Findings

Christmas 2024

holidays

Last year, I did a detailed analysis of Christmas hymns. This year, things have changed a little bit because of the introduction of some new hymns. So, in this post I’ll…

Come, Follow Me Hymns

general

As I was going through the data from October 27, I noticed that it seems like a lot of wards sang More Holiness Give Me (#131). I think I noticed this because my ward sang…

Math on the Hymn Boards (Part 1)

general

When I was a teenager, my brother got up to the pulpit on during Fast and Testimony. This was a highly unusual thing for him. In fact, I can’t remember as single other time…

The Second Batch of New Hymns!

general

frequency

new hymns

On September 12th, the church released the second batch of new hymns. In a previous post, I covered in detail as much as I could about the first batch of hymns and how they…

President Nelson’s 100th Birthday

holidays

frequency

On Monday, September 9th, President Russell M. Nelson celebrated his 100th birthday. Let’s see how some wards celebrated that through congregational hymns.

How many of each card should a ward have?

general

I’ve never had a calling where I was the one to put the cards on the display to show the hymn numbers. But, with the data I have, I can now provide some recommendations on…

Called to Serve and Mission Farewells

frequency

I’ve noticed over the past couple of weeks that a lot of wards have been singing Called to Serve (#249). In some cases, I’m able to get a little more information from the…

What hymns are sung around Pioneer Day?

holidays

frequency

Pioneer Day is coming up, so it’s worth it to look and see what wards typically do with regard to their congregational hymns. We have a few hymns that are explicitly related…

What hymns are sung around the 4th of July?

holidays

frequency

Today is Independence Day in the United States. Many American congregations sing patriotic hymns to commemorate the day. Let’s take a look at some statistics and patterns…

What hymns are sung around the martyrdom of Joseph Smith?

holidays

frequency

As I’ve been collecting data this month with a focus on the new hymnal, I noticed that a fair number of wards sang hymns related to Joseph Smith. One ward explained why…

The First Batch of New Hymns!

general

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new hymns

On May 30th, the church released the first batch of new hymns. I have done posts on how those hymns have been used during the first, second, and third weeks since their…

What hymns are sung around Father’s Day?

holidays

frequency

It’s Father’s Day here in the United States. Last month, I did an analysis of what hymns are typically sung on Mother’s Day. This post will be structured similarly, except…

The third Sunday with new hymns!

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new hymns

This is the third week since new hymns were introduced! We had some competition with Father’s Day this year, so I was curious to see what the hymns would be. Currently I…

The second Sunday with new hymns!

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new hymns

This is the second week since new hymns were introduced! There was a little less hype about it online and I didn’t do as much petitioning (i.e begging) for data, but I did…

The first Sunday with new hymns!

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new hymns

We got new hymns this week and today was the first chance to use them! Between social media and personal connections, I was able to collect hymn data from 93 wards. Let’s…

What hymns are sung around Mother’s Day?

holidays

frequency

Mother’s Day is approaching. In our church, we place a lot of value on Mother’s Day. Primary kids usually sing a song or two in sacrament meeting to their mothers and this…

What hymns have recently gotten more or less popular?

frequency

general

Are hymns equally popular from year to year? Are there hymn that have been increasing or decreasing in popularity? Were there events that triggered a sudden spike in a…

What hymns are sung around Easter?

holidays

frequency

Compared to other Christian religions, we don’t have a lot of celebration around Easter, whether in the home or in church meetings. My impression is that some members of the…

What hymns are sung around Fast Sunday?

holidays

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In this post, I take a look at what hymns are sung on Fast Sundays.

Are there any Valentine’s Day hymns?

holidays

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Anyone who has been to Walmart at all since December 26th will know that the next major holiday in the United States is Valentine’s Day. It’s only kind of a Christian…

How much data do I have and where did it all come from?

meta

In this post, I’ll explain a bit more about the data itself. You’re not going to see any interesting findings about hymn stats here; instead, this page will be mostly to…

What hymns are sung around New Year’s Day?

holidays

frequency

In this blog post, I explore what hymns are sung the Sunday after Christmas and the first Sunday in January. The structure of this post is very similar to my previous analysis of the Sunday after Thanksgiving. However, the transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas is not the same as from Christmas to New Year’s. In this post, I uncover what I think are some pretty interesting patterns that illuminate a lot about how music coordinators select their hymns.

Christmas

holidays

In Latter-day Saint congregations, Christmas is the holiday that gets sung about the most. In this post, we’ll explore some of the patterns that arise in the hymns that we sing in December.

What hymns are sung the Sunday after Thanksgiving?

holidays

frequency

In the United States, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is a weird one. We’re just getting off a holiday and even though a few days have passed, a lot of people haven’t returned…

How many unique hymns does a ward sing in a year? Part 2

A much nerdier and more nitty-gritty analysis of trends over several years.

general

I was recently asked something along the lines of “how many hymns does a ward sing through?” Previously, I wrote that ward sing through about 105 unique hymns per year.…

What hymns are sung around Thanksgiving?

holidays

frequency

This was originally posted in November 2023. Since then, I have collected a lot more data. The bulk of this post has been updated to reflect additional data that has been…

What are the highest notes in alto lines?

alto line

musicology

highest notes

Previously, I’ve discussed in depth the highest and lowest notes a soprano line is expected to go. In this post, I’ll explore the highest notes alto are expected to sing.

What hymns are sung in October as a result of the Primary Program?

frequency

holidays

October is peak Primary Program season. According to the Handbook, the “Children’s Sacrament Meeting Presentation” is held annually “during the last few months of the year.”…

What hymns are sung in October as a result of the Primary Program?

frequency

holidays

October is peak Primary Program season. According to the Handbook, the “Children’s Sacrament Meeting Presentation” is held annually “during the last few months of the year.”…

What are the most common final chords?

And everything else you may want to know about final chords!

soprano line

alto line

tenor line

bass line

chords

musicology

How many hymns have melodies that don’t end on the tonic? What parts of the chord does each part tend to sing? How many hymns end on moving lines? What are the most common configurations for final chords and how does that relate to key signatures?

What are the sopranos’ lowest notes?

soprano line

lowest notes

musicology

What hymn has the lowest soprano note? What is a typical lowest note for a soprano line? What is the highest lowest note for a soprano? If you can only sing down to a C, what proportion of hymns would you be able to sing melody on?

What are the least common hymns?

frequency

general

Previously, I’ve posted about the most popular hymns. In this post, I’ll look at the opposite end of the spectrum: what hymns are hardly ever sung at all? Ones that, if they…

What are the highest notes in the soprano lines?

soprano line

musicology

highest notes

What hymn has the highest melody note? What is a typical highest note for a soprano line? What is the lowest highest note for a melody? If you can only sing up to a C, what proportion of hymns would you be able to sing melody on?

What hymns are sung around General Conference?

frequency

holidays

General Conference is next week and many wards will be singing hymns about it. Of course, no one has sacrament meeting on General Conference Sunday, but many wards…

Does anyone sing the women’s and men’s arrangements?

frequency

musicology

soprano line

tenor line

At the back of the hymnal, there are 29 hymns that are designated as being for women or for men, either because of the text and/or because of the musical arrangement. This…

What are the most common key signatures?

key signatures

musicology

soprano line

bass line

Which key signatures are the most common and why? Which ones are people most likely to see? What hymns are in a minor key? In this post I take a deep dive into key…

How many unique hymns does a ward sing in a year?

general

Let’s say you’re an ambitious music coordinator and you want to sing as many different hymns as possible. How many could you get through in a year? How many hymns do wards…

What are the most common hymns?

general

frequency

This post shows what the most common hymns are overall in LDS sacrament meetings. It is based on data from 25,638 sacrament meetings.

What are the most and least common Sacrament Hymns?

sacrament

frequency

In this post, I dive into just the canonical sacrament hymns (i.e. hymns 169–196).