I covered this back in AOV with a truly dreadful backing. I suppose it is an Easter song but I’m not at all sure of its place in a liturgy.
I made a less frenetic backing this time:
1 I danced in the morning when the world was begun, And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun; And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth, At Bethlehem I had my birth:
Chorus
Dance, then, where ever you may be; I am the Lord of the Dance, said he; And I’ll lead you all where ever you may be, And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.
2 I danced for the scribe and the pharisee, But they would not dance and they would not dance with me. I danced for fisher men, for James and John — They came with me and the dance went on:
Chorus
3 I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame: The holy people said it was a shame. They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high, And they left me there on a cross to die:
Chorus
4 I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black; It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back. They buried my body and they thought I’d gone; But I am the dance & I still go on:
Chorus
5 They cut me down and I leap up high, I am the life that’ll never, never die; I’ll live in you if you’ll live in Me: I am the Lord of the Dance, said he:
This beloved song is quite impossible to sing as I documented here. It is by Sister Suzanne Toolan – now 98 years old – and is popular despite everything, even for funerals.
In this hymnal, the key is brought down to Ab from Bb which helps – we used to take it down to G and the low notes scraped in the gravel and the high notes were still a challenge. You either need a phenomenal range or two teams! This version somehow has even less chords than the original.
The sheet music is available to purchase at Willow.
I made a new backing:
1 I am the Bread of life. He who comes to me shall not hunger; He who believes in me shall not thirst. No one can come to me Unless the Father draw him.
Refrain
And I will raise him up, And I will raise him up, And I will raise him up on the last day.
2 The bread that I will give Is my flesh for the life of the world, And he who eats of this bread, He shall live for ever, He shall live for ever.
Refrain
3 Unless you eat Of the flesh of the Son of Man And drink of his blood, And drink of his blood, You shall not have life within you.
Refrain
4 I am the Resurrection, I am the life, He who believes in me Even if he die, He shall live for ever.
Refrain
5 Yes, Lord, I believe That you are the Christ, The Son of God Who have come Into the world.
Refrain
A talented choir can get away with it.
I was looking for a case of this crashing and burning but this one is still good:
Chris Brunelle is superman:
I suppose no-one would be silly enough to put a failed attempt at this one on You-Tube, but believe me it is an accident waiting to happen without some very fine voices involved.
Going through the New Living Parish Hymn Book is my further education in traditional hymnody. The CWB I and II had a lot of this as well and there were a few in AOV and the other collections. For some parishes, like Chris’s, these songs are most of their music liturgy and they are how that assembly effectively sings and prays. It’s not the usual repetoire in the parish I play at, but I do drop in the very occasional traditional hymn when it fits the liturgy. If we still had an organist we probably would do more, but they can be played on a guitar at a pinch.
Having grown up Presbyterian, some of these tunes are familiar to me but the more strictly Catholic ones I am made aware of by causing flashbacks to my cradle Catholic wife when she hears a tune and can recite the entire text from pained childhood memory.
There are pdfs of old public domain Catholic hymnals about on the internet but they don’t look much like what is being described as traditional today. For example, from Australia, the US and England:
Looking at 1952 The Hymnal of Pius X, the English language hymns there are less than half the book and very few of these are still sung. While the Catholic Church’s traditional music could be said to be Latin chant, that wasn’t so across the whole church in time, place or position (ie not often for the laity). NLPHB has several songs translated to English from Latin chants with a tune based on the original chant made somewhat metrical, but that didn’t become the standard for Catholic hymns. Another approach for a traditional Catholic music method would be creative use of modes for cantors of psalms such as suggested by Chris Wroblewski.
Many of what we call traditional hymns are borrowed from Protestant hymnody so are a rather recent tradition for Catholics. It seems that by the time of CWB I and NLPHB we have a lot more hymns that have survived to the present, as the better traditional hymns from other denominations are collected from their Lutheran and Anglican origins. They had been singing in the vernacular for centuries and had better tunes often originally sourced from popular secular songs of their day. What that means is that Vatican 2 was as much responsible for the use of what we now call traditional hymns in the Catholic Church as it was for leading to folk mass style hymns.
Not everyone has collected umpteen hymnals, like your foolish correspondent, and not every parish still has old full music hymnals lying about in a back room to pillage, so where to source them is an issue. I rely on the melody line Together in Song for the melody and basic chords of old hymns to make backings, but it would only suit keyboard players who just use the chords for their left hand. CWB II has well set out organ music but lacks chords and is probably too unwieldy to use live… and is out of print.
I know GIA and OCP have their traditional hymnals, but there are also many online sources of hymns like the Open Hymnal and Liturgy Share, as well as those in Hymnary to collate your own public domain hymn collection without buying expensive hymnals.
Willow also has individual sheets of traditional hymns to purchase for download. Their advantage is the excellent layout and the option for chords.
Monica O’Brien recently had something to say about traditional church songs:
Why Traditional Hymns Still Matter
Some people may assume that traditional hymns only appeal to the older members of our faith communities. While it’s true that many of us associate these beloved hymns with childhood memories or significant moments in our faith journey, I believe their enduring appeal runs much deeper than nostalgia. These sacred songs have accompanied generations of Christians through life’s joys and sorrows, celebrations and losses, moments of certainty and seasons of doubt. They have stood the test of time because they express profound truths of faith with a depth and poetry that continues to speak to the human heart. Their melodies have been sung in tiny country churches and great cathedrals, at baptisms and funerals, in times of peace and in times of upheaval. At Willow Publishing, we’re passionate about supporting the rich diversity of music available to today’s Church. Contemporary songs and newly composed liturgical music bring fresh insights and new expressions of faith. At the same time, traditional hymns provide a sense of continuity, connecting us with the countless believers who have sung these same words across centuries and cultures.
So I suppose they are all good reasons to get back to the New Living Parish Hymn Book.
I’m happy for readers of this blog to recommend other sources for well set out hymns to help musicians play for mass and also to fill the gaping lacunae of my knowledge in this area.
BTW, I am continuing to fine tune my approach to these hymns in Band in a Box. There are very few styles for church organ pieces (four out of thousands to be precise), so to approach these hymns I now add the bass line from the organ music to each chord and use the soloist line to enter at least one other line from the organ music in addition to the melody line. I am trialing different organ sounds and they should start showing up soon in the backings. They still sound too mechanical just not as awful as they once were.
This is a book of prayer rituals and chants from Trisha Watts that you can buy at Willow. The actual book, Sanctuary: Where Heaven Touches Earth was written by Trisha Watts and Gabrielle Lord and is still available as an e-book. It reminds me of John O’Donohue talking about “thin places” where the gap between us and the numinous feels so narrow.
What is nice is that the chants here are in various styles, some uplifting and some more thoughtful, so not everything is like, say Taize.
I find it passing strange that the Catholic Church with its long history of mystics, poets and prophets currently finds itself thrall to an inappropriate and didactic resort to legalism and catechism. So along with Julian of Norwich and Hildegard of Bingen with now welcome Trish of Sydney to correct this and rightly so.
Each of these songs can also be purchased individually as sheet music and MP3s, and there is a snippet of her version there for each one to see how it should sound.
For some of these songs I had to make up some chords and sort out songs that are meant to be sung freely for metrical use in BIAB.
If you are looking for hymns for the season of creation coming up, Trisha Watts is always worth a look. Obviously her, “Canticle of Creation,” suggests itself but there is this one as well that may suit.
“A Ring of Trees” reveals our relationship with nature as a way to participate in God. It can be purchased at Willow.
Obviously based on Ecclesiastes it is wisdom in song. One could add that for an individual these “times” may be at the opposite pole to those for people we encounter, such that our need for stability, for example, rubs up against someone else’s need for renewal – hence liturgy wars!
You can purchase the sheet music at Willow and this time there is a sound clip. She takes it at a lively pace, but my backing is a bit slower and tries to be more meditative. I had no idea there were all these Trisha Watts treasures in the archive at Willow.
Chorus
There is a time for ev’ry season under heaven.
There is a time for ev’ry season under heaven.
1 A time for birthing, a time for dying,
A time for uprooting, a time to plant.
A time for killing, a time for healing, a time for ev’rything.
2 A time for weeping, a time for laughing,
A time for mourning, a time to dance,
A time for searching, a time for losing, a time for ev’rything.
3 A time for tearing, a time for mending,
A time for silence, a time to speak,
A time for loving, a time for hating, a time for ev’rything.
This is the title track from Trisha Watts 1989 collection, Dare to Dance. It’s another clear case of a call to live in God’s reign without explicitly mentioning Christ.
It is credited to Trisha Watts and Monica O’Brien and the sheet music can be purchased at Willow.
Once again I could find no online renditions so did my best with the sheet music in the preview. This is classic Trisha Watts with no clear idea what key is happening here and it always makes for an inventive tune. There are C notes that are naturals but not noted in the sheet music.
This is another Trisha Watts song originally from the Dare to Dance collection from 1989. I found it in the online archives of Willow Publications. You can purchase the sheet music there.
It is credited to Trisha Watts and Monica O’Brien, so I suppose Trisha contributed some of the words. It is a song of consolation and yet of possibility, set to a moving waltz time tune.
I couldn’t find any online performances of the song so I made a backing to see what it might sound like.
I've worked my way through the As One Voice books and other collections making backings on Band in a Box to help me (& you if you're interested) learn new songs for church. This is aimed at churches and musicians that own the collections but haven't exploited them fully. If you don't have them they are certainly worth buying. This site is educational, nonprofit and designed to enhance the commercial prospects of songwriters. This site does not distribute copyrighted sheet music.
Disclaimer
Any opinions expressed here are personal views and not the responsibility of any Church.
All music backings posted are created by myself and the intention is for them to be used to learn the songs. If any copyright holder wishes me to cease publicising and promoting their wares and directing people to where sheet music can be legally purchased please let me know.
Mason’s “Mass of Glory and Praise”
To access my backings for Paul Mason's mass go to Feb 2011 in the archive.
