There are two ways of locating the hymn you wish to use.

If you know the 1st line of the hymn then click on (NB All links work on this page so feel free to try them)

ALPHABETICAL

This will take you the alphabetical list of hymns.

If you wish to search through the list of subject headings for a particular subject, scrolll down to the table and find the section you are interested in.

For example, clicking on "4. Growth in Grace and Holiness" will take you to the hymns in that section.

Let us now assume that you are interested in the hymn "O for a thousand tongues to sing". The entry for this hymn looks as follows in both the main and alphabetical lists:-

Clicking on "HP744" in the "Slides" column with the Left Mouse Button will display the words of the hymn in PowerPoint format in Explorer. Hit the "Back" button will return you to this page. Clicking the Left Mouse Button or "PgDn" will move you down a page and "PgUp" will move you up a page.

To download the PowerPoint file simply click on the link in the "Slides" column using the Right Mouse Button. A small menu should appear and then select "Save Target as.." and then select a folder and if you wish a new name. Then click on "Save". The midi file is then saved on your hard drive. The file can then be loaded into PowerPoint and then a Background can be added, the colours, size and fonts changed. The individual files can be quickly built into a presentation use "Insert" and "Slides from Files..."

To play a tune click on any one of the links in the "Midi" column using the Left Mouse Button. After the Midi file has been downloaded it should be played. This can be in one of several ways depending how Explorer is set up. If Explorer is set up to use the "Media Player" then the Midi file can be saved using "File" and "Save As"

Otherwise a Midi file can be saved by clicking on the link with the Right Mouse Button. A small menu should appear and then select "Save Target as.." and then select a folder and if you wish a new name. Then click on "Save". The midi file is then saved on your hard drive. This can also be used to save the file on a floppy disk for use in a keyboard with a floppy disk.

Quite often a number of tunes is shown. This allows you to listen to a number of different tunes for a hymn. If a green negative number is shown in brackets it indicates that this version of the tune has less verses than shown in "Hymns and Psalms". This is useful on a long hymn like "O for a thousand" as it means the number of verses can be trimmed.

If a red positive number, e.g. (+1) is shown then this indicates that there is that many more verses than the hymn. The tune can still be used, but you will need to fade it out after the last verse. If there is just one more verse then that could always be used as part of the introduction.

To find out more information about a tune click on the name in the "Tune" column with the Left Mouse Button. You will taken to the entry for that tune in the list of Tunes.

The list of tunes will look as follows:-

The table will show you the author and metre of the tune. There may be several versions of the tune, perhaps with a differing number of verses or in different settings. These can be explored by using the Left Mouse Button to play them (and using the Right to save them if neccessary).

The Metre is a description of the number of syllables in each line of the tune. Tunes with identical metres can be used interchangably. C.M. stands for Common Metre which has a pattern of 86.86. To jump to the appropriate entry in the Metrical Index click using the Left Mouse Button on the entry in the "Metre" column

The Metrical Index looks as follows:-

Tunes with the same metre should be able to be used interchangably (however they may not have the right mood, tone or setting). However it is great fun to explore one hymn with tune of another. Tunes can be played by clicking on the link in the "Tunes" column using the Left Mouse Button (and downloaded using the Right).

If the tune you want has too few verses you can only use it by omitting a verse from the hymn. If there are too many verses then you can either play the first one as an introduction and/or fading the music out when you run out of words.

If there is a hymn that is not yet loaded on the website it is always worth looking up its Metre in a tune version of the hymnbook and the checking in the Metrical Index for any suitable alternative.

If you cannot find the tune you are looking for and it is out of copyright then take a look at our very useful MIDI on demand service