor our heritage and inspire our future, ALCM nurtures and equips those who lead music in worship.
Approximately 140 church musicians from across the United States and Canada responded to an invitation to meet at Lutheran...
Braille hymns and hymnals, USA. The St Gregory Hymnal and Catholic Choir Book (Philadelphia, 1922), compiled and edited by Nichola Montani (1880-1948, distinguished and controversial composer, conductor, and former liturgical music editor for G. Schirmer, New York) was published in 1926 as the first braille hymnal. Today, many Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant hymnals are available in two electronic platforms, Braille Ready Format (BRF) and American Standard Code for Information Exchange...
Broadcasting Hymns in Britain
In the long history of hymns and hymn singing, broadcasting is a development that dates from the early 20th century. It is of considerable significance. The coming of what was at one time called 'the wireless', and its transition to 'radio', was followed by the advent of television, at first in black and white and subsequently in colour. Throughout the last century, and into the present one, broadcasters have been quick to seize the opportunities provided by media...
Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan, is an interdisciplinary study and ministry center. It is dedicated to promoting academic teaching and learning about the history and theology of Christian liturgical practices in worshiping communities. Within this broad framework, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (CICW) has pursued specific initiatives to strengthen congregational singing such as psalmody and...
The Charles Wesley Society was formed in Princeton, New Jersey in 1990, as its charter states, 'for the purposes of study, preservation, interpretation, and dissemination of Charles Wesley*'s poetry and prose.' Since then, its meetings and publications have sought to accomplish these goals. The connection between meetings and publication is best seen in the Society's Proceedings, which publishes some of the papers coming from the previous year's meeting. In addition, facsimile reprints of some...
Chartism was a predominantly working-class movement which campaigned for political reform in Britain from 1838 until the mid-1850s. In particular, the 'People's Charter' contained six demands intended to make the British political system more democratic; these demands were:
A vote for every man over the age of 21;
A secret ballot;
No property qualification for members of Parliament;
Payment for MPs (so poor men could serve);
Constituencies of equal size;
Annual elections for...
Choristers Guild
The Choristers Guild, Dallas, Texas, is a global, ecumenical and educational organization, and publisher, that serves more than 4000 directors of children's and youth choirs, worship leaders, teachers, and accompanists. The Guild describes itself as 'a Christian organization [which] enables leaders to nurture the spiritual and musical growth of children and youth through publication of choral music, hand bell music and educational resources, member benefits,...
Chorister's Prayer, The
The Chorister's Prayer is prayed regularly by those who sing in choirs associated with the Royal School of Church Music*, and other choral groups in the UK and North America.
Bless, O Lord, us Thy servants,who minister in Thy temple. Grant that what we sing with our lipswe may believe in our hearts,and what we believe in our hearts,we may show forth in our lives.Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Although no original source for this prayer is acknowledged, the...
Christian Congregational Music Conference: Local and Global Perspectives
The Christian Congregational Music Conference [CCMC] explores the varying cultural, social, and spiritual roles that church music plays in the life of Christian communities around the world. The first conference, convened in 2011 at Ripon College, was organized by Monique Ingalls (University of Cambridge), Carolyn Landau (King's College, London), Martyn Percy (Ripon College, Cuddesdon), Tom Wagner (Royal Holloway, London),...
Hymnody and Hymnals of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. The Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) is an offshoot of the Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk in the Netherlands, and the Reformed Church in America (RCA), which was established in North America about two centuries before the arrival of the Dutch who would form the core of the CRC. Whereas the RCA grew out of a 17th-century emigration at a time when the Dutch were engaged with the world, prosperous, and...
The Christian Social Union, and its hymns
The Christian Social Union was founded in 1889. However, its concerns had been exercising thoughtful church people, and many others, throughout the 19th century: movements such as those of the Chartists in the 1840s, and the writings of such thinkers as Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872) and Charles Kingsley* provided a background to the practical experience of clergy such as Percy Dearmer* in the East End of London. The Salvation Army was founded...
Christlicher Sängerbund
This is the name of a German free church choral organisation founded at Elberfeld (now part of Wuppertal) in 1879 by Wilhelm Elsner (1833-1892) to encourage the musical life of what is now the Bund Evangelisch-Freikirchlicher Gemeinden in Deutschland (mainly Baptists), the United Methodist Church, and other German speaking free churches all over Europe. When Elsner died in 1892, Ernst H. Gebhardt* was appointed chairman. It is estimated that during the 1930s there were...
Church Music Publishers Association (CMPA), Nashville, Tennessee, is an organization of North American and international publishers of Christian and other religious music that promotes worldwide copyright information, education, and protection. Founded in 1926, CMPA includes 52 member publishers, the majority of which publish hymnals and hymnal related products in a wide range of styles for denominational and general markets.
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The Consultation on Common Texts (CCT) is a North American ecumenical consultation which produces English-language liturgical texts and lectionaries. Members of CCT include representatives from over twenty church bodies across North America. The CCT was responsible for compiling the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) and, as a member body of the international group English Language Liturgical Consultation* (ELLC), helped to produce Praying Together (a collection of common liturgical texts).
The...
The Cyber Hymnal (www.hymntime.com/tch/) was founded in November 1996 by Richard Adams, who is himself a hymn writer. Until ca. 2009 the site was found at http://www.cyberhymnal. org, but that address is now used by a different site (see NetHymnal). The Cyber Hymnal provides lyrics, sheet music, audio files, biographies and pictures of authors and composers. It is regularly updated. The site is non-commercial, advertisement free, and has a published privacy policy. As of January 2017 the...
Dove Awards. These are awards given annually by the Gospel Music Association (GMA)* for outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry: i.e., that part of the commercial music industry that markets electronic and print mass-mediated products in popular musical styles to English-speaking Protestants worldwide, but especially in North America.
Modeled on the Emmy, the Oscar, and the Grammy, the Dove was established by GMA ca. 1969. The earliest awards ceremonies were held in Memphis,...
Drew University Hymnological Collection
The hymnological collection at Drew University, Madison New Jersey, contains over 6000 volumes of significant range and depth. Included are 3000 Methodist hymnals and related works from more than 25 Methodist denominations, and over 2600 non-Methodist volumes. Three hundred volumes were printed before 1800, the earliest being The Whole Booke of Psalmes (London: Printed by John Windet, 1603). While many of these do not circulate, approximately 400...
Elias Collection, Cambridge, UK
The Elias Library of Hymnology consists of just over 3,500 volumes on hymnology, mostly from the 19th and early 20th centuries, but with some dating back to the 16th century. It is held at Westminster College, Cambridge.
The Library is primarily the collection of Edward Alfred Elias. Born in Liverpool in 1875, he lived in West Kirby in the Wirral throughout his life; and though little more is known about him, he was a lifelong collector of hymnological works and...
The English and American Hymnody Collection of The Pitts Theology Library, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
Introduction
This entry is provides a basic understanding of the development of Emory University's English and American Hymnody Collection and introduces its great potential for research.Two of the three largest institutional hymnal collections in North America are heavily indebted to one or more private collectors (Schneider, 2003; see Hymnal collections, USA*). The third, The...
The English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC) is an international and ecumenical working group formed of representatives from regional and national English-language liturgical groups. These representatives meet every two years. Current member groups include the Association of Irish Liturgists, the Australian Consultation on Liturgy, the Consultation on Common Texts* (CCT), the Joint Liturgical Group of Great Britain, and the Joint Liturgical Group New Zealand.
The ELLC was officially...
Ethereal Hymnody (http://www.ccel.org/cceh/) is an online database of public domain hymn tunes and chants. The site includes MIDI files, and editable electronic music scores for music software Finale and Noteworthy Composer, indices of tune name, composer, source, meter, and source hymnal. Because Ethereal Hymnody only catalogues hymns in the public domain, very few contemporary hymns are included. Visitors to Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary will find links to hymnary.org* which now...
Fellowship of American Baptist Musicians
The Fellowship of American Baptist Musicians (FABM) is a volunteer organization for church musicians with denominational affiliation to the American Baptist Churches, USA. The Fellowship was officially formed in February 1964 when Dr Jet Turner and several other interested persons met in Cincinnati, Ohio with Dr Kenneth L. Cober*, who was at that time Executive Director for the Division of Christian Education for the American Baptist Convention. At that...
The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts (now the Fellowship of Worship Artists)
The Fellowship is in part the successor to the National Fellowship of Methodist Musicians (NaFOMM), whose founding in the mid 1950s was prompted by that denomination's educational leaders' and curriculum editors' articulation of the theological discrepancies and inadequacies, the pedagogical practices of children's choir directors, and the texts of songs in the denomination's Sunday school...
Filey Conference and its hymns
The Filey Christian Holiday Conference, sometimes called the 'Filey Convention' in imitation of the Keswick one, began in 1955. It was founded by an evangelist, A. Lindsay Glegg (1882-1975), President of the Movement for Worldwide Evangelization, following the Billy Graham 'Greater London Crusade' of 1954. It was held each September for a week at Butlin's holiday camp at Filey from 1955 until 1983, when Butlins closed its Filey camp. It moved to a similar camp at...
Friends of the English Liturgy was founded in Chicago in 1963 in the midst of the Second Vatican Council. Dennis J. Fitzpatrick (nda) began the firm to sell his own 'Demonstration Mass in English'. Within a few years he had signed a contract with songwriter Ray Repp and published Hymnal for Young Christians, subtitled 'A supplement to adult Hymnals', and one of the first hymnals intended for guitar accompaniment. The music of Repp and many other composers in the collection became widely...
GIA Publications Inc. The Gregorian Institute of America, later renamed GIA Publications, Inc., was founded on December 8, 1941 by Clifford A. Bennett (1904-1987) at Sacred Heart Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Shortly after establishing the company, Bennett moved the firm to Toledo, Ohio. The Gregorian Institute of America became known for its Catholic Choirmasters' Correspondence Course; by 1950, nearly 1000 musicians had completed the coursework through home study and national...
Gospel Music Association (GMA). This is an industry organization created in 1964 and based in Nashville, Tennessee. It promotes the commercial interests and mass-media products of mostly English-speaking, North American, Protestant musicians and those making up the industry that supports them. That industry is centered around Nashville and includes persons employed by electronic mass-media companies such as record companies and radio and television stations; producers; concert promoters;...
Hillsong: Hillsong (Hillsong Music Australia); Hillsong (Church)
Hillsong Church is a contemporary pentecostal megachurch founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1983. At the time of writing, the congregation gathers to worship on six continents with an additional outreach through its digital platform Hillsong Church Online (HCO) as well as music streaming on various online platforms. The Hillsong brand is one of the most recognisable among Christians globally. Hillsong is well known internationally...
The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada (HSUSC) is comprised of poets, composers, publishers, teachers and scholars, institutional and public libraries, church musicians, clergy, and laypersons, and is uniquely devoted to encourage, promote, and enliven congregational song. Throughout its history of more than a century, The Hymn Society has worked steadily and creatively to promote congregational singing, encourage the creation of new and excellent texts and tunes, and support...
The Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded in 1936 by a group of enthusiasts brought together on the initiative of Dr J.R. Fleming with the aim of 'encouraging and promoting among interested people intelligent and systematic study of the rich resources of the Church's praise'. Membership was open to 'scholars who had already done published work in the field of hymnody' and also to 'ordinary members' with an interest in the subject. From the start a principal task was to up-date...
The Hymn Tune Index (HTI) project began in the 1970s at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, Illinois (UIUC). It arose out of research towards Nicholas Temperley*'s 1979 book, The Music of the English Parish Church (Cambridge, UK). He had been surprised to find how difficult it was to determine the origins and history of particular hymn tunes. Whenever a hymnal companion was being prepared, the editor had to carry out research in primary sources for each tune, and, even then,...
The Iona Community was founded in Scotland in 1938 by the Revd George MacLeod, later Lord MacLeod of Fiunary. It rebuilt the ancient monastic buildings on the island of Iona, from which St Columba* sent out missionaries such as St Aidan to convert Scotland and the north of England in the 6th century. With the rebuilding of the abbey of Iona, the Community has sought also the 'rebuilding of the common life', bringing together (in the words of its website) 'work and worship, prayer and politics,...
Jubilate Hymns
The British Jubilate Group was founded in November 1980 as a limited liability company with the title Jubilate Hymns Ltd. It still retains its legal title but is now commonly known as the Jubilate Group.
Prior to their adoption of the Jubilate name, a team, chiefly of young Anglican clergy led by Michael Baughen*, later Bishop of Chester, began in the early 1960s to write hymn texts and tunes, initially for the church youth groups for whom they had pastoral responsibility. They...
The Keswick Convention and its hymns
The Keswick Convention, a non-denominational and evangelical annual meeting, was founded in 1875 by an Anglican, Canon T.D. Harford-Battersby, Vicar of St John's, Keswick, in collaboration with a Cumberland Quaker, Robert Wilson. It was a product of the 'Holiness movement' of the period (see 'Holiness hymnody, USA*), inspired in part by a book by William Edwin Boardman (1810-1886) called The Higher Christian Life (1859). After a series of revival meetings,...
Founded in 1890 by E.S. Lorenz* in Dayton, Ohio, the company has been under the management of his descendants since that time. In the 1970s and 1980s the company changed its name to Lorenz Industries, and then The Lorenz Corporation. The mainstay of the company for half a century was the gospel hymn and its elaborations in vocal, choral, and keyboard arrangements appearing in subscriptions services and separately published. Under the leadership of Karl K. Lorenz (c.1880-1965) the company...
The Society was formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1958, the result of discussions and recommendations from a meeting in Des Moines, Iowa the previous year attended by distinguished musicians, including Walter E. Buszin*, Daniel T. Moe (1926–2012), and Gerhard Cartford*. That group visioned an organization of a national, inter-synodical body of Lutherans interested in the promotion of Christian worship, music, ecclesiastical architecture, art, and literature within the Lutheran church. The...
Montreat Conferences on Worship and Music. The forming of the Montreat Conferences began in 1952 with James R. Sydnor*'s letter to the General Council of the Presbyterian Church, US, (PCUS) which in part reads:
we have not thus far as a denomination made any serious effort to discover the exact state of music in our Church, or to outline some sensible goals, or to map out a practical strategy for church-wide development of this important phase of the Church's life. Almost every other...
Conferences on music have been held at The Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Conference Center in Hunt, Texas, beginning with the 1974 Mo-Ranch Music Conference, renamed the Mo-Ranch Worship & Music Conference. In 2009 the Mo-Ranch and PAM West conference merged and were renamed the Mo-Ranch/PAM Conference on Worship & Music. These annual conferences include ensembles, seminars, and educational and recreational activities for all ages, and its worship is informed by reformed principles, and the...
The National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM) was organized in 1976 by Father Virgil Funk for those interested in musical liturgy, including choir directors, organists, guitarists, pianists, instrumentalists of all kinds, priests, cantors, and pastoral liturgists. The national office is in Silver Spring, Maryland. The National Association of Pastoral Musicians fosters the art of musical liturgy. The members of NPM serve the Catholic Church in the United States as musicians, clergy,...
Net Hymnal is a free, private site, easily searched via Google that features MIDI files, scores, the full texts of over 10,000 hymns and gospel songs, and often outdated biographical and historical information. The site also includes indexes of texts, tunes, scripture references, and topics. A synthesized instrumental setting of each hymn tune automatically begins to play when the associated text is selected. Unidentified works of art are often displayed with hymn texts without crediting...
New College, Edinburgh, Hymnology Collection
New College was founded to serve the Free Church of Scotland at the Disruption of 1843, when ministers, led by David Welsh and Thomas Chalmers but including such figures as Horatius Bonar*, left the Church of Scotland on the grounds that the church was becoming too closely identified with the state, and subject to the right of patronage (see 'Synod of Relief hymns'*). The buildings of New College, prominent on the Mound on the Edinburgh skyline, were...
The North American Academy of Liturgy (NAAL) describes itself as 'an ecumenical and inter-religious association of liturgical scholars who collaborate in research concerning public worship.' The stated purpose of the Academy is 'to promote liturgical scholarship among its members and to extend the benefits of that scholarship to the worshiping communities to which its members belong.'
NAAL traces its beginnings to December 1973, when Jesuits John Gallen (1932-2011) and Walter Burghardt...
Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.
The School of Theology (now known as Perkins School of Theology) [PST], was one of the three original schools of Southern Methodist University (SMU), founded in 1911 as a nonsectarian institution of higher education by what is now the United Methodist Church in partnership with Dallas civic leaders. After large gifts from Joe L. and Lois Craddock Perkins of Wichita Falls, Texas, beginning in 1945, the name of the School of Theology was...
The Presbyterian Association of Musicians (PAM) was founded in 1970 in the wake of the announcement the previous year that the Board of Christian Education of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) would not longer sponsor the Presbyterian Conference on Church Music (see Montreat Conferences on Worship and Music*). An ad hoc group of leaders, Jerry Black, chair (1938-), David W. McCormick* (1928-2019), James R. Sydnor*, Richard Peek (1927-2005), Herbert Archer (1922-2005), William...
Presbyterian Church of England Hymnody
History
Presbyterianism traces its origins back to the Reformation, when one element in the Protestant tradition was the dislike of human authority in religious matters, and the preference for government by 'presbyters' (from the Greek 'presbuteros', or 'elder') rather than bishops or priests. In Scotland the Reformation was guided by the powerful John Knox (1505-1572), who had studied under Jean Calvin* in Geneva; in both Scotland and England...
Early Psalters, Hymnals, and Tunebooks
During the 17th and 18th centuries American printers tended to be non-specialist, doing whatever type of printing came their way, whether newspapers, broadsides, government documents, educational textbooks, general interest books, or religious items. Authors, compilers, booksellers, or churches contracted with a printer to provide religious materials. The printer was paid by the person or group who contracted for the publication, and the latter received...
Hymnody and Hymnals of the Reformed Church in America. The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is an offshoot of the Dutch Reformed Church, or Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk. It dates itself from the founding of a congregation in New Amsterdam (now New York City) by Jonas Michaelius (1577-1638) in April of 1628. Now with approximately 1,000 congregations in the United States and Canada, the RCA claims the oldest continuous Protestant ministry in North America, as well as the oldest theological...
Rodeheaver Hall-Mack Co.
Homer A. Rodeheaver* formed the Rodeheaver-Ackley Co. in 1910, partnering with B.D. Ackley* to produce songbooks for tabernacle revival meetings. Rodeheaver had just joined the Billy Sunday revival team as songleader; Ackley played piano and served as Sunday's secretary. Early projects used the printing services of Edwin O. Excell* and rented offices from him in Chicago's Lakeside Building.
Though Rodeheaver and Ackley worked together for the rest of their lives, their...
The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) is an educational charity that promotes the best use of music in worship, church life, and the wider community. It also publishes music and training resources, and organizes courses, short workshops and activities. With over 7,500 affiliates, members and 1,500 supporting friends in over 40 countries, it is an international network, supported by over 750 volunteers and a small team of staff based throughout the UK. RSCM in America, RSCM Australia, RSCM...
History
The Ruebush-Kieffer Company was formed at Singers Glen*, Virginia in 1872 by Aldine S. Kieffer (1840-1904) and Ephraim Ruebush (1833-1924). Originally, 'Ruebush, Kieffer, and Company', the name 'Ruebush-Kieffer Company' appeared after 1891. Kieffer and Ruebush were brothers-in-law, Ruebush having married Kieffer's sister in 1861. Kieffer was the grandson of Joseph Funk*, a Mennonite hymnal compiler and printer who had published the successful Harmonia Sacra (Genuine Church Music) at...
In 1834 anti-abolitionist riots ripped into New York City. In 1837 the Old School and New School Presbyterians split. In 1836, between those uproars, the New School founded Union Seminary, with two unusual moves: 1) an ecumenical commitment, and 2) in New York rather than in a smaller, more remote place.
The Board made another unusual move. On 12 April 1837, Abner Jones [fl. 1830-60] (this is not the 'Elder' Abner Jones [1772-1841] who organized 'Christian' churches) offered to raise $25,000...
In 1944 Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky (founded in 1859) instituted a program leading to a degree in church music. President Ellis A. Fuller (1891-1950) was officially head of the program, but it was guided by Donald E. Winters (1910-1989) and Frances Weaver Winters (1908-1993), who included hymnology in its curriculum. In a reorganization of the seminary in 1953, a School of Church Music was established. Its name was changed in 1998 to School of Church Music and...
The first Spring Harvest conference, a week-long Easter-time event, was launched in Prestatyn in 1979. Some 2,700 people attended. This has since become an annual event which has rapidly grown in popularity and influence among evangelical Christians of varied denominational backgrounds (the organisation subscribes to the beliefs of 'The Evangelical Alliance Basis of Faith' and 'The Lausanne Covenant'). In 1986, the event expanded to two locations (Prestatyn and Minehead), and in 1988 the...
This is the name given to a group of Roman Catholic composers, who were associated with a study centre in the parish of St Thomas More, North London, from 1969 onwards. The group's founder members were Stephen Dean*, Paul Inwood*, Bernadette Farrell*, Peter Jones, Ernest Sands*, Bill Tamblyn*, Christopher Walker* and James Walsh, although only Dean and Inwood were on the staff of the centre. Other members include Peter McGrail and Anne Quigley.
In 1985 Paul Inwood and Christopher Walker...
On Guy Fawkes' Day, 5 November 1907, four partners decided to turn their enterprise, which had been trading for a few months, into a limited company, and Stainer & Bell was formed, publishing from a room in Berners Street, London. There was neither a Mr Stainer nor a Mr Bell. Tradition has it that the partners chose the name because it had a creditworthy ring to it. Harry Plunket Greene, the Irish bass singer, headed the company's music selection committee, and the new enterprise received...
World Library of Sacred Music/ World Library Publications was founded in 1950, Cincinnati, Ohio, by Omer Westendorf* as an importer of church music from Europe. The name was later changed to World Library Publications (WLP) to reflect that the mission of the company had developed from importer to publisher. The company became involved in the mid-20th century liturgical movement in the Roman Catholic Church (see Roman Catholic hymnody, USA*) . In response to a need for theologically sound...