PD Hymn resource
  • davido
    Posts: 873
    For a little time, I have been creating a collection of public domain scores of traditional hymns. The Hymns in the Commons page from the CMAA is wonderful, but the collection is very small and uneven. My collection was inspired by it, but has grown far beyond it.
    Like the Hymns in the Commons collection, my collection is meant to encompass English language hymns that are suitable for Catholic worship. It aims to use the original or most traditional poetic text, with any and all archaic and gender specific English, thus setting it apart from Hymnary.org. The hymn harmonizations are either the original harmonizations, or in some cases, more modern arrangements which I think are better.
    I have put the hymn scores, and some other odds and ends that I have engraved, up on a website: https://sites.google.com/site/musicamecclesiae/. I have used Lilypond to engrave the scores, and the Lilypond files are on the site as well, in case anyone can make use of the code. I hope that my using Lilypond makes this music available to others for their own projects.
    Some day, I would like to add melody versions of all the hymns so that they could be used in worship aids, as a PD alternative to the services offered by publishing houses.

    Please note that this hymn collection is still a work in progress. Not all of the scores online are complete, some of the Lilypond code needs to be cleaned up, and despite midi playback, there are still lots of errors in the scores. I would appreciate any errata.

    Hope this collection proves to be useful!
    Thanked by 5CHGiffen CGM ContraBombarde igneus canadash
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    Awesome!

    What you've done with the NOH stuff is fantastic, placing the square notes over the organ staff.
  • davido
    Posts: 873
    Oh, I forgot about that. That was an old project, which proved too time consuming. It works ok as long as the melodies are basically syllabic, but it breaks down when you hit a melisma. Lilypond can't set neums very well.
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    A shame. It seemed super cool.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    Would you consider moving this project to Github so that it would be easier for others to collaborate and copy?
  • davido
    Posts: 873
    It sounds like a great idea. Not sure I have any free time to transport it all over there.
    Plus, I think providing pdf scores is of more practical help to most people. GitHub deals with code only, correct?
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    No, you can keep PDFs there as well.
  • PaxMelodious
    Posts: 425
    Github would be a barrier to a great many people, I think. Even though you CAN keep PDFs there, it is not what people would expect.

    Fantastic resource, BTW. And because it's in Google Drive, you can set it up to allow other people to contribute, I'm sure.
  • veromaryveromary
    Posts: 160
    I second github. Google drive is a bit clumsy with .ly files, whereas Github would allow previews of .ly and .pdfs.

    I wouldn't be allowing write access to my google drive, but github is set up to allow people to suggest changes which you can then accept in a few clicks if you like.

    And you could go crazy and set up indices - or someone else might go crazy and do the leg work for you, so to speak. They can fork the project and it will still link back to you.

    This is an awesome collection - Thank You!
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,605
    The Hymns in the Commons page from the CMAA is wonderful, but the collection is very small and uneven.


    What is in that collection, a brain-child of Jeffrey Tucker, was based upon member's opinions on what and what should not be in a Catholic hymn collection. There were some heated discussions over some choices.

    With the many links already out there around the world to The Hymns in the Commons page, it would open up your work to a larger group by adding your work to it.

    Moderators can provide you with access for your PDFs and they would be a welcome addition.
    Thanked by 1chonak
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    Expanding the collection is a fine idea.

    Noel, were your scores produced using Lilypond? If so, it would be good to have additional contributors use your template.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,605
    Jonathan Eason and I both used Finale.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,150
    Noel, you made Finale template for that, right?
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,605
    Yes. Even had them in XML for those needing that format.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • RevAMG
    Posts: 162
    davido, this is an excellent resource! I hope you continue to expand this project. Perhaps someday there would be a place for "congregational inserts" of just the melody line and text to reprint in booklets and programs. Thank you so much for sharing!
    Thanked by 1davido
  • davido
    Posts: 873
    https://github.com/musicamecclesiae/English-Hymns

    I am slowly adding melody only scores. PM me if you need a melody only that I haven’t gotten to yet.
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