Helpful Links
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The internet contains a wealth of music resources for the church worship team. Not only are the audio and sheet music to most songs easily (and legally) available online, but there are a number of very helpful services that help you track down great music. There are also many sites aimed specifically at training church musicians, as well as blogs and forums for throwing around ideas...
Please notify any broken links (or suggest new ones!) here.
Check them out:
» Copyright licenses
» Finding new songs for church
» Audio samples and downloads
» Sheet music
» Sheet music for old hymns
» Practical training for church musicians
» Practical training for the sound system
» Thinking through music at church
» Publishing your own songs online
» Music Training Conferences
» Other sites we like
Copyright licenses
The internet - and digital media in general - remains a moving target for copyright law. The sites below will help you "stay legal", and also allow Christian musicians worldwide to continue blessing the church with great new songs.
» Church Copyright Licensing International (CCLI)
Every church needs a CCLI license to reproduce lyrics and sheet music legally. Copy reporting is now easily done online, and you can access the Top 25 list of CCLI reported songs to see what other churches are singing worldwide. You can also upgrade your church license to SongSelect which provides access to sheet music and audio samples to thousands of the top songs worldwide. CCLI.tv is a new video sharing site similar to YouTube, allowing song writers to share their material with the world. There are also a number of great training videos from well-known Christian musicians and song writers.
» Church Video License
The Church Video License is a new initiative of CCLI, making it easier for churches to show videos and films without the difficulty of contacting the individual copyright owners. Yet another CCLI resourcse is ScreenVue, a fantastic database of major movie scenes, designed for use by church pastors as illustrations in sermons.
» Australian Performing Rights Association (APRA)
APRA oversees performance of music Australia-wide, including licenses for organisations wishing to play recorded music at their venue. APRA allows churches to play CDs without a license in an actual "church service", however any churches who play CDs at social events or concerts will need an APRA license.
» Australian Copyright Law
This Wikipedia link gives the broad concepts and recent amendments to Australian law. The Copyright Ammendment Act (2006) makes some important changes to the legal use of digital music in Australia (permitting, for example, ripping of audio CDs for use on an iPod).
Other important Australian Copyright sites include:
» Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners' Society (AMCOS)
» Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA)
» Australian Copyright Council
Finding new songs for church
Have you noticed how people always talk about new songs at church? Fresh songs engage people far more readily than “favourites” that are slowly but surely going stale from over-use (or worse, starting to aggravate people!). New songs - and old songs with new melodies - are a great gift as we continue to connect the word of God with people’s hearts and minds. Keeping the song selection fresh involves teaching new songs regularly, and teaching them well.
We often find new worship songs through word-of-mouth, listening to CDs and Christian radio, or while attending other churches or conferences. But if you're "on the hunt" for new songs, the internet is a great way to find more.
» CCLI Top 25 (Australia)
The 25 songs that are most-used by churches every six months are published
on CCLI's website. It's a quick way to check out what other churches are singing.
» Praise Charts - CCLI Top 100 (U.S.)
This online music store posts the Top 100 songs reported to CCLI each year. It also posts weekly and monthly "Top 25" downloads of sheet music from its own site, and allows you to sample audio from all songs.
» Dove Awards
The Dove Awards
are the annual awards of the Gospel Music Association - the largest hub of Christian music activity worldwide. The list of award-winners is a good place to start if you're looking for new worship music.
Audio samples and downloads
So, someone's given you the name of a great new song for church? Now you've just got to find out what it actually sounds like!
» Apple iTunes
iTunes is the largest online source of Christian music (or any music for that matter). The iTunes music store is a fantastic resource to quickly search for songs (by title, album or artist), which can easily be sampled or purchased. The store does sell all the major worship albums, but many people forget that you can also search for recordings of older songs and hymns.
» CCLI SongSelect
SongSelect is an online resource from CCLI featuring thousands of songs and sound samples, with transposable chort charts, lead sheets and hymn sheets. It is a paid subscription on top of your regular CCLI license.
» YouTube, MySpace, Deezer
There are a huge number of Christian musicians who promote their music on these sites, which stream music over your web browser (and sometimes allow free downloads). If you know the name of a song or songwriter, you'll stand a good chance of finding a decent quality audio recording somewhere in there. Deezer is particularly helpful as it allows you to mark and playlist songs you are interested in.
» Last.fm
Last.fm deserves a special mention, because (in addition to streaming of song samples) it does an interesting thing called "scrobbling" which looks at your listening habits, and highlights other artists/albums you don't know yet, but might like. It also has a social utility function that helps you share what you've been listening to with your friends.
Sheet music
» Praise Charts
This site is one of the larger online worship music stores, with sheet music for songs from most major music publishers worldwide. They also publish the U.S. CCLI Top 100 list which is a great way to see what other churches are singing. Musicnotes.com is another major online music store.
» WorshipTogether.com
WorshipTogether is a very large online Christian music publisher (a subsidiary of the EMI Group). When you join the site as a member, you get access to various free mp3 and sheet music offers, as well as blogs and devotionals from the likes of Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman and Stuart Townend.
If you already know and love a number of songs from a particular publisher or songwriter, it's worth visiting their website and checking out what else they've done. Often you can sign up for a newsletter to be notified when new material is being released (and get free mp3s). There are many of them, but here are some publishers that we know and like:
» Garage Hymnal
This Australian youth collaboration grew out of Sydney University's Evangelical Union and has produced two albums of original worship songs to date. Their latest offering Bring On The Day includes Reason Music's Till Your Time.
» Emu Music Australia
This evangelical music publisher runs TWIST Music Ministry Conference in Sydney every August.
» Sovereign Grace Ministries
Sovereign Grace produces a number of great ministry and music resources which are all available online.
Sheet music for old hymns
» Cyber Hymnal
Cyber Hymnal is the repository for over 300 years of Christian hymnody. Every public domain hymn is listed with full lyrics, history of the hymn, midi file and often sheet music to the music. A free piece of software from NoteWorthy is required for viewing scores.
» Sibelius Music
Sibelius is the largest online publisher of amateur sheet music, most of it for free. There's a worship section with a number of interesting arrangements of hymns and other public domain material. It's aimed more at churches with a classical bent (and excellent for Christmas).
» Reason Music
Visit the Music Downloads page to access modern-style arrangements for "Be Thou My Vision", "Here Is Love", "Man Of Sorrows" and "Amazing Grace".
» Hymns For Bands
Ben Loomes and Philip Swan have arranged a number of hymns so bands can play them.
Practical training for church musicians
» Gootar
This fun little site provides excellent training in chords for guitar and piano. It has an interactive flash player that shows you a number of guitar chart options for any given chord. It also shows you how to play any chord on a piano keyboard, and will name the chord for any series of notes you punch in.
» Reason Music - Arranging a band for church
How to arrange a simple band for church (and make it sound great!).
» CCLI.tv
This is like a "Christian YouTube", with a number of great training videos from well-known Christian worship leaders and song writers.
Practical training for the sound system
» Audio-Technica Support Pages
A guide to microphone selection and use in church.
» Shure Notes
Whether you're new to sound systems or not, you'll find this collection of foundational guides an immediate help. The language is non-technical and there are plenty of excellent interactive Flash diagrams. Particularly take a look at Live Performance Part 1, Miking Live Vocals, and How to Mike a Praise Band.
Thinking through music in church
» Reason Music
Reason's Training resources for church musicians will help you think through some of the big ideas about worship and church music. The Reason Blog is a chance to ask and discuss your own questions about music.
» Worship Matters
Bob Kauflin is the congregational worship leader at Covenant Life Church and regularly posts a blog on church music and leadership.
» Challies.com
Tim Challies is probably the worlds most-read Christian blogger, with helpful daily thoughts on the world, life and ministry, and regular book reviews. He regularly writes about music and review Christian CDs.
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Publishing your own songs online
If you're a keen songwriter and want to get your stuff out there, the internet is a great place to start.
» Sibelius Music
Sibelius is perhaps the most widely used notation software in the world. The creators of this program have very helpfully established a service allowing Sibelius users to create their own website, and publish their sheet music online. Scores are published in "Scorch" format which allows people to view, listen to and transpose songs if needed.
» ShareSong
ShareSong is a publishing site for amateur Christian musician that generates a surprisingly large amount of traffic worldwide. Anyone is free to create a profile and upload sheet music and mp3 samples of their music, which can then be rated, or featured on the site's front page.
» CCLI.tv
An open-access video sharing site (like YouTube) where Christian song-writers can freely upload their songs as videoclips. There are also a number of great training videos from well-known worship leaders and song writers.
» Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI)
If you've written songs that a number of churches are already using, get in touch with CCLI and register them.
Music Training Conferences
» TWIST Music Ministry Conference (Sydney)
A joint project of Emu Music and Sydney Anglican Youthworks, TWIST Conference is held every August.
» Magnify Conference (Melbourne)
Magnify is a Melbourne-based worship ministry with its annual conference in October.
Other sites we like
» Christianity.net.au
An excellent site for anyone investigating Christianity or looking for answers to tough questions.
» Campus Bible Study
CBS is the campus ministry at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. It's affiliated with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students and Intervarsity Christian Fellowship in the U.S.
» Church Missionary Society, Australia
Proclaiming the gospel, serving God's people around the world, to see lives transformed by Christ.