The Church Music Institute contains an extensive Library of sacred choral and organ music for evaluation and study to support the educational purposes of the Institute. The Library is unique in its effort to collect and preserve music for worship and study. Through its electronic resources, members can find appropriate anthems or organ music to use in worship from the convenience of their home or office.The choral collection includes an archive of thousands of catalogued sacred octavo anthems for adults and children with additional compositions added daily. Each anthem has been chosen for quality of text, music and function in worship by the professional staff of CMI. Anthems from every stylistic period from the Renaissance through those most recently published are placed in permanent, acid-free folders for preservation, so that present and future generations may identify, study, and utilize them in worship.Additional choral music contained in the collection includes cantatas and oratorios, service and liturgical music, and sacred anthems by classical composers donated by universities, seminaries, and church music scholars. The Library of the Institute has a special interest in collecting and preserving sacred octavos of the numerous, outstanding composers associated with the Dallas/Fort Worth area.The organ collection includes music based on previously-existing tunes, including hymn tunes and Gregorian chants. Many works are chorale-preludes, and others are re-harmonizations, interludes, and arrangements with other instruments. Sample pages are being added. The collection is being built from libraries of scholarly church organists donated to CMI, online collections in the public domain, and newly published music provided by publishers.
What users say:
“The Church Music Institute's Database of both choral and organ music has been one of the most helpful tools I've encountered in my job as Organist-Choirmaster at Trinity Cathedral. I use the search for just about everything; psalm settings, anthems on specific texts, anthems that use certain instruments, anthems on a Sunday when I have men only, organ music for a special funeral request, .... I truly use it every day that I'm working and I'm grateful beyond words to have encountered this marvelous wealth of information.”
"I find the CMI online database an invaluable resource for selecting and discovering new anthem repertoire. As a liturgical congregation, this database enables me to search by scripture references, Sunday & feast lectionary recommendations, and general themes, and this has enriched our musical offerings.”
"Among the numerous and varied tasks I perform as a full-time church musician, planning relevant and timely music for my ensembles is my favorite. How wonderful to have access to such a comprehensive tool as the Church Music Institute's choral music database. It is the first place I go when planning music for all fifty-two Sundays of the year. Thank you, CMI, for making my job all the way in Omaha, NE, so much easier."
“"The online libraries of the Church Music Institute are a priceless resource for me in my work as a freelance church musician, playing the organ and accompanying or conducting choirs. While I'm usually not charged with selecting choral music, the 40 years I have spent as a church musician have given me the chance to learn dozens and dozens of anthems across all seasons and liturgical or denominational uses. The one thing my scores and octavos do not have is a searchable catalog. CMI's online choral library has provided for me a non-commercial resource to remind me of the repertoire I know and have in my own library when I need to find something searched by composer, liturgical season, hymn-tune, day of the Church year, theological topic, or scriptural allusion. I use the choral library primarily to seek out alternate harmonies for hymn-tunes, and the organ library to remind me of the hymn-based repertoire I have at my disposal. It's an enormous searchable database without preference for any particular publisher or denomination, giving me access to titles that I might consider buying if the composer, topic, length, or other details provided make me think I should consider using it. Whether I have located anything to actually play is no measure of the online library's invaluable usefulness: to have a place to inspire my musical selections for worship without the distraction of a commercial agenda gives me ideas and inspiration to consider pieces I had forgotten about until reminded about them because of something I saw listed at CMI. I'm very thankful for the Church Music Institute!" - A New York City Freelance Organist
The Sacred Choral Library
The SACRED CHORAL LIBRARY online catalog contains listings of ALL anthems in the Library. The purpose of the online search database is to allow the user to select appropriate music for worship that meets musical, liturgical, and theological requirements for every church. Each anthem is researched in 17 different Search Fields such as level of difficulty, scripture, liturgical day or season. Most anthems have PDF examples, and several Search Fields may be combined in the search process.
Access the Choral Library
Sacred Choral Online Library Introduction
The SACRED ORGAN MUSIC LIBRARY online catalogue contains listings of ALL organ compositions in the Library. The online SACRED ORGAN MUSIC LIBRARY contains compositions based on pre-existing tunes. The user may do a simple search by HYMN TUNE to locate organ compositions appropriate for worship planning. Each title is researched in a variety of Search Fields such as Composer, Editor, Instruments, Level of Difficulty, Manuals Only, etc. As with the Choral Library, several Search Fields may be combined in the search process.
Access the Organ Library
Sacred Organ Online Library Introduction
Additional Contents of the Library
In addition to the music in the Library, a variety of resource materials have been collected. Scholarly books are available for research that include topics such as worship, theology, church music, hymnody, indexes for worship planning, hymn selection guides, and denominational hymnals and companions to the hymnals. A variety of instruction books on vocal technique and English diction are also available.
