Where to find music suggestions for church services

There are many resources that can be used to choose music to use in regular church services.

This is a list of the major resources providing English-language suggestions

It is grouped by denomination, and also shows the national focus of each list.

Roman Catholic

• St Louis Jesuits Sunday web-site
  The Music of Sunday's Mass page has some helpful links, including "Sunday's music in parishes" which lists the music being used in a number of American parishes each week.

• National Association of Pastoral Musicians planning calendar   
  Suggestions from a membership-based American Catholic church musician support organisation.
  This is a members-only resource - you must join NMP to get access to it.

• Canadian Bishop's Conference:

Suggestions from the Canadian Book of Worship

• CanticaNOVA publications 
  Music and liturgical suggestions for Year A,  Year B   and Year C, from an American company specialising in quality / traditional music.  Strong emphasis on Latin and official texts.

• Liturgy Music Planner
  A set of suggestions from the Archdiocese of Southwark, in England.   Includes traditional hymns, and also more popular folk-hymn genre suggestions.
  (Look for an up-do-date link in the lower-left side on their page)

• Word to Worship
  Website set up by an American software engineer and volunteer worship leader, giving scripture-linked suggestions for contemporary style songs and hymns based on the day's readings.  The approach (list all songs tagged for any of the day's readings) sometimes gives odd suggestions   (eg "O Come O Come Emmanuel" for the Transfiguration in August).

• As One VoiceLiturgical song suggestions from a major Australian publisher.

• Voices As One
  Suggestions from a American publications company, focusing on the contemporary Christian music (CCM) genre.

• Music Ministry
  A comprehensive set of hymn suggestions from an Australian parish

• Living LiturgyA regular seasonal newsletter from an Australian diocese:  includes various seasonal prayers and a detailed Sunday planner.

• Music Repertoire Suggestions 
  Suggestions from the Diocese of Wollongong in Australia, from a Core Repertoire they have established. Based on the readings and the Propers / Antiphons for the day.

• Music for Liturgy 
  Suggestions from the Diocese of Auckland, New Zealand.   Includes Maori and English language suggestions.

• The Summit On-line 
  Suggestions from the diocese of Melbourne, Australia

• Free-use Sunday Hymn Suggestions  
  This site's own listing of hymns that match the Sunday reading themes.  Based in Ireland, includes suggestions ideas from any  English-speaking sources.

• GIA Publications - Music-By-Date planner
  Suggestions from a major American publisher's current catalog

Psalms and service music

• SundayPsalm
  Contemporary settings of the Sunday psalms written by an on-line community of American musicians.   Each psalm typically includes a video of the composer, and chord charts in several keys.

• Music for Mass  
  Settings of the psalm and gospel acclamation produced by a musician in the United Kingdom.   Includes settings for both UK and US approved scripture translations. Focuses on simple, singable tunes.

• Bear Music
  Settings of the Psalms and other antiphons from a liturgist-composer based in the UK. 

• Modern Psalter
  Contemporary settings of the psalms, verbatim from the Catholic lectionary and designed for liturgical use.  They are written by a volunteer team with members in the UK, US, Indonesia and possibly elsewhere.  Each psalm-setting has a PDF songsheet and MP3 recording.

• PraySing Ministry
  Settings of the Psalms from the Phillipines.  Some in Tagalog, some in English.

Resources that don't offer hymn suggestions directly, but provide information about the day's readings and other prayers include:

• The Directory on HomeliticsA listing of key themes from the readings, and links to Catechism sections related to them.   More about it, including links.

• Mystagogical Reflection of the texts of the Roman Missal
  A growing collection reflections linking the days readings with the prayers from the missal - from the American Federation of Diocesian Liturgical Commissions.
  

Anglican / Episcopalian / Church of England-Ireland-Scotland

• Oremus Hymnal
  A hymnal-based site that aimed to be "the comprehensive source of information about the extensive tradition of Anglican and English-language hymnody".
  The main site has now been removed, but music suggestions based on the Revised Common Lectionary remain (although none of the links work):
  Year A
  Year B
  Year C

• Weekly Worship / Starters for Sunday
  Resources and suggestions from the Church of Scotland

Methodist

• United Methodist General Book of Discipleship Planning Calendar
  A Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) based calendar produced by the American United Methodist Church's General Board of Discipleship (GBOD).

• Singing the Faith Plus
  A website produced by the Methodist Church in the United Kingdom

Lutheran

• LCA Worship Planner  Produced by the Lutheran Church of Australia, this is described as "Everything lay-readers need to prepare worship" - including hymn suggestions.

Non-denominational RCL-based resources

• Singing from the LectionaryA blog with weekly song, hymn and recorded music suggestions and resources for worship - based on the Revised Common Lectionary.
  Based on  suggestions made to a Uniting Church, by a person with a background in Methodist hymn-singing, Scripture in Song, Praise and Worship bands, African American Gospel, Taize, Iona and African song, American hymnody and Sacred Harp singing, and the Catholic Mass and cantored Psalms, who aims for songs that are beautiful, intelligent, and inclusive.

• The Text This Week
  Providing "a wide variety of resources for study and liturgy based on the 3-year Revised Common Lectionary" cycle.  It presents "a diverse variety of resources for scripture study, reflection and liturgy, and purposefully do not restrict the resources to any particular theological/ideological position".  Does not include music suggestions specifically - but does include an index to sources of artwork and also movies.

• The Billabong
  Prepared by a retired Australian Uniting Church minister, this site has reflections and hymns suggestsions for each week, based on the Revised Common Lectionary.

• reWorship
  A set of scriptural resources, suitable for Lectionary and non-Lectionary worship, prepared by an Assistant Professor of Worship and Music, Canadian Mennonite University.

• Together to Celebrate
  Prepared by an Australian member of the Uniting Church, who has a background in children's youth and family ministry, and hymn-book editing.

• Forest Refuge Lectionary MusicA set of RCL-organised resources prepared by a classically-trained American musician with substantial experience in Latin America.

This is not a complete list: if you know other websites that could be included, please leave a message in the Comments box near the bottom of the page.