Every effort is being nut forth to make the new Seventh-day Adventist hymnal a worthy book of praise for our churches. The editing of the music has been done with the needs of the congregation in mind.
Some hymn tunes which were too high in range to sing comfortably, have been transposed to lower keys. This will mean better congregational singing of these tunes. Some tunes were notated in half notes and whole notes, and appeared unattractive in type to those without much musical training. It was thought best to renotate these tunes in a more attractive setting, and thus make them more likely to be used.
Some tunes arranged as solos in "Christ in Song" and "Hymns and Tunes" will appear as congregational songs with four-part harmony. In some cases the harmonies of the tunes have been improved. No radical changes have been attempted. Every change was for the purpose of clarifying or improving the time, so that our churches would find the book attractive and usable.
Recent hymnbooks show a very attractive type of printing, both of the words and of the music, and the hymnbook committee believes that our new hymnal should be an attractive book, worthy of our truth, and in keeping with our message.
