Easy Steps To Improve Your Parish Music Program
One
of the problems the beleaguered choirmaster faces in today’s world is
the lack of attention span on the part of Catholics in the pews (and
even choristers!), perhaps due to our modern obsession with television,
iPhones, internet, etc. In the “solution” presented below, I cannot
emphasize enough that the
key to success is variation (organ accompaniment vs.
a cappella, metrical hymns vs. chant, etc.) and especially
alternation between priest, deacon, choir, congregation, and organist.
The below model is able to be implemented with great success in the
“typical” parish. It will be noticed that the pieces are very short in
length, but ought to be done extremely well. It is better to do brief
music beautifully than to attempt long, complicated music and do it
poorly. It will be noticed that there is very little Latin (as this can
be intimidating).
(Congregation / Organ / Metrical / ENGLISH)
1.
Immediately before Mass begins, a Hymn with organ accompaniment is
sung in its entirety. Singing only a few verses of a hymn destroys its
inherent poetry and frustrates parishioners, who have gone to the
trouble of taking out the books and finding the correct page only to
stop singing after the second or third verse. Since parishioners are
accustomed to singing an opening hymn, taking it away would cause a
needless rupture. Professor László Dobszay notes that singing a hymn
immediately before Mass is the practice in many countries
(page 24) and this practice serves as a nice “signal” to the congregation that Mass is about to begin. The
Vatican II Hymnal
is organized in a way that makes it very easy to choose hymns
appropriate for each part of the Mass: not only does it have headers on
each page giving suggestions, but the indices are also quite
comprehensive and helpful in this regard. Best of all, 100% of the
organ harmonizations,
SATB settings, and cantor scores are available
free online.
(Choir / A Cappella / Chant / ENGLISH)
2. As the priest processes to and then incenses the altar, the Mass Proper is sung
a cappella.
As a reminder, the Mass Proper (in this case, the “introit” or
“entrance chant”) is the ancient prayer, carefully chosen and assigned
attached to each individual feast by the Church over a period many
centuries. It can be sung in many ways (Latin or English), but one way
would be the
Simple English Propers. Incidentally, many large
basilicas and cathedrals have sufficient time during the procession for
an entrance hymn and the Mass Proper, a practice recently affirmed as
correct by the
USCCB Secretariat of Divine Worship (2/14/2012). The
Vatican II Hymnal
is the only hymnal to print the complete Mass Propers (in English with
Latin incipit) as well as all the Mass readings, and this was done
without a single page turn, so the congregation has no trouble praying
along with the choir or lector.
(Priest, Congregation / A Cappella / Chant / ENGLISH)
3. The congregation sings the responses
a cappella
as the priest sings, “In the name of the Father,” etc. Throughout the
entire Mass, all the dialogues between priest & congregation should
be sung. For instance, after the
Gloria, the priest should sing
“The Lord be with you,” as well as the Collect. The melodies for the
orations are very simple, within the capabilities of any priest.
(Choir, Cantor, Congregation / A Cappella / Chant & Polyphony / GREEK)
4. The cantor sings “Kýrie, eléison”
a cappella
to a simple chant, the congegation repeats, then a 20-second polyphonic
verset is sung by the choir. The same arrangement follows for the
“Christe” and final “Kyrie.” There are hundreds of possibilities for
this, but the
SATB Brudieu Kyrie would be a fine example.
(Congregation, Choir / Organ / Chant / ENGLISH)
5.
The entire congregation sings a simple, short, beautiful,
chant-inspired setting of the “Glory to God” in English (with organ
accompaniment). The piece is intoned by the priest, and the rest of the
piece can be divided up into sections (a traditional practice). For
instance, the women in the choir could sing the odd sections and the
entire congregation could sing the even sections. The
Gloria in honor of St. Edmund Arrowsmith would fit the bill quite well, it being brief, modal, and singable. The
Vatican II Hymnal also contains
more than 100 pages of other possibilities.
(Cantor, Congregation / Organ / ENGLISH)
6.
The Responsorial Psalm is sung (with organ accompaniment) to a
beautiful, memorable, simple, singable, noble melody based on Gregorian
chant. More than 2,000 are available for free on the
St. Noël Chabanel Responsorial Psalms website.
(Cantor, Congregation / Organ / ENGLISH & HEBREW)
7. The Gospel acclamation is done the same way, and could come from the
St. Charles Garnier website. The
Vatican II Hymnal
contains the complete Chabanel Psalms and Garnier Gospel Acclamations
in the same exact place as the Mass readings and Propers, to allow for
maximum participation on their part.
(Choir / A Cappella / ENGLISH)
8. The Offertory Proper is sung
a cappella
by the choir, and (as always with Propers) employs as many Psalm verses
as are necessary to cover what is happening at the Altar. We have
found that the
Simple English Propers work very well here.
(Priest / A Cappella / ENGLISH)
9. The Preface ought to be sung by the priest.
(Congregation / Organ / ENGLISH & HEBREW)
10. The
Sanctus,
Mystery of Faith, and
Great Amen are sung by everyone to simple chant-inspired melodies with organ accompaniment. The
Mass in honor of St. Anne Line would work well.
(Congregation / Organ / ENGLISH)
11. The
Our Father
is sung with one of several beautiful organ accompaniments, to enhance
this well-known and loved chant. As mentioned, all the organ
harmonizations are
free online.
(Choir, congregation / A Cappella / Chant & Polyphony / LATIN)
12. The
Agnus Dei is sung in Latin
a cappella,
intoned by the cantor each time, and continued by the congregation.
The final three words (“Dona nobis pacem” or “Grant us peace”) are sung
in polyphony. This is very similar to the
Kyrie (the polyphony can even be the same), but not as long.
(Choir / A Cappella / Chant / ENGLISH)
13. The Communion Proper is sung to a simple English melody (the
Simple English Psalm tones
would work well) before the choir receives Communion. There is very
little time, but the Communion Proper literally takes less than 10
seconds when sung with the
Simple English Psalm tones.
(Organ)
14. As the
Choir receives Communion, the organist plays an interlude (or a prelude
based on the Communion Meditation if the melody is not familiar).
(Choir / A Cappella / Polyphony / LATIN)
15. As the congregation receives Holy Communion, an
a cappella
Latin motet is sung by the choir. This should be sung to perfection,
since polyphony ought never to be done in a “slipshod” manner.
(Organ / Metrical / Congregation)
16.
After Communion, a congregational hymn is sung in its entirety (all
the verses), accompanied by organ. The Communion Meditation is the only
time the G.I.R.M. uses the word “hymnus” to describe what should be
sung during Mass. The G.I.R.M. seems to favor congregational singing at
this time, and my experience has been that it works much better for the
congregation to sing at this point, rather than during the reception of
Holy Communion.
Distributione Communionis expleta, pro
opportunitate sacerdos et fideles per aliquod temporis spatium secreto
orant. Si placet, etiam psalmus vel aliud laudis canticum vel hymnus a
tota congregatione persolvi potest. “When the distribution of
Communion is over, if appropriate, the Priest and faithful pray quietly
for some time. If desired, a Psalm or other canticle of praise or a hymn
may also be sung by the whole congregation.” (2011 edition,
General Instruction for the Roman Missal,
§88) My experience has been that placing a hymn here is absolutely
fantastic: everyone sings with gusto, and the all the verses can be
sung. I have not figured out why people are so willing to sing after
Holy Communion, but so hesitant to sing during the actual distribution
of Communion. There is a temptation to do a different hymn each week as
a Communion Meditation, but from a pastoral perspective this can be too
much. A normal person enjoys hearing and singing a familiar tune: such
a person is not bored if the tune be repeated twice monthly. The
Vatican II Hymnal
makes it extremely easy to choose a Communion meditation piece, as it
contains more than 100 Communion hymns. Today, for instance, there were
no fewer than three different choices for the feast of the Ascension:
all of them beautiful, singable, fresh, with wonderful texts.
(Organ / Metrical / Congregation)
17. At the end of Mass, a hymn is sung by the congregation with organ accompaniment.
Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday issued
the Motu Proprio Latina Lingua, which establishes the new Pontifical Academy for
Latin. The Academy is meant to promote the knowledge and study of the Latin
language and Latin literature, from classical times to the present
day.
We could call her the Symphonic Doctor, not only to honor her own superb compositions, which topped the classical music charts years before theologians got around to rediscovering her, but for the extraordinary theology of music she provides. St. Hildegard weaves the music of the Opus Dei into the very fabric of salvation history, seeing within it a most powerful tool against the Devil because it reflects the musical harmony of paradise. For her, music rises almost to the level of a sacrament, channeling the perfection of divine grace from the heavenly choirs down to us, where we reflect the symphony in the blessed joy of song.
If only that were how our church musicians today approached their sacred craft…
3) Songs with jerky, heavy, frenzied rhythms, or dance rhythms found in popular culture: #302, Gather Us In; #374, City of God; #447, Though the Mountains May Fall; #452, Blest Be the Lord; #495, Let There Be Peace on Earth, the perfect song for Bette Midler; #548, Sing to the Mountains, Sing to the Sea; #578, Sing a New Song Unto the Lord; #548 and #578 are cast in the style of a brindisi, a drinking song similar to that sung in Verdi’s La Traviata.