Laudate published by Decani Music

This hymnbook has an excellent and comprehensive selection. The first printings of the pew edition contained literally thousands of misprints. By no means all of these have been corrected in reprints, and there are still many misprints not only in the accompaniment edition (as many as one or two on every page) but also the pew edition. There are also some major discrepancies between the accompaniment and pew editions. First published in 1999, Laudate contains 1000 items, most of which are in the category of “very useful”, and span all the major publishers.

A revised edition is in preparation, and is expected to be available in summer 2012.

Celebration Hymnal for Everyone published by McCrimmon

This collection was first published in 1994. At the time, it was the best available, and was overtaken by Laudate. But...

...an updated and expanded edition has recently been published which includes 1009 items as opposed to the 850 of the original edition. (The Supplement is also available separately.) The new material puts CFE with Supplement roughly on a par with Laudate, though the latter still has the edge.

A revised edition of this hymnbook is expected to be available in mid-June. The revised Mass settings section looks as if it may be more useful than the equivalent section in Laudate.

Hymns Old and New (Liturgical) published by Kevin Mayhew 

Like Laudate, this was first published in 1999. Its principal drawback is that it is restricted mostly to items in which copyright is claimed by the publisher, and in that respect it continues the tradition of its predecessors. A very small amount of Mass music from other publishers is included for the first time. There are only 765 “general” items, a good proportion of which now need to be considered very dated. They are supplemented by another 100 items aimed specifically at children, which often have no real connection with the liturgy (other collections have much better resources for children). Finally, there is a collection of 178 psalm settings for the 3-year Sunday and major feastday cycle whose texts unfortunately do not accord with what is in the Lectionary. 

This book is therefore not recommended for purchase by churches in the diocese.

There are a number of issues here:

(1) Whether the item is still in copyright or in the public domain. A general rule of thumb is that copyright continues for 70 years after the death of its author (if you want to reproduce the text) or its composer (if you want to reproduce the music). However, there are differences between individual and “corporate authorship”, and differences in the law between the European Union and the United States of America. If in doubt, it's best to ask. It's important to note that the fact that a piece is publicly available, e.g. on a website or as a downloadable file, does not necessarily mean that it is in the public domain. Some websites carry material with permission of the copyright controller, but they do not have permission to allow you to make copies of that material. Once again, if you are not sure, it's best to ask.

(2) Even if the item is in the public domain, there remains the copyright in the typsetting and music engraving paid for by the publisher (sometimes referred to as “graphic copyright”). If the book was published less than 25 years previously, it is illegal to photocopy even public domain material from it without the publisher's permission. The safest course of action in such cases is to make your own typesetting or engraving of the material in question.

(3) Whether the photocopies are intended for the use of the congregation or the musicians.

(4) Reproducing copyright words and/or music on OHP transparencies, slides, PowerPoint presentations or websites is also subject to copyright law. 

For help and advice on copyright either contact the Diocesan Director of Liturgy or Decani Music who administer one of the two licensing schemes.