tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86218363369900245052024-03-02T07:52:15.307-08:00My Mouth Shall Proclaim Your PraiseA Practical and Theoretical Guide for Liturgical MusiciansChoir Fileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14764621961768960135noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-9425478724546368222024-02-20T23:04:00.000-08:002024-02-20T23:09:34.832-08:00Ora et labora<p><i><span style="color: #a2c4c9;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> O</span><span style="font-size: medium;">nce there were two novices working in the field, and they heard the bells ring for the Angelus. While one of them began to pray immediately, the other quickly lit a cigarette first. "Hey!" cried the first novice indignantly. "I asked the prior if I could smoke while I prayed and he said no!"</span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: medium;">"That's where you went wrong," replied the second, puffing away. "I asked prior if I could pray while I smoked, and he said yes."</span></i></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Jokes aside, sometimes it's hard to remember to pray the Masses we work for, especially if we are tucked away in a loft or a corner. Responsibilities will tug the corners of our mind, changes might need to be made and communicated, or just plain performance nerves get in the way. I have sat in the choir loft of many a restless choir director, as well as tried to manage my own ADHD while balancing presence for the job at hand with presence for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The struggle is real, whether you are a choir member, organist, cantor, or director.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">At first, when I was new to the job and really needed all of my focus to be on waiting for cues and not messing up, I would attend the Vigil Mass each week for my "Mass attendance" Mass, then on Sunday morning for my "on-the-job" Mass. At that time, the organ and cantor were situated right in the front of the church, off to one side of the sanctuary. It was very nerve-wracking for an inexperienced organist, though it certainly put a damper on my urge to fidget with papers and adjust my stops. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">After a few months, I fell into the rhythm of Play-Time/Pray-Time, and was able to feel as though I had attended Mass after working one - and then soon after, all the Masses on the schedule fell to me, so I didn't have an "off-Mass" even if I wanted one, unless I found one at another parish at an odd time, so it was just as well. Here are some of the strategies I have developed over the years to make every Working Mass prayerful, for yourself and also anyone you may be working with:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">1) Be prepared.</span></b> Knowing the music will allow you to keep your mind on the Mass, but there's more to it than that. Organize your music ahead of time. Put your pages in order on your music stand, including the ordinaries. Tape-flag the corner of your psalm page. Set out every object you will need during the Mass - water, pitch-pipe, pencil. Anything that will reduce the amount of time you have to spend in Mass shuffling papers or finding what you need.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">2) Write out a list of readiness cues.</span></b> It's one thing to know when you need to start singing the Sanctus, another to know when you need to <i>start getting out</i> the right book for the next song. If you aren't reaching for your music until the hymn is being announced, you will be distracted and flustered when it is time to begin. <a href="https://www.ps51-15.com/p/readiness-cues.html">Here's my list</a>, to give you an idea of what I mean.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">3) Respect the primacy of the Gospel.</span></b> Don't put your psalm book away, or give instructions to the organist, or double-check the number board, during the Gospel reading. Give all of the readings your full attention, but especially the Gospel. For myself, I find it easier to focus on the readings fully if I <b>don't</b> follow along in a book - the missal is just one more thing I have to juggle.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">4) If you must communicate something, use writing.</span></b> This will limit distraction, and also keep you to only what distractions are necessary.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">5) If you are the choir director, only face the choir when it is time to direct the choir.</span></b> Otherwise, keep the same posture and orientation as the congregation. Turn around at the last minute.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">6) Let the Psalms into your heart.</span></b> It shouldn't take you much time to memorize all the psalms in the Lectionary, between rehearsing, singing at Mass (sometimes more than once per weekend), and the level of repetition in the liturgical cycle. Use them in your private prayer. Think and talk about their meanings with your choir. Pick a favourite. Quote them in conversation. Make them part of your language idiom.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">7) Pray before and afterwards.</span> </b>Don't let yourself rush in or rush out.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Do these things, and music ministry will never be a chore, or just a series of boxes to check. Instead it will be a rich offering of love and service. Truly I think that for some, liturgical music is a "lower-case v" vocation, and as such, will draw you deeper into the Mass, and into the Body of Christ. If you treat it like any other job, to be performed and clocked-out, it will become a tiresome burden. What a loss!</span></p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-11805418828057844142023-04-30T22:12:00.006-07:002023-05-19T23:06:10.688-07:005 Quick Tips (5QT) to Make You a Better Accompanist Today<p><br /> When I first started writing this blog, I had a plan of sorts, which included periodic "5 Quick Tips" to improve your performance at every different job in liturgical music. This is not an earth-shaking list, it's literally just bite-sized habits you can incorporate to make things a little easier on yourself. Try working on one new little habit per month.</p><p>Let's begin with the Organist:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsgsNOimRK-vk3x2eOW0Kclp6gDDcRkz7RR4v856_eKDCHxQEX8U7w7apz02Nm5ejgMR7NTXVFguj5RBhsLNHH3ijHAtF84jbSYFP-MD3U1yIRkbr0pYFjYjtSkrDroUqj2uqg-f7yJQsk_Cbk8uVnUXKMjz55fUGd8Yj6CtYonQaV-ktW78l2q5n1WA/s4032/F12B7A32-4B7D-4B86-8480-391840F2C293.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsgsNOimRK-vk3x2eOW0Kclp6gDDcRkz7RR4v856_eKDCHxQEX8U7w7apz02Nm5ejgMR7NTXVFguj5RBhsLNHH3ijHAtF84jbSYFP-MD3U1yIRkbr0pYFjYjtSkrDroUqj2uqg-f7yJQsk_Cbk8uVnUXKMjz55fUGd8Yj6CtYonQaV-ktW78l2q5n1WA/w150-h200/F12B7A32-4B7D-4B86-8480-391840F2C293.jpeg" width="150" /></a></div><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">1. Hit the "Cancel" button after every hymn.</span></b> No mistake feels more conspicuous than stepping on a pedal by mistake when there are stops open. Those keys are sensitive, man. Make it a habit to turn everything off between pieces. (My five-year-old likes to sit on the bench next to me, and pressing the cancel button is his job.)<p></p><p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">2. Choose your tempo <i>before</i> beginning the intro.</span></b> Changes in tempo make the congregation uncertain. An uncertain congregation is a silent congregation. Count yourself in, start playing at the tempo you intend to use throughout, and stick with it. Don't slow down between verses either - ritardando is the universal cue for "this is the last verse we are singing."</p><p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">3. Breathe when the singers breathe.</span></b> If you can't squeeze in a breath between phrases, you're going too fast. Even if you aren't singing along <i>sotto voce,</i> you should time your breathing with the singers just so you are aware of the pacing they need in order to follow you.</p><p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">4. Familiarize yourself with the changing tone of the words ahead of time.</span></b> This will allow you to make appropriate registration changes between verses. If the hymn seems to be growing more contemplative, start bringing it gradually down. If there's a killer Doxology at the end, get ready to kick in some extra pedal stops. Practice the whole hymn, at least thinking the words along with the accompaniment, and consider the registration of each verse separately.</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>5. Save the pedal to cue the congregation.</b></span> If accompanying a psalmist, say, don't use the pedal on the psalm verses. Bring it back in on the refrain, and the congregation will hear it as a cue for them to sing. This also saves your cantor's voice a little, by naturally scaling back the volume.</p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-838714905833840462023-04-20T21:52:00.001-07:002023-04-30T22:38:48.780-07:00Let's talk typesetting<p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">At some point in your music career, you may find yourself wishing:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">a) you had the arrangement from <i>this</i> book set with the words from <i>that</i> book, or </span></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">b) you could find the sheet music for that thing you remember, or </span></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">c) for a legible replacement for an ancient photocopy whose original is lost to time, or</span></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">d) maybe, <i>maybe</i>, to have gorgeous legible sheet music of something you wrote.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Perhaps you check what the current top-of-the-line cadillac music engraving software is going for, and the price makes you goggle. Perhaps you download a free trial of Finale Notepad and that's made you swear off sheet music making forever. Perhaps you think about trying out MuseScore, like all the cool kids are doing, but then you hear about their <a href="https://gadanidis.ca/posts/2021-11-09-musescore.html" target="_blank">somewhat shady subscription tricksies</a> or sketchy copyright practices and you'd rather just steer clear.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">(I should mention that all of the above are my experiences.)</span></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The software engine I use to create my scores is called <a href="http://lilypond.org/" target="_blank">LilyPond</a>, and it is a free, open-source program. I combine it with another GUI app called <a href="https://www.frescobaldi.org/" target="_blank">Frescobaldi</a>, which makes it simple for my non-programmer brain to accept. It is possible to use LilyPond without Frescobaldi if you are a computer nerd, which I most definitively am <i>not.</i> Both programs run on my lowest-price-available Chromebook, which comes equipped to run Linux apps.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">LilyPond has <a href="https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.23/Documentation/web/manuals.html" target="_blank">extensive online documentation</a>, and a manual that is easy to understand. Because both LilyPond and Frscobaldi are open-source programs, there is a ton of support out there on the internet for fixing errors and syntax issues. They can be set up to auto-generate pdfs and practice MIDI files. Every single piece of music available on this blog was typeset using only these two programs.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The principle of using the program is simple - there is a "Score Wizard" to help you choose the parameters of the piece, such as key, voicing, time signature, title, etc.</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGOAWlPDwxxo2rXApPckPfKJnG_xWnHS13w7AJrCQVZBKZfduXCsZZUpNQgMLXqymPfGMxpenpepvDeoJTyIC-umvtKxi99HcDXdc9G5kcHXbxuJqu3S_IgmeZv3UZG9TWk8zoDEYkJ1FQGkA-0WgZkHR2J4KKabh0xqZXcky7ABwl252ygGldZRx3ig/s1920/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.14.47.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGOAWlPDwxxo2rXApPckPfKJnG_xWnHS13w7AJrCQVZBKZfduXCsZZUpNQgMLXqymPfGMxpenpepvDeoJTyIC-umvtKxi99HcDXdc9G5kcHXbxuJqu3S_IgmeZv3UZG9TWk8zoDEYkJ1FQGkA-0WgZkHR2J4KKabh0xqZXcky7ABwl252ygGldZRx3ig/w320-h180/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.14.47.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Open the Score Wizard here...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2mKEAF8hHF1gFH7Nx1dCe3xCF53JpuzWUG3DktEJwkdx9zmtqYTfdHPLAVgIOTF4VQC1HgLaLQ3hju_kqphVINQncDBxLRssLvcOIEI5C40SzvZ79gFiWa3Km873Wy_Y_jDUivR2dFt54-N9eySAml8iIzyrR3W_5KPTEebHySO9BVEtQg-HeDNM5Rw/s1920/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.15.18.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1920" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2mKEAF8hHF1gFH7Nx1dCe3xCF53JpuzWUG3DktEJwkdx9zmtqYTfdHPLAVgIOTF4VQC1HgLaLQ3hju_kqphVINQncDBxLRssLvcOIEI5C40SzvZ79gFiWa3Km873Wy_Y_jDUivR2dFt54-N9eySAml8iIzyrR3W_5KPTEebHySO9BVEtQg-HeDNM5Rw/w324-h200/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.15.18.png" width="324" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enter your header information...<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxAle16ciGGGo9uae-yOzSxSYy_-6PnWDRPv5BbrdlNrzkq-yhDHmfJdSXTaXH2GlFCsgPBWi9yK-d3xZq4AJwx3QIhUXSXPQZopw-RVWLw4l3uxhteLiy_dTJ5SjEItPfKE8KngwuIuZYLEusUOx4jQs9vkLRRAqi0luvzrFd2l8Vd3mxXr3mMxo1VA/s1920/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.15.40.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxAle16ciGGGo9uae-yOzSxSYy_-6PnWDRPv5BbrdlNrzkq-yhDHmfJdSXTaXH2GlFCsgPBWi9yK-d3xZq4AJwx3QIhUXSXPQZopw-RVWLw4l3uxhteLiy_dTJ5SjEItPfKE8KngwuIuZYLEusUOx4jQs9vkLRRAqi0luvzrFd2l8Vd3mxXr3mMxo1VA/s320/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.15.40.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Choose your scoring, voicing, and <br />lyrics settings...<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitQ-SsdlFBB2DmQ0up8jdcwizP266NgZ9Vu0KL387YkT-Tj9uYvMK3dl5Vn_IN0s2eRNDDN00NadTmLujRKiwSZQNAiq7bZI8Gk5PdLlfVRCKdjwC-Ekgc17nf5F5ULem8AXRVwI9MiW1xuZq_m7bCBuNf6eMzK5sN5HR6icM8qtON--siku3ds8-eyg/s1920/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.16.33.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitQ-SsdlFBB2DmQ0up8jdcwizP266NgZ9Vu0KL387YkT-Tj9uYvMK3dl5Vn_IN0s2eRNDDN00NadTmLujRKiwSZQNAiq7bZI8Gk5PdLlfVRCKdjwC-Ekgc17nf5F5ULem8AXRVwI9MiW1xuZq_m7bCBuNf6eMzK5sN5HR6icM8qtON--siku3ds8-eyg/s320/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.16.33.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Choose your key and time signatures, and <br />a few other details here</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />Then, in the space marked "music follows here," you enter a note name followed by a duration. Entering a4 will give you an A quarter note. Entering c1 will give you a C whole note. The program chooses the next nearest note, so if the interval is a fifth or greater, you will use ' to raise it an octave or , to lower it. Everything else is just tinkering. Once you have entered some notes, press ctrl+m to see an interactive preview, or ctrl+shift+p to generate a pdf of your sheet music.</span><div><span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf09m_HT8BW6IyyTeAbElCcny88Yubp5RTA8k1vHYZqICID1hsl-zjliOToybYntinPpLONtcPuMgcwmMZbzbO_iR4TADxXzWjxVaE7E6nf2kXRh-2qr14vc8-oYosqWUtJuFXPHx_IqqZNyVwXRnfVyJxRVyxKF4fuKcS95L51c4MVmUB4PNPMmEHoA/s1920/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.17.34.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf09m_HT8BW6IyyTeAbElCcny88Yubp5RTA8k1vHYZqICID1hsl-zjliOToybYntinPpLONtcPuMgcwmMZbzbO_iR4TADxXzWjxVaE7E6nf2kXRh-2qr14vc8-oYosqWUtJuFXPHx_IqqZNyVwXRnfVyJxRVyxKF4fuKcS95L51c4MVmUB4PNPMmEHoA/s320/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.17.34.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to enter music!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSdW2luZNIE5VdO3BDp_e-Dm-trTFcdw0ITz2XUFwABfJkwZIuR78CWlE0-CJbjf41WOTIAKLHj4mNMkJ3rjXSsUARJXCUtmzmdt-J_gFwLspodr62-AnGfXgXURPBuvBfjzAJQ57ZIensAOHkyv8KPY4G3JsG9FMvGI68BwzI-6latoq6C2lw90RUfg/s1920/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.18.33.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSdW2luZNIE5VdO3BDp_e-Dm-trTFcdw0ITz2XUFwABfJkwZIuR78CWlE0-CJbjf41WOTIAKLHj4mNMkJ3rjXSsUARJXCUtmzmdt-J_gFwLspodr62-AnGfXgXURPBuvBfjzAJQ57ZIensAOHkyv8KPY4G3JsG9FMvGI68BwzI-6latoq6C2lw90RUfg/s320/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.18.33.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I put in the first few notes of the soprano line,<br />but it's an octave higher than I wanted it...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9-uLYvQqVbsBbfEwgDDlkI4IuBtWUqVSao48aoWjc-MJHAXREsZXja5pWzblxO-V1v6g1NikEmwxHNBa3WOXuC4X41aUv9KEgK1h_Z-_h7Dt7fYBMlzFILl9XykmKtGjwBF7kduPFCcNV8aj9PT49uR-D3ITJCqBi8k8pJ1Sz9IViC5WceEFRVd1_Q/s1920/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.18.54.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9-uLYvQqVbsBbfEwgDDlkI4IuBtWUqVSao48aoWjc-MJHAXREsZXja5pWzblxO-V1v6g1NikEmwxHNBa3WOXuC4X41aUv9KEgK1h_Z-_h7Dt7fYBMlzFILl9XykmKtGjwBF7kduPFCcNV8aj9PT49uR-D3ITJCqBi8k8pJ1Sz9IViC5WceEFRVd1_Q/s320/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.18.54.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...so I added a comma after the first note name, <br />which lowered it an octave. I could have removed<br />one of the apostrophes after the "\relative c" as well.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="color: white;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Here's my list of tips for how to get the most out of the combo:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: black;"><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Make Templates.</span></b><span style="color: white;"> You know you're going to be doing a lot of the same things. Use the Score Wizard to set up a 4-part hymn (or chant hymn, or lead sheet with accompaniment, or guitar tabs) with all the settings you know you'll like best, and save it as a template. Time to set a new hymn? Go to File -> New -> 4-part hymn. Bam! Get to entering your music.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: black;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM46sD8aBYj_ZjCSH61j2eVJcVottvG8cSCiWke_HwkDO27UViUhMDBc5hbc9e9MKSiWVWAS0aeK0jHUBhpZ6ismH2ohmeEqus9uRFStkRGmuyIyBFzmH085Z4eOSYpRaijDsEPEAmhvINsoO8z80jCwi7AVtbpnSsZ3TAMYGVXcTHj90UZp5R8-90DA/s1920/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.34.48.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM46sD8aBYj_ZjCSH61j2eVJcVottvG8cSCiWke_HwkDO27UViUhMDBc5hbc9e9MKSiWVWAS0aeK0jHUBhpZ6ismH2ohmeEqus9uRFStkRGmuyIyBFzmH085Z4eOSYpRaijDsEPEAmhvINsoO8z80jCwi7AVtbpnSsZ3TAMYGVXcTHj90UZp5R8-90DA/s320/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.34.48.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saving as a template</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL96uqJBO9rrx3r7MX8sPPPtAwv9DPy8_TaCsMUQZwy00EK15cBsqfQ-85e9soOC_BZMrSlTRoQmBCjewN8fNIlGc5Xix8KUxjpny_OOnyHCyTcblMuLBuU_JfxERrErcHtGlZBJuSqbI1W-RId4jhqSNqPv7CLjkI_8VRBzy1aamIUM7c1BfTQTMYRQ/s1920/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.35.02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL96uqJBO9rrx3r7MX8sPPPtAwv9DPy8_TaCsMUQZwy00EK15cBsqfQ-85e9soOC_BZMrSlTRoQmBCjewN8fNIlGc5Xix8KUxjpny_OOnyHCyTcblMuLBuU_JfxERrErcHtGlZBJuSqbI1W-RId4jhqSNqPv7CLjkI_8VRBzy1aamIUM7c1BfTQTMYRQ/s320/Screenshot%202023-04-30%2022.35.02.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Using a template</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af;"><b>Keep a Google Doc of code snippets you know you'll use often.</b></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> Mine has organ cue notes, temporary voice division, make one verse italic, add verses at the bottom, and generate rehearsal files, among other things.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: black;"><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Just poke it until it works.</span></b><span style="color: white;"> I'm told this is the essence of computer programming. If this fails, try my next favourite option...</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: black;"><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Make friends with someone who knows how it works.</span></b><span style="color: white;"> Text them. Call them. Share your screen. People who do this for love will not feel imposed upon if they can help someone else do the same. Heck, contact me, I'll help you out!</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Happy Typesetting!</span></p><br /></div></div>Choir Fileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14764621961768960135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-51072274877918768812022-12-11T22:23:00.006-08:002022-12-14T22:11:26.074-08:00The Christmas Vigil Mass<p>Christmas is one of those feasts where I have had a very hard time settling on the exact right music. Everyone wants to hear Classic Christmas Carols, and Christmas is a time when people crave the familiar and the comfortable. They aren't looking to hear the themes of the readings match up with the themes of the music, they just want to get their kids to Mass and hear the story of the baby in the manger and sing some songs and follow all of their cherished family traditions. But we're Liturgists! We can give them so much more, and we don't even have to jolt them out of their Holiday Zones. How can this be accomplished?</p><p>The massive Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord comes in four parts: the Vigil, the Mass at Midnight, the Mass at Dawn, and the Mass During the Day. They all have their own special focus and character, and the readings and antiphons are different for each one. At Midnight, we get the narrative of the birth of Jesus from the census decree through to the angels delivering the news to the shepherds; at Dawn, we hear about the adoration of those shepherds and their report of the good news to all their neighbours; and at Mass During the Day, we hear the sublime introduction to the Gospel of St John - "In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." It's a little like the real-time, three-day liturgy of Triduum, covering the events in the same space of time that they happened, with a fully mature meditation at the end.</p><p>At the Vigil, the focus is on the immanence of Christ's arrival - the psalms and antiphons keep using the word "tomorrow," and the gospel reading begins with the genealogy of Jesus. We can't really sing, say, O Come All Ye Faithful with it's triumphant final verse: "Yea, Lord we greet Thee, born this happy morning" because it's still the night before. But also, it is a Mass celebrating the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord, and for most of the faithful attending, it is the only one they will get to. How do we straddle this divide, but still do proper honour to this momentous event?</p><p>My recommendation is to choose meditative hymns that reflect this immanence, this silent waiting. Open with an Advent hymn (such as Creator of the Stars of Night), then move to, say, O Little Town of Bethlehem (try <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bdPjklU2u3D3FuAD0TTMBg_P4aH-FCcv/view?usp=share_link" target="_blank">this gorgeous tune</a> from Ralph Vaughan Williams instead of the more sentimental standard) for offertory - inviting Christ to be born into our hearts as we leave a space of waiting silence. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QhBW5s5pCOFMw_BN1TDZkMUZymS2_NqA/view?usp=share_link" target="_blank">Silent Night</a> (or O Holy Night if you have a competent soloist) makes a great communion hymn, or Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming, for a Marian emphasis. My personal favourite, Of the Father's Love Begotten, is apparently not a well-known standard, but it should be!</p><p>You see what I am doing here? These hymns all have a theme of waiting, watching, silence, expectation. The joyful triumph is all for tomorrow. At Midnight, you can let it all loose - we Catholics invented the Midnight Release Party long before Harry Potter movies - but you don't have to sacrifice everyone's favourite traditional carols to keep the liturgy true to its assigned theme, and to distinguish the four Christmas liturgies from each other.</p><p>You may be asking yourself at this point - who cares if they are distinct from each other? Everyone is only attending once anyway, no one will know. To that I say, what are you in this business for, if not to do it right? Does your heart not rejoice to know that the Mass at Dawn has different readings from the Vigil? Do you have no longing of your own, just once, to attend all four Christmas liturgies in a row to see how different they are? When you make up a Christmas program, do you not instinctively move through the songs from Christmas Eve to Birth of Christ to shepherds abiding in the fields to calls for adoration to visits from the Magi? It is up to you to preserve the progression of the Christmas liturgies, to instill in the children (and to remind the adults!) a sense that Christmas Eve is different from Christmas Evening; that waiting for the Actual Day makes a difference. The Christmas Season has way too much chaos in it as it is currently celebrated - any beacon of order can only make things better.</p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>PostScript: the Vigil Mass is a great time to show off the strength of your SATB choir, if you've got the singers to do the whole Mass a cappella!</i></p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-78740928785933501152022-11-05T21:18:00.002-07:002022-11-15T10:55:04.668-08:00On Funerals<p><i><span style="color: #76a5af;">This is a sort of meta-post about the purpose of funerals and their structure. Tune in next time for more concrete suggestions and printable music you can use!</span></i></p><p><br /></p><p>Nothing brings out my Expert's Ire like watching the portrayal of Catholic funerals on TV - kind of like the way my husband spends all of every submarine movie muttering "it never looks like that" or "that would never happen." No one wants to talk about death anymore, and so the Catholic Church's teaching on Last Things is often left to one side until one must face it personally, leaving vast numbers of people without any knowledge of how the funeral liturgy works, or even what it is for. Add into that the grossly misrepresented "Christian Funeral" on almost every form of modern media, and you have a situation rife with highly uncomfortable encounters for the organist or cantor.</p><p>There are few trickier situations to navigate than a funeral liturgy. On the one hand, the raw feelings of the bereaved family must be carefully considered, and many who attend the funeral may not be Catholic, and therefore may not understand the (sometimes seemingly arbitrary) rules and guidelines for the Mass. On the other hand, the Truth is the Truth for all people, and the Catholic Church has a very specific message to speak by means of the funeral liturgy. The modern notion of a "celebration of life" has nothing at all to do with it - quite simply, we are there to offer the most powerful prayer on behalf of the deceased, to affirm our belief that death is not final, and to take solace in the message of God's infinite mercy. Anything else is distraction, and springs from unbelief - in purgatory (and therefore the necessity of praying for the dead), in the power of the Mass, in the resurrection of the dead (and therefore our cause for hope).</p><p>Since my focus is the Liturgical Musician, let's begin with words on music from the <a href="https://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/OCF/OCF-Intro.pdf" target="_blank">General Introduction from the Order of Christian Funerals</a>:</p><p>"30. Music is integral to the funeral rites. It allows the community to express convictions and feelings that words alone may fail to convey. It has the power to console and uplift mourners and to strengthen the unity of the assembly in faith and love. The <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">texts</span></b> of the songs chosen for a particular celebration <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">should express the Paschal Mystery of the Lord's suffering, Death, and triumph over death and should be related to the readings from Scripture.</span></b>" (<i>emphasis mine)</i></p><p>Right off the bat, this rules out <i>any and all</i> secular music, however dear to the heart of the deceased or their family. Note that the entire funeral liturgy encompasses the vigil, the Mass, and the rite of committal, so even the procession from the church to the gravesite should be marked with liturgical solemnity and dignity, so no, you can't even play the Notre Dame Fight Song as they bring the casket out of the church (an actual request I once had the honour of turning down). Any such request must be gently but firmly declined. It can be less awkward to blame the pastor - oh no, the priest says sacred music only, I'm so sorry. Perhaps those treasured songs can be played at the reception, when everyone is better able to pay more attention?</p><p>It also rules out songs focused on our human action. Songs of discipleship, ministry, or community are very well in their place, but this is not that place. Facing death at only one remove, it is not the time to be called to take action. It is the time to rely wholly on the grace of God and the entirely sufficient redemptive action of His Only Son.</p><p>Now that the selection has been narrowed a little, let's take a look at the structure of the funeral Mass itself. It begins with the reception of the body at the entrance to the church, which means the priest and servers enter unaccompanied by song. Remembering that many people in attendance may not be familiar with church protocol, the inside of the church may grow noisy - keep an assortment of quiet, meditative music on hand to fill the background with beautiful noise, so as to discourage chit-chat. (Bear in mind that this is a hopeful, comforting occasion, and stay away from heavy, gloomy, minor-key German chorales.) Once the priest enters, stop playing. The Mass has begun. He will place a pall, or white covering, on the casket, as a reminder of Baptism, and sprinkle holy water. Once this is complete, the procession begins, and so also the opening hymn.</p><p>In the old Requiem, the opening words to be sung are "<span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Rest eternal grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him</b></span>." This was followed immediately by the Kyrie, as the Mass is a continuation of the liturgy begun with the vigil, so there are no introductory rites (just like the Triduum). In the Ordinary Form, there is no Kyrie, just straight to the opening prayer. Continue with the opening hymn until any family members who have accompanied the remains are in their pews, then wrap it up. The themes of light, rest, laying down of burdens, and eternal life are all appropriate here. If using a hymn that only refers to these in later verses, skip ahead to them as necessary.</p><p>There are ten options for the Responsorial Psalm - the first and by far most popular is "the Lord is my Shepherd." The family is usually given the option of selecting one from among their number, but they don't always want to - many people prefer to leave it up to the priest, and the priest will almost invariably prefer to leave it up to you. Don't expect people to sing along, but still sing as though they will. They may surprise you, but for the most part, they won't. (Throughout the Mass, in fact, part of your job is to make sure all of the responses are spoken clearly and correctly. Many times, mourners are still too deep in their sorrow to remember what to do, even after a lifetime of attending Mass*.)</p><p>At the Offertory, the old rite placed in the mouth of the choir the words: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;">"<b>Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, </b></span><b style="color: #76a5af;">deliver the souls of all the faithful departed </b><b style="color: #76a5af;">from the pains of hell and from the bottomless pit: </b><b style="color: #76a5af;">deliver them from the lion's mouth, </b><b style="color: #76a5af;">that hell swallow them not up, </b><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>that they fall not into darkness."</b></span></p></blockquote><p>Since the Offertory is a time of introspection, a moving back and forth between two things - time to meditate on the Word of God and prepare interiorly for reception of the Eucharist - hymns based on supplicatory Psalms are especially good here. Try to select hymns that emphasize that this deliverance has, in fact, been accomplished.</p><p>Many families request a singing of one or another setting of Ave Maria at a funeral. This is good and fitting, given the second half of the prayer. The best place to put it is <i>after </i>the reception of Communion, not <i>during.</i> The Blessed Sacrament always deserves our total focus.</p><p>After the Prayer After Communion, your priest may, for pastoral reasons, allow a eulogy to be given. <i>I strongly believe that this practice should be eliminated from Catholic funerals.</i> Since you have no control over this aspect of the liturgy, I won't go on a rant, but only point out that the General Introduction to the Order of Christian Funerals says plainly, <i>twice</i>, that a eulogy should never be given. However, the practice is embedded in the American psyche, and funeral home directors are not aware that such a thing has no place in a Catholic funeral and have promised it to the family, etc. So there it is. Hopefully you will hear one that focuses on the good that God has done for the deceased in their life, that briefly calls the mourners to hope and comfort. I've seen some doozies in my day though, let me tell you...</p><p>At last it is time for the Final Commendation. The priest and servers leave the altar and approach the body. After a brief word, the priest will incense the remains to show respect for the body which was marked with the seal of the Holy Trinity at baptism, the temple of the Holy Spirit. There are many simple responsory psalms to sing here, I use <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jnD0hDzILf0mtWSkuNkuDpRP0gV1kOgX/view?usp=share_link" target="_blank">this one</a> - just sing it straight, a cappella, no amplification. I find the simplicity of the tone dignified enough to need no enhancement.</p><p>There is no dismissal at the end of the funeral Mass; instead there is an invitation to go and carry our brother/sister to her final resting place. Immediately begin the final hymn. Again, in the old rite, this would be "In Paradisum," and would be sung all through the procession, on foot, from the church to the grave site. Alas, my favourite setting is not public domain so I can't post it - it is the old chant, the organ accompaniment composed by Randall deBruyn, former Directing Editor for Oregon Catholic Press (all my favourite chant accompaniments are his). Other fitting hymns include "I Know That My Redeemer Lives," "The Strife is O'er," or similar redemption-focused words. Always keep the emphasis on the work of Christ, and you won't go wrong.</p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>*This happened to me when I buried my son, even after my ten years of being the parish organist and playing for several funerals per year.</i></p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-13463751277604326942022-09-08T15:02:00.002-07:002022-09-08T15:13:22.511-07:00Hymn of the Week: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (LOBE DEN HERREN)<p><span style="color: #76a5af;"> Hymn Title</span>: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;">Tune Name</span>: LOBE DEN HERREN</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;">Meter</span>: 86.86.4.7.8.</p><p>An absolute staple hymn, Praise to the Lord has been published in 376 different hymnals, according to Hymnary.org - and it deserves this widespread fame. With a metrical pattern that only a German Chorale Master could dream up, you won't find any other text set to this tune, nor this tune with any other set of words. So why am I bothering to make it available to you, when I could be featuring other, more obscure hymns? Well, because I want to draw your attention to it - sometimes a gold standard gets cast aside as "too common," and falls out of use. Also your hymnal might have watered the words down, and we can't have that.</p><p>LOBE DEN HERREN is a strong, singable tune, with a solid, rational arrangement. The long opening lines should be sung in one breath if possible, which should give you a sense of the kind of brisk tempo this piece demands, unless you are in a large, especially live, setting. The trumpet call opening the third line should crescendo to the high note: "All ye who hear!" An undeniable summons to worship.</p><p>Now, because of this summons ("All ye who hear, now to His altar draw near"), this hymn is almost always used as a processional, which is perfectly suitable. However, unless your celebrant is fond of very slowly using copious amounts of incense, this means that your congregation often won't get to hear the third and fourth verses, which is a shame. Recently I placed this song as the Offertory hymn. Since the shift from the Liturgy of the Word to the Liturgy of the Eucharist is also, in a sense, a moment in which to approach the altar, there should be nothing jarring about this placement.</p><p>So go ahead. Sing Praise to the Lord. Along with Holy God We Praise Thy Name, and other standbys, remember that they are standbys for a reason.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/131FeUL_MKIFppmvcFiQoAuIHWCApYbbv/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Click here to print the music for free!</a></h1>Choir Fileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14764621961768960135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-50659379332841151932022-08-17T10:59:00.001-07:002022-08-17T10:59:45.536-07:00Hymn of the Week: The Church's One Foundation (AURELIA)<p><span style="color: #a2c4c9;"> Hymn Title:</span> The Church's One Foundation</p><p><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">Tune Name:</span> AURELIA</p><p><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">Meter:</span> 76 76 D</p><p>Andrew Seeley writes in <u><a href="https://my.catholicliberaleducation.org/product/golden-treasures-notes-comments-on-classic-hymns-for-catholic-schools/" target="_blank">Golden Treasures</a></u> (the companion volume to <u><a href="https://my.catholicliberaleducation.org/product/classic-hymns-for-catholic-schools/" target="_blank">Classic Hymns For Catholic Schools</a></u>):</p><p><i><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">"Many of the traditional doctrines of the Catholic Church are shared by our separated brethren. This hymn [The Church's One Foundation], one of the richest in English celebrating the Church, was written by an Anglican clergyman in South Africa and is sung to a tune composed by the grandson of Charles Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church. But the reverence for the Church, the Scripturally-rich imagery, the connection with history and eternity make this an eminently Catholic hymn."*</span></i></p><p>There seems to be a dearth of modern Catholic "hymns" about the Church that are actually Christ-centered. I suppose that the dreaded "Spirit of Vatican II" (which has very little to do with the <i>teachings</i> of Vatican II) told us that we should turn our attention to ourselves and celebrate the Body of Christ without her Head. So many of these songs are in fact little more than self-congratulatory back-patting sessions. Hence we look to our separated brethren for a little enlightenment, from time to time. Though their additions to the building built on our foundations may not be fully permitted or up to code, there is some good quality work in there. This particular work is doctrinally solid, top to bottom.</p><p>The Church's One Foundation is an ode to the Church Militant, Head and all. The strong poetry does not shrink from the difficulties besetting our pilgrim journey, but never descends into self-pity, nor turns to self-praise. This makes it a great hymn for for All Saints' or All Souls, or for any occasions when the theme of the day calls us to the cost of discipleship (and the worth of the promised reward). These can be otherwise challenging readings to find hymns for, so keep this one on call!</p><p>Make sure your sopranos are limbered up before singing - the melody has a range of a full octave, and spends a significant amount of time in the upper half of that octave. There are some charming unexpected dissonances too: teach your choir to savour them, not fear them.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C1GJ2zsZLC6HUsqYpLgX4d3NqZgZoiu6/view?usp=sharing">Click here to print the music for free!</a></h1><p><br /></p><p><i><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">*He goes on to cite the Scripture passages upon which all the figures of the hymn are based - you should read it, especially if you are a music teacher in a Catholic school. You can find it for sale through the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education <a href="https://my.catholicliberaleducation.org/product/golden-treasures-notes-comments-on-classic-hymns-for-catholic-schools/" target="_blank">here</a>. Support a good cause!</span></i></p>Choir Fileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14764621961768960135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-86189822002034734592022-08-08T12:53:00.003-07:002022-08-08T12:53:40.502-07:00The Liturgical Musician as Teacher<p><span style="color: #76a5af; font-size: medium;"><i> "He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Mt 18:2-3)</i></span></p><p>Children are amazing. They begin knowing nothing except that they are needy, and over a remarkably short period of time, learn to eat, walk, talk, read, navigate relationships, dress themselves, memorize and repeat an astonishing quantity of information, and so on. For the most part, this is done simply by having things around for them to learn from, by being intentional in speaking to them, and by expecting them to participate to the best of their ability in every day life, correcting gently where necessary. No adult can possibly absorb as much as any average child - our crusty old brains still rely on the patterns acquired in infancy to process and integrate information.</p><p>Our Mother the Church treats us as the children we are: she places us in a <a href="https://silverlinemontessori.com/montessori-childcare-the-importance-of-a-prepared-environment/" target="_blank">prepared environment</a> (a beautiful church), speaks to us intentionally (through the liturgy), and invites us to participate in Jesus Christ's act of perfect worship, which is the life of His body, the Church. We begin as infants, drawn by our need for God, and little by little, we mature almost unconsciously as the life of the church shapes us. We get to know the cycle of the church year; we become familiar with the often-repeated psalms. As we grow, we aid our littler brothers and sisters along their way by our example.</p><p>So, while the Liturgy is the life of the Church, it is also a carefully constructed lesson. As members of the congregation, we are to listen and reflect, but once we become more active participants, we must also consider our role as teachers. This is obvious in the case of, say, the lector: he must read the text he is given, clearly and with dignity. He doesn't get to decide that the people need to hear something else today, or to do the voice of Moses in a high squeaky voice and God in a deep gravelly bass so that the kids can hear the difference.</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSvdow0eponQ4xCE6CfywPkejPd1_ZCQ8gMswpeHY-CjtdYNiqB6Lpn1udjxtUtm7ZtgJEaFyYLy9P81UpBO0qAQkHmyi3RGzhNP2L-FVc6bWzijCGzI7EvdWNpUCecM67pzJXCdZBkcMWYrmCejI4vrJ3e0SrIPSbZnYSZyd-yUzdzHqrEmvy-WhXxw/s627/ordo-page.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSvdow0eponQ4xCE6CfywPkejPd1_ZCQ8gMswpeHY-CjtdYNiqB6Lpn1udjxtUtm7ZtgJEaFyYLy9P81UpBO0qAQkHmyi3RGzhNP2L-FVc6bWzijCGzI7EvdWNpUCecM67pzJXCdZBkcMWYrmCejI4vrJ3e0SrIPSbZnYSZyd-yUzdzHqrEmvy-WhXxw/s320/ordo-page.png" width="204" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><i>A sample page of the Ordo</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table>It is the same with the music. The choir (or in the absence of a choir, the cantor) has a specific role, and that role is laid down already. "It is not in the heavens, that you should say, 'Who will go up to the heavens to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may do it?' Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may do it?” (Dt 30:12-13) No, I tell you, it is something near to you, written right there in the Missal. It is your duty as teacher to know what is the lesson you must be conveying to your brothers and sisters.</p><p>Practically speaking now, this means that you need to read the texts for the day before selecting music. Not just the Gospel! Look at the whole progression: Entrance antiphon, first reading, responsorial Psalm, second reading, Gospel, offertory, Communion antiphon. If that is not enough for you, consider purchasing an<a href="https://triparishes.org/using-the-ordo" target="_blank"> Ordo</a> - a small volume specific to your diocese that gives the list of readings, proper liturgical color, and a brief summary of the theme of every day in the church year. </p><p>And pray! At least before you begin your preparation for Mass, but every day, beg God and His Mother, who taught Jesus to say His daily prayers, for the graces to be a good teacher.</p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-18627483561255297162022-08-07T18:11:00.004-07:002022-09-08T15:12:47.703-07:00Hymn of the Week: The God Whom Earth and Sea and Sky (EISENACH)<p><span style="color: #76a5af;"> Hymn Title:</span> The God Whom Earth and Sea and Sky</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;">Tune Name:</span> EISENACH</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;">Meter:</span> LM (88 88)</p><p>As we are coming up on the Feast of the Assumption (a holy day of obligation... unless your diocese habitually lifts the obligation for feasts that fall on a Monday or Saturday, lest people have to attend Mass <i>two days in a row</i>), it's time to reach into your Marian Hymn Box. Oh, what have we here? A hymn to our Blessed Mother that isn't Hail Holy Queen or Immaculate Mary? Sign me up!</p><p>The trick to using Marian hymns in the Mass* is to make sure that at least some of the time, they are addressed to God. If the antiphon for which you are substituting a hymn is addressed to Mary, you may use a hymn addressed to Mary. Otherwise, you want one like this one, which concludes:</p><div style="text-align: left;"><div><i><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">O Lord, the Virgin-born, to thee</span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">eternal praise and glory be,</span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">whom with the Father we adore</span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">and Holy Spirit evermore.</span></i></div></div><p>This is not out of any disrespect to Mary, of course! But if you were at a wedding, and found that all the speeches and toasts were to the Mother of the Groom, you'd think that something was off. And if she had a shred of humility, so would she. Mary points us to Jesus. That is her function, and she does it to perfection. Every reflection on Mary in the Mass must also be a reflection on the Godhead.</p><p>If your space is uncarpeted or for some other reason especially reverberate, this one sounds grand in parts, since the space will require you to take it at a slower tempo. However, if there is no acoustic reason to slow it down, it may be better to sing it in unison, as the harmonies unfold a little quickly for voices. When singing in parts, make sure to drill the tenors and basses well on the third line where they sing in parallel thirds - parallel thirds for any length of time can't be sloppy!</p><p>As a personal side note, for whatever strange reasons, I have had many architects in my choir over the years. They love this hymn, for obvious reasons.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fNawRTDcKNGf4y2KnB5ulNJ-qInhxNTT/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Click here to print the music for free!</a></h1><p><br /></p><p>*Remember, the recessional hymn takes place <i>after</i> the Mass has ended, so this is not a consideration.</p>Choir Fileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14764621961768960135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-74664411621227971562022-08-03T20:33:00.000-07:002022-08-03T20:33:11.873-07:00Resource Review: Worship 4<p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>My overall rating:</b></span> 2.5/5</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Content:</b></span> 2/5</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Book Quality:</b></span> 4/5</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Ease of use:</b></span> 3/5</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Musicality:</b></span> 2/5</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Summary:</b></span> has some good stuff but won't be everything your parish needs, making it a very expensive supplement.</p><p>The Worship hymnal line from GIA Publications has been one of their flagship resources for a really, really long time. The fourth edition was published in 2011, so as to include the new translation of the Novus Ordo. Their site rates it as "80% traditional, 20% contemporary," so it's clear that they don't use the same metric as I do for that divide. Per their website, <i>"<span style="color: #76a5af;">Worship IV is filled with the finest organ-based hymnody GIA has to offer.</span>" </i>I don't doubt that this is true.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">the Good</h2><p style="text-align: left;">There's a ton of stuff in here. There are over 1200 separate pieces of music, encompassing hymns and canticles for the Liturgy of the hours, eight complete Mass settings, alternate psalm settings, traditional hymns, contemporary works, and more. The accompaniment books come in four volumes, and there are other instrumental books available for optional C and B-flat instruments, and so on.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Besides the music, the Order of the Mass is included, as well as the Funeral and Marriage rites. The organ accompaniments are well indexed by hymn tune, meter, liturgical season, scriptural references, composers and sources, and of course first lines/titles. There is also a "Hymn of the Day" section that gives at least one hymn recommendation for each Sunday and feast of the church year, for all three years in the cycle. If you're stuck for a thematic match, GIA has your back.</p><p style="text-align: left;">And my favourite thing about this collection is that hymn #666 is a hymn entitled "Silence, Frenzied Unclean Spirit." Clearly put together by a publisher with a sense of humour.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">the Bad</h2><p style="text-align: left;">A lot of the songs in here are straight-up bad. Not just stuff I don't care for, and not just stuff that falls short of what belongs to the dignity of the liturgy, but theologically questionable outright garbage. Much of it is cloaked in recycled hymn tunes that <i>used to </i>have excellent lyrics. The hymn tune KINGSFOLD is used for <i>seven</i> different sets of words - that one is the record holder, but many others are similarly abused. Most of the lyrics for these "new wines in old wineskins" are pedestrian, clunky, and self-worshipping. Most (if not all) of the actual traditional hymns have had their language "updated" to modern squishy sensibilities, and no longer contain the full poetic impact that they once had.</p><p style="text-align: left;">None of the Mass settings are chant-based except for the ICEL Mass and the most basic Latin chant. All of the English settings have a refrain-style Gloria, which I think is a hot mess. Most of the Sanctus settings span an octave or more within the first two bars. These are not settings geared towards full participation by average parishioners, they are showcases for the cantor/choir.</p><p style="text-align: left;">For being such a fat volume, it does not contain any readings. This means that you will still need missals or printed worship aids for your parish. Since a good portion of the Worship is music your parish probably doesn't need for Sunday Mass (liturgy of the hours, psalms and canticles, two complete sets of responsorial psalms, etc), it feels like a waste of space. For something that will only provide part of what your parish needs, it's a large and expensive resource.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">My Final Take</h2><p style="text-align: left;">When our parish first bought the Worship 4, I was careful to select two hymns from the Worship and two from the missal we purchased, just so that no one would complain that we spent money on books we weren't using. Over time, that ratio shifted as all of the musicians in our parish found that the other book had better words, better harmonizations, and better selection than the hymnal that was four times its size, and now it forms about 25% of our repertoire, at best. While it's got some great stuff that you won't find elsewhere, I don't think it is worth purchasing for a parish that wants authentic sacred music in a reverent liturgy.</p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-80654974758891135332022-06-29T15:44:00.002-07:002022-06-29T15:44:34.941-07:00I Had This Idea<p>People keep telling me that they can't join the choir because they don't read music. Well, reading music is nice, but not necessary, depending on the level of musicianship and the difficulty of the music in your parish choir. But it got me thinking... what if they could? So I asked my pastor for a minute at the end of each Mass one weekend to make "an announcement." (To be fair, if he didn't want me to go on for a bit, he should have said no - he's seen the length of my previous "announcements," so it's on him, really.)</p><p>Below is the text of the announcement I gave:</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;">"Hello, my name is (Kathleen), and I am the director of music here at (church). For over 20 years, it has been my honor to help enrich the liturgical life of this wonderful parish, with the help of a team of dedicated and talented musicians. I’m not actually here to recruit you to join the choir - in fact, the choir is just about to take their summer break, so that announcement will come closer to the fall. Instead, I’m up here today to talk to you all for a moment about singing.</span></p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;">I have heard the liturgy of the Catholic Church described as “a sung prayer which is sometimes recited.” Through its use of elevated language and formal gestures, it is set apart and solemnized, but it is only with the addition of melody that it reaches its full height. St Augustine tells us “singing belongs to the one who loves.” And Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI says, "When man comes into contact with God, mere speech is not enough.” Things in our hearts that we cannot find the words to say are expressed once they become song. And when we all sing together, our hearts literally beat in unison. When we sing together, we become truly one Mystical Body, with Christ at the head.</span></p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;">And so, I ask you to sing. The structure and intent of the Mass becomes more obvious when each participant plays their proper role - priest and deacon, choir and congregation. You, the people in the pews, have a proper part in the liturgy too, and it involves singing - the Gloria, the prayer of the angels adoring God; the Responsorial Psalm, by which we accept and respond to the words of Scripture which are read to us; the Memorial Acclamation during the Eucharistic Prayer, the affirmation of our commitment to observing the memorial of Christ’s sacrifice as he instructed us. It is not merely something stuck in there to make us feel included; it is one of the means whereby the grace of the Mass works in our hearts.</span></p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;">To better assist you in participating in a deeper way, besides continuing my efforts to choose music that is both fitting and singable, this summer I will be offering a beginner class in sight-reading music. This class will be completely free, and does not put you under any obligation to join the choir. We will meet in the classrooms upstairs on Wednesday evenings, beginning June 22. You don’t need any previous musical training to benefit. Just like the choir, it is open to anyone ten years old and above capable of paying attention for an hour or so. Please see the bulletin for more information - my phone number and e-mail address should both be in there.</span></p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;">I am proud of this parish, and how well you already sing - but I can hear that there is great potential for even more. I hope that my efforts and yours will please God for many years to come. Please pray for me, for the success of the music ministry, and for our parish community. Thank you."</span></p><p>And yeah, now I'm teaching a class on sight-reading music on choir practice night all through my summer break, which is great! I bought a giant magnetic dry-erase grand staff and a million colored markers, and off we go. A bit of rhythm practice, some tricks for remembering the intervals - i.e. the fifth is Twinkle Twinkle, the minor third is Greensleeves, minor second is the Jaws theme, etc - and tonight we start in on Solfege with the Circle of Fifths for dessert. </p><p>I hope to be able to sing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ut_queant_laxis" target="_blank">Ut Queant Laxis</a> by the end, since that hymn is the origin of the solfege names - each line begins on the next degree of the scale, and the latin words give the syllable for the step of the scale:</p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Ut</b> queant laxīs</span> (when "ut" got replaced by "do" I am not entirely sure)<br /><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Re</b>sonāre fibrīs<br /><b>Mī</b>ra gestōrum<br /><b>Fa</b>mulī tuōrum,<br /><b>Sol</b>ve pollūtī<br /><b>La</b>biī reātum,<br />Sāncte Iohannēs.</span> ("Si" for "ti" was added as the seventh to complete the scale.)</div><p style="text-align: left;">I'll keep you updated with my results!</p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-22557273016289208112022-06-11T21:36:00.000-07:002022-06-11T21:36:33.097-07:00Hymn of the Week: I Bind Unto Myself Today (Updated music!)<p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b> Hymn Title:</b></span> I Bind Unto Myself Today</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Tune Name:</b></span> ST PATRICK"S BREASTPLATE / DIERDRE</p><p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Meter:</span></b> LMD (Long Meter Double, that is, 88 88 two times)</p><p>The <a href="http://www.ps51-15.com/2022/02/hymn-of-week-be-thou-my-vision-slane.html" target="_blank">first hymn</a> I put up on this site was a fine example of an old Irish <i>lorica</i> or prayer of protection. This one is the Big Great Grandaddy of all Old Irish Loricas, named the breastplate of St Patrick. If hymns were people, this one would be a legendary general. If hymns were food, this one would be an entire banquet. If hymns were dwelling places, this one would be a fortress.</p><p>Performance of this wonder should not be undertaken without preparation - it's hard to know what is going on and when, unless everyone has looked over the music together at least once. The first verse is a shortened version of the subsequent verses, so I have typeset it first by itself, outside of the repeats. Then, you may notice that the remaining verses are numbered 2-5, then 7. This is because, not content to be a great hymn, this one sidetracks for the sixth verse into a second great hymn (hence the double tune name), only to be pulled back into a final seventh verse with the original tune. I hope it is clearly labeled enough that someone unfamiliar with it can follow.* <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">That said</span></b>, it is a catchy tune in a range of only one octave, and after hearing it a couple of times, any congregation could sing along and be inspired.</p><p>I recommend singing verse one with all voices together, then alternating treble and baritone voices for verses 2-5, as singing this one can get tiring. When switching to the sixth verse harmony, it will be trickiest for the tenors, as they are the ones responsible for shifting from minor to major. The DIERDRE section needs its own count-in, as the note values are not <i>quite</i> equivalent - the half note is longer, but not as long as double. Keep it at a lilting pace, and give it some space on either side; a little beat of silence as you move back and forth.</p><p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">As for the organist</span></b>, the first link below is to vocal parts only, edited by me; <span style="color: #76a5af;">the second (updated!), a three-page version with organ accompaniment that is still missing notes for the Amen - for now, just go ahead and play c minor-> G major;</span> and the third to the original harmonizations by <a href="https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Charles_Villiers_Stanford" target="_blank">Charles Villiers Stanford</a>, with enough variations to keep you busy, including a crashing great majestic final verse. Mix and match as your skill level takes you. As with any hymn in unison, but especially one with as many verses as this one, this is the organist's time to shine.</p><p>Also, please note: St Patrick's Day is not a liturgical season. This is <i>not</i> a special St Patrick's Day hymn, nor should it replace other, more appropriate hymns on Sundays close to St Patrick's Day. It's great for All Saints, awesome for Sundays when the readings have those strong Old Testament Vibes, and I've heard it at weddings twice, to great effect.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yOeds-401mQnZGl6O1JnE-pr_fPydfH6/view?usp=sharing">Click here for the vocal score!</a></h1><h2 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bthsKoKK41zeIeOJjF4_T8cl8IVOruqt/view?usp=sharing">Click here for the simpler arrangement!</a></h2><h2 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/16chRgxlXPcaEwv0jAQVQBOeaXrxDprIN/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Click here for the awesome variations!</a></h2><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>*I am always learning new things about the way my typesetting program works, and this is one hymn that has challenged my skills a great deal already. I intend to revisit and revise it again, probably more than once.</i></p>Choir Fileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14764621961768960135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-18617763489484640012022-05-29T21:22:00.000-07:002022-05-29T21:22:44.879-07:00Hymn of the Week(ish): Crown Him With Many Crowns<p> <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Hymn Title:</span></b> Crown Him With Many Crowns</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Tune Name:</b></span> DIADEMATA</p><p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Meter:</span></b> SMD (that is, Short Meter, Double - 6.6.8.6. 6.6.8.6.)</p><p>There is no better example of the power of hymnodal language than Crown Him With Many Crowns. A vigourous, commanding text wedded to a trimphant hymn tune, just begging for a trumpet fanfare, this gem is often found to be the victim of misguided modern verbal castration: cut, sanded, watered down, and just... weakened. However, here it is, in its original lyrical glory - note especially the third verse, my favourite:</p><div style="text-align: left;"><i>"Crown him the Lord of Love,</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Behold his hands, his side;</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Rich wounds yet visible above,</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>In beauty glorified.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>No angel in the sky</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Can fully bear that sight,</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>But downward bends his burning eye</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>At mysteries so bright."</i></div><p style="text-align: left;">And I can never resist a big dopey grin when singing the phrase "Creator of the rolling spheres / Ineffably divine." It's just too much. A real poetic masterpiece.</p><p style="text-align: left;">And the music! A joy to the rational soul, the parts are easy to master, but every one is fun to sing. The melody has a rising pattern in the second half that pumps up the anticipation, leading to a high note and a descending resolution that satisfies expectation perfectly. I can't imagine any other set of words for this tune. This hymn is an absolute must for Ascension, Christ the King, and any other times in the year you want to get your congregation really excited about Jesus.</p><p style="text-align: left;">I am including here not one, but two editions: one is fit onto only one page, which some choir members prefer, while the other has larger notes and type across two pages, and the line breaks match the poetry breaks. I printed both and let my choir members decide which they prefer, but I play from the two-page version when I'm singing and playing at the same time.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LPchUb-Eby6n1ORnTjp0x1WK45_Sb4u1/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Click here to print the one-page version for free!</a></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_3DSmTrhpGPiKN6WHIpi921BQRiHJV69/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Click here to print the larger-type version for free!</a></h1>Choir Fileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14764621961768960135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-11325217709850662102022-05-20T12:38:00.000-07:002022-05-20T12:38:07.599-07:00The Sequence (with music!)<p>There are a few major feasts in the church year that are distinguished by the addition of a <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Sequence</span></b> to the liturgy: <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Easter, Pentecost, Corpus Christi,</span></b> and <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Our Lady of Sorrows</span></b>. What is a Sequence, and what is it for? It's a piece of theological poetry, based in scripture but not directly taken from it, which forms one of the lessons for the day. I like to think of it as a kind of homiletic fail-safe - no matter how good or bad a preacher your pastor is, you will get this one elegant lesson that encapsulates all you have to know about the feast. In the Ordinary Form, it is sung between the second reading and the Gospel Acclamation. </p><p>While two of the Sequences are optional, the ones for Easter and Pentecost must be at least recited - but they are <i>so much better </i>when sung. Since the Sequence is a lesson, similar to the readings, I think it is best to sing it in the vernacular - at the very least, the congregation should have the translation in their hands. If it is not printed in the missal that your parish uses, and you <i>must</i> sing it in Latin, direct their attention to the translation you have placed in the seats, or read the translation before singing. It should be proclaimed clearly, not too slowly, and with minimal distracting elements - the accompaniment (if any) should be limited to chords and the melody. Rather than harmonies, use alternation of voices if you really must have variety; each Sequence has a more-or-less repeating pattern of music which can be sung antiphonally by two cantors, by men and women, or mixed choirs standing in different places (switch at the double bar lines). The typesettings I have linked here are the vocal line only.</p><p>The <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PnB27XTbRiwYi4vgsaUJi42rRxn0e8QH/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Sequence for Easter</a> (Latin text <i>Victimae Paschali Laudes</i>, or <i>Christians, to the Paschal Victim</i>) has a range of an octave and a fourth, with the low note being a quick dip, so if it's a bit of a stretch for your higher voices, the low voices can cover - definitely err on the side of a little too low rather than a little too high. It has a narrative section which is a great spot for alternating between men's voices and women's, or even a solo woman singing the "part" of Mary (she will need to cover the full range of the piece). Normally, "dramatic readings" are out of place in the liturgy, but since this is straight-up Poem, with a cue and a response, like a play, it's free game.</p><p><i>Veni Sancte Spiritus</i>, the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/12TrEvSJsu12UcKrlA_ijjL2K6lpKIZ_z/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Sequence for Pentecost</a> (not to be confused with <i>Veni Creator Spiritus</i>, which was also written in the Sequence format, but does not enjoy the distinction of being an official part of the liturgy), has a much more regular verse pattern - verse one and verse two have the same music, verse three and verse four have the same music, and so on for ten verses, perfectly regular. The range is one octave plus the leading tone at the bottom - easily in range if you pick the right starting note. Watch out for one extremely derpy element, thanks to the USCCB - if your translation has "updated" the "archaic" language which modern humankind is apparently incapable of understanding, you will have this egregious couplet:</p><div style="text-align: left;">O most blessed Light divine,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Shine within these hearts of <b>yours</b></div><p style="text-align: left;">Clunk. The rest of it rhymes beautifully, this blot sticks out like a wasp in your ice cream. It's an easy fix.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Now. The "optional" <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zgUiOAX9YXrYUFVMgVvQrszXzkkH6y_g/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Corpus Christi Sequence</a> (Latin text <i>Lauda Sion Salvatorem</i>, or <i>Laud, O Zion</i>) is an incredible hymn written by the master of tightly-packed theology: St Thomas Aquinas himself, no less. Difficult concepts are deftly combed into strands of poetry and woven together into a complex braid of understanding. It is <i>very long:</i> twenty-four verses, each pair a little different from the pair before, and sometimes in confusing order - verses one and two go together, three and four, but then five and six are echoed by seven and eight, and let's not even get started on the metrical shift at the end. Because of the length, you've got to keep it going at a good clip, maybe a tick slower than speaking speed. With a range of an octave and a fifth, I've never had the guts to ask my whole choir to sing this one, but always sung it as a solo. Getting the right starting pitch is crucial. A little too high, and you'll start out cruising just fine, but you'll be squeaking and panting by the end. I've set it here so that the highest note is D, because I am an alto who can sometimes sing tenor - dropping to that G below middle C is no big deal for me, but high E-flats are saved for a good day when I'm not tired or nervous, and I'm always nervous before I sing this one.* You know your own range, feel free to start wherever works for you.</p><p style="text-align: left;">(There is a way to sing the "short version" of the Corpus Christi Sequence - just <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">begin at verse 21</span></b> (marked "Short version" in my copy, which is its own hymn, <i>Ecce Panis Angelorum</i>. Often the priests at my parish will ask for the short version at the early and late Masses, but will relent and let me do the full Sequence for the choir Mass. It is, I guess, preferable to skipping the Sequence altogether.)</p><p>Please, let me know if you used any of these settings! Or, if you ask me to, I will gladly re-set them in another key if you need it. Post in the comments below with your own tips or questions.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>*If Triduum is the high point of the choir's year, the Corpus Christi Sequence is the Cantor's Final Exam. Last year, I sang it at a newly ordained priest's first Mass, and his Music and Liturgy professor was there - talk about a tough audience! He approved, however, so I guess I passed!</i></p>Choir Fileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14764621961768960135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-56689527754145746752022-05-08T16:55:00.007-07:002022-05-08T16:55:54.770-07:00Hymn of the Week: Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain<p><i> After a restful Easter Octave and replete with feasting (and now improved by the addition of five solid pounds of Easter Joy to my frame), I am back with more Hymns of the Week to broaden your repertoire!</i></p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Hymn Title:</b></span> Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain</p><p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Tune Name:</span></b> GAUDEAMUS PARITER</p><p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Meter:</span></b> 76 76 D (D for "double," so 7.6. 7.6. 7.6. 7.6.)</p><p>A bright, dance-like Easter hymn, Come Ye Faithful plays a few rhythm tricks to liven up its simple tune and harmonies. Although there is no time signature written, it alternates between 2/2 and 3/2 - it's not too hard to figure out which part is which. <i>Definitely</i> remember to keep it in 2, though, or it will be way too slow. (The original manuscript has each phrase ending with two half notes with a fermata, but I translated that into a 3/2 bar with a half note and a whole note for clarity.)</p><p>The lyrics draw a strong parallel between the events of Exodus and the Paschal mystery, making this hymn a solid choice for days when the antiphons call to mind God's mighty deeds. The Red Sea reference makes it good for baptisms as well. Then also, a quick note on the phrasing of "the Feast of feasts" (or "Day of days" as it shows up in other hymns) - did you know that the entire Easter Octave is celebrated as one massive feast? That is to say, each day from Easter Sunday to the Second Sunday of Easter is treated as though it were Easter Sunday: the Eucharistic Prayer says "on this Easter Day," there is no penitential requirement on Easter Friday, and every one of the eight days is observed as a Solemnity. This symbolizes the New Creation brought about in Christ - God completed the first creation in seven days, but Christ arose on the first day, making that Eighth Day the beginning of the Era of Grace. This is why we Christians celebrate the Lord's Day on Sunday, the first day of the week, instead of the seventh day.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IYo3DRt-abWuih6i3UIAFUkYTYZ8GpAZ/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Click here to print the music for free!</a></h1>Choir Fileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14764621961768960135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-10496923507732578792022-05-04T11:59:00.001-07:002022-05-04T15:12:52.679-07:00How to Pick Music<p> I've gone over some <a href="http://www.ps51-15.com/2022/02/what-do-we-sing.html" target="_blank">general guidelines for choosing music</a> before, but after having talked to a few people since then, it seems like it would be helpful to have more detailed instructions. I don't have the same resources as you, so I'll keep it broad, but hopefully this will still help.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;">Step One: Organize.</span></h2><p>Use a spreadsheet program or a word processing program to set up a monthly music planner. Include columns for the date, the Entrance, Offertory, Communion, and Recessional (also a Meditation slot, if you want - I just put mine in the Communion cell). Put the month and year at the top, and include the year of the liturgical cycle you are on, if you are feeling fancy. I saved a blank one as a template, so that every time I want to make one, I can click "create new" and choose the template from the list and away we go. (I'd share my template with you except that I use a mac for my planning computer and a chromebook for my blogging and typesetting, so who am I to give organizational advice? But <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZPEWHEvdI0hcK0QxlkWx7dM08MlO6Qvv/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here's a .pdf</a> of the one I made for my choir for this month, complete with typos.) Once you have done three years' worth of these, you can go back and check what you did for the fifth Sunday of Easter in year B last time - the readings haven't changed, why should the music?</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;">Step Two: Pray.</span></h2><p>You can use Come, Holy Spirit, the "Prayer before choosing music" that I put up <a href="http://www.ps51-15.com/p/choir-prayer.html" target="_blank">here</a> (down the page a bit), or something else - even just sit quietly in the presence of God for a moment.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;">Step Three: Read.</span></h2><p>Read the Propers first - the Entrance, Offertory, and Communion antiphons. Then scan the Gospel. If those suggest anything straight off, pencil them in. Then read the Propers and Gospel for the previous and subsequent week. Is there a pattern? Sometimes the readings are linked to each other in weeks-long arcs, building up to something, such as the Eucharistic Dialogue in August from the sixth chapter of John. If you can, work to bring out the connection between weeks.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;">Step Four: Flip.</span></h2><p>If you still have blank spots on your schedule, just pick up your hymnal and start paging through. Mix it up whether you start in the front or the back, or, if your resources are indexed by theme, start at a relevant section. The Worship 4 is organized by theme, but sometimes you need to get creative - for example, there's no "Mercy" or "Forgiveness" section, but there is a "Sacrament of Reconciliation" section that has some golden choices for Lent. But yes, literally just flip through and see what is there.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;">Step Five: Tweak.</span></h2><p>Once you have everything filled, go back over it and wiggle it into place. Did you put four unison hymns on one Sunday? Boring! Are the styles of the music you chose too contrasting? Distracting! Are the hymns you chose for each Sunday well within the ability of your choir to brush up in a single practice? Or do you need to work your way up to something that you should place later in the month instead? Maybe you accidentally entered two hymns on the same Sunday that use the same tune? Or literally everything is arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams? Well, maybe that last one isn't such a bad thing.</p><p>This is also the step where you open up your planner from last month and make sure there isn't too much repetition. Congregations like familiarity, but they also get bored. You will get more bored, more quickly, because you are paying more attention, plus singing them in rehearsal as well, and you are the one who really notices just how often you are singing Soul of My Saviour in a year.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;">General Notes on What Hymn Works Best Where:</span></h2><p>The Entrance Antiphon is usually the one that seems the least related to the readings, and is set apart from them by the Penitential Rite and the Gloria. The words often focus on God's glory and goodness, suitable for a general hymn of praise. Themes vary between creation, mighty deeds, mercy, protection, etc. </p><p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Hot tip:</span></b> In terms of length, the opening hymn will typically last two to three verses. If there is a concept or idea that needs more than this to complete - such as O God Our Help In Ages Past - the hymn is better off in another spot, unless you are <i>certain</i> that there will be incense used at the Entrance. (Sometimes you can get away with asking the altar server in charge of carrying the cross to walk a little more slowly if you just need a little extra time, but this tends to annoy the priests. Use your credit wisely in this area.)</p><p>The purpose of the Offertory hymn is to offer a space and a theme for meditation on the now-completed Liturgy of the Word, and to prepare the interior disposition of the congregation for the about-to-begin Liturgy of the Eucharist. Being the closest to the readings, it should <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">reflect on</span></b> or <span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>respond to</b></span> what they say. At this time, the congregation does not have its attention drawn to other actions, so the words to the hymn can be tolerably complex. </p><p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Hot tip:</span></b> The length of the offertory will vary depending on circumstances. At a normal Sunday Mass not during a pandemic, the offertory can be quite long, covering the collection, the presentation of the gifts, preparing the altar and chalice, and even occasionally incense; however, at a special liturgy (such as a funeral), there may be only the preparation of the gifts, in which case there is barely any time at all. Take the circumstances into account when planning, and ask before a special liturgy whether someone will be bringing up the gifts or whether the priest will be using incense at the offertory, as these are the biggest time variables.</p><p>The best Communion hymns are gentle and meditative. Some musicians like to favour hymns with a simple refrain so that the congregation may sing while in line for Communion without having to carry a book - or you can just sing Adoro Te Devote so many times that the entire congregation knows it by heart! Others prefer to take the opportunity to sing something beautiful that the congregation does not have to be involved in vocally, so that the faithful may turn their attention to interior preparation. Both approaches have their merits. If you aren't singing the Propers, and you can't find a hymn that goes with the text of the Communion antiphon, check the psalm versicles that go with it. If you still don't have anything, default to a Eucharistic hymn of your choice.</p><p>The recessional hymn is not technically part of the liturgy - the Mass ends when the congregation says “Thanks be to God.” Therefore you have the most latitude for stylistic and thematic choices with the recessional hymn. This is where you may honour a secular season (e.g. Fourth of July by singing America the Beautiful), and this is also the only musical “slot” in the liturgy where a Marian hymn is appropriate, outside of feasts of Our Lady. (During feasts of the Blessed Mother you will find that the Propers are often Marian antiphons, so, go to town!)</p><p>I hope you find this guide helpful! Did I leave anything out? Let me know in the comments section.</p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-7721419248788491672022-04-26T12:34:00.001-07:002022-04-26T12:34:35.063-07:00What Does It Take?<p>Obviously, when someone is chosen to direct or perform music for the liturgy, the first consideration is musical ability. (OK, maybe sometimes availability is a prior concern, but let's hope that musical ability is important to your superior too.) But that's not the only thing that determines whether or not you do the job <i>well.</i> There's another quality, beyond musical ability, that is crucial to your future as an excellent liturgical musician - I call it <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Game</span>.</b></p><p>Whether you're the organist, the choir director, the cantor, or a single soprano in a vast sea of sopranos, to some degree you have taken a step to <i>put yourself out there.</i> Congratulations! It's a leap of faith, and it can be hard to make! The further out front you are, the more obvious it is when you make mistakes, as everyone inevitably will. You can insulate yourself from fear a little by being prepared, but you have to acknowledge at the outset that <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">You Will Make Mistakes And People Will Notice</span>.</b> The only way to survive in liturgical music ministry is to accept this and be willing to try anyway.</p><p>Preparation is important, don't get me wrong! It's definitely your duty to be as prepared as you can reasonably be, and to know your abilities and their limits. But I would always rather have an organist who can make super loud mistakes and then continue on like nothing happened than a timid organist who never makes mistakes, but never tries something new. Why? Because <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">preparation alone can never be sufficient</span></b>; there are too many variables when more people are involved. The more people, the more variables - and often, the most important liturgies have most people involved, not to mention extra elements to throw you off.</p><p>Sometimes, things go wrong and you need to make a snap decision - usually related to the timing of something, which no amount of preparation can cover. Sometimes, things go <i>really, really right</i> and you get a flash of inspiration - grace? - and you just need to see what would happen if you tried <i>this</i> and it's awesome. Maybe your cantor is having a really great day, and the moment just seems right to throw that 32' reed stop in the pedal; or maybe an alternative meditation piece that your choir knows well enough matches the homily so much better than the one you planned on. If you don't have Game, these flashes of inspiration are mere distractions to be dismissed, rather than opportunities to be seized.</p><p>If you're managing other musicians, you need to train your musicians in the Way of Game as well, or else the amount of Game you have almost doesn't matter, because changing plans will throw them into a panic. Try to remember that training is what happens in rehearsal, though - respect their comfort levels. Allow newer musicians to observe the veterans successfully changing tack in the liturgy before asking them to do the same. And always, <i>always,</i> be a good communicator. Make sure everyone knows your special hand signals (I have a set for "continue on," "go back to the beginning," and differentiating the one-handed sign for v1 from v6, v2 from v7, etc). Deliver changes of plans separately to each section. <b>Write things down</b>. My choir loft has a large dry-erase board, on which I write the order of all the things we are singing - <span style="color: red;">changes are written in red</span>. I also keep plenty of pencils and post-it notes on hand. Choose your moments to communicate things to others - respect the primacy of the Gospel by not interrupting it; if you have to speak something, try to cover by doing it while the Creed is being recited, or the Our Father. Otherwise, do it in writing.</p><p>God gave you talent, opportunity to develop it into a skill, and a situation in which you can put your skill to use in His service. Don't doubt that He will also take your work and make of it something bigger than you can do on your own! Sometimes, He will choose to allow you to learn humility - thank God for those moments too. But make it your practice to open yourself up to do His work. Pray, Stretch, and God's Will Be Done.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>This post is dedicated to Andrew, the Gamest Gamer my choir has ever had, to whom we owe the rehearsal term "Andrew's Train Wreck," but also the push behind a great deal of our musical growth. You will be missed more than I can ever say, even with music. I hope you come back to us.</i></p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-37488114955871289662022-04-19T17:40:00.000-07:002022-04-19T17:40:30.129-07:00Things Go Wrong<p><i><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">(Posted with my choir members' permission.)</span></i></p><p>Since I'm trying to help you figure out what to do, and why it's important, I tend to focus a lot on The Ideal. Just in case you think that The Ideal is somehow attainable, and therefore you are failing desperately since you can't seem to reach it, I'm going to tell you what it's really like. Good liturgy, just like good theater, involves staying in character. Mistakes get made, but you can't say "Oh whoops, I mean this instead" or it distracts from the liturgy. This is especially true when you're working with others.*</p><p>On <b><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">Holy Thursday</span></b>, I completely forgot to put numbers up on the board for the congregation, and when I began to announce the opening hymn, I had to stop mid-sentence and flip through the book to find the number. Then at the end, I announced that we were going to sing Pange Lingua in English, then in Latin, even though I don't like our translation. We didn't have time for any Latin. Also, before singing, I reminded my singers that it was women, then men, alternating until we hit verse 5 - and then they reminded me that we actually rehearsed to do the opposite. Thank goodness for choir members who take notes.</p><p>On <b><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">Good Friday</span></b>, we sang The Seven Last Words, a little collection of seven mini-motets, each with one of the final sayings of Jesus during His Passion. But because of Covid, there was no kissing of the crucifix during veneration, only genuflecting - consequently, we only had time for three Last Words, and we had a little go stop go stop confusion before realizing that I had robbed the choir of the chance to venerate the cross through my indecision while time ran out. Sorry, choir. This also meant that I did not have time to sing even a single verse of the English adaptation of Crux Fidelis that I had spent four hours tweaking and typesetting earlier in the week, and of which I was so proud. (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YYc02WBHL_4YpLvwsyYbww9Denc_hPol/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">I post it here</a> to make myself feel better.)</p><p>Our pastor was too ill to sing, and our associate pastor is not a singer (he thinks), so I arranged to have the oldest, most competent altar server sing the acclamation for the veneration of the cross, then promptly forgot to meet with him to practice. But he's good, so surely he'd do fine and we could pick up the response, right? Wrong. I completely botched my response to his acclamation the first time, but managed to pull it together for the second and third. Chagrin all around. (I should also point out that he absolutely nailed the rising half-steps, no easy task.)</p><p><b><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">Easter Vigil</span></b> was all kinds of fun. As it turns out, the dollar store no longer sells dim, pathetic little book lights anymore, because everyone has a phone with a much stronger light. The ones I have at church were purchased at least seven years ago, and only three shed any kind of light at all. I hopefully asked choir members to manually adjust the brightness on their phones and use the screens instead of the flashlights, but after they gave that a try, most of them decided that their memories were good enough, since they were only singing refrains, and we hadn't changed our psalm arrangements in over 20 years.</p><p>This turned out to be only mostly true, and in one case, too true. Our cantor for the third Psalm was singing that one for the first time, and accidentally sang the much more familiar tenor line he had memorized instead of the melody. I froze up, but the choir was on it - they plowed right ahead with the correct melody in response, and the congregation was fine. On at least one psalm refrain, the basses followed whoever was the most confident, and it was probably one of the basses who had not attended rehearsal. (Fortunately, they are good enough musicians that even when they err, they err together, and on a concordant note.)</p><p>Then I misread the missal and was following the Baptismal Rite blessing of the water (we had no baptisms) which has the sprinkling rite in a different place, had the sopranos begin singing - only to have the psalm interrupted by Father just talking right over us, continuing with the rite. We stopped awkwardly and waited our turn, then plowed on with the Latin version to cover our tracks.</p><p>All this in addition to the usual occasional missed note, organ clunker, bobbled cue, and an organist who was somewhat distracted by the fact that his wife is due to have a baby literally any time now, and who needed frequent reminders of what was happening when, and with whom I had not gone over all of the tempos, intros, and cues, due to a shortage of rehearsal time. Some near collisions happened between people, and over chairs, both in the dark and with the lights on. And my seven-year-old daughter attended all of the Triduum liturgies for the first time since doing so strapped onto my chest in a baby carrier, and was full of questions - and still empty of the knowledge that we whisper in church when we want to know something. As the liturgies stretched on, she became possessed of a need to be no more than a few inches from my leg, so I definitely tripped over her more than once.</p><p>Overall, how was it? It was wonderful! It was another perfectly imperfect Triduum, offered by mere humans, to add our drop into the ocean of wonder and glory and beauty that is the Easter Mystery.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>*Honestly, when I need a semi-day-off, I prefer to sing and play the organ on my own, just to spare myself the mental energy of coordinating with someone.</i></p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-13465855159663326432022-04-18T10:59:00.000-07:002022-04-18T10:59:21.647-07:00Hymn of the Week: The Strife is O'er (VICTORY)<p><i>(I buried this hymn in the Holy Week Music post, but it deserves to be in the spotlight.)</i> </p><p><b><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">Hymn Title:</span></b> The Strife is O'er</p><p><b style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">Tune Name:</span></b> VICTORY</p><p><b><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">Meter:</span></b> 888 with Alleluias</p><p>Stately, triumphant, joyful, sounds great with the organ turned All The Way Up - what more could you ask for in an Easter hymn? We round out our Triduum with this piece, because it requires very little focus, and if the choir members are tired (which they are), they can let the organ support them as much as they need. Still, the rising Alleluias in the refrain always seem to reach down deep inside them and find as yet untapped stores of energy for bursting forth in song, somehow. We sing all five verses, and the congregation always stays to sing, many of them even staying for the organ postlude, despite the late hour.</p><p>This arrangement pretty much speaks for itself, except that I seem to need to remind my choir from time to time to be careful not to "yip" the ends of their Alleluias. There is plenty of time to sing "ia" and still take a breath. Enjoy.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #a2c4c9;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T10bbYFuctjUJrYV5uHevTV9VZbmK3uw/view?usp=sharing">Click here to print the music for free!</a></span></h1>Choir Fileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14764621961768960135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-5849383658368617072022-04-18T10:38:00.002-07:002022-04-18T10:38:10.924-07:00Lighten Up!Christ is Risen! Alleluia!<div><br /></div><div>Because I kind of overloaded on music postings last week, I'm just going to share a piece of choir humour today.</div><div><br /></div><div>How many sopranos does it take to change a light bulb? - Just one: she holds the light bulb and the world revolves around her.</div><p style="text-align: left;">How many altos does it take to change a light bulb? - Two: one to climb up and change the bulb, and one to ask "isn't that a bit high for you, dear?"</p><p style="text-align: left;">How many tenors does it take to change a light bulb? - Ten: one to change the bulb, and nine to say "Oh, I could have done that."</p><p style="text-align: left;">How many basses does it take to change a light bulb? - Basses don't change light bulbs, they prefer to stumble about in the dark, bonking their shins on things.</p><p style="text-align: left;">How many choir directors does it take to change a light bulb? - No one knows, because no one ever watches the choir director.</p><p style="text-align: left;">How many organists does it take to change the bulbs in a chandelier? - Just one: he changes two with each hand and one with his feet.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Happy Easter!</p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-59741936019488499522022-04-14T17:27:00.000-07:002024-02-23T18:12:58.686-08:00I Went to the Chrism Mass!<p>I have a Ritual Mass Bucket List. Before I am called into the Heavenly Liturgy, I hope to attend as many different ritual Masses here on Earth as I can, and this week, I got to cross another off my list: the Chrism Mass. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a Chrism Mass until a few years ago, and thus I shouldn't have been surprised that a majority of the people I excitedly told about it replied "The what? What's a Chrism Mass?" So, forgive me if I now make the opposite mistake and tell you all about it.</p><p>The Chrism Mass is a special Ritual Mass that is supposed to be celebrated on the morning of Holy Thursday (but for pastoral reasons may be held earlier in Holy Week), at the cathedral, by the bishop. Priests of the diocese attend*, fully vested, in order to commemorate the institution of the Sacrament of Holy Orders by renewing their priestly vows in the same way that we the faithful renew our baptismal promises at the Easter Vigil. The evening Mass, the Mass of the Lord's Supper, is then celebrated to commemorate the institution of the Eucharist, and neither Incredibly Important Event gets upstaged. Also at the Chrism Mass, the bishop blesses all of the oils that will be used in the administration of the sacraments in the diocese for the entire year, and the priests bring them home. Since these oils can only be used by priests exercising their office, this shines a spotlight on the function and importance of priests to the church.</p><p>Being celebrated in the cathedral, by the bishop, this Mass certainly has a sense of elevated dignity. Though <a href="https://olacathedral.org/overview" target="_blank">our cathedral</a> is monstrously ugly, it was certainly impressive, and did manage to aid in conveying a sense of the importance of what happened there. Our archdiocese is huge; it took a full 30 minutes for the procession to finish, with at least a hundred deacons with their wives, and hundreds of priests in ranks four across, plus a handful of auxiliary bishops (including <a href="https://www.wordonfire.org/about/bishop-robert-barron/" target="_blank">my favourite bishop</a>), a thurifer carrying a thurible the size of a stockpot, servers with candles, and the Archbishop himself. The music was well performed, and it was stirring to hear pretty much everyone (meaning about 2500 people) singing together, supported by a skillfully played pipe organ bigger than my first apartment. (Yes, I would have chosen different songs, but whatever.)</p><p>Anyway, it was pretty neat. I felt like I got to participate in the priesthood of my church for a little while, in a limited capacity. I do like it when the texts of the Mass emphasize the priesthood of the entire church. It seems to me that that is the defining property of the post-Vatican-II era. We have still not perfected the art of exercising this privilege, either by performing to our full capacity or by staying within our limits, but the Chrism Mass certainly helped my perspective on priesthood a good deal. I want to go again!</p><p>And speaking of bucket lists, performing music in a cathedral liturgy just got added on to the bottom...</p><p><br /></p><p><i>*(I went because our pastor was too sick to attend, and our associate pastor was consequently too overworked for the trip into Los Angeles, so I attended as our parish representative, and had the privilege of fetching the oils for our parish. Please pray for the health of our pastor.)</i></p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-74697248173266495212022-04-08T16:45:00.008-07:002024-02-23T18:35:01.618-08:00Holy Week is Awesome (and so is All This Music) - NOW with links to EIGHTEEN pieces of music<p><i>(This post took me days, and I realize that I am now posting it a little too late to be especially useful, but once it's on the Internet, it will be here forever - or at least until next year. Plus hey, some people may still be scrambling to figure this out! Who's going to help them if I won't?)</i></p><p>Holy Week is the pinnacle of the music director's year. It's an incredibly taxing undertaking for a chorister or organist, let alone a choir director, and so it should be! This is the Big Game, the Final Exam, the Master Work for the liturgical musician. It would be pretty stupid if it was an easy toss. Suitable music can make the difference between a deeply moving experience and just another week before Easter with extra long gospel readings, so let's dig in. You can skip between sections if you're looking for a particular liturgy, I've included all of them! </p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;">Palm Sunday</span></h2><p style="text-align: left;">I'm going to assume that you're preparing for the Solemn Entrance form 1. (This is definitely something that should be confirmed exhaustively with your priest.) The faithful gather outside the church, and at the appointed time, Hosanna Filio David is sung (in <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/10iYePxZA1zrnOjfYq0FAIOtSyDE8Dj5k/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">English</a> or in <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c6P4Hv5JZKalZKdh7tV7BfwGxNZUZZ9-/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Latin</a>). Then the palm branches are blessed and distributed, the Gospel is proclaimed, and the faithful process into the church <i>behind</i> the altar servers, deacon and priest, while singing the antiphon Pueri Hebraeorum or "other suitable chants in honor of Christ the King" - the classic standard is <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o3712xzmkswglf-v1ybHoD9jPZyUFf_F/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">All Glory Laud and Honor</a>,* a hymn whose only problem is that this is the only day of the year we get to sing it. <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">(Hot tip - sing in unison as long as you are mingled with the procession.)</span></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">Where in the procession does the choir go? This depends on your setup, and where the choir normally sits during the liturgy. I usually try to sprinkle a few choir members into the crowd to support the singing, while also sending a scout or two in the side door, to ensure that the singing at the back of the procession and the singing in the front of the procession are in the same place and key. If your celebrant is up for all the bells and whistles, he will incense the altar while the faithful continue to file in and take their seats. Singing should continue until everyone is settled. If you are confident of your choir's ability to maintain their pitch while walking, have the organ kick in with the refrain once enough choir members are present - it is then that I have my choir break out into parts. <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">(Hot tip: print copies of Hosanna Filio David with All Glory Laud and Honour on the back so that your choir only needs to bring one page outside with them.)</span></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">The rest of the Mass proceeds as normal, except that there is no Penitential Rite; and with the extra long Gospel reading, the GIRM specifies that the homily should be unusually brief, letting the Passion reading speak for itself. How nice. Today's the Day for all that great Passiontide music you've been saving up. I love to end with an a cappella recessional, such as <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pK2kJRmwag1lSKHtsR7qLFJMFTrT-8Bf/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">What Wondrous Love is This</a>, or <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-6NhQOI67VruhoeZx7kPyps1jfi7ogcS/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Were You There</a> - a hymn I personally don't care for, but every time I sing it, at least five people thank me for it afterwards. I have to admit, it does make for a contemplative ending for the Passion reading.</p><p style="text-align: left;">(If you are preparing for Solemn Entrance 2, where the branches are blessed in another part of the church, the same order is followed - however, if the appointed place for the blessing of the branches is near the altar, you can reverse the antiphons: sing All Glory Laud and Honour as a regular processional hymn, then the shorter Hosanna as the priest and servers move from the branches to the altar. In the Simple Entrance, Mass proceeds in the usual way; however, if you aren't singing the proper entrance antiphon, you should at least take care to sing an entrance hymn specifically commemorating the Entrance into Jerusalem.)</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">*I have seen opinion divided into two camps regarding the proper way to sing All Glory, Laud and Honour: on the one side, that the tune, as written, is complete, and should be ended at the conclusion of the fifth verse; on the other side, that the repeated lines at the start of the verse should be treated as a refrain and repeated at the end of the hymn. Without any rational argument on my side, I have always chosen the latter side, probably just because that is the way I Have Always Done It, literally as long as I can remember.</span></i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #00ffd9;">A Note on the Triduum:</span></h2><p style="text-align: left;">The Triduum is made up of one, epic, three-day liturgy. There is no dismissal after Holy Thursday or Good Friday, no greeting on Good Friday or Easter Vigil. We are called to experience the Passion, Death and Resurrection in the exact same time frame as Jesus and his disciples, including the kind of empty anticipation of Holy Saturday. Do not practice in the church during Triduum, and encourage all musicians to assemble and leave in as close to silence as possible. Leave your books behind between liturgies.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;">Holy Thursday</span></h1><p style="text-align: left;">This Mass has several "extras," with some significant logistical obstacles. It's also the first in a long series of hours of singing, so try to take it easy at the start. Save triumphant descant lines for the latter half of the vigil, and let the organ do the heavy lifting. <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">(Hot tip: since this Mass is in the evening, it can be helpful to drink a half glass of red wine with dinner. It relaxes and soothes the throat. Not more than that, though, as you don't want to be <i>too </i>relaxed, if you know what I mean.)</span></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">Begin with an antiphon or hymn specifically oriented towards the triumph of the cross. We sing Lift High the Cross (which, unhelpfully, is not public domain so I can't link to it here), for reasons stated above - the organ certainly carries this one. The words match up with the text of the Entrance Antiphon admirably. There is a Gloria sung at this Mass, don't let it take you by surprise! If you've been using a Mass setting that doesn't have one all through Lent, make sure everyone knows that you are doing something different this time.</p><p style="text-align: left;">After the Homily, the priest washes the feet of twelve parishioners. This can take a long time or a short time, depending on the age and mobility level of your priest. There are <a href="https://archive.ccwatershed.org/media/pdfs/12/03/17/22-59-28_0.pdf" target="_blank">seven antiphon options</a> that can be sung - they are short, so you can alternate antiphon - choral piece - antiphon - choral piece - antiphon etc to fill the time. You should also use these antiphons as inspiration texts for what music you choose. The fact that the missal gives <i>seven</i> options here should indicate that Words Are Important, so don't just default to filling time with the organ.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Mass proceeds from here as usual until after Communion. After the vessels have been purified, a ciborium of hosts for the next day is left on the altar - the tabernacle is left empty. After the Prayer After Communion, the priest puts incense in the thurible, kneels before the altar and incenses the Blessed Sacrament three times. (<a href="https://media.musicasacra.com/pdf/osalutaris.pdf" target="_blank">O Salutaris Hostia</a> may be sung here.) Then the priest rises, puts on a white humeral veil, covers his hands with the veil, and picks up the ciborium. He carries it in procession around the church, accompanied by the altar servers with candles and incense, and then places it in a prepared place in the church, set apart from the main tabernacle (if your church has the capacity for such an arrangement). During this procession, the chant <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M1F8T9BHRnaDh3wwsKW2bBuN2Ho98HdO/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Pange Lingua</a> (or a metrical arrangement) is to be sung. Don't just sing it all the way through though, that would be too easy! The fifth and sixth verses (beginning with "Tantum ergo" or "Down in adoration falling") constitute their own hymn, which should not be started until the procession has reached its end, and the ciborium is placed in the Altar of Repose. This means that the director must keep an eye on the procession while directing, indicating to the choir whether they should continue with the first four verses in rotation (possibly alternating English with Latin; I have included both in the music linked above, to give you maximum flexibility) or move to the fifth. Depending on the location of the Altar of Repose, you may need a spotter in the congregation to relay signals. Once the procession is completed, the organ should stop, the final two verses being sung a cappella. The faithful (including the choir!) depart in silence. Make sure all of your announcements regarding assembly time for Good Friday have been made already.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;">Good Friday</span></h1><p style="text-align: left;">The first challenge of Good Friday comes long before the day - in ensuring that you have singers at all. In a strange and unexpected twist of fate, most people in this country don't get Good Friday off work. I am fortunate to have many choir members who work for Catholic schools, so my choir is usually at or close to full strength, but for the less fortunate, I will include tips for a solo cantor as well as tips for the choir.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Good Friday does not have a Mass. It is called the Solemn Commemoration of the Lord's Passion, and it most properly referred to as "the Good Friday Liturgy" for short. The theme of the day is sober awe. The liturgy begins and ends in silence, with no greeting and no dismissal. This is emphatically <i>not</i> a day for sentimental music. The organ should only be used "as necessary to support the singing," which I have chosen to interpret in my parish (which is good about singing) as "not at all." I don't even turn it on to get our pitches; instead, we use a pitch pipe. Total shutdown of the organ is not a requirement; however, it should not be used as an instrumental time-filler. Silence is the preferable option if you don't have enough vocal music. Besides the Psalm, there are only two places where a cantor or choir will sing: the Veneration of the Cross, and the distribution of Communion (since it is not a Mass, there are no ordinaries to worry about).</p><p style="text-align: left;">Of these two, the Veneration is the more complicated. First of all, when the cross which is to be venerated is taken out, the priest or deacon will intone the words "Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the Salvation of the World." (Three times, ascending a half-step each time.) Depending on the skill level of your particular minister, he may or may not do this correctly, or recognizably, or consistently. You may be obliged to come up with the notes of your response on the spot. If you can get a chance to practice it with him beforehand, so much the better, but if not, be on your toes. The important thing for you is to make your response the same every time. By the end, everyone will be with you.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Following this, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qvU4VoI6K0sD4UnpvC2O0XMDVj54RZhb/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">the Reproaches</a>, the hymn <a href="https://media.musicasacra.com/pdf/cruxfid.pdf" target="_blank">Crux Fidelis</a> (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YYc02WBHL_4YpLvwsyYbww9Denc_hPol/view?usp=share_link" target="_blank">Here with the English translation from the missal</a>, adjusted so that important words are emphasized), and/or the antiphon Crucem tuam adoramus ("or another suitable song") are to be sung. The first of these is to be assigned to two choirs (or cantors), so is best left for another year if one cantor is all you have. Crux Fidelis, on the other hand, is no mere consolation prize! It's a bit of a beast though, with some large intervals. It has a range of just over a full octave, so choose your starting pitch well. After one or more of these options have been exhausted, More Passiontide Music! (For the choir to have the chance to venerate the cross, use the same strategies as receiving Communion.)</p><p style="text-align: left;">Veneration of the Cross gives way to an abbreviated Communion Rite, in which the fraction is omitted since no host was consecrated during the liturgy, and hence there is no Agnus Dei. The Communion Antiphon for the day is <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vBakZOJDloFZg3eRhVZCf41hhzsOb7M8/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Adoramus Te, Christe,</a> and after that, More Passiontide Music! The rest is silence, as at the end of Holy Thursday. <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">(Hot tip: remember that you and your singers will be fasting, so go easy on yourselves. If you aren't visible, it's no scandal if you decided not to genuflect over and over and over during the prayers of the universal church, in order to save energy for the Crux Fidelis.)</span></b></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;">Easter Vigil</span></h1><p style="text-align: left;">The source from which all our liturgies flow, the Mother of All Liturgies; definitely the most dramatic night in the church year. Or eh, I went to church at night and it was long. You decide.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The biggest thing that the music affects: the Psalms. Find out nice and far ahead how many of the seven readings will be done at your parish, and exert any influence you might have to make sure it is seven. Everyone is happier when it is seven. When there are seven readings, there are seven psalms. If your pastor has a single dramatic bone in his body, these readings and psalms will be done in the dark. Please do not allow your choir members to use their phones as flashlights when they sing - they are much too powerful and will illuminate the entire church. I have had pretty consistent good luck finding small dim booklights at the dollar store, and even a few of them have lasted, sitting in the cabinet in the choir loft, for <i>years</i>. Don't permit anyone to use them to read along with the readings - this night, we <i>listen.</i> The only cue you need is "the Word of the Lord." <b><span style="color: #76a5af;">(Hot tip: have the verses for the psalms done by cantors for this one - the words will be easier to hear for the faithful who don't have light to read along, and they can be done at a slightly quickened pace. All the choir needs to learn are the responses, which they might end up being able to do without <i>any</i> light, especially after a few years of doing the same ones.)</span></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">Following the seventh reading (with accompanying psalm and prayer), the Gloria. Again with the drama, this is the moment when the lights come on. Glorious! We see the church all decked out with Easter Lilies and gold cloth, the choir is singing, the bells are ringing - this is the stuff that roots in our hearts to shine out in our darker moments to give us hope. Then there is the lengthened Gospel Acclamation, three verses! If a cantor is managing this task, he can use the <a href="https://www.chabanelpsalms.org/CHABANEL_PSALM_TOME_PDF/6596_canadaALLE.pdf" target="_blank">Solemn Alleluia</a> just for this occasion, repeated three times, rising a half-step each time. This echoes the singing of "Behold the Wood of the Cross" on Good Friday, and then "the Light of Christ" during the procession into the darkened church at the start of the vigil. Following this acclamation, the verses are sung with the choir responding "Alleluia" either in the same tone or one more familiar to your parish.</p><p style="text-align: left;">If your parish is fortunate enough to be blessed with catechumens being baptized, you have an extra bonus: a litany of saints! The Missal states that this litany is to be sung by two cantors - which is news to me, I just learned it when preparing for this post - but gives no guidance as to how it is to be split.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Even if there are no baptisms, there is still a blessing of the water to be used in a Sprinkling Rite. This Rite and the renewal of baptismal promises takes the place of the Creed. The proper thing to be sung here is <a href="http://gregorian-chant-hymns.com/hymns-2/vidi-aquam-pdf.pdf" target="_blank">Vidi Aquam</a> (or, in English, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LNCvFspu-bChSaJD8S1Boc3v1wFlKKY4/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">I Saw Water</a>). If you choose the Latin, then at least read out the translation before or after. I like to do both - women sing in English, then men sing in Latin. ("Another chant that is baptismal in character may also be sung." Yeah, but why?)</p><p style="text-align: left;">That takes care of your extraordinary duties. After this, it is only your ordinary duties, but after hours and hours of singing. It's taxing, glorious, wonderful, and exhausting. If you're off the hook for liturgies the next day, you may as well <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T10bbYFuctjUJrYV5uHevTV9VZbmK3uw/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">go out with a bang</a>.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Don't forget a triumphant Easter organ postlude!</p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #76a5af;">Easter Sunday</span></h1><p style="text-align: left;">Well, if you've gotten here, you're either a physical marvel or this is the one Easter Liturgy you are in charge of. If you were on duty during the previous week, be kind to yourself. Eat a good breakfast, leave the Easter Candy and egg hunting for your kids until Easter Monday (my family's favourite Easter tradition), and choose hymns that don't strain you too much. Fortunately, you only have two extra items in your Easter Sunday liturgy: the Sprinkling Rite and the Sequence. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Music for the Sprinkling Rite, as noted above, is the <a href="http://gregorian-chant-hymns.com/hymns-2/vidi-aquam-pdf.pdf" target="_blank">Vidi Aquam</a> during Easter season (or in English, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LNCvFspu-bChSaJD8S1Boc3v1wFlKKY4/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">I Saw Water</a>). Make sure you sort the timing out with the celebrant before Mass, as it can replace either the Penitential Rite (the more common option) or the Creed.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.ps51-15.com/2022/05/the-sequence-with-music.html">The Sequence</a> is a holdover from ancient days. In the Novus Ordo, there are four Masses in the year for which there is a Sequence - Easter, Pentecost, Corpus Christi and Our Lady of Sorrows. The Sequences for Easter, Pentecost and Corpus Christi are not optional - they are to be read if they are not sung, but they are So Much Better when sung! It comes between the second reading and the Gospel Acclamation, and should be begun quickly, so that no one stands up, thinking that you are starting the acclamation. The <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/17qN_7ixV0EerhtvQIlLeHFH1ayVYj3qz/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Easter Sequence</a> also has a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y0832XZMoLqORHKVLtZ_gPMMaRok_Y4U/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">common metrical setting</a> which could be substituted, as the words are so close. However, the chant has a noble simplicity that raises the solemnity level of the liturgy in a way that Just An Extra Hymn doesn't. I link to both; I recommend the chant. If you have the resources, this is one text that is definitely elevated by having a solo man's voice sing the text "Speak, Mary," etc, then having a solo woman's voice sing Mary's part. Usually a more theatrical style distracts from the liturgy, but it's a-OK right here.</p><p style="text-align: left;">That's it! After this, eat a big dinner, put your feet up, take a nap, listen to Handel's Messiah at full volume, whatever makes you feel like a new creation. Congratulations, you survived!</p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-51919896717232465182022-04-03T13:51:00.002-07:002022-04-03T13:51:48.990-07:00Hymn of the Week: My Song Is Love Unknown (LOVE UNKNOWN)<p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;"> Hymn Title:</span></b> My Song Is Love Unknown</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Tune Name:</b></span> LOVE UNKNOWN</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Meter:</b></span> 66 66 88</p><p>When a hymn title and its tune name match, you know you're in for a treat. In this case, a 20th century melody is written for a 17th century text, and oh, is it beautiful. The elongated line in the middle connects the lines of poetry, avoiding the dreaded choppiness of so many "short meter" hymn tunes, and the second half of the verse brings out the hidden A-B-B-A rhyme scheme of an 8.8. meter that is secretly a 4.4. 4.4. section.</p><p>(Does that make no sense at all? The numbers in a hymn tune's meter indicate how many syllables are in each line. "Short Meter" - or SM - is 6.6.8.6, a common enough meter that it has a shorthand name; "long meter" - or LM - similarly, is 8.8.8.8.)</p><p>Take a look at the first verse of this hymn:</p><div style="text-align: left;">My song is love unknown,</div><div style="text-align: left;">My Saviour's love to me;</div><div style="text-align: left;">Love to the the loveless shown </div><div style="text-align: left;">That they might lovely be</div><div style="text-align: left;">O who am I, that for my sake</div><div style="text-align: left;">My Lord should take frail flesh and die?</div><p style="text-align: left;">Poetry-wise, the third and fourth line want to be one line. The tune strings them together in an arching phrase that takes a big breath. Then a longer note on "I," to tie it in to "die" at the end, bringing out the veiled meter of the ending.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The parts written here are for the organ. There are choral arrangements out there available for purchase, but I would advise against trying to adapt this accompaniment for voices - the notes move too quickly for singers to blend easily. They will feel rushed, unless you slow it down so much that the melody becomes painfully slow, and you lose the momentum of the middle line (which definitely should be sung in one breath). With seven verses, though, you can certainly alternate between the treble and bass voices in your choir! Read the verses over, and think about which register you want singing which verse, and plot it out accordingly.</p><p style="text-align: left;">This song is wonderful for Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, referencing as it does both the triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the Passion, but if you love it as much as I do, you'll find plenty of opportunities to sing it throughout the year.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1umSvW7oqiV5Zb-JINb-tDBDK56u2BCuO/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Click here to print the music for free!</a></h1>Choir Fileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14764621961768960135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-45599569746081582042022-03-29T12:09:00.005-07:002022-03-29T12:09:53.147-07:00Communion for the Musicians<p> The tricky question of how to get the musicians to Communion can be answered in almost as many ways as there are parishes. The best arrangement for you and your parish depends on various parish practices surrounding the distribution of Communion, and the number of musicians involved.</p><p>The main difficulty is finding a way to avoid gaps in music while also making sure everyone gets to receive without drawing too much attention. The Important Thing is that <b>everyone knows what is going to happen ahead of time. </b>Unless you have access to the premium option, Having Communion Brought To You By A Dedicated Minister, your options are limited to Going First, Going Last, and Going Later - i.e. tracking down the priest or a Eucharistic minister after Mass to distribute Communion. Obviously, this last avoids gaps the best, but also is the most effort, and doesn't always work out. I'll just throw out a whole bunch of ways we've made Going First or Going Last work in our parish at different times, starting with the fewest people and working my way up. (And of course, if you've got anyone in your crew who is attending more than on Mass today and has the opportunity to receive at another Mass, take advantage of their availability to cover for others!)</p><p>But first, a quick note on continuity: if your parish is one where hymn numbers are announced, skip it for Communion. The Communion Rite is not a transitional shift like the break at Offertory, it's not a good time to interrupt the flow of liturgy with a helpful announcement. Even if you don't have a display board for numbers, people who want to sing will figure it out.</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>One Person</b></span></p><p>If it's just you, gaps are impossible to avoid, but they can be minimized with good timing. Going First in this case means going to the foot of the altar during the prayer "Lord, I am not worthy..." and then stepping up to receive before the altar servers (if your parish has Eucharistic Ministers, you blend in with them). You then hustle back to your seat, play a long intro to the Communion hymn so you can catch your breath, and off you go.</p><p>Going Last means you have to keep an eye on the Communion line and wrap it up in time to snag the last place in line. If you have a long walk, or if visibility isn't great, this isn't a great option.</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Two People</b></span></p><p>Cantor and Organist have a little more flexibility, since they can either both go first, both go last, or trade off. If you've got the dreamy combination of a short walk, a long hymn, and great timing, the organist can start the hymn with a full verse intro (or if you're a master improvisor, a chorale prelude on the tune) while the cantor Goes First - begin the organ music as soon as the cantor receives. Afterwards, the cantor can sing something a cappella while the organist catches the tail end of the line.</p><p>A more tradition-oriented approach would be for the organist to receive first while the cantor sings the Communion Antiphon unaccompanied (beginning as soon as the priest raises the chalice to receive). The <a href="https://musicasacra.com/" target="_blank">Church Music Association of America</a> publishes a book of the Communion Antiphons in Latin with their ancient melodies, and also one with the psalm verses in English. <a href="https://musicasacra.com/music/communio/" target="_blank">This Page</a> shows you both, plus links to download every single one of the antiphons for free. I have found it to be a helpful practice to proclaim the English translation of the antiphon text before singing in Latin, so that the people know what they are meditating on. If you'd rather sing the antiphons in English, <a href="https://musicasacra.com/additional-publications/sep/" target="_blank">there is a great resource for that too</a>.</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Choir</b></span></p><p>Sheer numbers rule out a straight-up Going First option. Either the musicians all go last, or you split up the duties. The organist can cover for the choir with an instrumental, and the choir can cover for the organist with some a cappella singing, in whichever order you find works for your group. Alternatively, a cantor or schola can sing the antiphon while all the rest of the choir Goes First (though not on the altar, in numbers like that, but rather, at the head of the line after the altar servers), then the cantor or schola can grab the end of the line or Go Later.</p><p>For the record, that is how we manage in my parish - once the prayer "O Lord I am not worthy..." is concluded, the choir <i>very quietly</i> goes down the stairs, waits at the back of the church for the English text to be read, and when the schola (3 guys from the choir) sings the incipit, we walk up to the front to claim the first spot in line. Schola wraps up the antiphon with a Gloria Patri as we return to the loft, and we move into the Communion hymn, and then they either get the tail end of the line if the hymn is short enough (or we have enough other men to cover their exit) or resign themselves to tracking down a Eucharistic minister later. After a brief organ interlude, we all sing an a cappella motet for meditation while the sacred vessels are purified and put away.</p><p><span style="color: #76a5af;"><b>Special Liturgies</b></span></p><p>Any time we expect the church to be packed, and for there to be multiple priests, deacons or seminarians in attendance, I try and arrange for Communion to be brought up to the choir loft. We still have to work out logistics once the minister arrives, but everything takes less time, and we can then focus back on providing the music for the occasion, which usually is more involved and/or difficult, and we'd rather not be thinking about checking the length of the line, deciding whether to cut something short, or worrying if any Eucharistic ministers will still be around at the end.</p><p>Weddings and Funerals are special cases. If it's just me, I usually just make a spiritual Communion or seek out the priest afterwards. Sometimes weddings are large enough affairs that there is an extra priest to tend to the choir, or the music is varied enough to allow the choir to receive in groups. As always, just make sure to talk about it ahead of time and tell everyone how it's going to work. Don't be that choir director who just decides that no one in the choir gets to receive Jesus today because it's too much work to figure it out. Try to find a way.</p><p>So, how does your parish handle Communion for Musicians? Do you use one of these options? Something else? How well does it work? Let me know in the comments!</p>Choir Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15112617727221213194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621836336990024505.post-2134476774065875812022-03-27T20:14:00.000-07:002022-03-27T20:14:02.018-07:00Hymn of the Week: Let Thy Blood In Mercy Poured (JESUS, MEINE ZUVERSICHT)<p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;"> Hymn Title:</span></b> Let Thy Blood In Mercy Poured</p><p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Tune Name:</span></b> JESUS, MEINE ZUVERSICHT</p><p><b><span style="color: #76a5af;">Meter:</span></b> 78 78 77</p><p>All right, Laetare Sunday is behind us, and Passiontide is actually approaching now, so we can start pulling out The Good Stuff. Just in case you actually had more time to cram in more Passiontide music, here is another incredible hymn for Holy Week. </p><p>Let Thy Blood has four verses in which the same musical line is sung twice, followed by a simple refrain, so in effect you are only learning two lines of music. The bass goes no lower than G, the melody no higher than D (but the melody does dip to B-flat below middle C so warn your sopranos to limber up their lower range). The final verse can be given a little extra impact by singing it a cappella - the words are more personal. Be sure to have everyone watch for the poetic tie in the third verse "by the pain and death I now (music line break but not poetry line break) claim, O Christ" etc, and moderate their breathing accordingly.</p><p>Honestly, the hardest thing about this hymn, for me, is to shut my mind to the words just enough that I can sing them without tears.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N87y8WAmtAPtuaGD5-7MJjHxJjobSAuD/view?usp=sharing">Click here to print the music for free!</a></h1>Choir Fileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14764621961768960135noreply@blogger.com0