Church Music

Psalms for All Time by Paul Mason is a great resource for the responsorial psalms but is also a hymn book with uses outside that specific function. We don’t have cantors – we have starting singing Amanda McKenna’s refrains with the verses just spoken – so we would use these as hymns. He suggests it as an Offertory, with Anointing, Funerals and as a seasonal psalm for Ordinary Time.

This is the psalm for the twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time. He repeats the “thirsting for you” in the refrain, otherwise the text is the same as your missal and as set here by Kate Keefe.

It would be nice if the parishes using Mason’s psalms would video them and either post them on YouTube themselves or send them to Liturgical Song so they can post them.

I made two backings because the one at the set tempo of 140 seemed too fussy so I reduced the chords by half for the second one.

This setting for one of the options after the seventh reading for the Easter Vigil recycles the tune from “Be Merciful, O Lord”. It uses the second and third verses from with Lent 5 year B.

It is from Paul Mason’s Psalms for all Time. It has obvious uses outside these situations for Reconciliation.

I’m covering the psalms set by Paul Mason in his book Psalms for All Time, which is now volume one of a three volume set.

This is the psalm for the first week of Lent Year A and for that matter a seasonal psalm for Lent in general. His ever helpful commentary notes its use on Ash Wednesday and after the seventh reading during the Easter Vigil. It is an obvious accompaniment to a second Rite of Reconciliation. If you haven’t got the text in a missal, Kate Keefe sets the same text here.

You can listen to his version at his site. As mentioned these psalms work very well just as hymns. Musically, I am noticing a penchant for eleventh chords.

This is my backing:

This is Paul Mason’s psalm for the Ascension from Psalms for All Time.

He notes its possible use for Transfiguration, Palm Sunday and as an Offertory song.

If you don’t have the text it is the same one set here by Kate Keefe.

This is my backing for learning purposes.

This is the psalm for The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Unlike most of Mason’s psalms, I don’t think it has general use a hymn elsewhere, it’s text is too specific to its situation.

The sheet music is available in Paul Mason’s collection Psalms for All Time. If you don’t have the text in your missal, it’s the same as in Kate Keefe’s setting.

I’m sure this backing is much use except for listening to the tune.

This psalm from Paul Mason’s Psalms for All Time is for the fourth Sunday in Lent Year C (first three verses) and the nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary time Year B (all four verses).

Mason always over delivers content-wise. Apart from the useful commentary on the psalm, he notes an alternative response (I will bless the Lord at all times. I will bless the Lord) and an expanded two line response of “Taste and See” to use as a chorus when this is the Communion song.

He notes its use in baptisms and weddings, as a common psalm in Ordinary time and for Gifts and Eucharist.

The sheet music can be purchased as a single sheet at Liturgical Song.

There is no music to listen to there for this psalm, so I had to make a backing to get the idea.

This is the psalm for Good Friday set by Paul Mason and available in Psalms for All Time.

It has more universal uses in times where we ask for God’s mercy in difficult situations.

The text is in your missal but has also been set by the one woman industry, Kate Keefe, so the text is the same. That is except Mason sneaks in an “O” before “Father”.

My backing is at the speed in the sheet music:

Happily you can ignore that and listen to this much slower version with acapella solo verses and SATB refrain.

There is a crackle near the beginning that I thought was going to turn into a cool back beat but it was artifact after all. It doesn’t need one.

I am going though Paul Mason’s Psalms for All Time, which has become volume one of three.

This is his fine setting of the psalm for the second Sunday in Lent Year C and as a common psalm in Ordinary Time, but for those of us who will look upon this more as a liturgical song he notes its suitability for Baptism, Anointing and funerals.

I can’t find a single sheet for download for this one so you will need to buy the whole book (A$28.95). The text is in your missal but is the same as set by Kate Keefe. There are also no recordings to listen to anywhere so you can sing along with my backing.

In the absence of any YouTube clips of this setting that I may as well post John Bell’s setting. The text is different and the verses are for a choir, but nonetheless thrilling. It is in the collection I Will Not Sing Alone, which I could get around to doing – since I am now concentrating on local songwriters, I might make him an honorary Australian for the duration.

While I have been taking years to fully appreciate Paul Mason’s psalms in Psalms For All Times, it has become Volume One of a three volume set. I’ve just bought my copy of volume two and I will get around to that in the future (… and volume three eventually).

Some psalms are available for individual purchase at his site, but not this one, so you will have to purchase the collection to get it. Some psalms have wonderful recordings for our listening pleasure there, but by no means all. His YouTube channel only has a few of his psalms up, unfortunately. For me that means, only really knowing “Our Blessing Cup” because we did it at my previous parish, and having no skills on a keyboard, I am having to make my usual backing to hear most of these songs.

I suspect Mason forgot he was setting psalms for church and just wrote good songs instead, happy to do a little tinkering with some repetitions and minor rearrangements here and there.

This psalm is for the First Sunday in Advent year C and a common psalm for that season in any case. He also suggest it for gifts or an entrance. I don’t have the resources to use this as a proper psalm but for my local purposes I think these songs fit will fit better just as hymns and good songs generally.

The text is probably in your missal but surprisingly hard to find on the web. The text is the same one Kate Keefe set and do check out her amazing site while you are there.

Mason says the syncopation expresses the urgency of anticipation in Advent. I just hear a bossa.

Setting this psalm must be daunting, but Paul Mason’s setting from Psalms for All Time is a fine one indeed. It is for the fourth Sunday in Lent Year A.

If you don’t need the whole book, but you do you know, you can buy the individual sheet music for download at Liturgical Song, where you can hear two lovely versions of the psalm and see a list of the masses for which it is suitable.

The text is here at Kate Keefe’s site where she sets the Grail’s four verse version. Mason opts for a three verse version with verse one ending with “he is true to his name,” and verse two ending with,” my cup is overflowing, overflowing.”