Music

MUSIC

Music Sources for Churches

The Episcopal Church publishes a number of different hymnals (six, in fact), through Church Publishing. All orders for Church Publishing publications are now handled by Cokesbury.

Downloads from each of the hymnals and songbooks from Church Publishing are available through RiteSong, either on a per-song basis or through an annual subscription. Each of the books also is available as an Apple iBook (search by title in iTunes).

The six publications are as follows:

The Hymnal 1982 (including Service Music) – The basic hymnal.
Wonder, Love and Praise – A supplement to the Hymnal 1982 that includes more contemporary songs. Includes some songs in Hawaiian.
Lift Every Voice and Sing II – A collection of pieces from the African American and Gospel traditions.
Enriching Our Music 1 & 2 – Two different publications, each of which contains canticles and settings for the Eucharist, in addition to those found in The Hymnal 1982.
Voices Found – Hymns and spiritual songs by, for, or about women.
My Heart Sings Out – Designed for worship with children.

Bishop Robert Fitzpatrick also grants permission to congregations to use other musical sources, especially those published by GIA Publications. The Hymnary.org is an online index of a large collection of hymnals from many denominations.

Other Resource
Association of Anglican Musicians - An organization that encourages music and musicians serving in the worshiping communities of the Episcopal Church and the larger Anglican tradition. Founded in the early 1970s as the successor to the American Cathedral Organists and Choirmasters Association, AAM’s membership today embraces musicians, clergy, and supporters of music in Anglican liturgical life. Members work and worship in cathedrals, parishes and missions large and small, theological seminaries, and church-related schools. They are organists, pianists, bishops, guitarists, presbyters and deacons, directors and trainers of choirs, teachers of music, and friends of Anglicanism’s musical tradition and practice of sung prayer.

Copyright and Licensing Issues

Congregations should be aware that they cannot legally photocopy music for use in worship services. However, there are ways to obtain permission easily, without writing to a publisher for permission for each song one wants to sing.

A subscription to RiteSong, mentioned above, automatically includes copyright permissions.

Other sources of obtaining licenses are the following:

CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International) - Established in 1988 to provide churches with simple, affordable solutions to complex copyright issues. CCLI helps churches maintain their integrity and avoid costly lawsuits, while also giving churches the freedom to worship expressively and spontaneously.
OneLicense.net - A subscription includes many significant publishers of hymn texts, hymn tunes, and songs for worship that are not currently represented by any other joint licensing entity. Through OneLicense.net, churches and religious institutions are able to reproduce words and/or music for the congregation from the catalogs of all of the partnering publishing houses, for one annual fee.
LicenSing - Provides copyright-cleared music for churches, provides your congregation with access to a vast collection of hymns and songs, every one of which has been pre-cleared for your use.
WORSHIPcast – A church streaming license that covers Internet performance rights for Christian and secular songs.