Guide

How do you sing psalms and hymns at home when nobody is musical?

Sing at home by choosing one psalm or hymn with a familiar tune, singing the same one every day for a few weeks, and adding a new one only when the family knows the first by heart. Nobody needs a good voice or an instrument. Start low, sing slowly, and follow your church's practice on what is sung.

Household Theology Press, a project of Michael Tribett · Last updated November 15, 2026

Can a family sing together if nobody is musical?

Yes. A family with no musician can sing well enough to praise God, and children rarely judge a parent’s voice. What matters is choosing tunes you already half know, singing slowly, and repeating the same song until everyone has it. Singing gets easier with every week you keep doing it.

You do not need a piano, a guitar or the ability to read music. Singing with no instrument at all works well. Here is a simple way to begin:

1. Pick a tune you already know. Many psalms and hymns share a few well-known tunes.
2. Start low. Most untrained singers pitch the first note too high and run out of room. Start lower than feels natural.
3. Sing slowly. Children need time to catch the words.
4. Sing one stanza. One verse sung well beats four verses mumbled.
5. Repeat it for weeks. The goal is singing from memory.
6. Use a recording at first. Play it once, then sing along with it, then sing without it.

If even that feels hard, try lining out: one parent sings a line, and the family sings it back. It is slow, but it works for any song and any age.

Which psalm or hymn should a family learn first?

A good first song is short, uses a tune many churches know, and is sung at your own church. Psalm 100 is a strong choice. “All People That on Earth Do Dwell,” William Kethe’s metrical version of Psalm 100 from 1561, is in the public domain and is sung to the well-known tune Old Hundredth (Hymnary.org).

Learning that one tune pays twice. According to the same Hymnary.org page, most hymnals pair Old Hundredth with “All People That on Earth Do Dwell,” with “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow,” or with both, so many children will soon hear it in church as well.

After the first, choose the next songs from what your congregation sings on the Lord’s Day. Children who sing a psalm at home on Tuesday and hear it in church on Sunday begin to feel at home in worship.

How do you pick a few psalms and hymns to learn by heart?

Pick songs your church sings often, that teach plain truths, and that the children can carry through the week. Learn about one a month. After a year the family will know a dozen songs by heart, and the children can keep singing them for years.

Here is a sample year. Swap in what your church sings.

Keep a list of the family’s learned songs on the fridge. In review weeks, let each child choose one.

Where can you find free psalters and hymn texts?

Many older psalm versions and hymn texts, such as Kethe’s Psalm 100 above, are in the public domain and can be printed for home use without cost. The site’s resources page lists free psalters and hymn texts from reputable outside sources. Before copying any newer hymn or psalm setting, check its copyright line.

Your church’s own psalter or hymnal is the best home songbook if you can get a copy. Children then learn the same words and tunes the congregation uses.

Do all Reformed churches sing hymns?

No. Some Reformed churches sing only the biblical Psalms in worship, a practice called exclusive psalmody. Others sing psalms and hymns. Both groups sing the Psalms. They differ over whether songs written by later Christians belong in worship. This section describes both views without choosing between them.

Churches that sing only psalms

The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) is one example. Its own statement of convictions says its “musical praise employs God’s Word only,” using the Book of Psalms, and that it sings “without the aid of musical instruments” (RPCNA, Convictions). The same page names the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms as its standards.

Churches that sing psalms and hymns

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the United Reformed Churches in North America share the Trinity Psalter Hymnal, which describes itself as a collection of “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” and includes at least one setting of each of the 150 psalms (Trinity Psalter Hymnal).

What the confessions say

The Westminster Confession of Faith (21.5, in the text published by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church) names “singing of psalms with grace in the heart” among the parts of ordinary worship (OPC). Churches holding this confession are found on both sides of the question: the RPCNA and the OPC both hold it. The 1689 Baptist Confession (22.5) speaks of “teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord” (1689 Baptist Confession, chapter 22).

This guide does not settle the question. Follow your church’s practice at home, and if you are unsure how your church applies its view to family worship, ask your pastor or elders. Families in both kinds of churches can use everything else on this page.

How do you get children to join in?

Children join in when the song is familiar, short and theirs. Sing the same song every day, let a child choose the song on review nights, and sing in other places too: in the car, at bath time, while folding laundry. A song heard all week becomes a song a child sings without being asked.

For the youngest, see family worship with toddlers, which fits singing into a five-minute routine.

Where to go next

• How to start family worship: where singing fits in a ten-minute order.
• Resources: free psalters and hymn texts.
• Bible memory verses by age: Scripture to learn alongside your songs.