Appropriate mass settings

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Hi, I have recently joined a small music group. We lost our organist and sang unaccompanied for a while, then a keyboard player (not an organist) and two classical type guitarists joined forces to make the group along with myself and 2 other singers. Slowly we are building a repetoire of songs/hymns etc. but for mass settings we are struggling, most seem to be aimed for choirs SATB etc. We have used gathering mass but this does not follow the mass text fully. We regularly us ‘A simple mass’ which we found online (FREE!) and suits our set up perfectly. but now, we need some more mass setttings that we can lead the congregation. I would be grateful for any suggestions please. Many thanks, Anne
 
Somerville’s (New) Good Shepherd Mass is simple and easy for the congregation to learn. Before “Mass of Creation” became almost the default setting, NGSM was the one setting you could count on hearing across English Canada.
 
thanks for the info - I’ve never hear of the good shepherd, but I have heard of/ or seen somewhere -mass of creation … perhaps this is the place to begin as you suggest. many thanks Anne
 
murphy654 said:
thanks for the info - I’ve never hear of the good shepherd, but I have heard of/ or seen somewhere -mass of creation … perhaps this is the place to begin as you suggest. many thanks Anne
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Mass of Creation has a responsorial Gloria and takes liberties with the text for the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei. It’s not one I would recommend.
 
Something to consider is that if there is any way to postpone learning a new Mass setting, things are going to be changing soon and everything now may soon be obsolete.
 
surely they wont change things THAT much will they ??? I must admit, I have not been keeping up to date with this but … who knows … Its a good point tho’
 
murphy654 said:
surely they wont change things THAT much will they ??? I must admit, I have not been keeping up to date with this but … who knows … Its a good point tho’
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The Gloria will be gone for sure. I guess “Lamb of God” stays the same. I can not look up the link where I am today that shows the two parallel.
 
pnewton said:
Concerning the Gloria:
While through-composed settings of the Gloria give clearest expression to the text, the addition of refrains is permitted, provided the refrains encourage congregational participation. (Sing to the Lord, USCCB)
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Two things about that:
  1. Sing to the Lord has no binding force, as it was not submitted to Rome. It could have force in a particular diocese, if the Bishop there wants it to, but there is no actual authority in the document.
  2. Why would one voluntarily choose a Gloria that does not give clearest expression to the text?
I’m not saying that Mass of Creation isn’t permitted. If you change the texts where they are wrong (two words in the Sanctus and one word twice in the Agnus Dei), it is permitted. In congregations that are used to it, there is a comfort level which makes it hard to give up. However it seems a poor choice to use if the parish is not already accustomed to it.

And now to the original question: There are 5 English one-part masses in the Adoremus hymnal. I think one or more of them would probably be ideal, as they are one-part even in the Choir edition (where the hymns are 4-part).

Of course, if you want to avoid any troubles with changes in translation, you can always use some Latin/Greek chants for the Mass parts. They’re certainly not going to change. The Jubilate Deo Mass Referred to by Pope Paul VI as “the minimum chant repertiore for every parish” is available free, and printable, online. Here is a site with several printing options, including both chant and modern notation:

ceciliaschola.org/notes/jubilatedeo.html

You may find the Kyrie and the Agnus Dei in particular to be familiar. I know they were used in my church all the while I was growing up.

Good luck, and bless you for your courage and perseverence!

–Jen
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revert_jen said:
Two things about that:
  1. Sing to the Lord has no binding force, as it was not submitted to Rome. It could have force in a particular diocese, if the Bishop there wants it to, but there is no actual authority in the document.
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Of course it was not submitted and not binding. That is not the type of document it is. The USCCB does not even have any authority in the since that the bishops individual report to Rome, not the USCCB. Sing to the Lord is nothing but advisory in nature, and it is something I have found useful, as I am neither a bishop nor a canon lawyer.
ceciliaschola.org/notes/jubilatedeo.html
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Thanks for the link, BTW. I have been shopping for something like this.
 
revert_jen said:
I’m not saying that Mass of Creation isn’t permitted. If you change the texts where they are wrong (two words in the Sanctus and one word twice in the Agnus Dei), it is permitted.
–Jen
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The tropes are what makes the Agnus Dei problematic.
 
pnewton said:
Of course it was not submitted and not binding. That is not the type of document it is. The USCCB does not even have any authority in the since that the bishops individual report to Rome, not the USCCB. Sing to the Lord is nothing but advisory in nature, and it is something I have found useful, as I am neither a bishop nor a canon lawyer.

Thanks for the link, BTW. I have been shopping for something like this.
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However, if you recall, Sing to the Lord was supposed to have brought the United States into compliance with Liturgiam Authenticam and it was supposed to have been submitted to Rome for the necessary recognitio. There are also some contradictions in Sing to the Lord, especially where the tropes are concerned (Agnus Dei).

If I were the OP, I would use A Community Mass setting by Proulx since it is easy to sing and does not fiddle with the text. His Gloria setting is, thankfully and mercifully, not responsorial, and faithful to the current text. You can find the Proulx settngs at www.giamusic.com . In fact, for my cousin’s wedding, we are going to use Proulx.
 
Phemie said:
The tropes are what makes the Agnus Dei problematic.
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I would have mentioned leaving out the tropes, too, but I am under the impression that the subject is controversial, so I thought I’d skip it. Call me a coward. 🙂
benedictgal said:
If I were the OP, I would use A Community Mass setting by Proulx since it is easy to sing and does not fiddle with the text. His Gloria setting is, thankfully and mercifully, not responsorial, and faithful to the current text. You can find the Proulx settngs at www.giamusic.com . In fact, for my cousin’s wedding, we are going to use Proulx.
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It’s also one of the English masses in the Adoremus Hymnal.

–Jen
 
revert_jen said:
I would have mentioned leaving out the tropes, too, but I am under the impression that the subject is controversial, so I thought I’d skip it.
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What is a trope? How is it pronounced?

With enough clear-cut abuse, I too prefer to only worry about the black and white issues. On issues in which there is controversy, I try to be as traditional as I reasonably can.
 
thanks for all the hints and advice … and links … its a bigger ‘minefield’ than I had first thought, does **anyone **know when the final word on mass text will be available I wonder
 
murphy654 said:
thanks for all the hints and advice … and links … its a bigger ‘minefield’ than I had first thought, does **anyone **know when the final word on mass text will be available I wonder
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The new translation of the Ordinary is approved and has been submitted to musicians so that they can compose settings for it. We, the people in the pews, are unlikely to have to make any changes for another year, or two.

The new translation will only come into use once all the parts are completed. By parts I mean that the Roman Missal has been divided into several sections for the purpose of translation. Each section (book) is submitted to the Bishops’ Conferences who vote to approve or suggest changes. Once all parts have been approved by the conferences the Missal will be published in its entirety.
 
pnewton said:
What is a trope? How is it pronounced?
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Tropes (pronounced like ‘hope’) are embellishments. In the MOC Agnus Dei we hear
“Jesus, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world…”
“Jesus, Bread of Life, who takes away…”
“Jesus, Prince of Peace, who…”

There is nothing in the GIRM that allows for this reworking of the text of the Agnus Dei.

Yes, “Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us” can be repeated as many times as necessary to accompany the breaking of the bread, always ending with “grant us peace”, but there is no provision for actually adding to or in any other way altering the text.
 
Yea, I’m not crazy about the MOC Agnus Dei either. Try this:

cpdl.org/wiki/images/1/17/Agnusdeixviii.pdf

If you want, just take the top line and sing that, without having to mess with SATB. And there are guitar chords too (even though, no offence, but, I HATE guitars in church).
 
One of the one’s I like is “Heritage Mass” and the “Brown Composite Mass”.
 
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