Print on Demand (POD) is a viable means of continuing to offer printed music after demand slows and makes traditional reprints difficult. Music is digitally scanned and saved as a pdf file, then upon order, Word Music will print your copies on a high speed digital printer, bind them, and ship them to you.

POD product is as close to the appearance of the original product as possible. Anthems include color covers and are stapled. Choral books also feature the original 4-color covers, and all books are perfect bound (flat spine) with no staples, regardless of page count. There is a subtle difference in print quality because of the scanning process, so POD titles may not have the same clarity when compared side by side to a press-printed book, but the difference is negligible and will not hinder the user.

We are currently offering Word Music choral books, anthems, orchestrations, director/teacher resources, accompaniment trax and listening CDs in this program (sorry, no bulk CDs or practice trax). Consumer print products (vocal, piano and instrumental folios) are NOT available through POD at this time.

Not at this time. Out of Print titles must be re-licensed before they can go into the POD program. Our licensing department is working from a priority list, but we cannot give you an ETA on any specific title or even promise that it will eventually be a part of the program. The GOOD news is that choral books and anthems currently active in the system will no longer go out of print, but will be converted to POD if/when they no longer meet minimum reprint requirements.

The time it takes to create, bind, and ship Print On Demand product varies based on seasonal demand. This can range from a few days when demand is low to a few weeks when demand is the highest. If Print On Demand product is needed by a specific date, please call a Word Music representative at 1.888.324.9673. Expediting shipping will not change the time it takes to create, bind, and ship a Print On Demand order.

Our vendor uses UPS ground service as a rule.

Sorry, we are not shipping internationally at this time.

No. Due to the "on demand" nature of this program, no returns are accepted.

See "Split Trax" or "Stereo Trax" for choral accompaniment recordings.

A single song, arranged for choir, usually SATB with piano accompaniment and sized 6-7/8" x 10-1/4". Also called an "octavo." Anthems are usually accompanied by a ChoralTrax accompaniment CD or cassette (cassettes were discontinued in 1999) and orchestration.

An Accompaniment DVD or Companion DVD contains video and audio to be used during the performance of the musical. Multiple track options (usually split, stereo, and click) are available on each DVD for flexibility in performance options. The content will vary from musical to musical, so be sure to read the description to determine what features are included.

A single song, arranged for choir, usually SATB with piano accompaniment and sized 6-7/8" x 10-1/4". Also called an "octavo." Anthems are usually accompanied by a ChoralTrax accompaniment CD and orchestration.

A collection of multiple (3-4) songs, assembled together around a certain theme or difficulty level, usually SATB with piano accompaniment and sized 6-7/8" x 10-1/4". Some seasonal booklets are designed to be performed together as a “service set,” or may be used in various combinations or as individual songs. Booklets are usually accompanied by a ChoralTrax™ accompaniment CD and orchestration.

More economical bulk packages of recordings for selected musicals and collections are available. These are complete recordings of the entire work, but without the hard plastic packaging and graphics. CDs are packaged in Tyvek sleeves and boxed 10 CDs to a pak. If you find a musical that does not specifically list a bulk package, check with your music supplier on special discounts on listening CDs.

A collection or musical with multiple songs in one 6-7/8 x 10-1/4" book. Choral Books can have many associated materials - check the product description for details.

See "Preview Pak"

An accompaniment recording created as a companion to an anthem or booklet. Unless otherwise indicated, a CD ChoralTrax™ includes a full demo mix, a split track version, and a stereo version (see “Split Trax” and “Stereo Trax” for more details), playable on any audio system, large or small.

See "Split Trax"

See "Stereo Trax"

This term is used for materials that we publish that are teaching tools, not primarily made up of song arrangements.

A Digital Teacher’s Resource Kit (TRK), packaged on a single CD-ROM, is available for newer children’s musical titles. See “Teacher Resource Kit” for details.

These downloadable vocal, rhythm, and instrumental paks of popular congregational worship titles are ideal for any size church. Visit www.wordmusicnow.com for details.

Available for every Kathie Hill musical, the DAV includes a choral book and recording, a 30-45 minute video with professional choreography demonstrations, costume, prop and set examples, and sometimes video footage for use in your rehearsals and performance. In addition, the DAV includes over 100 reproducible pages of musical and spiritual activities for each song, attendance, outreach and enrollment forms, vocabulary cards, rehearsal plans, scripture memory cards, children's devotional booklet, kickoff party plans and audition and casting instructions.

Available with certain older musicals, this book includes the complete musical score and script along with extensive production notes for staging the musical.

Varying in skill level, these 9" x 12" books include several arrangements for solo guitar. Notation includes a melody line, guitar tablature and guitar chords.

You may think of a hymnal as the book that sits in the pew, but there's much, much more to a hymnal product! Visit the Congregational Worship section of wordmusic.com for more details on all of the features of our hymnals.

Created primarily for Celeste Clydesdale children’s musicals, this video/DVD features a full demo performance by a carefully selected premiere choir, as well as helpful staging ideas and detailed choreography instruction.

Varying in skill level, these 9" x 12" books include several arrangements for solo instruments. Usually available for Bb and C instruments (with some occasional versions in F and Eb,) the notation in the main part of the book includes the solo line and piano accompaniment. Bound in the middle of the book is a pull out section with the solo line only to minimize page turns. Some books include an accompaniment CD attached to the inside back cover. Explore the drop-down menus in our Instrumental section for our complete listing.

The listening recording is usually a companion to a choral book, piano book or other printed music. Word Music listening recordings are never excerpted, including only complete songs from the books. Unless otherwise noted, listening recordings feature the complete instrumentation and vocals (also called a "Full Mix" or "Complete Mix,") and include every song and every word of dialogue listed in the book.

Please note: in the case of the More Songs for Praise and Worship series, a "listening CD" is a "reference CD." The reference CD lets you listen to excerpts from original Maranatha!, Vineyard, Integrity and other recordings of all of the songs in this collection. These original recordings do not match the printed arrangements in More Songs for Praise and Worship, but should be a great help in learning the songs and teaching others the basic style of each piece.

See "Anthem"

Word Music creates two kinds of orchestrations:
1. Our standalone orchestrations (Sunday Sounds, Freedom Orchestrations and Coronation Series) are designed to be performed instrumentally.
2. Our accompaniment orchestrations (anthem orchestration, musical orchestrations) are designed to allow orchestras to accompany choirs.
Orchestra parts are printed single-sided on 8-1/2" x 11" paper. More recent titles are provided in .pdf format, delivered on a bookmarked CD-ROM, so that you can print out the copies you need and will never again lose a single part! For more information, explore the Instrumental section of wordmusic.com

Varying in skill level, these 9" x 12" books include several arrangements for organ. For more details, visit the keyboard section of wordmusic.com.

Varying in skill level, these 9" x 12" books include several arrangements for piano. Many have associated recordings and may include duets with piano or other solo instruments. For more details, visit the keyboard section of wordmusic.com.

Created for most musicals and some collections, PracticeTrax™ are a great way to teach individual voice parts to choir members.

Each package of trax includes four recordings - Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass. The individual voice part is enhanced in each of the four mixes to make it easy for your choir to learn their respective parts. These trax are meant to be duplicated for individual choir members for rehearsal purposes.

Please note: purchasing the PracticeTrax™ package does not automatically grant you permission to make copies of the recordings. Your purchase price covers the initial cost of creating the PracticeTrax™ masters. There is an additional per-tape or per-CD charge based on the number of songs in the musical (usually between $1.00 and $2.25 per duplicated recording) printed on a form that comes in the package.

Duplication of these tapes and CDs are not covered by your CCLI license.

When a choral arrangement warrants it, instead of (or in addition to) publishing an orchestration, we will publish praise band charts. Generally, they are the same, high quality engraved 8-1/2" x 11" pages that you expect, but these charts do not include string parts and may use a smaller set of brass. Newer titles are available in .pdf format on CD-ROM.

For every musical and collection, we create a preview pak. Unless otherwise noted in the description, preview paks contain the actual choral book and complete recording for the entire book. The preview pak is a convenient way for a music minister to listen and look through a musical in its entirety without having to pay for a completely packaged book and recording.

For musicals with DVD accompaniment, we provide a separate CD/DVD Preview Pak. In addition to the choral book and listening CD, this pak includes a full DVD with the demo mix audio along with the actual video (a "for promotional use only" watermark is on this demo version only), giving you a complete preview of the video presentation that accompanies the musical.

Because they are sold at a discount, Preview Paks are non-returnable and may only be sold one to a church.

Available with certain older musicals, this book includes the complete musical score and script along with extensive production notes for staging the musical.

These books, usually 9" x 12", vary in content, but are designed for small group singing and unless otherwise noted, contain vocals and piano accompaniment.

A Split Trax accompaniment recording is a normal stereo recording, playable on any audio system, large or small, that includes some way to adjust the levels coming from the left and right channels.

On the left channel:
the recording has the complete accompaniment playing - full instrumentation.
On the right channel:
the recording has the full choral vocals, omitting any solos.

The result is a very flexible product. With a mixing board, you can choose to use as much or as little of the vocal parts as you need and you can route them to different speakers for different use. Many choirs use a certain amount of the track vocals only in the choir monitors so that they can hear the vocal parts, but the sound being picked up by the microphones above the choir is overwhelmingly the live singers. Split Trax are great for rehearsal also because you can use more of the vocals when learning the music and less as you get closer to the presentation. For more information on using Split Trax accompaniment recordings in your church, contact your favorite music supplier or Word Music through our contact page.

A Split/Stereo accompaniment recording contains the entire musical or collection twice: once in Split Trax format, once in Stereo Trax format. See the two individual definitions for information on the two recording styles.

A Stereo Trax accompaniment recording is a normal stereo recording, playable on any audio system, large or small. It contains only the instrumental accompaniment parts, no vocals whatsoever.

The TRK provides over 100 reproducible pages of pre-musical planning material, a Bible study booklet, large group lesson plans, small group lesson activities, production notes, choreography instructions and early bird activities designed to make teaching and performing your musical easy and fun! Older catalog titles are packaged as 8-1/2” x 11” 3-hole punched pages (shrinkwrapped), while newer titles are available in a handy CD-ROM format (“Digital TRK”) that enables you to print multiple copies of only the pages you need and provide an easy-to-store permanent back-up.

Videos listed as products associated with musicals can vary in content and format. Check the musical description to determine whether the video is instructional or a demonstration performance or both. See also "Worship Video."

These books, usually 9" x 12", vary in content, but unless otherwise noted, are designed for solo singing and contain a vocal melody line, guitar chords and piano accompaniment. See a complete list in the Vocal Folio section of wordmusic.com.

Worship videos are four to ten minute, self-contained dramas that aid in worship by provoking thought and communicating a message. Useful for main worship services, special events and other occasions, each DVD features a complete contemporary Christian song, straight from the original recording, and new, original drama, ready for your service. Find out more in the Worship Video section of wordmusic.com.