Introduction to the CCEL Hymn Tune Archive

The Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary is an indexed collection of public-domain hymn tunes in electronic formats.

A hymn tune is a tune intended for use with hymns in individual or group worship. For various practical and traditional reasons, hymn tunes are nearly always designed in strophic form: that is, the same music is repeated for each verse of the text. (Some composers have created through-composed arrangements of tunes, probably for choir or concert purposes, since they aren't really practical for congregational use.)

Although some of these files can be played on a computer with speakers, the primary use envisioned is the historical one: in congregational worship. The primary choice of formats, arrangements, and settings reflects this:

• I have always included Noteworthy Composer (".NWC") files for all the tunes I sequenced. (Noteworthy Composer is a music notation editor for MS-Windows systems. It combines a budget price with mid-range capabilities. it can import lyrics into scores for printing, or generate MIDI files. Noteworthy also provides a free full-featured demo version and a free downloadable player program, Noteworthy Player.
  These ".NWC" files are assigned MIME type "application/octet-stream." Browsers can be configured to open them with either Noteworthy Composer or Noteworthy Player. A major disadvantage is that use of these files is limited to MS-Windows systems or emulators.
• Greg Scheer sometimes included Finale scores for various instruments. (Finale is an industrial-strength music editor by Coda Music Technology.)
• All NWC files are also provided in MIDI (".MID") format: which can be imported into almost every music notation editing program, as well as played on most computers with sound capability.
• Most of these MIDI files are "score MIDIs", not "performance MIDIs." While they can be played back (and thus may be a useful way to learn a tune) they are inadequate for accompaniment in several ways: The tempi were judged "at the keyboard," - a practice well deprecated by Erik Routley - and there has been inadequate attention to the necessary rubato effects. Further, Noteworthy includes play information in its own format (and printed scores) that is not reflected in its MIDI files. This is a disadvantage when listening to a performance, but a great advantage when importing into other programs.
  The MIDI instrument is set to "Choir ahs" or "Voice ohs." On some older sound cards, these instruments are not distinguishable from "untuned chain saw," and some experimentation may be needed to find a tolerable instrument setting. "Church Organ" works well on one old sound card I've used.
• The NWC files are also provided as scores in Portable Document Format (".PDF") files. PDF is displayable and printable almost anywhere, by either Adobe Acrobat Reader or Gnu Ghostscript or Ghostview -- all free and freely redistributable programs.
• Some contributors have includes scores in other graphics file formats.
• I have tried to provide at least one traditional-four-part harmonization for each tune (except for some chants or folk tunes that have traditionally been sung in unison. (Some contributors have included instrumental arrangements.)
• MP3 files have not been provided. Copyright issues and server space requirements will, I suspect, preclude them.

Indexing

All hymns are indexed by tune name (including multiple names for some tunes), by author, arranger, or source (including multiple attributions), and by musical meter and incipit (the first few notes of the tune, encoded in two different ways.) I have provide partial indexes to several common hymnals.

Other Contributions

This index is gradually incorporating the music files created by Greg Scheer, "Dave", and others, formerly known to CCEH visitors as "200 MIDI Files" -- although they included some scores and hymn texts.

Other public-domain contributions to this collection are welcomed. I have a little list of types of contribution that might add to its usefulness or fill already-recognized shortcomings.

Other Internet Resources

The CCEL has a variety of material -- hymn texts, tunes, and history -- in its Hymn Lyrics and Hymnology category.

The Open Directory Project (which I help edit) contains links to many hymn resources; start at the Hymns category.

Stephen Hutcheson
email: my-last-name-with-e-omitted@flash.net
(Sorry for the circumlocution: but e-mail-collecting spambot-spiders make life difficult for everyone.)