New Music

[MonFrere]

Our little parish is in a rut. We have a repertoire of about 100 hymns. We sing Fr. Chepponis’ Celebration Mass - and on occasion the Danish Mass, I think it’s the one dedicated to Pope Paul VI. I personally don’t care if I ever play the Mass of Creation again – though upon request I can be persuaded.

Our parish is in rural America, so conservative tastes can work – though for Ascension I went to a local parish and I thought the Alleluia was inspired by someone who had the hiccups. I don’t know if our parish would have the patience to learn an old Latin Mass found in our hymnal (We Celebrate of Paluch fame) – chant is difficult for regular folk.

Also, we also use the Responsorials and Allulias published by Paluch. I find most of them singable and some are quite nice but there are times when I alter the harmonies to make them smoother where they don’t seem like they’re coming from “nowhere”.

I also write music and we sing some of my responsorials and are presently using a Gloria I wrote.

How do you evaluate new music? I like a good marriage of melody to words. I like the music to have a liturgical orientation as opposed to something more appropriate for a Christian singer that gives concerts. I do NOT like music that goes on for pages and pages or that has various verses that have slight alterations; e.g. Eagles Wings; though I humbly play it on occasion when it fits the readings (maybe a couple times a year at most).

I just hope some of what I said will stimulate some conversation as to NEW MUSIC - what has worked for your parish - what has NOT worked - and some good sources to find good music that actually may still be around in 50 or so years.

MonFrere

 

[benedictgal]

Why don’t you try A Community Mass setting (it’s the default one from the Worship III hymnal by GIA)? This is a very good one and is very singable. The Gloria is sung straight through and it is beautiful. The setting is very easy. They would also fit in very well with your parish.

I have the Alleluia settings from the Papal Masses (Benedict’s installation Mass and the Easter Masses) and these are actually quite beautiful. I was the winning bid on the liturgical booklets used for the Vatican celebrations. We got to use some of these settings for a diocesan Mass and they were quite beatiful.

The Worship III hymnal is pretty good because it does have solid songs. Try and not get the newer translations, though, because some of the hymns do get rather funky.

 

[PaixGioiaAmor]

Why don’t you try A Community Mass setting (it’s the default one from the Worship III hymnal by GIA)? This is a very good one and is very singable. The Gloria is sung straight through and it is beautiful. The setting is very easy. They would also fit in very well with your parish. Indeed, and just in case there are those who can’t “think outside the box”, this setting can also be sung in a “refrain/verse” style using the first line “Glory to God in the highest …” as the refrain and returning to it after “…we praise you for your glory” and “receive our prayer.” This is useful in the event that you don’t have room in your worship aid for the whole thing or your congregation learns slowly. We are currently doing this setting in this manner.

I have the Alleluia settings from the Papal Masses (Benedict’s installation Mass and the Easter Masses) and these are actually quite beautiful. I was the winning bid on the liturgical booklets used for the Vatican celebrations. We got to use some of these settings for a diocesan Mass and they were quite beatiful.

The Worship III hymnal is pretty good because it does have solid songs. Try and not get the newer translations, though, because some of the hymns do get rather funky.

 

[benedictgal]

Actually, having a Gloria sung straight-through is much better than having a repetitive responsorial that winds up turning the prayer into a performance piece instead of one of the propers of the Mass. The big problem, PGA, is that a majority of the newer compositions (including Haugen’s settings as well as others in English and in Spanish) insist on using a refrain for everything.

The Masses broadcast from St. Peter’s certainly don’t use a respnsorial Gloria. Frankly, it’s most refreshing when the Gloria is sung straight-through, as-is.

 

[PaixGioiaAmor]

Actually, having a Gloria sung straight-through is much better than having a repetitive responsorial that winds up turning the prayer into a performance piece instead of one of the propers of the Mass. The big problem, PGA, is that a majority of the newer compositions (including Haugen’s settings as well as others in English and in Spanish) insist on using a refrain for everything.

The Masses broadcast from St. Peter’s certainly don’t use a respnsorial Gloria. Frankly, it’s most refreshing when the Gloria is sung straight-through, as-is.

That is interesting that you feel that way. I actually consider SOME of the straight through settings to be much more performance oriented.

The only Gloria that we sing straight through is the John Lee chant setting in Worship III. The entire congregation simply sings that straight through during the summer months.

At any rate, I have found that dividing it into a response/verse situation improves congregation participation. And since we print the music in our bulletin, we don’t even have room for most through composed settings. But to each his own - the ideal, I suppose, is that it would be sung straight through.

 

[benedictgal]

That is interesting that you feel that way. I actually consider SOME of the straight through settings to be much more performance oriented.

The only Gloria that we sing straight through is the John Lee chant setting in Worship III. The entire congregation simply sings that straight through during the summer months.

At any rate, I have found that dividing it into a response/verse situation improves congregation participation. And since we print the music in our bulletin, we don’t even have room for most through composed settings. But to each his own - the ideal, I suppose, is that it would be sung straight through.

I don’t know if you’ve heard the Spanish responsorial Glorias, but, they are horrid. Along with the repetitive refrain, these versions tend to totally massacre the prayer into something totally unrecognizable (they also leave out significant chunks of the piece).

Although there are some who do not like Adoremus, there is an article called Rethinking the Responsorial Gloria that makes a good case against using it. Here are some arguments:

The acceptance of this practice is a curious phenomenon, as it is thoroughly foreign to the liturgical history of this hymn. The Gloria has existed, in one form or another, since before the 6th century, when it was used exclusively in papal Masses. The Latin text arrived at its current form in the 9th century, over a thousand years ago.2 Its use by clergy of lower rank was strictly regulated for specific occasions, until its universal use was granted in the late 11th century.3 The modern Kyriale provides nineteen chant settings of the Gloria of “varying antiquity”.4 None of these is responsorial, even as the practice of alternating verses and antiphons comes directly out of the chant tradition.

…What is more, the responsorial Gloria is a phenomenon unique to contemporary Roman Catholic practice. The Hymnal 1982 of the Episcopal Church, our closest liturgical brethren, contains eighteen settings of the Gloria in its Service Music section (including the 1985 appendix), both in the Rite I English and in the Rite II version. None of these settings is responsorial.5 In a more liturgically distant denomination, the Lutheran Book of Worship has only three settings; again, none of these is responsorial.6 The Presbyterian Hymnal contains two settings of the Gloria, neither of which is responsorial.7 The idea is clearly alien to virtually all Protestant denominations who use the Gloria in their liturgies. It does not seem to have occurred to anyone outside the Catholic Church that the Gloria can be set as a verse-and-refrain composition.

Considering more than fifteen centuries of liturgical tradition both inside and outside the Catholic Church, the responsorial Gloria is nothing short of revolutionary! This kind of novelty and exclusivity warrants serious consideration of its roots, and like so many other problems with Catholic music today, its origins can be traced to the implementation of the liturgical renewal following the Second Vatican Council. The verse-and-refrain form is the trademark of folk music, that counter-cultural idiom that has dominated Catholic music in the United States for the last thirty years. As a matter of fact, “sacro-pop” hymnody has been quite incapable of producing anything beyond the verse-and-refrain form.

This limitation, combined with the pervasiveness of the folk style, has resulted in the prevalence of the responsorial Gloria over the “through-composed” form. A multitude of objections may legitimately be leveled against the rise of the folk style in Catholic music, but ultimately they are independent of the specific problems associated with the responsorial Gloria. Good reasons exist to reject it as a liturgical, musical, and semantic disaster.

My old Paulist parish in Austin uses the Community Mass setting. With just an organ and a cantor, the people do very well with this Gloria. The previous organist wrote a Gloria setting, sung straight-through, that sounda a little like the Community Mass version, with some Anglican-type notes thrown in for good measure. Yes, the people sang it. In fact, I can still sing it in my head. He also composed settings for the responsorial psalms. These were very good and were not infiltrated with the inclusive language bug.

MonFrere, didn’t you say that you’ve written some pieces? From what you’ve sent, they seem alright. So long as you don’t take any liberties with the Ordinaies of the Mass, why not try those out? Run them by your Diocesan Office of Divine Worship, as your local Ordinary needs to approve them first. Assuming you get that clearance, slowly start introducing them to your parish.

You might also check to see if GIA has any of its older Worship III hymnals still in stock. You could also check with neighboring parishes. Sometimes, you’ll find that some of them will purchase a new set and wonder what to do with the older hymnals. This might be a good chance to get something solid for a bargain price.

 

[MonFrere]

My old Paulist parish in Austin uses the Community Mass setting. With just an organ and a cantor, the people do very well with this Gloria.

This Community Mass seems to have possibilities. Could you give me details as to its compositional style. Is it imitating something from an older era - which one? Is it contemporary harmonically - in a positive sense? Thanks.

MonFrere, didn’t you say that you’ve written some pieces? From what you’ve sent, they seem alright. So long as you don’t take any liberties with the Ordinaies of the Mass, why not try those out? Run them by your Diocesan Office of Divine Worship, as your local Ordinary needs to approve them first. Assuming you get that clearance, slowly start introducing them to your parish.

I didn’t know I needed approval. But if that’s the rule, that’s the rule - I didn’t know. I introduced my Gloria last Christmas without any thought of approval. However, I did send a bunch of pieces to Fr. Jim Chepponis who is basically directs liturgical aspects of Pittsburgh Diocese. Actually, we studied music together in college… He gave me some hints as to how to get music published but I don’t know if I want to go through that again. I wrote in the infamous D.C. Mass thread of my experience with Paluch on a musical setting I wrote of the Angelus and they gave themselves the authority to alter it to the inclusive language dogma that is paramount to these cats. I’ll just stay unpublished and keep my blood pressure at normal levels. I did write a Mass settings to the complete Ordinary but I’m a little hesitant to have them learn something that will not be heard anywhere else. I had them learn my Gloria because I really didn’t like the ones included in the Paluch hymnal.

You might also check to see if GIA has any of its older Worship III hymnals still in stock.

Do the folks here prefer GIA over Paluch or OCP? If so, why. To almost every parish I ever attended in Western PA there is either Paluch or OCP in the pews. Anyone what to enlighten me?

I do have a copy of the Adoremus Hymnal and it’s certainly highlighting the tried and true – but, I still think that it’s irresponsible to ignore ALL music currently being written. I think we need to be a filter to make sure only musically sound and liturgically sound music gets to be part of the local parishes repertoire – but to ignore all of it is a little too elitest for me. On this I’m in the middle – not hardline conservative or exclusively contemporary. I have issues with both groups.

MonFrere

 

[benedictgal]

This Community Mass seems to have possibilities. Could you give me details as to its compositional style. Is it imitating something from an older era - which one? Is it contemporary harmonically - in a positive sense? Thanks.

I didn’t know I needed approval. But if that’s the rule, that’s the rule - I didn’t know. I introduced my Gloria last Christmas without any thought of approval. However, I did send a bunch of pieces to Fr. Jim Chepponis who is basically directs liturgical aspects of Pittsburgh Diocese. Actually, we studied music together in college… He gave me some hints as to how to get music published but I don’t know if I want to go through that again. I wrote in the infamous D.C. Mass thread of my experience with Paluch on a musical setting I wrote of the Angelus and they gave themselves the authority to alter it to the inclusive language dogma that is paramount to these cats. I’ll just stay unpublished and keep my blood pressure at normal levels. I did write a Mass settings to the complete Ordinary but I’m a little hesitant to have them learn something that will not be heard anywhere else. I had them learn my Gloria because I really didn’t like the ones included in the Paluch hymnal.

Do the folks here prefer GIA over Paluch or OCP? If so, why. To almost every parish I ever attended in Western PA there is either Paluch or OCP in the pews. Anyone what to enlighten me?

I do have a copy of the Adoremus Hymnal and it’s certainly highlighting the tried and true – but, I still think that it’s irresponsible to ignore ALL music currently being written. I think we need to be a filter to make sure only musically sound and liturgically sound music gets to be part of the local parishes repertoire – but to ignore all of it is a little too elitest for me. On this I’m in the middle – not hardline conservative or exclusively contemporary. I have issues with both groups.

MonFrere

The reason why Paluch and OCP are quite common is because both are notorious for offering parish package deals. You get hooked into their stuff through the innocuous missalettes. Then, you start getting the mass mailings offering you deep discounts if you buy the missallettes and the songbooks together. Then, OCP offers grants to help parishes with limited funding “buy” their products. It’s like a liturgical Amway.

If your diocesan Divine Worship Office has a copy of Worship III, I would borrow it and look at A Community Mass Setting. I have a copy of it, but, it’s at my office. It is very, very singable and is perhaps the best English-language setting around. What you described in your OP sounds more like a throw-back to the early post-conciliar days, when unbridled experimentation began.

Now, because your diocesan bishop is the chief liturgical steward of your diocese, it is best to run new musical compositions through him. This helps ensure that your work is free from doctrinal and liturgical error and that it is fitting for use in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Unfortunately, the big publishing houses take it upon themselves and assume that because they have Catholic or Gregorian in their names, that everything is fine. But, as many of us have experienced, that is not necessarily the case.

Now, we are under no obligation to follow the rule for inclusive language. In fact, doctrinal and liturgical intergrity supereced that notion. The Holy See said as much when they kept sending back the translations for the lectionary. So, don’t sacrifice the integrity of the doctrine and the liturgy for the sake of inclusive language because too much tinkering may actually render the song unsuitable for Catholic use.

 

[MonFrere]

It’s like a liturgical Amway…

I loved this line!

Thanks, benedictgal, you have been very helpful. However, I’d also like to hear what others have to say.

MonFrere

 

[MonFrere]

from Adoremus article on the Responsorial Gloria …

The verse-and-refrain form is the trademark of folk music, that counter-cultural idiom that has dominated Catholic music in the United States for the last thirty years. As a matter of fact, “sacro-pop” hymnody has been quite incapable of producing anything beyond the verse-and-refrain form.

I don’t like the Responsorial Gloria for the simple reason that it breaks the progression of the prayer.

However, I think the particular point in the quote above isn’t a particularly good one. I think one needs to ask where folk music got the idea of verse-refrain. I’m no historian, but I think that folk music got the idea from the Church. For example: the Kyrie is often preceded with a statement BEFORE the response Christ, Have Mercy. This is really a simple A-B form. And, I would assume that the Church got this from Jewish liturgical practice. In fact, Psalm 136 is a perfect example of this simple A-B/verse-refrain form; the same form that’s used in the Kyrie of a Catholic Mass.

(Psa 136:1) O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

So, I think the author of the article is making a false association – A-B / verse refrain is BAD for liturgy because it’s the favorite form found in folk music. The A-B form has been used by the Church since earliest times as the Church borrowed much from the synagogue and their liturgy.

This is why I sometimes have a beef with conservatives knee jerk reaction to anything contemporary. It’s not the A-B FORM that makes the music inappropriate for liturgy. Sunday I re-read Cardinal Ratzinger’s The Spirit of the Liturgy chapter on music and he didn’t “necessarily” seem to have a problem with bringing the “profane” in the “sacred”. He mentioned the popular “parody Masses” of the Medieval Period where a secular tune was incorporated into Mass settings. He did mention that it could become problematic but he also allowed for a certain freedom for the creativity of the musical artist (composer). So, Pope Benedict isn’t automatically against something like A-B form coming into the liturgy; even if it did come from secular sources – but even though in this case AB form was employed ubiquitously in the liturgy for ages. Besides, some great Catholic hymns, let alone Protestant ones enjoyed by Catholics.

MonFrere

 

[puzzleannie]

Our . I don’t know if our parish would have the patience to learn an old Latin Mass found in our hymnal (We Celebrate of Paluch fame) – chant is difficult for regular folk.

we learned the Jubilate Deo setting that comes in the Paluch missalette, but with a separate worship aid that has the standard notation for chant rather than the modern notation. It has taken a couple of years, but we love it for bilingual Masses on the holy days since everyone can participate. chant is far easier to learn because it relies on some natural rhythms and tones. much easier than so much modern music which has unexpected tonal shifts and extended phrases.

we can teach the teens a latin chant such as a taize refrain in two class periods and have them ready to lead during Mass
crucem tuam
parce domine
confitemini domino
ubi caritas
for examples.
in this way the congregation has picked up several that we use regularly

 

[Phemie]

See if you can find a copy of the (New) Good Shepherd Mass by Somerville. It’s been the ubiquitous Mass setting in English Canada for years, or at least it was until Massive Cremation took over .

The Gloria is simple and very easy to learn – and NOT responsorial. The rest of the Mass is also easy to sing.

 

[Windmill]

If you want an inspiring, comprehensive, and FREE resource for Responsorial Psalms, check out the Chabanel Psalms. My men’s Gregorian Chant group, the Brazos Valley Schola Cantorum, uses these every time we assist at a vernacular Mass because the style of music dovetails well with sacred chant - even though it’s in English! The organ accompaniments are easy to learn, and they are very consonant with the liturgical heritage of the Church. However, the composer, Jeff Ostrowski, is under 30 years of age. So, it’s new.

 

[Sarabande]

Community Mass was mentioned - it is by Richard Proulx in case you need the composer’s name. You can get the music on it’s own or through Worship III. We do it often at my parish.

Another one we’ve done is the David Hurd “New Plainsong”. We are a small parish with A LOT of visitors, yet the people can pick it up pretty well.

Jan Vermulst “Mass for Christian Unity” is also pretty good and the congregation sings it well.

We use the Gelineau psalmodies. Many are very nice. We also use the Ritual and Psalm book from WLP. Most are nice, some of the refrains are a little hokey. I like the verses much more when set to chant, as a couple of the psalms have composed verses.

I know what you mean about “Mass of Creation”. I’m so happy we don’t do it at all at our parish, except when a bride requests it. Then you get the bride who requests “Massive Creation”, but that’s for another thread.

 

[Sarabande]

Sunday I re-read Cardinal Ratzinger’s The Spirit of the Liturgy chapter on music and he didn’t “necessarily” seem to have a problem with bringing the “profane” in the “sacred”. He mentioned the popular “parody Masses” of the Medieval Period where a secular tune was incorporated into Mass settings. He did mention that it could become problematic but he also allowed for a certain freedom for the creativity of the musical artist (composer). So, Pope Benedict isn’t automatically against something like A-B form coming into the liturgy; even if it did come from secular sources – but even though in this case AB form was employed ubiquitously in the liturgy for ages. Besides, some great Catholic hymns, let alone Protestant ones enjoyed by Catholics.

I agree with this. In the past if a secular tune was incorporated into a mass setting or hymn, many times the composer would change the performance of it so that it was sometimes barely recognizable as the original melody and a secular work due to the instrumentation, change in rhythm, etc., and the way it was performed. It was transformed into the sacred and into a new original piece of music so that it no longer represented the secular. BUT, as Pope Benedict mentioned, it could become problematic. There was always a need to keep a watchful eye over the music put out throughout the centuries, which there was. Some generations or eras were more successful than others in doing that.

 

[Sarabande]

Cantica Nova publications sells “old” and “new” music. They promote a lot of new composers. They aren’t as “popular” as the ones you see in other publications, but they are well-respected.
They will send you a free catalogue if you request it.

canticanova.com/

 

[ElizaCatherine]

Franz Schubert’s German Mass is quite nice. We worked on it for a while a few years ago. I noticed they used part of it for the Mass at Yankee Stadium with Pope Benedict.

 

[Sarabande]

Franz Schubert’s German Mass is quite nice. We worked on it for a while a few years ago. I noticed they used part of it for the Mass at Yankee Stadium with Pope Benedict.

Oh Gosh!!! I totally forgot about that one and that is probably my favorite mass setting!!! It’s good with 4-part choir and/or with congregation alone. We used to do it here, but because the words of the Agnus Dei wasn’t an exact translation of the Latin, we were no longer permitted to use the Agnus Dei. Where I taught music and ran the children’s music program at an old ethnically German parish, we taught it to them there and they LOVED to sing it.

 

[MonFrere]

Community Mass was mentioned - it is by Richard Proulx in case you need the composer’s name. You can get the music on it’s own or through Worship III. We do it often at my parish.

Sarabande,

Thanks for your replies to my post. How many Mass settings does your parish (not choir) know? Our choir, which really only sings at Christmas and Easter – small rural parish where there are few people and not a strong talent pool – really cannot do much more than simple SAB music that I write for these occasions. But our parish knows three different Mass settings. I’m just asking to see what most people are doing. I’m going to assume that if a parish has a musically educated person in charge there would be more going on.

Also, as far as introducing new hymns … does your parish have a plan? 6 new hymns a year. etc. Do you sing the new hymn several times withing a few weeks until the parish seems to have it mastered.

Same question in regards to a new Mass setting. How long do you give for learning it?

Third – do you mix and match Mass settings. I generally don’t like this approach. It’s like having a stir fry next to manicotti.

MonFrere

 

[Guitar]

Mon Frere, FWIW in my parish we would try to introduce 3-4 new hymns a year and I ask all rostered musicians (four Masses per weekend) to use the hymn in the same part of the Mass for four weekends in a row.

Depending on the piece, the musicians comfortable with doing it may lead a short congregational line-by-line rehearsal before Mass (cantor sings a line, asks the congregation to sing it back, same thing with the next line, then run those two lines together, etc) whilst taking care of course to allow quiet prayer time as appropriate.

When introducing a new Mass setting we would introduce it one piece at a time, starting with just the most difficult part for two weeks, then adding the acclamation, then two weeks later the great amen, and so forth, and again we would ask all musicians at all Masses to do the same so that people encounter the same thing no matter what time they go.

We have banned the Mass Miscellaneous. Not all Mass settings are internally consistent anyway but mixing up bits from different settings doesn’t help. I think it is better if people know right from the first part of a Mass setting what is coming up for the rest of it.

Our biggest problem in learning new music is getting a consistent presentation out of the highly variable levels of talent, application, instruction comprehension ability and willingness to respect directions of the volunteer music group.