1. Attendance

   The following people were present for all or part of this meeting:
   Linda Bisig, Tricia Carrick, Hector Davie, Danielle Ellis, Sue Faillettaz, Art Funkhouser, Jennifer Hockley, David Low, Lynne Pamplin, Elisabeth Pfyffer, Hans Pfyffer, Christine Sager, Manuel Sager, Coretta Van Leer, Sam Van Leer, Janet Wenger.

2. Apologies for Absence

   Apologies had been received from Belle Täuber, Adorée Weibel and Barbara Winfield.

3. Opening

   Sam opened the meeting in prayer. He then thanked everyone who had participated in the reviews for the time and effort they had invested. He particularly thanked two people who had done a lot of work and helped a great deal in this process, namely Hans and Lynne.

4. Overview of Reviews

   Lynne had produced a sheet giving an overview of the book reviews. Hans and Sam had added some information. This updated sheet had been sent by email and was available at the meeting.

   Sam gave some explanations, in particular about the * on the sheet:

   • Both "Songs of Fellowship" and "The -Source" have anew volume: Songs of Fellowship 3 was produced in 2003 and The Source 2 in 2001: Both have a combined words edition. This could have an impact on the cost and also on the decision what to buy.
   • The prices quoted are "retail prices" i.e. without discounts. The "Praise" website offered discounts on bulk orders; Sam and Coretta know the music editor of "Sing Glory" who could offer significant savings. We assume all books could be obtained at some kind of discount.
   • "Sing Glory" and "Worship Today" have* by the number of hymns that are also in AM because the words are sometimes different. There should also be a * by "Praise!" for the same reason.
   • An author/composer index for "Worship Today" was found on the Internet, hence the *. Perhaps we could find other missing indexes the same way.

5. Personal Impressions

   Those present at the meeting were offered a maximum of 1 minute to present their case in favour or against any of the books. People were asked to say why they thought a book was good far St Ursula's, and to highlight any strengths or weaknesses of the books. The presentations were to be used to help other people decide how to cast their votes. We were reminded that quality, not quantity, was important. The people who did not wish to use all their time had the opportunity to give it to others.

   The following people spoke:

   Janet Wenger: had reviewed "Common Praise": there were no guitar chords; lots of hymns. She felt that it doesn't fit what we are looking for.

   Tricia Carrick: had reviewed "Worship Today" and was surprised to see how good it was. She recommended it for the following reasons:

   • the way the songs were chosen - based on those that churches with a copyright license are copying. If people in other churches are singing these songs, perhaps we could too.
   • there is very little overlap with AM and excellent coverage of the songs we want to sing at St Ursula's (39 from 45 which is the best after SoF)
   • already, we have often used the settings of well known songs in our worship (sometimes the guitar chords and piano accompaniment are easier for our musicians)
   • with only 500 songs, there is a good chance that we could learn most (or all) of the songs so that we can decide whether to use them in our worship (i.e. it is a good value book)

   She commented that she assumed we want a book that gives us modern songs that we want to sing; with guitar chords and easy settings for all instruments, so thought that the survey shows that there are 3 possibilities: Songs of Fellowship, The Source and Worship Today. She could imagine that each of these books would be accepted by the congregation at St Ursula's.

   Hector Davie: ruled out "Songs of Fellowship" because it is almost the same as our existing "Songs and Hymns of Fellowship" so instead we could just buy more copies of that book. He also wondered whether it was valid to use the hymns and songs we currently want to sing as a criterion for choosing a new book - what about the ones we don't know?

   Danielle Ellis: had reviewed "The Worshipping Church" and had ruled it out immediately as it has no guitar chords. She thought that "Songs of Fellowship", "The Source" and "Worship Today" were all possibilities but would like to have more time to look at them in detail.

   Sue Faillettaz: had reviewed "Songs of Fellowship" and felt it contained far too many songs, most of which we will never use and some are completely inappropriate or just "rubbish". She also did not want to have to carry 3 volumes every Sunday, just to have the music of what we are singing. She would recommend "New Hymns and Worship Songs" as it fits all our needs and has 35 of the top 45. But she also supported Tricia's comments about "Worship Today".

   Jennifer Hockley: had reviewed "Sing Glory" and thought it was excellent value. The review team had estimated that we would use 80°l0 of the 500 new songs it contains. It contains lots of Taizé songs and also songs from around the world, with suitable music for all occasions. Its only drawback is that it has only a small number of the songs from our top 45. She thought that "New Hymns and Worship Songs", "The Source" or "Worship Today" were also candidates.

   Manuel Sager: had reviewed "Celebration Hymnal" and dismissed it because it has no guitar chords. It also has a low number from our top 45 (and does not include his own personal favourites).

   Coretta Van Leer: favoured "The Source", "Sing Glory" and "Worship Today". "Worship Today" for the same reasons that Tricia had already mentioned; "The Source" (which she had reviewed) because they were using it with the Youth Group and it contains a lot of music they like: they plan to continue using it. She liked "Sing Glory" because it is the only book which contains music from around the world. She agreed with the case against "Songs of Fellowship" and pointed out that we could buy "Sing Glory" and "The Source" for the same money and get a better variety of songs.

   Sam Van Leer: had reviewed nothing and everything. He thought there were four contenders to replace Songs and Hymns of Fellowship without too much overlap with AMNS namely "The Source", "Songs of Fellowship", "Worship Today" and "New Hymns and Worship Songs". He liked "Sing Glory" which is the only book with music from Africa, South America and Asia, but felt that the overlap with AMNS (even with updated words) was too large. He agreed with other speakers that buying a set of books with 1600 songs and only using 200 of them was a bit OTT. He thought that "The Source" was the best he'd seen - it has guitar chords for everything, good indexes, good coverage of our top 45 and new songs that the young people like.

   Hans Pfyffer: had reviewed "New Hymns and Worship Songs" and this was his personal choice. It is a reasonable book, covering various styles including music from Taizé and Iona, chants, music for the Eucharist, for baptisms etc. It also has very good structured indexes to allow the easy planning of music for services, which is an aspect that is not always appreciated. (t has some overlap with AMNS, but still about 400 new titles.

   His 2nd choice would be "Sing Glory" as it also has a good variety of music by a range of authors and, despite the significant overlap with AMNS, about 500 new, contemporary songs. His 3rd choice would be "Praise" because of the good balance of music. The book he liked least was "Songs of Fellowship" for all the reasons already given.

   Lynne Pamplin: had produced a list of 139 songs that she knew and that had been well received both here and in previous churches, then looked at how they appeared in our books, with the following result:

   Songs of Fellowship	130
   Worship Today	116
   The Source	97
   New Hymns and Worship Songs	83
   Sing Glory	46

   This is interesting as it gives us a basis of songs on which to build.

   She had ruled out all books without guitar chords. She had reviewed "Praise" which would be a good contender to replace AMNS, but that is not what we are looking for so she had ruled it out (and Barbara had agreed). "Sing Glory" has too few from our top 45; "Songs of Fellowship" has the disadvantages of cost and carrying extra volumes, as already mentioned; "Warship Today" lacks same indexes, but {as already mentioned) we can get round that; "New Hymns and Worship Songs" has a wide selection, but fewer from our top 45.

6. General Discussion

   Several people mentioned that this was an important decision to be made and it should not be rushed. On the other hand it would be difficult to find a time in the next few weeks for another meeting, because of holidays and other planned activities. it was agreed to hold the first vote and then consider how to proceed with the final vote.

7. Voting

   Sam explained the voting procedure: each person can vote for up to three books. Their first choice gets 3 points, the second 2 and the third 1 point.

   It was clarified that we were voting only for the books reviewed i.e. without the additional volumes of "Songs of Fellowship" and "The Source".

   The result, including votes submitted by 2 people in advance of the meeting, was:

   Celebration Hymnal	0
   Common Praise	0
   New Hymns and Worship Songs	22
   Praise!	2
   Sing Glory	15
   Songs of Fellowship	14
   The Source	22
   The Worshipping Church	3
   Worship Today	28

   It was agreed that the three books with the most votes should go forward to the next round.

8. How to Proceed

   There was some discussion on what to do next. Several people wanted time to look at these three books in some more detail before voting again; but it was uncertain whether we could arrange another meeting before the summer holidays. There was also discussion on whether to wait until we could obtain a copy of "The Source 2".

   The following procedure was agreed:

   1. The books will remain available in the Office for people to look at. A pad of paper will be available there for people to make comments on. Comments can also be given by email. Comments on the books are important to allow us all to share our opinions and also to allow our final voting to be influenced by others.

   2. Members of the group are also encouraged to talk to other members of the congregation and hear and note their opinions too.

   3. Regarding "The Source", we should only consider the book we have. If {and only if) "The Source" comes top of the next vote, we will consider whether to recommend buying the combined words edition.

   4. Votes for the second and final round must be submitted by 30th May. The "Chairs" (Sam, Hans and Lynne) will organise the practicalities of the voting.

   5. The "Chairs" (Sam, Hans and Lynne) will formulate and present a proposal to the council meeting on 8 June, based on this vote.

   6. Assuming council accept the proposal, the "Chairs" will organise the purchase of the books, with whatever discount can be arranged, with the aim of having them available in the autumn.

9. Close

   The meeting closed at 12.30 with The Grace.

Notes written by Tricia Carrick

Distribution: to all present and those who sent apologies; Cc to council members (just for information)

TC / 01.05.04

Overview of the reviews of candidate New Worship Music Books (LP&SV, 23/04/2004)