When did we last sing it? Keeping a hymn history
To know when a hymn was last sung, keep one record per service with the date and the hymns in it, and work out the last-sung date, the count and the next planned date from those records each time you look, rather than typing them into a separate column. That way a changed plan never leaves the history wrong. The planning desk keeps the services and shows the history beside every choice.
Why the history matters
A congregation notices two things: a hymn it sang a fortnight ago, and a favourite it has not sung in two years. Both come from the same missing fact, when a hymn was last sung. Memory is unreliable after a few weeks, and a pile of old bulletins is slow to search.
A history also answers the questions that come up at the annual meeting and at licence reporting time: which hymns were sung this year, how often, and from which book.
How to keep it
- Record services, not hymns. Each service holds its date and its hymns by slot, so a hymn moved from the entrance to the sending is still one use.
- Record what was sung, not only what was planned. If a hymn was changed on the morning, change the service.
- Work everything out from the services: last sung, times in the past year, times in all, next planned. A last-sung column typed by hand is wrong the first time a Sunday is swapped.
- Bring the old history in once. If past lists live in a spreadsheet or old bulletins, a sung history import (one row per hymn sung, with the date and the number) fills the history in a single step.
The planner flags a hymn sung again within 8 weeks and a tune heard again within 4 weeks by default; both windows are settings. The not sung in a year list turns the same history the other way round: every hymn in the library with no service in the 365 days before a date and none planned from that date on, never sung first.
Worked example: one hymn's history in the demo parish
In the Demo Parish (invented), opened on 27 September 2026, 36 Amazing Grace appears on these dates: 19 Oct 2025, 15 Feb 2026, 26 Jul 2026, 27 Sep 2026, 11 Oct 2026. For the next Sunday, Proper 22, 4 October 2026, the planning desk shows each chosen hymn with its history:
| Slot | Hymn | Last sung | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entrance hymn | 40 Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise | 2 Aug 2026 | 3 in the past year, 3 in all |
| Offertory hymn | 10 As with Gladness Men of Old | 11 Jan 2026 | 1 in the past year, 1 in all |
| Communion hymn | 43 Abide With Me | 9 Aug 2026 | 3 in the past year, 3 in all |
| Sending hymn | 76 Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus | 9 Aug 2026 | 6 in the past year, 6 in all |
On the Sunday after, Proper 23, 11 October 2026, the desk warns:
- Amazing Grace was sung 2 weeks before, on 27 Sep 2026.
- The tune DIX is also heard 1 week before, with As with Gladness Men of Old on 4 Oct 2026.
- For the Beauty of the Earth is tagged for Thanksgiving Day; this day falls in Season after Pentecost.
The not sung in a year list for the same day holds 5 hymns, 5 of them never used in the plan. The first few:
| Number | Title | Last sung |
|---|---|---|
| 46 | Come, Ye Thankful People, Come | Never in the plan |
| 79 | Jerusalem the Golden | Never in the plan |
| 28 | Now Thank We All Our God | Never in the plan |
| 25 | Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart | Never in the plan |
| 45 | We Gather Together | Never in the plan |
Common mistakes
- Keeping a last-sung date by hand in the index, which goes stale the first time a plan changes.
- Recording planned hymns and never correcting them after the service.
- Counting a hymn once per week rather than once per service, which hides a hymn sung at two services on the same day.
- Ignoring tunes: a hymn text can be new while its tune was sung last week.
- Starting the history from today and never importing the past, so every hymn looks unsung for the first year.
Plan it now
Open the planning desk to pick this Sunday's hymns with last-sung dates beside them, or the library to enter your hymnal. Everything stays in this browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no account.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good repeat window for hymns?
Many parishes aim for six to twelve weeks between repeats outside a season's own hymns. The planner starts at eight weeks and lets you change it; a smaller repertoire needs a shorter window.
Can I import past years of hymns?
Yes. Save the old list as a spreadsheet with one row per hymn sung, holding the date and the hymn number (and the hymnal if you use more than one), and import it as a sung history. Rows already in the plan are counted and left alone.
Does the history count hymns sung at weddings and funerals?
Only if you add those services. Add them when you want them to count towards what the congregation has heard; leave them out when the congregation was a different one.
Is the history stored online?
No. It is kept in this browser only. Export a backup file regularly and keep it somewhere safe, because clearing the browser's site data removes it.
Sources
Last reviewed 27 September 2026 against:
- Selected Christian Observances (data service), US Naval Observatory, Astronomical Applications Department, years 1990 to 2070 and eight edge years fetched and read 27 September 2026. Used for: The published dates of Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday and the First Sunday of Advent that the calendar engine is tested against.
- The Calendar of the Church Year (Book of Common Prayer, 1979), The Online Book of Common Prayer (bcponline.org), read 27 September 2026. Used for: The principal feasts, the three fixed feasts that take precedence of a Sunday (the Holy Name, the Presentation, the Transfiguration), All Saints' Day kept on the following Sunday, and feasts moved out of Holy Week and Easter Week.
This guide is our own summary, not a rule book. Rules are paraphrased, never quoted at length, and if this page disagrees with the current published rules, the rules win. Hymnwise is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any church, denomination, diocese, hymnal publisher, lectionary body or licensing service, including the Consultation on Common Texts, Augsburg Fortress, Church Publishing, GIA, OCP, Hope Publishing, Hymnary.org, OneLicense and CCLI.