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Wolfgang, Steve, general editor. Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs (published in 2012 by Sumphonia Productions LLC, 41601 Epping Green Sq., Aldie, VA 20105).<\/p><\/div>\n
A new hymnbook has been published this year.\u00a0 It is intended primarily for use in Churches of Christ but could be used by anyone, primarily those who still prefer shaped notes.\u00a0 The book is of particular importance to me because I am listed among the Editorial Review Board of technical and associate editors as an Associate Editor.\u00a0 The book is called\u00a0Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs <\/em>and was copyrighted by Sumphonia Productions LLC.<\/p>\n Sumphonia is a nonprofit foundation, founded in the autumn of 2002 and officially registered in the state of Colorado, whose purpose is to compile and distribute materials for worship, especially those materials related to congregational hymn worship. It is not affiliated with any religious organization. The general editor of the book is Steve Wolfgang, and the other four editors, Mark Coulson, Charlotte E. Couchman, David Maravilla, and Craig Roberts are the board members of Sumphonia.\u00a0 I know Steve, David, and Craig personally.\u00a0 I am intensely interested in hymns, and even maintain a weblog on hymn studies. I believe that having a hymnbook in the home is important for everyone.\u00a0 When our forefathers started their westward trek across this land, the first three books they took with them were a Bible, a hymnbook, and a primer.<\/p>\n There are some things that I really like about this new book.\u00a0 It has a number of older, classic hymns and gospel songs which have not been used in books published by members of the Church of Christ or have been dropped from many newer books.\u00a0 In addition, it has several “lost stanzas” which have been omitted from a lot of hymns in more recent years.\u00a0 However, there are some things which I do not like about the book.\u00a0 The core repertoire of 550, chosen mainly by popular vote, doesn’t include many grand old hymns which have been in most of our other books but perhaps were not sung as much some and thus didn’t make the popularity vote.\u00a0 The 300 titles added to the core repertoire include contemporary, folk, gospel, and New English Renaissance hymns the majority of which, in my personal opinion, are just not that good.<\/p>\n Also, for every “lost” stanza which has been found, there are as many, if not more, stanzas which we have been used to singing but which have been jettisoned, with some well-known songs, pared down to only two stanzas.\u00a0 And there are some things to which I am totally indifferent, especially the emphasized “phrased notation” which sets the width of a hymn on a page by the length of the poetic phrases and then wraps the music around those phrases.\u00a0 This may be an interesting novelty, but in my judgment, it will do nothing in helping the congregation to sing by phrases and just wastes a lot of space.\u00a0 And based on what I have read from others, I am not alone in my conclusion on this.\u00a0 Yet, having made known my dislikes, I must still say that Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs<\/em> is a great hymnbook that is worthy of consideration.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Wayne Walker A new hymnbook has been published this year.\u00a0 It is intended primarily for use in Churches of Christ but could be used by anyone, primarily those who still prefer shaped notes.\u00a0 The book is of particular importance to me because I am listed among the Editorial Review Board of technical and associate…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[520,521],"class_list":["post-34754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-music","tag-songs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34752,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-of-psalms-hymns-and-spiritual-songs-praise-for-the-lord-and-songs-for-worship-praise\/","url_meta":{"origin":34754,"position":0},"title":"What do you think of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, Praise for the Lord, and Songs for Worship & Praise?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your excellent review of the\u00a0Jeffcoat\u00a0Sacred Songs of the Church songbook. Our congregation is considering changing books and we are considering several of the more traditionally focused books. Have you had the opportunity to review and consider the\u00a0Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs\u00a0by Sumphonia? We are also considering the\u00a0Praise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50030,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-get-a-hold-of-hymns-written-by-members-of-the-churches-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":34754,"position":1},"title":"How do I get a hold of hymns written by members of the churches of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you know of any way to get a hold of a collection of hymns written by members of the churches of Christ? I very recently joined the church and have been wondering why we sing songs that were written by unsaved people? I actually love these old hymns\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19283,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-can-i-find-acapella-recordings-for-the-songs-in-our-songbook\/","url_meta":{"origin":34754,"position":2},"title":"Where can I find acapella recordings for the songs in our songbook?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I had a cassette collection of the Songs of the Church Acapella and I think they were sung by the Meistersingers. I moved and my tapes were lost and are sorely missed. Do you know of any source where I could buy another set? I am a song leader\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14609,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-songbooks-would-you-recommend\/","url_meta":{"origin":34754,"position":3},"title":"What songbooks would you recommend?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We are building a new building and we are needing songbooks. My husband is one of the song leaders. I would like to know which book you would recommend to us. We are strictly a New Testament church. No musical instruments and no praise teams. Also, I need to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34803,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/more-questions-about-psalms-hymns-and-spiritual-songs\/","url_meta":{"origin":34754,"position":4},"title":"More questions about Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Just curious regarding\u00a0Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs: what are your thoughts on the genre that many of the new \"brethren hymns\" are written in? That's a big chunk of the \"other 300\", maybe pushing 1\/3 of it by a wild guess? For my own edification, and I take a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35011,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-history-of-our-hymnbooks\/","url_meta":{"origin":34754,"position":5},"title":"A History of Our Hymnbooks","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker originally published in Faith and Facts, October 1999 Back in the very late 1700s and early 1800s, the conditions in this new nation appeared just right for a number of different men from different denominational backgrounds in different parts of the country to begin calling for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}