Some new contemporary church songs you love?

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Cat said:
I play it correctly. 👍
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I consider songs contemporary if it’s written by some artist that has written music for the Mass in the past 20-30 years for instance: David Haas, Dan Schutte, Marty Haugen…etc.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
I consider songs contemporary if it’s written by some artist that has written music for the Mass in the past 20-30 years for instance: David Haas, Dan Schutte, Marty Haugen…etc.
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So “Kum Ba Yah” is not contemporary, right? And “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love”? And “I Am The Bread of Life?”

I tend to agree with you, BTW. To me, a hymn/song that has been around and sung in Masses all over the world for 30 years or more is NOT contemporary, it is “classic praise” or a “classic hymn.” And a song that has been around since the 1930s and is actually an indigent folk song (Kum Ba Yah) is definitely not contemporary.

Perhaps those who are opposed to the use of contemporary music in Mass would have better success convincing us if they defined contemporary first. Music that was written back when I was a teenager is no longer “contemporary,” as much as I wish it still was! Sigh.

I realize that there is a school of musicians who define music periods (classical, contemporary, etc.) by STYLE rather than by time period. Using this method of classifying music into periods, it is entirely possible for a composer of today to write a piece that is “classical” or “baroque,” and it is also possible for an older hymn to be classified as “contemporary”. I personally find this system of classifcation spurious and highly subject to opinion and “feeling,” therefore, I think it is an unreliable classification system.

I believe that a modern composer can indeed write a hymn/song that “feels” classical or baroque, but it is still a contemporary song. A composer has been influenced by the world in which he/she lives, and any song they compose will inevitably reflect that modern age, even if they choose to use a style of music that sounds ancient. IMHO, music periods should be defined by the year or time period in which they were written, and to me, music written 30 years ago is not “contemporary.”

The term “contemporary” is an awkward term for classifying music, IMO. It would better to use terms like “rock”, “jazz,” “folk,” “blues,” etc. I think that much of the music that this thread is probably referring to is the “folk” music that is prevalent in many of the Catholic missallettes and hymnals.
 
Cat said:
So “Kum Ba Yah” is not contemporary, right? And “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love”? And “I Am The Bread of Life?”

I tend to agree with you, BTW. To me, a hymn/song that has been around and sung in Masses all over the world for 30 years or more is NOT contemporary, it is “classic praise” or a “classic hymn.” And a song that has been around since the 1930s and is actually an indigent folk song (Kum Ba Yah) is definitely not contemporary.

Perhaps those who are opposed to the use of contemporary music in Mass would have better success convincing us if they defined contemporary first. Music that was written back when I was a teenager is no longer “contemporary,” as much as I wish it still was! Sigh.

I realize that there is a school of musicians who define music periods (classical, contemporary, etc.) by STYLE rather than by time period. Using this method of classifying music into periods, it is entirely possible for a composer of today to write a piece that is “classical” or “baroque,” and it is also possible for an older hymn to be classified as “contemporary”. I personally find this system of classifcation spurious and highly subject to opinion and “feeling,” therefore, I think it is an unreliable classification system.

I believe that a modern composer can indeed write a hymn/song that “feels” classical or baroque, but it is still a contemporary song. A composer has been influenced by the world in which he/she lives, and any song they compose will inevitably reflect that modern age, even if they choose to use a style of music that sounds ancient. IMHO, music periods should be defined by the year or time period in which they were written, and to me, music written 30 years ago is not “contemporary.”

The term “contemporary” is an awkward term for classifying music, IMO. It would better to use terms like “rock”, “jazz,” “folk,” “blues,” etc. I think that much of the music that this thread is probably referring to is the “folk” music that is prevalent in many of the Catholic missallettes and hymnals.
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For some reason, I always thought “I Am the Bread of Life” was written in the 80’s. My bad. I checked it and it was written in the late 60’s. I tend to consider that one a classic Catholic hymn because many people know that song and hold it dear to their heart (my uncle, and grandma) and have been singing it since they were in their teens. “They’ll Know We Are Christians” I thought was already a traditional one, but I guess not. That was written a year before Toolan’s “I Am the Bread of Life.”
 
CatholicZ09 said:
For some reason, I always thought “I Am the Bread of Life” was written in the 80’s. My bad. I checked it and it was written in the late 60’s. I tend to consider that one a classic Catholic hymn because many people know that song and hold it dear to their heart (my uncle, and grandma) and have been singing it since they were in their teens. “They’ll Know We Are Christians” I thought was already a traditional one, but I guess not. That was written a year before Toolan’s “I Am the Bread of Life.”
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If you were to listen to Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk, the song featuring the USC marching band, you will note that there is a lot of similarity between Tusk and “They’ll Know We are Christians”. It’s kind of like folk rock. One song could easily blend into the other.

The problem with Toolan’s song is more along the lines of what OCP did to it. It changed the words to make it “inclusive” and it sounds, in my opinion, rather silly. It took the punch out of the original song and watered it down.

I would not consider either one of these songs a classic Catholic song. The early years after the Council were some of the worst for writing liturgical music. The problem is that OCP is still operating under the alleged spirit of Vatican II than what the documents actuallay said.
 
baltobetsy said:
So far, this describes “Holy God We Praise Thy Name,” when it’s done correctly. 🙂

Betsy
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I don’t recall ever hearing it done correctly, that is according to the notes as written in “Todays Missal”. We still sing it like Perry Como sang it with the extra note on “infinite” and “domain”. But it is one of my favorite songs.
 
zab said:
I don’t recall ever hearing it done correctly, that is according to the notes as written in “Todays Missal”. We still sing it like Perry Como sang it with the extra note on “infinite” and “domain”. But it is one of my favorite songs.
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Wow, I didn’t know he did this song. I just gave it a listen on Amazon. Perry Como: “Holy God We Praise Thy Name”

If you click the little triangles on the left you can hear it. He does add the extra note in those words. And IMO it’s a little too slow. But nice that he recorded it. 🙂
 
zab said:
I don’t recall ever hearing it done correctly, that is according to the notes as written in “Todays Missal”. We still sing it like Perry Como sang it with the extra note on “infinite” and “domain”. But it is one of my favorite songs.
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I never play the extra note. It’s not in the hymnals, either Catholic or Protestant. (BTW, Holy God We Praise Thy Name was sung often in the Protestant churches that I attended, although none of the other “contemporary” Christian songs done in Catholic Masses were ever done in Protestant churches that I attended.)

I think the extra note in “Holy God We Praise Thy Name” sounds like a hiccup. It’s also sounds effeminate and affected and theatrical and somewhat Scottish.
I refuse to play it, and since it’s not ever in the music, it’s perfectly correct of me not to play it.
 
Cat said:
I never play the extra note. It’s not in the hymnals, either Catholic or Protestant. (BTW, Holy God We Praise Thy Name was sung often in the Protestant churches that I attended, although none of the other “contemporary” Christian songs done in Catholic Masses were ever done in Protestant churches that I attended.)

I think the extra note in “Holy God We Praise Thy Name” sounds like a hiccup. It’s also sounds effeminate and affected and theatrical and somewhat Scottish.
I refuse to play it, and since it’s not ever in the music, it’s perfectly correct of me not to play it.
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In our hymnals, there is not extra note either on “Infinite” or “Domain.” I hear some people use the extra note when we sing it though, and it just doesn’t sound right. The organist doesn’t play the extra note, so I don’t know why people do it. 🤷
 
CatholicZ09 said:
In our hymnals, there is not extra note either on “Infinite” or “Domain.” I hear some people use the extra note when we sing it though, and it just doesn’t sound right. The organist doesn’t play the extra note, so I don’t know why people do it. 🤷
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I think it’s in the Canadian hymnal. I always sing the extra note as an ornament on the repeat.

Betsy
 
Cat said:
Does anyone know of any Catholic sacred songs that have been written within the last few years? I’m not just talking about songs that are used in Mass, I’m talking about songs that are played on a radio station, or that are heard or sung at youth rallies or camps?
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There are many many Catholic musicians writing and recording and touring… a couple of resources…

catholicmusicnetwork.com/

catholicjukebox.com/
 
I love the Celtic Alleluia! They often use it at the Cathedral here (I don’t much like the rest of the mass settings they use there). It’s so triumphant-sounding.

In my parish, we use the Celtic Alleluia on major feast days mainly. Our main mass setting is the Heritage Mass - which is OCP, but I think it’s pretty great. I often miss it in other parishes. It’s very faithful to the words, and fairly traditional sounding (for not being Gregorian Chant, anyway).

A relatively modern hymn that I like is Blest Are They. I’m glad I’m not the only one! I felt a little guilty about liking it when I find out it was “modern.”

It seems to me that in Catholicism when people talk about modern/contemporary hymns and songs, they often mean post-Vatican II.
 
Bbigam said:
I love the Celtic Alleluia! They often use it at the Cathedral here (I don’t much like the rest of the mass settings they use there). It’s so triumphant-sounding.

In my parish, we use the Celtic Alleluia on major feast days mainly. Our main mass setting is the Heritage Mass - which is OCP, but I think it’s pretty great. I often miss it in other parishes. It’s very faithful to the words, and fairly traditional sounding (for not being Gregorian Chant, anyway).

A relatively modern hymn that I like is Blest Are They. I’m glad I’m not the only one! I felt a little guilty about liking it when I find out it was “modern.”

It seems to me that in Catholicism when people talk about modern/contemporary hymns and songs, they often mean post-Vatican II.
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Yes. That is what I mean, post-Vatican II.

I am currently planning my cousin’s wedding Mass. The cantor offered the option of the Celtic Alleluia and I politely declined. I would rather she use the setting from the GIA Worship III (first one) or the one from Pope Benedict’s installation Mass (which is quite beautiful).

The post-Vatican II Mass settings that I really love are the New Mass for a Congregation and the one that Proulx wrote, “A Community Mass.” I use the Gloria from the New Mass and the rest from A Community Mass. You can’t go wrong with these. The musicality of these two settings will surely be missed. I am hoping that Proulx and the composer of the New Mass for a Congregation will be able to adapt their settings to the new text.

Incidentally, Fr. Sam Weber, from the Archdiocese of St. Louis, has written settings for the entrance anitophons. I got to experience his settings and they are magnificent. Surely that would count as something contemporary since they were written a couple of years ago and they are traditional in every sense of the word.
 
benedictgal said:
If you were to listen to Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk, the song featuring the USC marching band, you will note that there is a lot of similarity between Tusk and “They’ll Know We are Christians”. It’s kind of like folk rock. One song could easily blend into the other.
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As I have said many times here before, this in and of itself means nothing. About two-thirds of Baroque organ chaconnes are based on the same chord progression as Hit the Road, Jack. One can play Jesu Joy as a slip jig.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
In our hymnals, there is not extra note either on “Infinite” or “Domain.” I hear some people use the extra note when we sing it though, and it just doesn’t sound right. The organist doesn’t play the extra note, so I don’t know why people do it. 🤷
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The Catholic Book of Worship (Official Hymnal of Canada) has the extra notes on both ‘infinite’ & ‘domain’. In-fi-nite (half note-2 eighth notes-2 quarter notes)

Listening to various renditions online I don’t hear the extra note on infinite & domain; some renditions also don’t include the two quarter notes in ‘lasting’ and ‘is’.
 
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