My church changed the way we sing the Gloria

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Peanutsmom

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I am so upset. My church changed the Gloria melody and shortened it. The melody is jagged and it just doesn’t flow as well. The Gloria was my favorite part of Mass. It could be sung with gusto and my heart felt like it might burst. I am going to stop in the office or call and ask a few questions, so I can better understand why the change was made. But gosh darn it, I wish they would change it back. I went to a different parish this morning and they sing the Gloria the way my church used to. I am tempted to change parishes but I am a PSR teaching assistant and I want my kids to see their friends from school at church. I love going to my neighborhood church.

I am so upset. Thanks for listening.
 
A change of melody in the liturgy isn’t a good reason to change parishes or to be upset.
 
Just wait until you are calm enough to ask the Priest and just mention how much you loved the previous version.

I am waiting for an opportune moment to ask my Priest if we can sing a different Holy, Holy but I think I am on a loser as this version was sung at a mass yesterday in a different Diocese. Its the one I consider to be the drunks version - slurring, extra words and not in tune or pace with the organ. Never mind, I will continue to mutter the Holy, Holy under my breath instead.
 
:crying: I feel for you. It probably would have been better for them to have omitted the Gloria altogether than to have sung it the way you don’t like. :rolleyes:

I don’t think changing the way the Gloria is sung is a good reason to change parishes. I’d prefer it if my parish used Gregorian chant instead of Christian pop music, but I’m not going to change parishes over that.
 
Are people used to their parishes singing the SAME Gloria every week?

I’m used to the Mass parts changing by liturgical and/or secular seasons.
 
SMHW said:
Are people used to their parishes singing the SAME Gloria every week?

I’m used to the Mass parts changing by liturgical and/or secular seasons.
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It depends. Back home, yeah, they use the SAME ones every week. (And the same verse for the Alleluia as well) Here at college, though, we have two settings we switch between randomly (although using the same one for an entire Mass, of course), plus a chant setting we use during Lent.
 
With the updated English version, the musical settings we used for the Gloria were clunky and disjointed compared to the previous translation. Recently, my parish have started simply reciting Gloria, which I would prefer at least until better musical settings become available.
 
bben15 said:
:crying: I feel for you. It probably would have been better for them to have omitted the Gloria altogether than to have sung it the way you don’t like. :rolleyes:
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Please don’t be sarcastic. This person has a genuine concern and deserves to have it treated seriously. If you don’t agree then you can say so politely without putting her down. Especially as this is her first post.

(I assume the OP is a female from her user name).
 
Peanut(name removed by moderator) said:
I am so upset. My church changed the Gloria melody and shortened it. The melody is jagged and it just doesn’t flow as well. The Gloria was my favorite part of Mass. It could be sung with gusto and my heart felt like it might burst. I am going to stop in the office or call and ask a few questions, so I can better understand why the change was made. But gosh darn it, I wish they would change it back. I went to a different parish this morning and they sing the Gloria the way my church used to. I am tempted to change parishes but I am a PSR teaching assistant and I want my kids to see their friends from school at church. I love going to my neighborhood church.

I am so upset. Thanks for listening./

It was different this morning at my Parish as well.This leads me to believe this is an across the board change,in which case it won’t do you any good to switch parishes.
I also didn’t care for the flow,my hope is this is just a tempory change due to the liturgical calendar:shrug:
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Razanir said:
It depends. Back home, yeah, they use the SAME ones every week. (And the same verse for the Alleluia as well) Here at college, though, we have two settings we switch between randomly (although using the same one for an entire Mass, of course), plus a chant setting we use during Lent.
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During Lent, Advent, and weekdays, the Gloria isn’t normally used. In the pre-Lent calendar of the EF as well.
 
One question for the OP…

Is the old Gloria sung with the old (pre-2011) words? If so, then it is now invalid and must be changed - in fact the change is long overdue. That doesn’t, however mean that any new setting with the right words is a good one.
Peanut(name removed by moderator) said:
My church changed the Gloria melody and shortened it. The melody is jagged and it just doesn’t flow as well.
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We can’t tell from here how “bad”, or otherwise, the new melody was. It may simply be a more modern setting which you don’t like because it’s different, and may learn to like eventually, or it may be one of those awful syncopated settings which are hard to learn, hard to sing, and seem to contradict the words, rather than reflect them.
Peanut(name removed by moderator) said:
The Gloria was my favorite part of Mass. It could be sung with gusto and my heart felt like it might burst.
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I empathise. When a parish has a familiar and tuneful Gloria, played week after week, then it can be the part of the Mass where everyone sings heartily. 🙂
Peanut(name removed by moderator) said:
I went to a different parish this morning and they sing the Gloria the way my church used to.
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It may be that the old Gloria, and the whole setting for the Mass, is one endorsed across your diocese. The Bishops sometimes do this to assist the singing at Mass by having a choice of settings used across the diocese which are both familiar to all parishes in the diocese, and of guaranteed quality.

Your new Gloria may be approved by the diocese, or it may not be. If it is, then I think you have no grounds for complaint.

In my diocese (of Adelaide, Australia) there are several musical settings approved by the Bishop. Nevertheless, I know of three individual choirs which would rather compose their own setting, and inflict it on the parish… :rolleyes:
runningdude said:
With the updated English version, the musical settings we used for the Gloria were clunky and disjointed compared to the previous translation. Recently, my parish have started simply reciting Gloria, which I would prefer at least until better musical settings become available.
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👍

There are some good current settings, but I agree with the principle of critically evaluating a setting, and not assuming that just because it has the right words and some music that it must be suitable. Simply reciting the Gloria while you choose the right setting seems to be a good approach.
 
Edmundus1581 said:
Your new Gloria may be approved by the diocese, or it may not be. If it is, then I think you have no grounds for complaint.
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Someone mentioned that there may be more than one Gloria available for the Spanish Mass.

Some of the ones I attended appeared not to be direct Latin translations.
 
ProVobis said:
Someone mentioned that there may be more than one Gloria available for the Spanish Mass.

Some of the ones I attended appeared not to be direct Latin translations.
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There should only be one approved translation of the Gloria in any language – but you know that.

Of course, various composers took liberties which is why over the years I’ve sung weird Glorias both in French and in English. It would surprise me greatly if the same thing didn’t happen in lots of other languages as well.
 
SMHW said:
Are people used to their parishes singing the SAME Gloria every week?

I’m used to the Mass parts changing by liturgical and/or secular seasons.
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I can honestly say that for two decades, every time I went to a Mass in English anywhere in Canada the setting was Somerville’s (New) Good Shepherd Mass setting of the Gloria. In the late 90s that changed and almost every English parish used Mass of Creation. Whether or not they changed the setting with the season depended on how large the parish was. It seemed to depend on how strict the choir requirements were and whether they had a paid Music Director.

In my own parish, where the choir is whoever shows up at Mass and wants to sing and where the person who has a nice voice and can read music became the choir director by default, the MOC Alleluia has been the only one sung for the last 10 years (except for Lent, obviously). I suspect that many smaller parishes may be in the same “stick to what is familiar” boat.
 
Edmundus1581 said:
Please don’t be sarcastic. This person has a genuine concern and deserves to have it treated seriously. If you don’t agree then you can say so politely without putting her down. Especially as this is her first post.

(I assume the OP is a female from her user name).
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I apologize. Mea culpa.
 
I certainly appreciate the Extraordinary Form since all the Mass settings are beautiful, assuming the choir can handle them.
 
I want to make clear that no personal detraction is meant by the following remarks:
*“MY church.” What is a “my church?” I believe the only individual who can use that adjective is, in fact, the bishop. Any interpretation, however colloquial, other than that will be faulty.
*The “church” didn’t change “the way (you) sing…” Someone given charge of repertoire decisions at the discretion of the bishop’s pastoral vicar in your parish made that call. That’s reality; the Church is not a democracy, local or global.
*From the OP none of us can tell if this means the 2010 Missal translation (I don’t think that’s it), refrain-based versus sung-through, or the spectrum of variances from setting to setting. We can project the OP’s possible ire that something quite accepted, familar and engrained was withdrawn, but we don’t know the circumstances.
*At certain Masses, over twenty years, one Gloria never changed for 18 years, and was taken up lustily, as if it were “Happy Birthday” being sung for the very first time, but every Saturday Vigil. However, we have rotated select and great setting pre/post MR3 for both our Schola and Ensemble Masses. Rehearsing singers appreciate that.
*The GIRM allows for many strategic interpretations and settings of Glorias, and most of the composers’ new and retro-fitted settings have been very compliant towards the impetus towards thru-sung versions, while leaving the refrain option open (in the same setting.) But, maybe the OP doesn’t realize that one of those options is to have the choir pretty much sing it in the stead of the congregation. That’s a local and very pastoral call and decision.

In a nutshell, the OP, if truly concerned and unwelcoming of any graces to be found in the new setting, should do some basic homework and then in a genuine spirit of inquiry talk to the person who is responsible for instituting the change, which I doubt was the pastor. Perhaps that person could best explain the rationale for the change. The Gloria is not a “hill to die on” in the priorities of the GIRM and Musicam Sacram, the Sanctus is.
 
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