Hymnal-Stay-Open Music Stand Clip

Hymnals are a great spiritual and musical resource, but they're designed to be held in hand by choristers, not placed on a music stand as a pianist or organist would do.  They tend to fold in half and fall on the floor because the spine is so springy.  This can be remedied using a giant binder clip and some kind of flat stick such as a tongue depressor.

There are other, more-elegant (but more-expensive) solutions, of course.  For instance, you could take your hymnal to a bookbinder and have it spiral-bound.  Churches have also been known to photocopy dozens and dozens of hymns (because, ultimately, loose-leaf is the best format for print music), but this is frowned upon in some circles because it's illegal.

I love old church music and I recommend an exploration of it to any keyboard or voice student studying music from the Baroque period to the 1950s, give or take.  I also recommend that any Christian be somewhat familiar with the old music, because it discusses a surprisingly different range of topics than the music we sing today.

Jesus loves you whether you believe it or not.  Happy musicking!