wfn.org | Work proceeds on hymnal supplement

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

May 25, 1999  News media contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71B{289}

NOTE:  This report may be used as a sidebar to UMNS story #288.

By Tim Tanton*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - Many United Methodists (those who sing, anyway)
have probably had the experience of flipping through the hymnal in search of
common tunes such as "Sanctuary" or "They Will Know We Are Christians By Our
Love."

The search is in vain, and ends with a little head-scratching. However, work
is under way on a supplement to the United Methodist Hymnal that will
include many of those tunes and also offer a wider variety of music from
outside the denomination's mainstream. Global music, praise choruses and new
hymns will be strongly represented in the proposed book.

The supplement is being developed by staff members of the United Methodist
Publishing House and the denomination's Board of Discipleship. Its use will
be optional for United Methodist churches, but the book's developers are
actually aiming for a much larger audience.

"It's not a denominational book," said the Rev. Hoyt Hickman, a member of
the Hymnal Supplement Committee. "It's a commercial book, basically."
Hickman, now retired, was director of worship resource development for 21
years with the Board of Discipleship and worked on the current hymnal. 

The development process for the book is markedly different from that used
for the United Methodist Hymnal. The hymnal supplement is being developed by
the interagency team, whereas the main hymnal was compiled by a 25-member
Hymnal Revision Committee that drew members from across the denomination.
Unlike the current book, the supplement will not require approval by the
General Conference, the top lawmaking body of the United Methodist Church.
 
The Hymnal Supplement Committee is hoping to have the book published in
September 2000. Though the hymnal hasn't received final approval from top
executives at the two agencies, it has widespread support, committee members
said. A business plan is being developed by Publishing House staff. No
decision has been made yet as to the format of the book, whether it will be
softcover or hardcover, or the price.

The supplement committee has met twice a month since last fall, said the
Rev. Dan Benedict, director of worship resources for the Board of
Discipleship, during a break at a recent committee meeting.

"We perceive the primary market to be United Methodists," said Gary Alan
Smith, music editor of the Publishing House's Abingdon Press. However, the
supplement won't have the words "United Methodist" in the title or subtitle,
he said.

The intent is for everything in the book to be "singable" by a congregation,
Smith said.

The supplement team has about 180 "reader consultants," primarily United
Methodists from all over the country, from whom it is getting input, Smith
said. They are people suggested by bishops and are knowledgeable about hymns
and worship. 

In addition, the team is using "expert consultants," who will take a closer
look at the proposed book. Those include United Methodists and also people
outside the denomination who have worked on hymnals with or for the
Lutherans, the United Church of Christ, the Reformed tradition,
Presbyterians, charismatics and nondenominational churches reaching
Gen-Xers. The expert consultants were involved in an initial consultation
and will be used again to review the team's "thus-far list" of hymns, Smith
said.

The team also did surveys on the Internet and in Worship Arts magazine so
people could offer suggestions for songs to go into the supplement, said
Anne Burnette Hook, a member of the supplement team and staff member at the
Board of Discipleship.

The music will reflect the diversity of Christian worship styles: praise
music, global music, new hymns, liturgical music, Taize chants. It also will
include traditional hymns that aren't in the United Methodist Hymnal.

And yes, the founders of Methodism will be represented in the supplement.
The book will include a hymn written by Charles Wesley that isn't in the
main hymnal, Hook said.

Most of the music planned for the supplement has come out in the last 10 or
12 years, Hickman said. However, some "golden oldies" will be included also,
such as "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," he said.

Though the list of hymns isn't final, users of the supplement will find some
familiar titles. Many of the songs likely to go into the new book include
"Sanctuary," "Gather Us In," "I Was There To Hear Your Borning Cry" and
"They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love." 

Some of those songs weren't included in the 1989 hymnal because of copyright
issues and expense, Hickman said. Copyright difficulties prevented "They'll
Know We Are Christians By Our Love" from being included, but those problems
have disappeared since then, he said.

The supplement will have a generous selection of praise choruses, such as
"Awesome God" and "Shine, Jesus, Shine," Hickman said. "We're trying to
signal the church that we want to mainstream these newer praise choruses."

The committee is working with a goal of including about 250 hymns, which
includes praise choruses as well as songs of various kinds, Hickman said.
The main hymnal has about 600 or so hymns. The supplement won't include any
hymns that are in the main songbook.

He guessed that the committee has turned down more than 500 hymns so far in
its selection process.

Unlike the United Methodist Hymnal, which is available in only pew and
keyboard editions, the supplement will be issued in several different
versions. The team is planning a singer's edition for choirs, a pew edition
for the congregation, a keyboard edition, a simplified edition for keyboard
players, and editions for guitarists and worship planners. The worship
planner version won't have music but will list ideas to help people planning
worship choose material.

Two electronic editions are being seriously considered - one for midi and
another in a CD-ROM format, Smith said. Midi is a technology that allows the
playing of a hymn through any instrument that reads that format. The
information, contained in a disc file, allows the player to control the key,
tempo, number of repetitions and other characteristics of the music. The
CD-ROM would essentially provide the worship planner edition in electronic
format, so the user could work with the material on computer. The committee
also hopes that the CD-ROM feature would allow music to be projected onto an
overhead screen during worship services, Smith said.

The group is also exploring how the supplement might be made available on
the Internet.

However, CD-ROM and Internet formats will have to wait until after the print
materials are out, Hickman said. The legal and copyright problems of
disseminating resources on the Internet are formidable, he said. "Nobody
seems to know ... quite how we're going to end up doing it."

The publication of hymnal supplements has exploded in recent years,
according to the Rev. Carlton R. Young, editor of the United Methodist
Hymnal and participant in a consultation on the supplement last fall.

"All U.S. denominational hymnals have been and will be updated with
supplemental materials," Young said. "In the latter part of the 20th
century, the average life of a U.S. denominational hymnal diminished from 35
years to about two decades."
# # #
 *Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service.

______________
United Methodist News Service
http://www.umc.org/umns/
newsdesk@umcom.umc.org
(615)742-5472