Song hunting: Hymns

People usually search for hymns or Gospel songs by title, but doing so isn't necessarily simple or straightforward.  It is a good idea to try a title search or keyword search in the online catalog, but it may not work, because libraries don't usually provide title entries or contents notes for all the pieces contained in hymnals.  Also, a search can quickly become confusing when one hymn tune is known by several different titles.  To further complicate matters, research projects sometimes involve hymn tunes with non-English titles.  
Example:  A student might be assigned to find a chorale tune that Bach arranged.  The teacher gives its German title. 

Are you hunting an often-used traditional hymn?  If so, a quick way to find it is to go to the shelf and search the tables of contents of standard hymnals in our collection.  We have dozens from many major denominations.  When pertinent, these hymnals usually cite non-English titles of important source material such as Lutheran chorales and Gregorian chants.  Most of our hymnals have call numbers from M2119-M2130.  

Another way to search:  Visit a few of the excellent hymn sites on the Internet.  Some provide scores, texts, or MIDI files, while others provide indexes of major denominational hymnals.  You can search your title on several index sites to find out which hymnals contain it.  There are even sites with full text of some historically important hymnals old enough to be in the public domain.

A helpful meta-list that will lead you to a variety of the most important hymn sites is Hymn Resources on the Internet:
http://www.marietta.edu/~nda001//hymnody/

A particularly important online resource is the CyberHymnal:
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/

This site has "lyrics, scores, MIDI files, pictures, history, and more."

If I still can't find the hymn or Gospel song I need, what do I do about it?

Search the WorldCat database, 
accessible by clicking here or looking for it on the UNT Libraries Electronic Resources page:

This huge online catalog of the resources of thousands of libraries (including ours)  has excellent search software.  On their search screen, you can limit your search to scores by checking a Musical Scores box.  Then there are several different ways to search.  It might work just to enter your hymn or song title in a search box, keeping its default setting of keyword.  It is also possible to set the pull-down menu for a title search.  You can also set the pull-down to "notes/comments."  Notes means "contents notes."  Sometimes contents of anthologies are listed as notes even though the catalog has no author or title entries for them.

(Warning:  WorldCat is a product, not a free website.  You can't access it just by searching for it on the Internet.)

Your WorldCat search will help if collections which have no title entries or contents notes in our catalog do have them in that database. 

Are you looking for a Southern Gospel tune featured by Gospel quartets or country singers?  If so, the online catalog might help you if we have a modern Gospel collection which contains it.  If not, check some of our Stamps-Baxter and other old Gospel songbooks on the regular shelf.  Several are found with the call number M2198. Look in their tables of contents.  If you still can't find the piece, there are many Stamps-Baxter songbooks in our special collections.  Ask a full-time staff member in the Music Library to pull some of them for you during business hours Monday-Friday.

Are you looking for a new piece written by a Christian or country star in the last few years?  If so, we might have a song book that contains it, or it might be in one of our Christian or country fake books.  Fake books usually provide tunes, chord changes, and lyrics.  Would such a version suit your purposes? If so, try a title or keyword search in the online catalog to see if we have the piece you want, because tables of contents for our fake books are now in the online catalog.  Our fake books are all on reserve; ask for the one you need at the music service desk.