About Us
Our Roots
Home-grown and Designed for Flexibility
The CuthbertPraise Hymn Project began in the early 1990's at St. Cuthbert Episcopal Church in Houston Texas.
The CuthbertPraise Hymn Collection began as a hodgepodge of hymns for the worship team at my home church St. Cuthbert Episcopal in Houston Texas where my wife Barbara has been Minister of Music since 1989. St. Cuthbert is a small-to-medium size church in the suburbs with a diverse and enthusiastic congregation. Musical tastes range from classical anthems and traditional hymns to the latest in Contemporary Christian music, and while personal preferences and worship styles vary among parishioners, all agree that our rich heritage of hymns deserves to be preserved, offered, and enjoyed.
The CuthbertPraise Hymn Collection is an assortment of instrumental hymn arrangements designed to integrate with the Episcopal Hymnal as well as many others. Each hymn arrangement contains parts for a number of different instruments which can be used individually or combined to suit musical taste and availability, and each arrangement remains faithful to original hymnal settings.
Included in each set are parts for flute, Bb trumpet (or clarinet/tenor sax/treble clef baritone), C trumpet (or oboe/violin), Eb alto saxophone, horn in F, trombone (or euphonium/bassoon/cello), tuba (or bass trombone/string bass), brass ensemble (for any size and any instrumentation including winds and strings), guitar (with fretboard diagrams and capo transpositions where appropriate), and timpani (which may also be played using a MIDI keyboard). A piano score with text and descant part is also included.
Each hymn in the collection contains an original descant (some have more than one), and all the arrangements will work with any combination of instruments. The Voice/Guitar part may be used to accompany singing both with and without piano and ensemble parts. The duet/trio arrangements will work with one, two or three instruments (or more if you want to double parts). The brass score includes substitution parts that are clearly marked (for example, “Horn and Trombone 1 may substitute or sound together”).
Over the years the St. Cuthbert music ministry has gradually incorporated more contemporary sounds into worship employing the use of guitar, bass, drums, and keyboard in addition to the standard choir and piano. The MIDI keyboard has proven itself to be a versatile and easily accessible addition to the ensemble in adding many different solo instrument sounds as well as strings, drums, percussion, and timpani. The MIDI keyboard can also be used to supplement your acoustic ensemble with the sound of a pipe organ. Adding instruments such as guitar and drums and a solo instrument with descant is wonderful way to give an old hymn a fresh new life and draw people into music ministry.
Randy Adams has degrees in music from Northwestern University and the University of Houston. Randy is Professor of Trumpet at Sam Houston State University where he has been a faculty member since 1991. Randy has also taught music at Houston Baptist University and San Jacinto College. He is a former member of the Houston Symphony (2000-2001), Theatre Under the Stars (playing Broadway musicals for over 10 years), and is currently a member of the Houston Grand Opera Core Orchestra where he has performed since 1984). Randy plays guitar, bass, trumpet, and keyboards at St. Cuthbert Episcopal Church in Houston Texas where his wife Barbara has served as Minister of Music since 1989. You can also often find Randy yodeling and playing happy European folkmusic on his accordion! Randy and Barbara have four beautiful and talented daughters, five delightful grandchildren and a maple tree named Jeffrey.