Hymnary.org - Melody Search Tool

Somewhat off the focus of this blog, but nonetheless cool...
Over at Hymnary.org, part of CCEL (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) project, there is now a "Melody Search Tool." Using a virtual, onscreen keyboard, enter in as much of a tune with as much as the correct rhythm as you can and hit search. It will go through it's database of over 2800 hymns and find the best matches that it can. It's not perfect, and it helps if you can get the rhythm as close as possible, but my little search above did return the song for which I was hunting as the sixth of 533. (TRYGGARE KAN INGEN VARA aka, "Children of the Heavenly Father")

Getting (free) royalty-free music you can use

Sure there is a ton of free music on the web, but what if you want some music you can use as part of a presentation that you are sharing? You either need to compose and perform your own music or come up with some royalty-free music. A Google search for such music will return quite a few sites, but most of them have an up-front fee.
For free, royalty-free music (though sometimes there is a one-time fee or donation suggested and sometimes it is only free for educational or non-profit, and in most cases attribution is still required), may I recommend:

• incompetech
• Opsound
• Magnatune
• mixter

Want to create your own music even though you are not a musician? Try MS Music Producer (downloadable from the link, but follow directions). This is an old Microsoft orphaned program I played around with back in the 90s, but it's not bad. You pick your own style, personality, instruments (and you can move the instruments for separation and prominence), set tempo and key, pick the 'shape,' indicate if you want an intro/ending or if it should be looping, and set the length of the piece. Hit compose, and it creates a song on the spot. Don't like it? Just hit compose again or change instruments or personality. You save your creations as MIDI files.It won't be confused with professional music, but here's a 30-second example I made. If you just want some background music, it'll do.

For more info, check this fuller listing of resources I have.

Now, how did I get off on this subject? I was looking for some music by Vector (long disbanded but still worth listening) which featured the guitarist Jimmy Abegg. What I stumbled upon was some music by Marty and Bob Abegg. For biblical studies sorts, does one of those names ring a bell? Yes, this is the same Martin G. Abegg who is one of the authors ofthe Dead Sea Scrolls Bible and of The Dead Sea Scrolls - A New Translation. See, biblical studies can be cool after all!

Sites for Art, Pictures, Music, and Video related to the Bible / Christianity

I seem to have been asked enough about online resources for art, music, and videos related to the Bible, especially from a Christian perspective for use in churches. I collected some of the better sites with which I am familiar and have posted them online:

Sites for Art, Pictures, Music, and Video related to the Bible / Christianity

Leave comments if I'm missing some good stuff...