HYMN ANTHOLOGY
HYMNS FOR ALL SEASONS: the complete works of James Quinn SJ
edited by Paul Inwood
OCP: 924pp. P/B (spiral bound) 30134838 £26.99
OCP: 924pp. H/B 30132863 £30.99
James Quinn (1919–2010) was particularly devoted to the cause of ecumenism, and it is good that several of the hymns of this Scottish Roman Catholic have become standard in the worship of different Christian denominations in most English-speaking countries. He burst upon the scene in 1969 with his first collection, New Hymns for All Seasons, that included ‘Forth in the peace of Christ we go’ (to Song 34 or Duke Street), ‘This day God gives me’ (to Bunessan), ‘Sing, all creation’ (to Iste Confessor or Christe Sanctorum) and 85 others. The tunes to those three are typical of the author’s choice of folk tunes or well-known, old English or French hymn tunes. This collection of Quinn’s 230 hymn texts is presented with full music and copious notes about each.
INSPIRING MUSIC IN WORSHIP: a short course of guided conversations for churches
Helen Bent
RSCM: 79pp. P/B 978-0-85402-271-7 £5.99 (affiliates £4.49)
Members of Praxis and RSCM affiliates should already have received a copy of this coursebook that has the potential to be so useful for musicians and non-musicians – whether in situations with substantial musical input or with almost no musical resources at all. It simply tries to facilitate conversation, no easy task given the difficulty of talking about music, with a framework that encourages open discussion without the worry that only certain answers are allowed. Headings are ‘What does it mean to be a worshipping person’, ‘Discovering skills and releasing gifts’, ‘Music and mission’, ‘Starting from where we are’ and ‘Setting a new vision for music and worship’. I cannot imagine any worshipping community that would not benefit from talking and listening, following the guidance in this inspiring book.
THE NOVELLO GUIDE TO SIGHT-SINGING: An interactive course for all choral singers
Ralph Allwood and Timothy Teague
Novello: 169pp. NOV166067 £19.99
The contents page looks conventional, with an introduction to notation, then rhythms on one note, moving by step, by a third, a fourth/fifth, a sixth/seventh/octave, awkward leaps/tritones/chromaticism, and finally ‘additional case studies’ combining elements from the previous chapters. It is attractively designed and has a good selection of progressive examples for one-to-one tuition. Less conventional is the on-line material that includes ‘SoundCheck’ interactive assessment so that a student can sing to a computer, tablet or mobile phone and receive on-line automatic feedback (or off-line after downloading the Music Sales SoundWise iOS app – there is no Android version). However, the app only grades the singing as ‘good’, ‘OK’ or ‘bad’ in pitch and ‘in time’ or ‘out of time’ with no other information – hardly a substitute for human tuition.
Julian Elloway