Music for Online Worship

A woman's hands cradle a ukelele

Hymn Copyright & Permissions

Our new-and-improved chart (PDF) provides copyright & permission information for all hymns in Singing the Living Tradition and Singing the Journey.

Using Music Videos in Worship

All Unitarian Universalist congregations and worship leaders are asked to review our new WorshipWeb guidelines (PDF) , developed in collaboration with the Association for UU Music Ministries (AUUMM). These new guidelines apply to all videos on this page, except for the videos below identified as commissioned.

These videos are intended to lighten the burdens imposed by online worship. They should not be used to justify decreasing the wages or positions of professional music staff. We also ask that you provide full attribution to the composers and lyricists on your screens, not just verbally, for each piece that you incorporate into worship.

Music Submissions

Before sending WorshipWeb your music video(s), please review our music submission guidelines.

Song-Leading Music

These videos create an intimate, easy way to learn new songs. They were commissioned, and can be used without making further financial donations.

Hymns

Singing the Living Tradition

Singing the Journey

  • "Morning Has Come (YouTube)" (words & music by Jason Shelton; #1000 in Singing the Journey). Created by Paul Thompson (Music Director at the UU Church of the Palouse, Moscow ID). Please make a pay-what-you-can donation.
  • "Meditation on Breathing (Vimeo)" (words & music by Sarah Dan Jones; #1009 in Singing the Journey). Performed by Mary Pratt and Rev. Jim Magaw, UU Church of the South Hills, Pittsburgh PA. Pay-what-you-can; choose "non-pledge collections" and leave a note in the comments section.
  • "When I Am Frightened (MP4)" (words & music by Shelly Jackson Denham; #1012 in Singing the Journey). Created by the Minnesota Valley UU Fellowship. Shelley's daughters ask that you please donate, as you're able, to ​Heritage UU Church in Cincinnati​, choir or children’s music program.
  • "Open My Heart" (YouTube) (words & music by Henry S. Flurry; #1013 in Singing the Journey). Performed by Susan T. Mashiyama. If you use this song, please share that info with Henry Flurry as a form of connection and affirmation.
  • "Woyaya" (YouTube) (words & music by Loughty Amoa, Solomon Amarfio, Robert M. Bailey, Roy Bedeau, Francis T. Osei, Whendell K. Richardson, and Mac Tontoh; #1020 in Singing the Journey). Created by Paul Thompson (Music Director at the UU Church of the Palouse, Moscow ID). Please make a pay-what-you-can donation.
  • "Lean on Me (MP4)" (words & music by Bill Withers; #1021 in Singing the Journey). Created by the Minnesota Valley UU Fellowship.
  • "When the Spirit Says Do" (YouTube) (#1024 in Singing the Journey).Words & music: African American spiritual, arr. Mark Freundt. Vocals and piano by Ruben Piirainen, Music Director, Unitarian Universalist Church West (Brookfield, WI). Please make a pay-what-you-can donation; PayPal: jrubenp@yahoo.com/Venmo: @jrubenp.
  • "Blue Boat Home" (YouTube) (words by Peter Mayer; #1064 in Singing the Journey). Created by Paul Thompson (Music Director at the UU Church of the Palouse, Moscow ID). Please make a pay-what-you-can donation.
  • "Ancient Mother"(YouTube) (tradtional Navajo prayer; #1069 in Singing the Journey). Performed by Susan T. Mashiyama.
  • "The Earth Is Our Mother (Vimeo)" (attributed to the Hupa tribe of northern California; #1073 in Singing the Journey). Created by Sandi E (UU Fellowship of Franklin, NC). Please read this "use with care" blog post by Rev. Kimberley Debus. Make a pay-what-you-can-donation.

Hymn-Based Music

These videos are great to use as preludes or musical meditations/interludes in your online worship services:

  • "We Are Gathered" (YouTube), whose text (to a familiar hymn) was written specifically for virtual worship by Amanda Udis-Kessler. Video by video by Jane Clabaugh. Please make a donation to The Movement for Black Lives or Color of Change.
  • Adam and Matt Podd's arrangement of "My Life Flows on in Endless Song" ("How Can I Keep From Singing") (YouTube), featuring musicians and singers from Grace Chorale of Brooklyn, First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn, and First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn. (Quaker text; melody by American Baptist minister Robert Wadsworth Lowry; #108 in Singing the Living Tradition). Adam's PayPal ID: adampodd@gmail.com/Venmo: @adampodd

  • "We Are" by Dr. Ysaÿe Barnwell (Vimeo), performed by Dr. Ysaÿe Barnwell and the UUA General Assembly 2020 virtual choir. Produced and Directed by Benjie Messer. Video Editing and Motion Graphics by Izzy Hyman. Audio Editing by Sam Plattner. Photos by Clint McKoy, Christopher L. Walton, Paul Becker, Janine Gelsinger, and contributed by members of the choir. All audio and videos was captured by musicians in their own homes. Dr. Barnwell notes that if you've purchased scores for each of your singers, there is nothing else required. However, if you wish to use this piece in worship, please send a one-time fee of $30 to Barnwells Notes, Inc., 2441 Tunlaw Rd NW, Washington, D.C. 20007-1819.

Classical

(Mostly) Original Music