Hymn Recordings & Websites

Description

Here is a compilation of hymn recordings, hymn websites, and various ways to listen to hymns!

(Just so you know, a midi file is a Musical Instrument Digital Interface file, which is a smaller audio file than MP3 or WAV. You may also be interested in the free resource “Singing & Music Appreciation.”)

Websites

Popular Music Sites

YouTube

• Yes, you can often type in a hymn title or line and find it on YouTube. 🙂
• YouTube also has useful platforms including The Lutheran Songbird Project (LOTS of hymns here, organized by church year), Lutheran Warbler, (also organized by category) and even Concordia Publishing House.
• YouTube has helpful playlists, including “Favorite Lutheran Hymns,” “Lutheran Hymns”  and “Lutheran Hymns,” etc. (There are several “Lutheran Hymns” playlists!). There are even “Historic Lutheran Hymns,”  and “LCMS Lutheran Hymns.” Plus, there is “Lutheran Liturgy and Liturgical Hymns” and “LCMS Hymns & Liturgy.“

There is so much on YouTube that there is also “How to Use a Lutheran Hymnal” by Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller, “Singing the Athanasian Creed” by the Burleson family, and an attempt to have “The Lutheran Hymnal 1941,” although that is only up to 55 hymns. Still quite impressive.

Spotify & Alexa

Spotify also has CDs, playlists, and some podcasts about hymns if you search under Lutheran hymns.

Alexa? She may not play free music when asked for “Lutheran hymns,” but she streams Lutheran Public Radio!

Hymn-Specific or Churchly Sites with Audio

• Lutheran Public Radio is Lutheran radio that can be streamed directly from their website.
• Hymnary.org has extensive resources for finding composers, tunes, editions, lyrics, and, yes, click a tune and you’ll have a MIDI file.
• Lutheran-Hymnal.com has 6 complete Lutheran hymnals, including The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH), Lutheran Worship (LW), Hymnal Supplement 98 (LCMS supplement), Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW was a joint project between denominations including the LCMS & ELCA) and With One Voice (which followed LBW). It does take a big of navigation, as you pick a hymnal, and find your title in alphabetical order.

Lyrics &/Or Sheet Music Only

• LutheranHymnody.org
• Project Wittenberg’s hymnal projects, including The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941, which also links to The Lutheran Hymnal MIDI Project (also known as Lutheran-Hymnal.com).

Organizations, Individuals & Shops

• LCMS worship Ministry has free Hymn of the Day Studies for every week in each lectionary, including the One Year and Three Year Series!!!
• Concordia Publishing House has CDs and, although it’s pricey, Quick and Easy Studies on 600+ Hymns with some individual hymn studies available for purchase.
• Kloria Publishing has hymn picture and board books, as well as some piano albums.
• David’s Harp
• Sem bookstores can be good for CDs. CTWFW Kantorei tours and has CDs.

Articles on Lutheran Hymnody

• “Why Luther’s Hymns Sound the Way They Do” by Katie Schuermann
• “A Brief Explanation of Lutheran Hymnody: For the Lutheran who asks regarding the Beautiful Hymns of His Church” by Douglas Lindee