Posted on 06/29/2013 2:42:55 AM PDT by mkmensinger
Does anyone know of a good sources for Catholic hymns sheet music for piano and solo instrument? I've checked online, but I thought perhaps some Freepers might know of a source.
Thank you.
Ping
Although the hymns seem to be mostly Protestant, the works of many Catholic hymn writers such as Giovanni da Palestrina, Samuel Webbe and Johann Scheffler are also included.
There is a book of sheet music that comes with the missalette for the music director.
Why do you want piano music and not organ music — the preferred accompaniment in the Catholic Church?
They have lots of useful links, including to the entire Liber Usualis online.
Also try a copy of the Adoremus Hymnal, it's got good stuff. The St. Gregory Hymnal is a good one too. You can almost always pick out a melody or descant line for the clarinet.
Another idea: get hold of a copy of the Episcopal Hymnal of 1982 (don't bother with the 1940 - too Protestant!) You'll have to pick and choose a little (they stole from the Lutherans too), but the vast majority of the hymns were lifted from the Catholics somewhere along the line. The late Richard Proulx, a very talented Catholic composer, was hired to edit the hymnal, and it shows. It even has descants, and organ accompaniment for Gregorian chant.
Thanks to all for your help.
You need the "organ edition". Fortunately it's still available at Neumann Press, they even have a spiral-bound organist's copy.
My copy is from when I played the organ at church. Your link to where to buy it is helpful.
However, a real musician wouldn’t have problems in playing it, in the same way we play from a “fake book”. True, the problem is that many organists play the notes but have little musical talent, but that is another problem...
I suspect many of us hesitate to volunteer to play the organ because of the lousy music etc.
I prefer having the full score because I am a MUCH better sight-reader than I am an improv player. I think it depends entirely on whether you came up through the jazz/pop side where improv is a way of life, or whether (as I did) you came up through the classical side where improv is something that you get in advanced classes specifically for that purpose. I never got that far. :-D
And this music could not have been lousier - except for one decent tune (albeit with different, tacky words) that somehow sneaked in. I would probably have done better without the score on that one bec. it was different from the accompaniment in the Episcopal hymnal, and my fingers kept going, “Wait. What?”
I used to get my used religious books on Ebay, including my hymn book collection, and bought my copy of St Gregory there, so you probably could find one there at a low price. also Amazon used books.
The Ignatius hymn book is great, but when I tried to get one, they wouldn’t sell to me: apparently a lot of folks are only buying one book and giving out the words to the congregation instead of buying the more expensive “congregation” version. so I merely copied the list of their hymns and found the hymns elsewhere.
I sight read music but play by ear also, so having only the melody is not a problem for me.
Modern hymns that are lousy from a musical standpoint ARE a problem. And so is Gregorian chant, which makes it hard to figure if you should use a major or a minor chord for accompaniment.
Proulx's accompaniments in the ECUSA hymnal are a good pattern also and very adaptable.
thanks for the practical tips on chant.
Hi, lyrics for songs can be found next to the titles on the individual albums at MLJ Music
http://mljmusic.com/album-category/sacred-music/
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