The Library
Information about Psalm singing, its history, Christian hymns, hymnals and church music in general, metre and how to use it, etc.
Metrical Psalters (and their histories)
We have the following metrical Psalters on this site. At present we have the complete contents of three of them. It is our intent to provide the complete contents of all of these Psalters, plus others as we have time.
| Date | Popular Name | Author | |
| COMPLETE | 1562 | The "Old Version" | Sternhold and Hopkins (and others) |
| 1564/1635 | The Scottish Psalter of 1564/1635 | Words of the 1564 Scottish Psalter, music of 1635 | |
| 1640 | The Bay Psalm Book | New England Puritans | |
| COMPLETE | 1650 | The Scottish Psalter of 1650 | Scottish Reformed Church |
| COMPLETE | 1696 | The "New Version" | Brady and Tate |
| 1718 | Psalterium
Americanum (limited selection) |
Cotton Mather | |
| 1719 | Psalms "Imitated in the Language of the New Testament" | Isaac Watts | |
| 1887 | Psalter of the United Presbyterian Church | Various | |
| NEW | 1999 | The Psalter for Christian Worship | Michael Morgan |
What is Metre?
This three-part paper explains the basic idea behind a way for Psalm singers to match metrical psalms to the appropriate tunes.
Part 1, What is Metre
Part 2, Why Should I Care?
Part 3, And If I Should Decide to Care, How Do I Use It?
Coming -- "Beyond Metre -- further insight into choosing tunes to match words." (We reserve the right to change the title) Accent, mood, etc.
Obsolete Words and Pronunciations First, some notes about the language used in the various metrical Psalters.
(to be continued later) Metrical Psalm Singing Development, Illustrated With Psalm 19. This is an exploration of versions of Psalm 19 in metre dating from 1562 up to the present, with tunes contemporary to each version of the Psalm.
Special Selections
From time to time we will create a selection of songs from resources on this site (and other sites). These selections will be intended to be used for personal worship, or perhaps even as song services for a more formal gathering.
- For Passover:
- Passion Week in Song, a selection of songs about Jesus last week.
The Great Hallelujah - possibly the Hymn sung at the Last Supper was from one or more of these Psalms- For Pentecost:
- Selection of Songs for Pentecost
- For Trumpets:
- Selection of Songs for the Feast of Trumpets
- For Atonement:
- Selection of Songs for Attonement
A Special Page for the Fourth of July
One selection on the Fourth of July page is a version of
Psalm 107:21-31 by John Quincy Adams (the
U.S. President)
