The Vision (9/26/13): Some Practical Aids to the Musical Aspects of our Worship

Image:  Singing from the Trinity Psalter at the 2012 Keach Conference

A friend who has worshipped with us at CRBC sent me an email a few months back that I have been meaning to share with you.  His note provides some valuable aids that might enhance your participation in and enjoyment of the musical aspects of our worship at CRBC.  Here’s the note:

Since CRBC uses the Trinity Hymnal (Baptist edition) and the Trinity Psalter, I was wondering if you and others at CRBC were aware of some of the related information available online:

There is an online version of the Trinity Hymnal at http://www.opc.org/hymnal.html.

For the original Trinity Hymnal (1961, non-Baptist edition), they have lyrics, MIDI files of the tunes, various indices, and even a "concordance" ("Search the hymnal").

For the revised Trinity Hymnal (1990, non-Baptist edition), they have MIDI files of the tunes and MP3 files of organ accompaniment.

For the Trinity Hymnal (Baptist edition), they have information on Worship with Hymns, a set of 4 audio CDs available for purchase which have the piano accompaniment to 100 hymns.
(We have a set.)

Terry Johnson, compiler of the Trinity Psalter, has the following available online at the Web site of his church -- the Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah, GA (http://www.ipcsav.org):

A downloadable .ZIP file of MIDI files for all (I think) of the tunes in the Trinity Psalter at his church's Worship Aids for Ministers page at http://www.ipcsav.org/worship-aids-for-ministers/.

Articles such as Learning and Loving the Trinity Psalter and The History of Psalm Singing in the Christian Church at his church's Articles page at http://www.ipcsav.org/resources/articles/.

A description of his book, The Family Worship Book : A Resource Book For Family Devotions at http://www.ipcsav.org/resources/books/book/the-family-worship-book.

His book includes an explanation of the Christian Sabbath, a Family Bible Reading Record, the Catechism for Young Children ("An Introduction to the Shorter Cathechism"), the Westminster Shorter Catechism, 50 Bible Memorization passages, a condensed version of Isaac Watts' A Guide to Prayer, Thomas Manton's Epistle to the Reader of the WCF and Larger & Shorter Catechisms, The Church of Scotland's Directory for Family Worship, and the text (words) to 60 selections from each of the Trinity Hymnal and Trinity Psalter.

I had borrowed a copy of it from the library and thought it might be a good way to introduce someone to the Lord's Day, Family Worship and/or Psalm Singing.

Perhaps some of that information could be of use to someone at CRBC if they wanted to sing some of the selections listed in "The Vision" for an upcoming Lord's Day.

Thanks to this brother for sharing his research with us.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle