If your church uses the Celebration Hymnal, the Hymnal for Worship and Celebration, the 1991 Baptist Hymnal, the Lutheran Book of Worship, With One Voice, the 1989 United Methodist Hymnal or the 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal, the Christian Virtual Hymnal is something you must have. It contains almost all the public domain songs in these collections and will save you many hundreds of hours and provide unprecedented flexibility in creating transposable sheet music with optional chord names/fret diagrams, transposable chord charts and MIDI files for playing.
About 1940 public domain selections* from the above-listed hymnals are included ready for use. Transpose to any key. Reorder and/or delete any verses. Display SATB, lead sheets or chord charts (verses only - no music - with chord names and fret diagrams).
Music and verses are the same as in the respective hymnals so no editing is generally required for congregations using these hymnals. No need to worry about copyrights as all hymns and arrangements are public domain. Use the Christian Virtual Hymnal (either by itself or in conjunction with a sequencing program) in place of an organist. Quickly print out just hymn verses for weekly bulletins or transpose hymns for the choir.
You will see hymns on your screen exactly as they will print. You can specify things like whether you want
Traditional 4 part harmony as found in the hardbound hymnals or melody only;
To use an alternate tune;
To reorder verses and/or delete any verses --- display/print just the verses you want;
Chord names or guitar fret diagrams or none;
1, 2, 3, all or no verses under the notes or after the hymn in 1 or 2 column format;
Verses only (no music --- good for weekly bulletins, caroling, etc.) with optional chord names/fret diagrams;
To print the music as chord charts in any key;
Export verses only to an ascii (text) file;
Portrait or landscape page orientation;
To display the music using shape notes or standard round noteheads;
To display the music using tablature for guitar, banjo, or any other stringed instrument;
And when playing,
Change tempos and specify number of times to repeat playing;
Specify different general MIDI instruments for the treble and bass clefs;
When playing a hymn more than once, specify different instruments to be used for each repetition (much like when an organist changes the organ stops at the beginning of each stanza);
Save hymns as MIDI files which then can be played later or imported into a sequencing program for further manipulation;
You can use any scalable Windows' fonts/sizes for lyrics, chord names, titles, etc. The music can be scaled larger (e.g., for easier reading) or smaller and then quickly reformatted and justified. Any Windows' printer can be used to obtain engraver quality printed output comparable to that you find in the Celebration Hymnal or the Hymnal for Worship and Celebration. Page and margin sizes are adjustable.
