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Selah Publishing Co., Inc., is one of the premier publishers of church music today, quite a feat considering the tenth anniversary of Selah's first publication was only in 1999.
Our goal is to help church musicians by offering publications and services that can make a difference in your music programs and in the lives of those you reach. Selah's publications are always of the highest quality, so that people are inspired to understand the Christian faith more deeply. We plan on Selah helping you, our successful church musicians, for many years to come.
Selah's History
Selah Executives
Selah's Committment to the Environment
Submitting publications for possible publication
Selah's Privacy Statement
The History of Selah back to top
Selah was started in Washington, D.C., in 1987, where David Schaap, founder of Selah, began work on our first publication, Songs of Rejoicing: Hymns for Worship, Meditation, & Praise. This highly acclaimed hymnal supplement was published in 1989. Selah moved to New Brunswick, N.J. in September, 1988; moved to Accord, N.Y., in June of 1990; moved to Kingston, N.Y., in May of 1993, and Pittsburgh, Pa., in August of 2003.
Selah was incorporated in the state of New York in January of 1991. We are a privately held corporation, governed by a board of directors, and operated by the president and our hard-working staff, with the help of numerous consultants and printers.
Selah's first organ collection, "An Advent/Christmas Suite" by Al Fedak, was published in the fall of 1989. Various organ collections and solos have followed, including an ongoing series titled "Hymn intonations, preludes, and free harmonizations."
Our publishing of individual's hymns was begun in 1990 with the publication of Al Fedak's and Roy Hopp's hymnaries.
The choral catalog came into existence in 1992, though one title (William Rowan's setting of "When in our music") was published in 1991. Choral music is published in all levels of difficulty, different voicings (SATB, SAB, Two-part/mixed voices, unison), with various instrumental accompaniments, for children and adults, and in many different styles. A choral subscription program now lets hundreds of choir directors get the first look at all our new publications.
Selah's occasional newsletter, Music in Worship, started up in the fall of 1992. This newsletter is intended to provide interesting, helpful, and timely information to the customers of Selah Publishing Co. Interviews, how-to articles, editorials and various perspectives give readers inspiration and understanding, and new ways to understand and accomplish their work. In 1998, this newsletter moved online at our website to let everyone access the helpful articles when they need them.
Selah receives and evaluates thousands of compositions each year. From these submissions, Selah's editorial committee selects the best pieces that we think will help church musicians in their work and allow choirs, church musicians, and congregations to give praise to God through their art. We only publish what we will want to stay in our catalog for a long, long time, so we do not publish for the sake of producing a certain number of new titles in a year. But we have averaged a publication schedule of 30-50 new anthems each year; 5-10 instrumental collections; several titles for handbells; recordings, videos, books, and miscellaneous items on an as-developed basis. Much of our emphasis is on congregational song, and hymn-related material is always a part of each year's releases.
Selah Executives
David Schaap, President
David Schaap is president and founder of Selah Publishing Co. His undergraduate studies were at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., with a double major in music (composition and arranging) and art (sculpture). Schaap has led workshops, hymn festivals, and reading sessions for national meetings of The Hymn Society, the American Guild of Organists, the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, and National Association of Pastoral Musicians, as well as for many regional events. He is also currently part-time organist/choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Pittsburgh, Pa., and was formerly Minister of Music at St. James Episcopal Church in Hyde Park, N.Y.
Virginia Schaap, Vice-President
Virginia (Ginnie) Schaap is Vice-President of Selah Publishing Co., Inc., a position she has held since 1993. Her major areas of oversight are Dealer Relations, Customer Service, Accounts Receivable, and Music Typesetting. Virginia has also taken on a few editorial projects recently, with the organ Hymn Harmonization and Intonation series being the most recent. Virginia is Cantor and Soprano soloist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Prior to St. Paul’s, she held these positions at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and St. James Episcopal Church, Hyde Park, New York. She is also Administrator for the Friends of Music Guild of St. Paul's Church, where she is in charge of the Music Concert Series, and Music Patrons. Virginia also works part-time at Brentwood High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as Assistant Musical Director.
Virginia earned a B.A. in Voice Performance from the University of Pittsburgh where she studied with Claudia Pinza. She also has a second B.A. in Journalism from the University of Pittsburgh. She also studied flute extensively with Paul Graham, Joe Picchi, and Clem Rolin. She has played and sung with various organizations over the years, including the University of Pittsburgh Concert and Marching Bands and the West Hills Symphonic Band.
Selah & the Environment back to top
Early on Selah made a commitment to the environment through the use of recycled paper (with post-consumer content) for our publications. It is an added expense that hardly any other publishers pay for, but we feel it is good stewardship of the renewable and non-renewable resources used in producing paper. And so all of our publications since 1990 use acid-free recycled papers (some covers are a rare exception, as are an occasional printer error of using the wrong paper). Most of our publications are also printed using soy ink, which does not pollute the environment the way petroleum based inks do.
Submitting Publications to Selah back to top
Selah is always happy to review unsolicited manuscripts (much of our catalog has come from such submissions). All we require is that it be a legible manuscript (submitted by mail only). We will send you a postcard confirming its receipt and then forward it to our team of consulting editors. Because of this method, the review process can take 6-9 months (depending on what time of year it arrives). But once we put a publication in print, it stays in print, and we work hard to make sure the world knows about it.
If you're interested in submitting your compositions to Selah, send it to Selah Publishing Co., Inc., Editorial, P.O. Box 98066, Pittsburgh, PA 15227. We suggest you peruse Selah's website to see what type of publications we have published to see if your work might fit in our catalog. If you have any questions about this process, send an e-mail to editorial@selahpub.com
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