What Resources Should a Music Director Have?

What resources should you as a United Methodist music director have at hand? What will you likely need on any given day as you plan worship, select repertoire, pick hymns, direct choirs, work with accompanists and church staff, and handle all the other elements of the job? Here are two suggestions: (1) "The Music Director's Tool Kit" is a short list of essentials that every music director should have within easy reach. (2) "The Music Director's Library" includes everything in the Tool Kit, plus additional resources that many musicians will find useful. You should have your own personal copies and make frequent notations in them. The titles listed are recommendations. There are numerous excellent volumes available and you may prefer a different title. The point is to have it and to use it.

The Music Director's Tool Kit

• Hymnal: whichever of the following official hymnals of The United Methodist Church is applicable to your congregation:
  • The United Methodist Hymnal(United Methodist Publishing House, 1989)
  • Mil Voces Para Celebrar(United Methodist Publishing House, 1996)
  • Come, Let Us Worship, Korean-English bilingual (United Methodist Publishing House, 2001)
• Hymn Selection
  Hymns for the Revised Common Lectionary by Dean McIntyre (Discipleship Resources; out of print, but available from amazon.com)
• Hymnal Companion
  Companion to The United Methodist Hymnal by Carlton Young (Abingdon Press, 1993)
• Supplemental Songbook
  The Faith We Sing( Abingdon Press, 2000))
• Supplemental Song and Worship Book
  The Upper Room Worshipbook (Upper Room Books, 2006)
• Worship Resources
  The United Methodist Book of Worship (United Methodist Publishing House, 1992)
• UMC Structure and Polity
  The Book of Discipline, current edition; revised every four years following General Conference (United Methodist Publishing House)
• Worship Planning
  Worship: Creating Opportunities to Meet and Respond to God by Daniel Benedict (Cokesbury, 2004)

The Music Director's Library

• Bible
  New Revised Standard Version — This is the translation used in The United Methodist Hymnal
• Hymnal
  • The United Methodist Hymnal(United Methodist Publishing House, 1989)
  • Mil Voces Para Celebrar(United Methodist Publishing House, 1996)
  • Come, Let Us Worship, Korean-English bilingual (United Methodist Publishing House, 2001)
• Hymn Selection
  Hymns for the Revised Common Lectionary by Dean McIntyre, (Discipleship Resources; out of print, but available from amazon.com)
• Hymnal Companion
  • Companion to The United Methodist Hymnal by Carlton Young (Abingdon Press, 1993)
  • The Hymns of The United Methodist Hymnal, Diana Sanchez, ed. (Abingdon Press, 1989)
• Supplemental Songbook
  • The Faith We Sing (Abingdon Press, 2000)
  • The Faith We Sing, Worship Planner (Abingdon Press, 2000)
  • Songs of Zion(Abingdon Press, 1981)
• Supplemental Song and Worship Book
  The Upper Room Worshipbook (Upper Room Books, 2006)
• Worship Resources
  • The United Methodist Book of Worship (United Methodist Publishing House, 1992)
  • The Africana Worshipbook, Valerie Bridgeman Davis, Gen. Ed. (Disciplesip Resources, 2006)
  • The Worship Resources of The United Methodist Hymnal, Hoyt Hickman, ed. (Abingdon Press, 1989)
  • Fiesta Cristiana: Recursos para la Adoración, Joel and Raquel Martínez (Abingdon Pess, 2003)
• Worship Planning
  • Worship: Creating Opportunities to Meet and Respond to God, Daniel Benedict (Cokesbury, 2004)
  • Worship Matters, vol. 1& 2, E. Byron Anderson (Discipleship Resources, 1999)
  • Worshiping with United Methodists, Hoyt Hickman (Abingdon, 1996)
  • The New Handbook of the Christian Year, Hoyt Hickman, Don Saliers, Laurence Stookey, James White (Abingdon Press, 1992)
• UMC Structure and Polity
  The Book of Discipline, current edition; revised every four years following General Conference (United Methodist Publishing House)
• Music Dictionary
  • The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Don Michael Randel, ed. (Belknap Press, 2002)
  • Worship Music: A Concise Dictionary, Edward Foley, ed. (The Liturgical Press, 2000)
• Music History & Appreciation
  • A History of Western Music, 7th ed, Donald Grout, Claude Palisca, J. Peter Burkholder (W. W. Norton, 2005)
  • The Enjoyment of Music, 9th ed. Joseph Machlis and Kristine Forney (W. W. Norton, 2003)
• Church Music History
  Jubilate II: Church Music in Worship and Renewal, Donald Hustad (Hope Publishing, 1993)
• Hymnology and Hymnody
  Sing with Understanding, Harry Eskew and Hugh McElrath (Nashville: Church Street Press, 2nd ed., 1995)
• Music Ministry
  • Your Ministry of Singing in the Church Choir, Roger Deschner (Discipleship Resources, rpt. 2005)
  • Music and Worship in the Church, Austin Lovelace and William Rice (rev. and enlarged ed., Abingdon Press, 1976)
• Choral Conducting
  • Precision Conducting: Seven Disciplines for Excellence in Conducting, Timothy Sharp (Roger Dean Publishing)
  • Precision Conducting: Achieving Choral Blend and Balance, Timothy Sharp (Roger Dean Publishing)
• Contemporary Music and Worship
  • Contemporary Worship for the 21st Century: Worship or Evangelism? by Daniel Benedict and Craig Miller (Discipleship Resources, 1995)
  • NextChurch.Now: Creating New Faith Communities by Craig Miller (Discipleship Resources, 2000)
• Global Music
  Gather into One: Praying and Singing Globally, C. Michael Hawn (Eerdmans Publishing, 2003)

Please also read "Music Musing #118: What Should a Music Director Know?"