Alexandria, Va. -- The Standing Commission on Church Music of the Episcopal Church is planning to ask the Church's General Convention in 1979 to authorize the production of a collection of texts and tunes for a revised Hymnal, with the hope that a proposed book can be presented for approval by that body in 1982.

Meeting here at Virginia Theological Seminary May 22-25, the Commission devoted most of its meeting to a discussion of the revision of the Hymnal. Assisting the Commission in its deliberations were the Rev. Chad Walsh, Poet-in-Residence at Beloit College, Wisconsin; the Rev. Erik Routley, hymnologist, Westminster Choir College, Princeton, N.J.; the Rev. Charles Price, professor of systematic theology at Virginia Seminary; and the Rev. Craig Casey of the Church Hymnal Corporation, New York City.

The Commission noted that even if the 1982 Convention approved the revised book, one to two years beyond that date would be required for the book to be produced in its final form.

The present Hymnal was approved by the 1940 Convention, with a supplemental liturgical index and a collection of service music added in 1961. The preface to the 1940 edition notes that the average lifetime of a hymnal is 25 years.

The Commission decided that all 600 texts currently in the Hymnal should be examined by a committee of theologians and poets to see which should be omitted in order to make room for texts needed for such subjects as the Baptism of Christ, Marriage, the Fifty Days of Eastertide, and Pentecost.

The Commission raised and discussed such questions as: What is a hymn? What should be the style or styles of hymns in the Hymnal? How does the Hymnal relate to the Lectionary? Where do we find texts in contemporary language which complement the greatly expanded Lectionary of the Proposed Book of Common Prayer? Do we conform to the Lectionary? What else do we conform to? What about the artist as theologian and theologian as artist?

The members noted that if the Hymnal is to contain service music -- as the present book does -- together with the greatly expanded range of texts both for the Eucharistic liturgy and for Canticles in the Proposed Book of Common Prayer, the revised Hymnal would probably be a very large book. The possibility of having two books -- one with hymns and the other with service music -- was discussed.

The members of the Commission expressed the hope that a long period of trial use in music -- following several years of trial use in liturgy -- might be avoided. A long period of trial use of the proposed new Hymnal could be expensive for parishes and missions, the Commission noted. The group was concerned, however, that proposed hymns be made available to the Church.

Other topics discussed by the Commission included accreditation of the musicians of the Episcopal Church; preparation of a handbook for clergy and artists on the role of music and the allied arts in liturgy; the Institutes of Music and Liturgy to be held in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Colorado this summer; musical settings of the Eucharistic Psalms; and future teaching cassettes.

Members of the Commission are: The Ven. Frederic P. Williams, Indianapolis, chairman; Miss Marilyn Keiser, Western North Carolina, secretary; James H. Litton, New Jersey, treasurer; Bishop Donald J. Davis, Erie; Bishop Francisco ReusFroylan, Puerto Rico; the Rev. Sherrod R. Albritton, Atlanta; the Rev. Jerry D. Godwin, Iowa; the Rev. Canon C. Judson Childs, Jr., Atlanta; Mother Mary Grace, Milwaukee; Raymond F. Glover, Virginia; David J. Hurd, Jr., New York; and Robert Penn Warren, Connecticut. Dr. Alec Wyton, New York, is coordinator.