Church Music

This is the Psalm for Palm/Passion Sunday by Paul Mason from Psalms For All Time. As usual for his music, it works as a stand alone song, which he recommends in Holy Week, during communion processions or for liturgies in times of trial – did I mention that his background notes would be worth the cost of the book even without the music.

If you pay attention he goes from F#minor to A major in the fourth verse to demonstrate a more hopeful feeling.

For this psalm he provides a piano arrangement, an organ arrangement and a choral arrangement for the fourth verse.

I’ve just found that if you don’t want to buy the whole collection, individual songs can be purchased for download from his website. You can also listen to three versions of the psalm there.

The text is the same as found in Kate Keefe’s setting here, but if you buy his collection they are all there.

My backing is, as directed, a mournful lament.

This is Paul Mason’s setting for the Psalm for the third week in Lent Year B from Psalms For All Time. His notes list its uses in the Easter Vigil liturgy, during Lent, during Offertory or in some Ordinary time situations. The book is worthwhile just for the background notes.

The words are the same as in Kate Keefe’s setting but obviously the music is different.

I made a backing:

You can listen to it done properly at his site.

I’ve had this book for some time and find his settings a bit much for use as Responsorial Psalms, having no cantors, but they are great songs nonetheless and suitable for use in other situations. Of course, if you have the resources these are wonderful for cantors/singers to use as Responsorial Psalms, its just that I look at them as great music.

When you hear his songs you simply forget they are psalm settings.

I have the original volume, which is now called Volume One in its updated second edition, which you can purchase here. I have purchased Volume Two and it is on the way.

One difficulty I have is that the text for Australia from the Grail is copyright, and the public domain lyrics on the internet are just wrong for us. To get around that I will provide links to Kate Keefe‘s site where she has the lyrics, but obviously her music is different to Paul Mason’s. You may find yourself using her settings, as I suspect Kate’s are actually better as simple responses, but Paul’s settings are just something else.

This is the last in this little collection from Emmanuel Worship called “Banquet”. It really is a fine piece of work and worthy of our attention.

This song is by Madeleine Luciani and would fit in as an entrance, Gifts or Eucharist, although it will need to be abridged for some uses.

The chord sheet is freely available at Emmanuel as are the lyrics.

My backing regularises the gaps between sections of the song. My backing also has a lot of BIAB harp and cello, but that’s OK. My usual disclaimer says that if I only have a chord sheet the melody line will be fake book approximate.

I am continuing to enjoy the latest Emmanuel Worship album, Banquet.

This song is by Liam Desic and Chiara Leeds and is a more familiar rock style for Emmanuel Worship.

It looks to be for Gifts or Eucharist, but suitable for more general use.

The lyrics are at their site, where the chord sheet is freely available.

Despite the fact it is a rock song, their version is restrained and would be fine in many liturgical settings.

My backing on the other hand is a little too grunge and plodding. I had no idea what to do for the solo section and the melody is approximate with no lead sheet to guide me. As they say on the T-Shirts, “In my defense I was left unsupervised”.

There was another Australian song called “Promise” recently, which was a prayer of sorts:

I’m doing the five songs in the newest Emmanuel Worship offering, Banquet. With a title like that I’m looking for liturgical uses for the songs.

This was written by Madeleine Luciano. It is a lovely personal reflection, but might be a song for the procession of the gifts, especially if the “I’m” in the chorus became “We’re” etc.

The chord sheet and the lyrics are freely available at their website.

One effect of sitting down and having to figure out the melody for my BIAB backing, is that these songs are bouncing around my poor skull in a way that doesn’t happen if I can just enter the notes from sheet music. I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad. The melody line I used may be somewhat approximate. My backing is a lot shorter than their version but it’s enough for my purposes.

Listening to this backing again I noticed the guitar solo BIAB made up coincidentally matches the melody line in parts. I also think I made this just after seeing David Bridie live, who was accompanied by a guitarist who only played sustained distorted notes and the piano feel (computer generated of course) does have a Bridie style.

This is another great Chiara Leeds/Madeleine Luciani song from Emmanuel Worship‘s latest album Banquet.

While it is a fine reflective song in itself, it could be used during Lent or for a Second Rite of Reconciliation as well. I should note that their recordings for this collection are quite special. This one sounds a bit Natalie Imbruglia.

The chords and lyrics are freely available at the Emmanuel site.

I made a backing with the warning that my melody may be approximate, especially in the bridge. BIAB did a nice job with a spooky instrumental to mimic some of the good ideas in their version.

Since I last looked at Emmanuel Worship they have dropped a five song EP called Banquet. They are a ministry for young people from Brisbane, Australia, and are always worth a look when they bring out something new.

The title of the collection suggests a Eucharistic emphasis and hopefully liturgically useful songs.

This is a great start to the album by Madeleine Luciano and Chiara Leeds. I don’t think I have any especially good songs for Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the World – maybe this will do nicely. It has country tinge which is a bit of a change for Emmanuel.

They provide free chord charts but no longer have sheet music available.

The lyrics are here.

For my backings I have made approximate melody lines to be treated with caution. I may have played up the country styling a little.

Before I go on with more Australian music, Ryan’s parish recently used a Dan Schutte song called “Song of Mary” that has not shown up on my blog yet.

I have a copy of Breaking Bread 2012 in which it is 712. Hymnary lists its other sources. You can purchase the sheet music at OCP. The text is here.

You can sing along with my backing to learn it.

Love the trumpets:

I’ll finish with David MacGregor’s music for the moment but I will certainly return to try and get through more of his music in the near future.

This is another Christmas song of course and ideal for children. The sheet music is at his site. You can also listen to their version there.

I made dance music for children for this one.

Christmas time – we celebrate
Jesus born among us
Christmas time – we celebrate
Jesus born to save us

1. Peace and joy
   God gives to us
   Faith and hope
   God gives to us
   Love and light
   God gives to us
   each and ev’ry Christmas
   each and ev’ry day of the year!
2. Peace and joy
   God, help us give
   Faith and hope
   God, help us give
   Love and light
   God, help us give
   each and ev’ry Christmas
   each and ev’ry day of the year!

Christmas time – we celebrate
Jesus born among us
Christmas time – we celebrate
Jesus born to save us

Christmas time – we celebrate
Jesus born among us
Ev’ry day we celebrate
Jesus lives and save us

David MacGregor
© 2007 Willow Publishing