Original mass parts

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I lead a choir for Sunday mass. It’s a ‘LifeTeen’ type of group. We have a guitarist who wrote music for the new mass parts and wants the group to use them.

My question to the group … is it permissible to play originally composed music? My current point-of-view is that we should only use approved settings so that parishioners who attend other masses should be familiar enough to sing these important prayers.

Thank you for any words of wisdom you can pass along.

Dan - ChurchPianoPlayer
 
Do approved setting but allow him to compose post communion quet music for reflection, or better, songs with catechetical themes for their classes.
 
Do you have a diocesan policy about this? What does the Pastor say? Is this composer any good?

I don’t think you should dismiss this guitarist’s compositions outright but there are considerations that you have to address.
 
My parish uses a Mass setting that a member of the parish came up with, so I’d presume there is no universal policy against it from Rome.
 
ChurchPianoPlay said:
My question to the group … is it permissible to play originally composed music? My current point-of-view is that we should only use approved settings so that parishioners who attend other masses should be familiar enough to sing these important prayers.
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I believe RIchard Proulx wrote music when he was director at Holy Name Cathedral. As it turned out much of what he wrote got copyrighted and used at other churches. If you’re pastor is okay with it, I don’t see a problem.
 
I think as long as he didn’t mess with the texts to make the music work better, it should be OK. But definitely check with the pastor before changing the Mass parts!

But also, you need to make sure that the music is appropriate. The music has to be such that the congregation could learn and sing it without (presumably) any music to look at, or else there has to be a plan to get them the music. The point is it has to be easy to sing, with a moderate, middle range, no strange leaps, and a predictable metre. Otherwise you’re basically prohibiting them from singing the parts of the Mass that are appropriate to them and saying, in effect, “If we make this hard enough to sing, it can be another choir piece!” I know that is not at all what you or the composer intends, it’s just that it is the unintended result of making the Mass parts too hard to sing. Even if the hard-to-sing bits are very beautiful, the price is too high for those particular pieces of music.

Just MHO, of course.

–Jen
 
ChurchPianoPlay said:
I lead a choir for Sunday mass. It’s a ‘LifeTeen’ type of group. We have a guitarist who wrote music for the new mass parts and wants the group to use them.

My question to the group … is it permissible to play originally composed music? My current point-of-view is that we should only use approved settings so that parishioners who attend other masses should be familiar enough to sing these important prayers.

Thank you for any words of wisdom you can pass along.

Dan - ChurchPianoPlayer
Click to expand...
There is no universal prohibition against using originally composed settings. Quite the contrary, the Church encourages artistic development.

If anything, there might be a diocesan policy as to what settings are or are not permitted. I say “might be” because there also might not be any such thing, it depends on the diocese.

Whether or not using any particular setting is appropriate depends on many different factors. One value is just as you stated: so that those who attend other Masses can be familiar. But that’s not an absolute.

Ultimately, it’s the pastor’s decision, working within whatever rules the diocese has already established.
 
Thank you for all the great and informative answers! I will check with our diocese to see if there are rules that need to be followed. The comment about ensuring those in attendance can sing it might be the reason to avoid this situation. The composer is talented but not trained, so he doesn’t have the melody written. It’s not a hard song to sing but without a lead sheet it will be impossible for the choir to perform it correctly. So looks there won’t be any new mass parts coming from my part of the world!

Thank you all.

P.S. I love this forum. I learn so much.
 
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