I need help!

  • Thread starter Thread starter SusanC782000
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

SusanC782000

Guest
I don’t know if this is the proper place to post this, but I need some help.

I am a protestant who has been asked to sing in a friend’s Catholic wedding. I am supposed to sing a responsorial Psalm. I have been told which one to sing, but there is only one line of notes and several verses. I am very uneducated in how to sing this. Is there any words of wisdom someone can give me on how to learn how to sing this? I really want to make sure everything sounds right…

Any help is very much appreciated.
 
I don’t personally know where the music is, but try to contact the music director or a cantor from the Church where the wedding will be held. Either one should be glad to help.
 
A very quick answer is get togther with the Organist who presumably will be playing - you will need to rehearse together anyway - so the sooner the better. It is possible that you are being asked to CHANT the psalm - and if you don’t know how to - this is not going to be easy
 
Hi. I am a church organist at a Catholic church. The responsorial psalm is not hard.

You sing the response once by yourself. You then repeat the response again to be joined by the rest of the church. (Don’t be surprised if no one sings-sigh).

You then sing each verse followed by the response with the response being sung last. Pause after each verse slightly so that they know when to come. Again, don’t be surprised if no one else sings. All of the people are supposed to sing the refrain with you but they generally don’t.

Don’t worry. It will be fine.
 
40.png
wannabee:
A very quick answer is get togther with the Organist who presumably will be playing - you will need to rehearse together anyway - so the sooner the better. It is possible that you are being asked to CHANT the psalm - and if you don’t know how to - this is not going to be easy
Click to expand...
Good idea. Check to see if it is going to be chanted. It hasn’t been my experience but if they do then you are going to want to have the organist’s help on this.
 
I have cantored a few times, and I am pretty sure I know what you are talking about.
The first part of the music is the response. You sing that, then bring everyone else in to sing it again. Then you sing the first verse, using the melody from the soprano line, which is the top line. Don’t worry, you can sing it in your own octave, so you don’t have to whale up in the soprano range! When you are done singing the first verse, go back to the response (bringing the congregation back in), and sing the next verse afterword. Do this until you are finished with all verses, finishing with the response.
It really isn’t as hard as it sounds. Talk to the music minister and/or your accompanist. It will all come together quite easily!
God Bless,

Justin
 
SusanL is right. The responsorial psalm is elementary-level Gregorian chant, not Wagnerian opera. She is also right that you may not have many singing with you, especially at a wedding. It depends on the crowd, but some think they’ll “ruin” it if they sing when they’re asked.

Incidentally, although the chant is associated with Pope Gregory the Great, the practice of the responsorial psalm dates back to the synagogues of Jesus’ time. You will be learning a little bit of our most ancient shared musical heritage.
 
40.png
SusanC782000:
I don’t know if this is the proper place to post this, but I need some help.

I am a protestant who has been asked to sing in a friend’s Catholic wedding. I am supposed to sing a responsorial Psalm. I have been told which one to sing, but there is only one line of notes and several verses. I am very uneducated in how to sing this. Is there any words of wisdom someone can give me on how to learn how to sing this? I really want to make sure everything sounds right…

Any help is very much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Susan,
Don’t sweat the small stuff. If you know the Responsorial Psalm, contact your local Catholic parish and ask the Music Minster to help you learn the peice.

Have fun and enjoy.
 
Hi, Susan!

The responsorial psalm is written in a response / verse / response / verse / response / etc. format, with the response being the same in each case and the verses differing in lyric, but all the same in melody (although different yet from the notes of the response). If you were given the standard missalette book that one finds in the pews, you will only see the musical notes for the “response” portion, and not for the “verse.” This is because the congregation is intended to sing the “response” only, while the cantor (you) sings the “verses” alone (no need to print the notes for the verses in the book since the congregation won’t be singing them).

Have no fear, however… the notes for the verses do exist! They’re usually written in chant-type “free-form” format, but if you read music at all, you’ll have no problem reading them. The accompanist will chord behind your “chant,” changing chords along with you as the melody of the verse modulates. This music is usually written out “SATB” - the melody line of the chant that you want to follow is the “S” (soprano) line.

It’s important, as others have said, that you get this music from the person in charge of the church’s music department, or else you’ll be lost (no pressure, huh?)!

Seriously, Susan, it’s a piece of cake! You’ll do fine! Just make sure you ask for the music and allow yourself time for a run-through with the accompanist beforehand!

😉

a pilgrim
 
Susan –
I got to help out at a wedding when I was still “out there wandering and wondering…” I did the best I could. It was a nice wedding and I got to do one of the readings in the Mass. I thought the building might cave in on my head!

I ran into the girlfriend a few years later and she couldn’t believe I’d become a Catholic! She said “alleluia!” and she’d been praying for me for a long time.

I felt a little misused later on in my faith jounrey, but I’m getting over that.

Peace and all good,

Thomas2
 
You usually sing the responsorial part and wait for the congregation to respond (they sing that line back to you). The rest is chanted, and it seems to me that you could just make that up as you go along. Infact, I bet you could do the chant impromptu. Don’t sweat it.

Maybe you could attend a Sunday Mass to get an idea what a responsorial psalm sounds like sung???

Hey! I know. Goto this website and watch the daily Mass. It’s an online mass offered by St. Patrick’s Cathedral. You can even get archives. They don’t do Sunday Mass online though, but they do sing and chant the responsorial Psalms during Daily Mass:

themass.com/

God Bless!
 
Another option available is to sing the response and to speak the verses. While not the prefered method, it is acceptable. One of the Sunday Masses at my parish does this.
 
40.png
SusanC782000:
Any help is very much appreciated.
Click to expand...
If you want to prepare before you meet the accompanist, PM me, and I’ll give you my fax number. Send me the music and I’ll write it out for you. You need to fit the words of the psalm to the music; this is called “pointing,” and can be tricky.

I see this is your first post - to PM (private message), click on my username and choose “send private message;” after that, it’s just like a regular post.

Betsy
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top