My Mouth Shall Proclaim Your Praise

 O 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!" "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." 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 m...

 Hymn Title : Praise to the Lord, the Almighty Tune Name : LOBE DEN HERREN Meter : 86.86.4.7.8. 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. 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, espec...

 Hymn Title: The God Whom Earth and Sea and Sky Tune Name: EISENACH Meter: LM (88 88) 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 two days in a row ), 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! 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: O Lord, the Virgin-born, to thee eternal praise and glory be, whom with the Father we adore and Holy Spirit evermore. This is not out of any disrespect to Mary, of course! But if you were at a wedding, and found that all the ...

 Hymn Title: I Bind Unto Myself Today Tune Name: ST PATRICK"S BREASTPLATE / DIERDRE Meter: LMD (Long Meter Double, that is, 88 88 two times) The first hymn I put up on this site was a fine example of an old Irish lorica  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. 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 s...

  Hymn Title: Crown Him With Many Crowns Tune Name: DIADEMATA Meter: SMD (that is, Short Meter, Double - 6.6.8.6. 6.6.8.6.) 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: "Crown him the Lord of Love, Behold his hands, his side; Rich wounds yet visible above, In beauty glorified. No angel in the sky Can fully bear that sight, But downward bends his burning eye At mysteries so bright." 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. And the music! A joy to the rational soul, the p...

 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! Hymn Title: Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain Tune Name: GAUDEAMUS PARITER Meter: 76 76 D (D for "double," so 7.6. 7.6. 7.6. 7.6.) 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. Definitely  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.) 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...

(Posted with my choir members' permission.) 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.* On Holy Thursday , 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 Lat...

(I buried this hymn in the Holy Week Music post, but it deserves to be in the spotlight.)   Hymn Title: The Strife is O'er Tune Name: VICTORY Meter: 888 with Alleluias 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. 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 ti...

(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?) 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!  Palm Sunday I'm going to assume that you're preparing for the Solemn Entrance form 1. (This is d...

 Hymn Title: My Song Is Love Unknown Tune Name: LOVE UNKNOWN Meter: 66 66 88 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. (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.) Take a look at the first verse of this hymn: My song is love unknown, My Saviour's love to me; Love to the the loveless shown  That they might lovely be O who am I, that for my sake My Lord shou...

 Hymn Title: Let Thy Blood In Mercy Poured Tune Name: JESUS, MEINE ZUVERSICHT Meter: 78 78 77 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.  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. Ho...

 Hymn Title: How Firm A Foundation Tune Name: FOUNDATION Meter: 11 11 11 11 Trust in God has been on my mind lately, and when I am struggling, I always turn to this hymn. "Do not let my enemies prevail over me" is a major theme of the Psalms, and though most of us don't often face armed enemies or hostile nations like David, we still face enemies every day. This reassuring hymn taps into the strength of our faith, with a simple, open harmony built upon a truly solid bass line. I could sing it all day, as my babies could tell you. The highest note in this version (set in F-major) is C, perfectly within the capabilities of most normal people. The bass section sits on a low F for a good portion of the time, however - if your basses are more baritone-ish, you can raise the pitch to G, which most soprano sections should have no difficulty singing. In fact, if you ask me in the comments, I'd be happy to provide a transcribed version, in case your organist is no better th...

Here is a non-comprehensive list of practices I have found to make choir rehearsals more effective and efficient. I am not an efficiency expert by any means - the rehearsals at which I preside often side-track, but that's just my personal directing style . However, when the choir needs to buckle down and do some Hard Work, I have some cards up my sleeve. Find the right time of day . Schedules are a choir director's biggest challenge. If you are directing a parish choir of mostly adults or older students, you're almost certainly going to land on a weekday evening. Be sensitive to your singers' mental cutoff point - ours is 8:45. If your choir members stop processing after 9pm, you won't accomplish anything by pushing on to Just One More Time. For those big pre-Major-Feast rehearsals, make it a morning; twice a year I bribe my choir with coffee and donuts and sing for three hours on a Saturday morning, once before Christmas and once before Holy Week. Those are always ...

 Hymn Title: The God of Abraham Praise Tune Name: LEONI Meter: 6 6 8 4 D Another "any season" hymn,  The God of Abraham Praise  is supposedly based on the Jewish hymn "Yigdal Elohim Chai," but has been paraphrased almost out of recognition. The story is that Thomas Olivers attended a service in the London Synagogue in the late 1700's, and was so taken with the hymn listing the 13 truths of Maimonides as sung by the cantor Meyer Lyon, that he carried it home in his heart, paraphrased and Christianized each truth into a verse, and adapted the melody into the tune LEONI, which is still used. Most of the original 13 verses have been dropped, mixed up, re-formulated and re-ordered over time, but the result is still a fine, firm, majestic piece of poetry, paired with bold notes. Whenever we sing it at Mass, I find myself humming it all day. The melody has a funny little skip in the second line where it is not intuitively clear whether one should go up or down, but ...

 Hymn title: O Kind Creator, Bow Thine Ear Tune name: TALLIS' CANON Meter : LM (88 88)  O Kind Creator is a wonderful Lenten hymn that brings the whole purpose of Lent to the forefront:  "Give us the self-control that springs From discipline of outward things; That, fasting, inward, secretly, The soul may purely dwell with Thee." It is appropriate throughout the entire season, though better for the start where the focus is on us. As a nice bonus, the final verse can be repeated as a canon, with a new voice entering on the fourth beat of each subsequent bar. I made a little "director's cut," with Amens to lengthen the verse so that all voices end together, as a a bonus track of sorts for you - it should be sung a cappella, but that is only a minor challenge, as the tune is very simple. Remember that Lenten hymns don't have to say the words "forty days" to be usable; that Lent need not be mentioned; that the word "ashes" should not be...

 " Graduated Solemnity " is a concept my pastor is very fond of. (I think we might have different ideas of what, exactly, it entails, but we don't disagree - just what it means to a pastor and what it means to a choir director require slightly different responses.) In theory, it means you put a little extra into feasts, and a lot extra into Solemnities, to make them stand out from Ordinary Time. In practice, it means you put a little less  into the umpteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, and even less into the third Sunday of Lent. It doesn't mean that you don't do as good a job as you can do, but it does mean that you hold something back, special for the Big Days. What that looks like in your parish depends on your resources. Of course the basics are all there: your music is always dignified, you always make it your mission to convey The Words, and you bring the highest standards of musicianship you've got to the altar. For the pastor, he might order up incense fo...

 Hymn Title : Soul of My Saviour Tune Name : ANIMA CHRISTI Meter : 10 10 10 10 Every church musician needs a good Eucharistic hymn to keep in their pocket in case of need. This setting of the Anima Christi prayer (attributed to Pope John XXII), translated by the most excellent Edward Caswall , is a perfect option. Easily learned and easily sung, yet not boring or repetitive, its long, elegant lines are each interesting in their own right - as an organist, if I am called upon to play extra verses to fill time, I will often simply drop the melody and solo out the alto line with an oboe setting for a full verse. Singers should try to sing each line in a single, well-supported breath; make sure to accommodate them by keeping the tempo steady, stately but not too slow. Basses will be tempted to blast out their higher notes in the third line (ask me how I know), so stay on them to temper their enthusiasm. As the tenor and bass parts meet up, they will need less volume, so as not to o...

Hymn Title:   What Wondrous Love Is This Tune Name: WONDROUS LOVE Meter:   12 9 12 12 9 Now this here is what Sacrosanctum Concilium  is talking about when it states in Article 37: "Anything in these peoples' way of life which is not indissolubly bound up with superstition and error she studies with sympathy and, if possible, preserves intact. Sometimes in fact she admits such things into the liturgy itself, so long as they harmonize with its true and authentic spirit." That is to say, that when Vatican II said we could bring in the authentic sacred music tradition of American Culture, this did not mean we could have rock bands in church, it meant we could import those actual sacred music traditions which harmonize with the true and authentic spirit of the liturgy. Old Southern shape note hymns are just that. The music system was simplified to aid completely untutored, illiterate country people in learning and singing together. They would meet in a hall with the chairs ar...

 I'm pretty sure there's a large swath of people (mostly men) who suddenly remember that it's time to be somewhere else when they see me get that certain look, especially in January and August - prime Choir Recruitment Time. They know they're on my radar, either because I can hear them from upstairs when they sing below, or they used to be in a choir but left, or I know family members of theirs with fine voices, or any number of other reasons. Choir directors learn to live with this fact - that most people will laugh and simper, and say "oh, you don't want me in the choir," (which is sometimes true), but that doesn't mean they don't want to be asked, or even pressed. Still, most of the time, the final answer is no. But this post isn't for the choir directors, since I don't have any good tips for recruiting - in fact, I'm always scrambling for more members. (Especially basses - I think I must have offended a bass somewhere down the line,...

 ( No promises yet that this will be an actual weekly feature, but I have enough to last a couple of years at this rate.) Hymn Title: Be Thou My Vision Tune Name: SLANE Meter: 10 10 10 10 The short stretch of Ordinary Time that separates Christmas from Lent is filled with directives on how to live the New Covenant. Depending on how far you get through the numbered Sundays, and which liturgical year you are on, you will find the Beatitudes, Jesus' discourse on one's interior thought being of more import than one's outer actions ("the law says... but I say..."), various parables, and many accounts of healing. What it all comes down to is the need to align oneself interiorly  with grace, which will show forth in action. The text of Be Thou My Vision is a perfect meditation on these directives - a plea to God to make His will our will, to be our interior light and guide in all things. This theme comes up more often than any other in the Offertory Antiphons througho...