"Homegrown" hymnals? Do tell...
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    A few years ago I prepared a cost analysis for our previous pastor examining projected savings from cancelling subscription worship aides in favor of weekly ordos. My (new) current pastor wants to revisit this. In light of recent discussion threads, I'm very interested in all the what-for's and why-this's of compiling and publication of a parish hymnal. I was part of such a project in the late 70's, but it was really small potatoes then.
    If those who've recently (within the current century) had such experiences would kindly post their own experiences with navigating the process from start to finish, I'd be very grateful.
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    IMO, publishing a parish's own hymnal is more trouble than it's worth. Lot's of up0front costs, lots of time, lots of people involved including proof-readers because you want this to be as permanent as an actual "hymnal". If you're going to do it relying solely on PD hymns to avoid any annual license fee, there are some good hymns and all the current Oridnaries you're going to miss out on. You also won't have the flexibility of verses to be sung on any given occasion. (Unless you're going to be like the Baptists and announce which verses are going to sung for each and every hymn.)

    And what about adding hymns? To which "section" of your hymnal? Or will those be printed in that day's worship aid as supplemental to the parish hymnal?

    All in all, I am totally in favor of one-off printed worship aids - with mostly PD hymns, but with at least one publishing company's license for newer music. BTW, if you have one of these licenses, I don't believe they cover long term hymnal usage - only one time printings.
    Thanked by 2melofluent BruceL
  • lmassery
    Posts: 424
    We've done this at our parish. It was a lot of work up front, but well worth it. I am now working on the 2nd edition after 2 years, which affords me the possibility of adding/removing hymns. We use PD stuff and OCP and CCLI licenses, with a few permanent reprint licenses from GIA. I did the whole thing myself in MS WORD and printed it through lulu. It's not hard if you're at least moderately computer literate, but it is a bit time-consuming. Pricing it out, it is a little bit less than a yearly subscription to OCP would have cost, but it lasts 2 years. I simply copied and pasted images from the PDFs of hymns/mass settings into a word doc, as I would for a bulletin insert. This is not the highest quality engraving strategy, and the engraving wizards on this site have scoffed at me for it, but the result is very satisfactory. I included text-only for many familiar hymns. You wouldn't want it to be too large - we have about 150 songs in ours
    Thanked by 2melofluent Daniel Bennett Page
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    At the risk of being pelted with whatever still grows in the central valley....


    Two currents collided: we want the congregation to "participate" by singing, and those of us who have musical skill don't want to be relegated to singing Mr. Caruso's top ten Christmas carols for congregations and Mr. Caruso's must-sing-things at May Crownings. So, I collected PDF files with the Ordinaries we commonly use throughout the year, all the Marian antiphons, and some very commonly used hymns (Parce Domine ...... Tantum Ergo..... the Sequences...... Pro Papa and Pro Antistite Nostro, among others.

    But (and here's why I'm going to be pelted): our goal was not to supply for the Ordo of Blessed Paul VI, in which Modernity must be given its due, but to supply for the Ordo of Saint John XXIII, which doesn't nod to modernity.
    Thanked by 1melofluent
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    It was a lot of work [...] in MS WORD


    yikes.

    ---

    Melo:

    If there is a budget for work, and if we could Open Source as much of the content/process/etc. as possible, so that (perhaps) this could be the seed of the much-discussed-but-never-began CMAA Hymnal... and if I would be allowed to use the technology stack and process of my choosing... I would be happy to serve as a sort of project manager / technical director on such a project. I have a vision for how to accomplish this, and have been needing a reason to pursue it.
    Thanked by 2melofluent nun_34
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Oh, there's lots of growing things in CenCA still, Chris. Come by sometime, will fete you with a sampling.
    There's Ostpolitik, Traumpolitik and Realpolitik, the latter of these where I generally think shot callers plant a banner. My overarching concern under that banner is that the musical, theological and textual integrity of each selection for inclusion isn't compromised. And like it or not, there's always going to be the perspective of de gustibus with which we all contend.
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