Mass setting (music) questions

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What Mass setting does your church use?
Is it a single setting start to finish or a hodgepodge?
Does the Mass setting change with the liturgical year?

We use the Mass of Rememberence throughout ordinary time, the Mass of Creation during Lent and Advent, and a hodgepodge for Easter and Christmas (the Celtic Alleluia and others)
 
Absolute hodgepodge. Whatever the particular music provider decides to do on that day. A bit of Haas, a bit of St Louis Jesuits, a bit of the Danish Amen Mass… even within the same mass. The Sanctus might be one, the memorial acclamation a different one, and the great amen another composer entirely.
 
Depends on which Mass I’m at. In Spokane, my parish uses the proper Gregorian chants of the day/season. When I’m at home in Richland we use a hodgepodge of things. Mostly the Mass of Creation with some chant thrown in at the Pater Noster and Agnus Dei. Ridiculous.
 
:hmmm:I think our music director sits up at night and plays music in front of his dog. The one that elicits the most painful howl is what he chooses for the Liturgy.

Seriously, there is no rhyme or reason to any music that gets chosen at my parish.
 
The Sanctus, Memorial Acclamation, and Great Amen are ALWAYS from the same setting. But the Alleluia, Gloria, Angnus Dei, and other sung parts tend to be hodgepodge.

I would say the most common settings for the Liturgy of the Eucharist are Mass of Creation and various Hurd compositions and we change them seasonally. The other Mass parts come from all over the spectrum, some contemporary, some classical.
 
We’ve been doing the Chepponis *Jubilation Mass * for quite some time now. Before that it was the Celtic. I really like the Celtic, and I despise the Jubilation. But Haugen’s Mass of Creation is even worse, so I guess I should count my blessings. I asked the music director if we could do David Hurd’s New Plainsong, but he doesn’t think the people would like it. Well, one of us would! I don’t count, though; as a cantor, I’m “staff,” not “people.”

Betsy
 
We use a lot of Mass of Creation. I’ve noticed that this is almost the default in a lot of parishes, even some pretty traditional ones. Unlike a previous poster, I don’t think it’s that bad, but it is SO overused that I’m tired of it.

Similarly I’m quite tired of the David Haas Gloria. This also seems to be a default selection at many parishes.

I have a theory about many of these contemporary mass settings… however “nice” they may seem at first, the novelty wears off after a few years. And so you either come up with something new, or keep using the same old stuff. But if something like Mass of Creation is going to become a de facto “standard” or “tradition”, why not just use a traditional chant?

Maybe the novelty wears off with the traditional chants too - I don’t know, because I generally only hear them during Lent. But I think their great virtue is in simplicity… that may give them the ability to endure for a long time, and also allows one to focus on the words and not just the nice musical accompaniment.
 
By the way, my parish is afflicted with the Tom Conry "Peace / Lamb of God"… fortunately this is not very common elsewhere. But it has interlaced male and female parts, like…

Women: Peace, I leave with you, my friends, my friends, and I am with you 'till the end…

Men: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world…

and we all conclude together with “Grant… u - u - u - s - s… P - E - E - E - E - A - C - E” choir echoes “grant us peace”].

And this is all set to a bouncy, jazzy piano accompaniment with lots of frenetic guitar strumming. I really dislike it… even our pastor and choir director are a sick of it, but certain parishoners complain vociferously whenever they try to retire it, so it remains, week after week, except during Advent and Lent.
 
The music director at my parish, Saint Mary, Our Lady of Guadulpe, is the best in the bussiness. The music that she plays I think everybody likes. I once heard that someone told her that they can tell when she plays because the they can feel the Spirt through her.
 
I alternate our settings each week. We have Mass of Creation (Haugen) one week, Mass of Remembrance (Haugen) another, Mass of Light (Haas) and Mass of Glory (Hurd) on others. Another week we use the Holy, Holy, Memorial Acclamation and Great Amen from Mass of Hope (Farrell) - but we use the Gloria and Lamb of God from Mass of Light on that week.

But I only lead the choir at one of the Masses. The other Masses are led by the Music Director of the parish and those tend to be hodge podge.

I have a question about the various titles of Christ you use in the Lamb of God, but I’ll start another thread about that.

God bless you!
 
I guess there should be another question… what are we as laypeople doing to stop the horrendous musical abuses taking place? If you don’t like this stuff, chances are the guy sitting next to you doesn’t like it either. We need to set up classes showing how the current music used by most parishes does NOT conform to the guidelines set down by the Church, EVEN AFTER THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL. As it is with any abuse and any sin, once people are made aware of the gravity of the situation, there is no excuse for perpetuating the action.
 
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CatholicNerd:
I guess there should be another question… what are we as laypeople doing to stop the horrendous musical abuses taking place? .
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Do you refer to anything in particular or do you refer to someone in particular who sings next to you.
 
Bobby Jim:
By the way, my parish is afflicted with the Tom Conry "Peace / Lamb of God"… fortunately this is not very common elsewhere. But it has interlaced male and female parts, like…

Women: Peace, I leave with you, my friends, my friends, and I am with you 'till the end…

Men: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world…

and we all conclude together with “Grant… u - u - u - s - s… P - E - E - E - E - A - C - E” choir echoes “grant us peace”].

And this is all set to a bouncy, jazzy piano accompaniment with lots of frenetic guitar strumming. I really dislike it… even our pastor and choir director are a sick of it, but certain parishoners complain vociferously whenever they try to retire it, so it remains, week after week, except during Advent and Lent.
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I’ve never heard this one before, and I hope I don’t. We usually have the organ on sat. nite, and the guitar group on sun. I never liked the guitars, by my wife does, so I can’t say too much. Gotta keep peace at home, ya know.
 
Seems like whatever the top ten is on Christian radio. Also a lot of tambourine banging and hand clapping. Amateurs like to " sit in" strumming or tooting or whatever 😦
 
I’ve been listening over and over to a couple of new CDs, one of two Palestrina Mass settings, the other of three Byrd settings. Makes me want to take a time machine back to the 16th century.

DaveBj
 
Sure is a lot of negativity regarding this subject. Take up an instrument and become a music minister and fix things you see are wrong.

Better to light one candle than curse the darkness, as the saying goes.

As a music minister I do my best to provide reverent, liturgically correct, SINGABLE music. Our congregation does like to sing – the music director is gifted at presenting new music in a way that is easy to learn. She also selects many older hymns along with newer hymns.

As for settings, when I play alone I usually play Mass of Creation – it is the easiest for the congregation to sing with guitar (I am a classical guitarist). The music director plays several settings – Mass of Creation, Celtic Mass, and the Mass written by the Archdiocese of Detroit’s music director a few years ago. We always sing one setting for the Mass – no “hodpodge.” The settings change with the liturgical seasons.

'thann
 
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