The PSALM Liturgical Music Resource

Mission Statement

The PSALM on-line Liturgical Music Resource is an extensive collection of Orthodox liturgical sheet music and related educational materials that uses Internet technology as the means of distribution. Representing a diversity of musical traditions and various styles of translation, the material in the Resource adheres to the highest possible standards of quality in the areas of musical content, textual integrity, liturgical propriety and visual presentation. By contributing to and drawing from this resource, Orthodox church musicians, clergy, and laity are given the means to work together in a common effort to enrich the liturgical life, musical worship, and missionary outreach of their respective communities.

At a glance

The on-line Liturgical Music Resource will provide:

• PDF files of liturgical sheet music downloadable from PSALM's website with the click of a mouse, either for free or at a minimal cost

  Driven by a master database comprised of nearly 2500 liturgical hymn categories, the Resource will ultimately contain music for the entire cycle of liturgical services, offering users the opportunity to search thousands of settings from all traditions that are appropriate for a wide variety of parish situations, from large mixed choir to congregational singing. All music in the permanent music database will undergo thorough editorial review and will be typeset to industry standards.

• A "Liturgical Music Exchange" -- a means for composers, arrangers and adapters to share their music at no cost to them or to the user.

  Many Orthodox musicians, whether professional, semi-professional or amateur, are setting and adapting music for their own parish use because the music they need has either never been translated, or exists in an English translation different from the one used by their diocese. The PSALM website will save much duplication of effort, enabling these musicians to share their work.

• A single, uniform web site for liturgical music distribution, where the various Orthodox dioceses and jurisdictions can post their own music publications and translations without duplicating the costly programming necessary to create such a site.

  Sharing a central resource for Orthodox music will save the individual dioceses the set-up and maintenance costs, and will give musicians from all dioceses and jurisdictions access to one another's material, encouraging mutual familiarity with various musical traditions.

• An exhaustive music index, listing not only the music available for download from the PSALM website, but also listing the music of other publishers and/or websites that is not available on the PSALM website.

  Church musicians and clergy will be instantly connected to published music resources throughout the world, including those that PSALM does not have legal permission to post.