On Sat, 11 Jul 2026, David Wright wrote: > > I have no idea what the difference is between American hymn books and > > English ones, wasn't aware of those two styles... > > I'm not home with my books, but quite at random google turned up > https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91ALm2PEOUL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg > from Hymns Ancient & Modern, where stem directions distinguish the > parts that share each staff, even where they might happen to cross. > The Episcopal Hymnal 1982 is the only American example I know of that > follows that style. > > OTOH, most US hymn books in my small collection are set like > https://hymnary.org/page/fetch/CH1995/232/low/233 > from the Chalice Hymnal, constantly switching between the (default) > chords, and divided parts only where necessitated. >
Some links in case these are helpful: - The Hymnal 1982: according to the use of the Episcopal Church <https://hymnary.org/hymnal/EH1982> (David mentioned this one already) - The Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America 1940 <https://hymnary.org/hymnal/HPEC1940> (this is the immediate predecessor to the 1982) Both of those use different stem directions within the same staff to indicate different voices. See, for example, https://hymnary.org/hymn/HPEC1940/page/60. I don’t know whether this is relevant for your current project, Jogchum, but for what it’s worth, in the United States, the Hymnals 1940 and 1982 are widely considered to be two of the best hymnals ever published domestically.
