Testimonials

Please do not take lightly my words of thanks and praise. The vision for the Church Music Institute and the hours of time and talent have given me, and many others, a great and lasting gift!

I am proud to be a member and supporter of the Church Music Institute both for altruistic and even admittedly selfish reasons. I can think of no other music organization that crosses so many denominational boundaries in providing church musicians with resources of so many kinds. Of special—and, I confess, selfish—appeal are the two branches (organ and choral) of the Sacred Music Library, both of which reflect eons of careful attention to detail in compiling and curating. Perhaps most useful of all in these libraries is their extensive cross-referencing and indexing (hymn tune names, texts, and several others). . . Finding these “ties that bind” is made much easier through the use of the CMI libraries. Various church publishing houses offer similar search indexes, but the CMI libraries stand alone in the breadth of their reach beyond each publisher‘s own catalogue. I am grateful to this generous and noble nonprofit organization and urge all my church music colleagues to join me in giving it the support it deserves.

I am a Music Director in a small town in Massachusetts. I signed up for the Church Music Institute after talking with Dr. Kroeker, who has been more than helpful in my search for certain type of church music. I mainly use the choral library database to view the music to see if it is something our choir can handle. Most of the music publishers or sites do not have extensive viewing options before purchase, and cannot get a good sense of the difficulty level of the music. The choral music library is extensive and well managed, but the biggest asset for my membership is the knowledge and willingness to help on the part of the staff.

CMI is invaluable in planning for music in the worship services in my Presbyterian church. We use the lectionary so finding suggestions in the online library for each Sunday throughout each year gives me more time to concentrate on other aspects of my position. It's an amazing resource! Thank you, CMI. You've saved me hours of time!

The Senior Pastor of my church does not always preach on the RCL texts. He may do a series on one book of the Bible, or he may choose to preach on a particular subject. . . As Minister of Music, my job is to select music that will tie in with the theme(s) on which he is preaching. Of course denominational resources can provide a great number of suggestions, to get the thought processes started, but they are all based on the lectionary. . . . I’ve found the search engines in the CMI Choral Library to be most helpful in fleshing out titles that work well with his free-form sermon schedule (which he gives me three months at a time). On one occasion, the search engine led me to a title that was not in our library, but upon review of text and music, perfect for the occasion. Unfortunately, it was permanently out of print. CMI staff turned this negative into a positive by providing me a PDF copy of the octavo and we secured permission from the copyright holder to make copies for our choir. I am entering my third year as a member of CMI and I find the CMI libraries to be a valuable research tool, saving me countless hours of research making CMI well worth the annual membership expense.

Among the numerous and varied tasks I perform as a full-time church musician, planning relevant and timely music for my ensembles is my favorite. How wonderful to have access to such a comprehensive tool as the Church Music Institute’s choral music database. It is the first place I go when planning music for all fifty-two Sundays of the year. Thank you, CMI, for making my job all the way in Omaha, NE, so much easier.

The Church Music Institute's Database of both choral and organ music has been one of the most helpful tools I've encountered in my job as Organist-Choirmaster at Trinity Cathedral. I use the search for just about everything; psalm settings, anthems on specific texts, anthems that use certain instruments, anthems on a Sunday when I have men only, organ music for a special funeral request, .... I truly use it every day that I'm working and I'm grateful beyond words to have encountered this marvelous wealth of information.

What a wonderfully exciting experience to hear the combined voices of multiple choirs in the Meyerson [Festival] setting! I am not a choir member or choral director but the power of the music of this event was awe-inspiring and so very moving for all those present, whether trained musicians or not. I look forward with great anticipation to the next concert in 2019!

The Sacred Choral Music Library database at the Church Music Institute is at the top of my go-to list for worship planning. The search categories in the music databases are obviously created by and for working church musicians. I find the results immediately applicable and often inspire me to find connections with text and scripture references I would not have found on my own.