Music Resources

HYMN BOOKS

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CH4
Hymns Old & New ‘God is good, God is truth, God is beauty praise him’
In the Name of God (Books 1 and 2)
NEW Music for the Eucharist - Settings from Scotland
Spring Harvest Praise 2003
Veni Emmanuel
Worship Today (Spring Harvest)

CH4

The Church of Scotland have also brought out a new hymn book, known as CH4 (Church Hymnary 4). Their last hymn book had been brought out in 1973, and although a short supplement has also been produced (Songs of God’s People), CH3 has been in use since then.

The Church of Scotland consulted widely and the production of the hymn book was managed by a Committee. The book has a distinctive purple cover and is obviously hardwearing and durable in finish. It is available in full music and melody editions only. This means that everyone in the churches using the book will be able to see, and use whatever musical
training they may have, to follow the melody line of hymns.

CH4 contains a good selection of modern words set to traditional Scottish melodies, and there are many hymns and worship songs written by John Bell and from the Iona Community/Wild Goose Resource Group.

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Hymns Old & New ‘God is good, God is truth, God is beauty praise him’

Kevin Mayhew’s ‘God is Good Catholic Hymns Old & New’ should have been published in July, but copies have only been distributed in the last week or two. The full music copy costs £29.99, and melody and words only editions are also available.

Liturgical Hymns Old & New was brought out in 1999, and the new book describes itself as ‘a courageous, exciting and outstanding addition to Catholic hymnody’.

Some comparisons:

‘God is good’ is shorter overall, and given that it contains approximately 140 items not in ‘Liturgical’, you will see that quite a lot of material has been excluded. Amongst the exclusions are quite a few of the modern hymns/psalms/worship songs with a ‘refrain’ (probably not much used in
parishes),and hymns with words by Michael Forster. ‘While shepherds watched their flocks by night’ seems to be away, along with a few other favourites.

New items include over twenty hymns with words by Nick Fawcett (a former Baptist Minister who has been writing for six years). There are also several new items by Bernadette Farrell (who wrote the popular ‘Christ be our light’). Some hymns are back from the original ‘Hymns Old & New’, including ‘Broken for me’ and ‘Take my life, and let it be’ (to
a more ‘recognised’ tune). The full music book is more durable and smaller and more compact than previously. (This makes it easier to carry but not so easy to read if you’ve poor sight!) The majority of the musical settings and harmonisations appear to be unchanged. There is no longer a separate children’s hymn section. The metrical index of tunes shows the first couple of bars of each melody - a helpful feature. The index of uses, Scriptural index, index of Sunday and Feastday themes are perhaps not fully comprehensive.

It was hard to compare the Mass settings sections in both books because items appear in a different order! The section in ‘God is good’ is smaller. However, a welcome addition is the Russian Kyrie, and an ‘Amen’ to go with the Deutsche Messe ‘Holy, holy, holy’. There is a very effective Argentinian setting of the ‘Holy, holy, holy’, but unfortunately the words
are not all that close to the Missal text. There is a ‘Communion song’ by Bernadette Farrell, but again the words are ‘loose’.

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In the Name of God (Books 1 and 2)

In the Name of God (Books 1 and 2) - a core repertoire for parishes - edited and compiled by Gerry Fitzpatrick and Mary Bradley.

These books contain music for the Mass, canticles, psalms, gospel verses and other liturgical music by Scottish composers. The first volume contains liturgical essentials, and a number of beautiful pieces which can be used for special occasions, weddings, funerals and evening prayer. In the second volume, the music is generally drawn from Scripture, but the repertoire has been extended from volume one to give a wider offering of music for the liturgical seasons.

The music succeeds in being accessible to the 'normal' parish Sunday congregation, and the books also offer short and simple liturgical music that can enhance the celebration of Mass on any day of the week. The accompaniments provided are uncomplicated and guitar chords are offered where appropriate. Some Gaelic pieces are also included.

Book 1 is Green and Book 2 is Pink!

Full music copies and word books are available from:

St Paul Book Centre, 5A - 7 Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow, G1 3AH, tel 0141 226 3391.

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Music for the Eucharist - Settings from Scotland
St Mungo Music

Gerry Fitzpatrick writes in the introduction to this book that ‘there is something awesome and almost overwhelmingly beautiful in being present at Mass when priest and people are able to participate fully, consciously and actively in song’.  This book provides settings of the Eucharistic Acclamations and lots of material for the Communion Rite to help churches achieve this - they are tuneful, attractive and straightforward.  The authors and composers are all from Scotland and the Scottish ‘flavour’ is evident throughout.  There is plenty of material for all to enjoy.

However, it is sad that the ‘popular’ hymn books often contain so little appropriate material for singing Mass parts, and while this book is to be commended for achieving this, it would be good if we could find more of this kind of musical setting in our hymn books.

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Spring Harvest Praise 2003

Spring Harvest is a residential holiday/conference attended by people from (non Catholic) Christian backgrounds, and an annual songbook of music is published from a variety of ‘worship’ backgrounds. The music in this book is very up to date with probably more than half the hymns and songs having been written since the year 2000. Many of these new songs will probably make their way into Catholic Charismatic Renewal circles in the next few years.

Many of the songs would need to be led by an instrumental group; but there are some that are suitable for accompanying on the organ, or more easily on a piano. This book is worth a look if you want to try something a bit different and really up to date. As well as new songs there are some helpful ‘tips’ pages including guitar strumming patterns, ‘bridges’ for changing key between songs, rehearsing, arranging songs, worship styles and sound systems.

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Veni Emmanuel
(Decani Music)

We haven’t seen a copy of it, but its flier says that Veni Emmanuel is a rich resource forAdvent and Christmastide. It includes two settings of all the Psalms for the season, many of them brand new; ritual music such as Gathering and Communion music; a fascinating selection of hymns, songs and carols, some of them new or newly published; and some seasonal liturgies. It is edited by Stephen Dean, and the cost is £12.95. Contact Decani Music, 30 North Terrace, Mildenhall, Suffolk, IP28 7AB, tel 01638 716579.

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Worship Today
(Spring Harvest)

This book claims to contain the 500 most popular songs and hymns together for the first time! They have been selected using data from Christian Copyright Licensing (Europe) Ltd. On the basis of reports from their 18000 licence holders, CCLE publishes lists of the most popular songs and hymns, and Spring Harvest has used data from these lists (covering the period October 1999 - March 2000) to compile this collection.

The music is well laid out and there are the usual extensive indices including an alphabetical index to titles and first lines, a Scripture index and a thematic index. Many of the accompaniments are more suited to being played on a piano rather than an organ. Guitar chords are of course included.

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