High Mass Questions

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timber501

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I’m newer to the Extraordinary form and have been attending Low and High Masses. I find myself being able to follow a low masses a lot easier than the high mass. For example: When the choir is singing I’m unsure if I’m supposed to be following them or the priest.
  1. What parts of the mass does the choir sing?
  2. What are the structural differences between the low and high mass?
Any advice would be great!
 
I’ve had the same struggle. Haven’t been to a low mass, all the EF masses at my parish are high masses. When the singing starts i lose my place and have trouble picking back up
 
timber501 said:
I’m newer to the Extraordinary form and have been attending Low and High Masses. I find myself being able to follow a low masses a lot easier than the high mass. For example: When the choir is singing I’m unsure if I’m supposed to be following them or the priest.
  1. What parts of the mass does the choir sing?
  2. What are the structural differences between the low and high mass?
Any advice would be great!
Click to expand...
Quite frankly, either. You can pray the Introit with the choir, for example, and just skip following the prayers at the foot of the altar. Or you can follow the dialogue of the priest and server, and time your recitation of the proper parts with them.

I do it both ways, fairly equally. But I always sing the Ordinary parts along with the choir.

There is no real structural differences; differences lie mainly in whether the Mass is sung or spoken, and whether there are two or six candles on the altar. And of course, in a Solemn High Mass, roles are more distributed between the priest, deacon, and subdeacon. Positions are also adjusted slightly (e.g. from where the subdeacon reads the Epistle and the Deacon the Gospel). But the flow is identical.
 
Follow the priest. The priest will pray the parts of the Mass and wait for the choir to finish before moving to the next part. As an acolyte, I’ve witnessed the priest stand at the altar many times waiting for the choir to finish. For the creed, the priest will sit down when he has said it and the choir will continue singing.
 
:fleur_de_lis:AMDG:fleur_de_lis:
I’m not exactly an expert either, but I’ll try my best!

The choir sings the following parts, and in this order:
The Introit
The Kyrie
The Gloria, which is intoned by the priest, but not used during penitential seasons
The Gradual
The Alleluia, or Tract during penitential seasons, Or Sequence during some Masses
The Creed, which, like the Gloria, is intoned by the priest
The Offertory Verse
The Sanctus
The Agnus Dei
The Communion Verse.

In terms of the differences between between Low Mass and High Mass, there are really very many. I would suggest looking around online, as there are some really great resources. Why not start here.

Pax Domini Sit Semper Vobiscum!
 
I just keep my head down, my chin up, and I get through it just fine.
 
A High Mass is a very unique experience. There are lots of moving parts. There is stuff going on at the altar, there is stuff going on with the choir. Unlike the OF, a High Mass is not linear. There are things happening simultaneous to each other. It gives the Mass a sense of grandeur.

Generally, though, the congregation will find it easier to follow the choir rather than what the priest is doing. It’s kind of like the Eastern rites which have an iconostasis (wall of icons) separating the sanctuary from the rest of the Church. Except in the EF that iconostasis isn’t a physical thing. It is the music that stays one step behind the priest.

My advice as a new EF-goer is to follow the choir. Then as you get used to it you can follow the priest more.
 
i feel your pain…hopefully in time it will become 2nd nature
 
This makes sense to follow the priest because reading at the pace of the choir would be very slow. I’m assuming the priest is always reading the prayers that the choir is singing and they are never reciting different prayers?
 
I really like Entwhistler’s perspective, that it’s not linear.

When I first attended a High Mass, I perceived the choir to serve as sort of the soundtrack/narration. This is happening, so this is being sung at this moment. When I got more experience, I realized that they were not in synch with each other-- it was like there were two different tracks running at their own speeds: the priest’s action-track and the choir’s singing-track.

So that was when I started dividing my attention. I had enough Latin that I was able to pick up bits and pieces from the choir, and have a rough idea of what they were singing-- but my main focus was on the priest and what he was doing at a particular moment in time.
 
midori said:
I really like Entwhistler’s perspective, that it’s not linear.

When I first attended a High Mass, I perceived the choir to serve as sort of the soundtrack/narration. This is happening, so this is being sung at this moment. When I got more experience, I realized that they were not in synch with each other-- it was like there were two different tracks running at their own speeds: the priest’s action-track and the choir’s singing-track.

So that was when I started dividing my attention. I had enough Latin that I was able to pick up bits and pieces from the choir, and have a rough idea of what they were singing-- but my main focus was on the priest and what he was doing at a particular moment in time.
Click to expand...
I’m fairly certain that this is exactly the issue that is throwing me for a loop. In low mass it’s easy because I just follow the mass because it is linear. When the choir is involved, my wrong expectation was that it would stay in-sync with the priest.
 
When it takes them five minutes to get to the end of a Credo or whatever, I can see how it would fall out of synch! 😉 But it’s still a beautiful thing to hear. 💓
 
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