Church Music

After putting up a Worship Now psalm by Gabriel Wanous yesterday I recalled that they also had a free offer on this psalm for The Presentation of the Lord earlier in the year. Alas that has expired but it is still available for $US3 at their site.

It appears they are doing exactly the kind of music OCP isn’t, so maybe they have seen a niche for their style of liturgical music. If anyone wants to let me know more about Worship Now, I’m all ears.

They use ICEL for the response and CCD for the verses so they would need to be rewritten for Australia – what a mess psalms are in the English speaking world.

I must admit there is a lot to like with this upbeat song matching the praise in the psalm. I love the instructions:

1st time: Cantor, acoustic guitar, piano, synth pad.

2nd time: full band and choir.

I wish (insert envy here). You just know they have a Nord keyboard doing the synth pad. He even goes on to specify the drum style for each verse.

I paid attention to a few, but not all, of their instructions for my backing:

Back to the 2026 Breaking Bread selections from OCP for 2026.

This is by Dan Schutte and is described as a “stirring, patriotic tune”.

If it meant to be about the USA, as an outsider looking from across the Pacific from a very imperfect country, the words about hope for immigrants, truth, freedom and justice seem beyond the hope of prayer. Maybe that’s why they are needed, who knows, but I would ban anything patriotic from a Catholic church anyway.

I love Schutte’s music but this one is not very stirring on a first listen.

The sheet music is available at OCP who provide the text in their preview.

Perhaps it should be sung as a lament (and maybe OCP misunderstands Schutte’s intent and he didn’t mean it to be a stirring patriotic song in any case):

Maybe lament is what Chris Brunelle is aiming for too:

I used a free offer from Worship Now for the sheet music of the Psalm for this week, the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. Worship Now have modern American Catholic music and if you go there now this psalm is still free. (and may not be later). I’m not sure how much Worship Now music is used but at least they are not GIA and OCP. I thought about getting their hymnal but they wouldn’t ship a hard copy to Australia.

The text is the ICEL responses and the CCD verses, so can’t be used in Australia in any case.

The music is by Gabriel Wanous.

It is set for full band: piano, electric and acoustic guitars and drums with specific drum instructions for different verses. I look at this as I would arrangements requiring two choirs, brass and pipe organ – nice if you’ve got the artillery. I suppose the chorus would be memorable enough after a couple of listens but how often do we do the Lateran liturgy anyway.

At least I have all the instruments on BIAB and I made a quick backing:

Somehow it appears I have never blogged this Frank Andersen folk classic that we are singing tomorrow. How is this possible?

You can buy the sheet music at the MSC site.

I lazily imported an ancient MIDI of mine into BIAB and changed the style a little, rather than making a new backing. The original MIDI file would have been made with BIAB v.1 for Win 3.1 in the 1990s I guess.

Chorus
You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation:
You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation.

1 You are the God of my salvation;
I trust in you and have no fear.
You are the God of all my singing,
the one foundation of my life.

Chorus

2 I will proclaim to all your people
the wonders you have done for me.
You are indeed a God of Goodness,
You draw me gently to your heart.

Chorus

3 Let all who live upon God’s mountain
sing out in gladness and in joy.
The Lord of all is living with you,
The Holy one who calls to you.

Chorus

This is a very recent text and tune in a very traditional mode. It was added to Breaking Bread for 2026 by OCP.

The words are by Lynné D Gray and set here by Daniel Partridge. It’s a lovely tune and worthy text and I’ll assume a communal “I” for assembly use.

The sheet music can be purchased at OCP where the text is in their preview.

I found a different organ sound for the wind up fake BIAB organ backing.

I don’t even hate this choir sound for a change:

Once again Chris Brunelle shows a good hymn can work when performed simply.

This is not the Christmas carol – this is a song with a text by Cyril Alington set to GELOBT SEI GOTT (aka VULPIUS). It is suitable for Easter and Christ the King. It was added by OCP for 2026.

The text is available at Hope Publishing, who also have the sheet music. OCP have added a Trinitarian fifth verse and so claim some copyright and you can get their version there.

I found an old backing:

The next song chosen by OCP for 2026 is Ken Canedo’s, “For the Sake of Christ”.

The text is based on 2 Cor 15:15, 12:7-10. The bridge can go into SATB parts if resources allow and the chanted chorus also has a harmony line that answers the main melody.

The sheet music can be purchased at OCP where the text is in their preview.

OCP have chosen Michael Joncas’ Lenten text as reset by Scott Crandal (PREVAIL) for 2026.

They say:

Text writer Michael Joncas states that this piece “seeks to tie together Noah’s transforming experience surviving the Great Flood, Jesus’ transforming experience during forty days of desert-dwelling, and our transforming experience by giving ourselves to the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that mark the Christian Lent.” Featuring a new hymn tune, PREVAIL, this intricate-sounding setting is scored modestly: two-part choir, descant, keyboard and/or guitar, and a solo instrument part in C. An accessible piece that can be quickly prepared by most ensembles, the third and final verse may be sung with the descant and the basses doubling the melody for a full, balanced texture.

If you have such modest personnel the sheet music is at OCP and the text in their preview.

This backing seeks and fails to make it something else:

Simple is better:

Their arrangement is undoubtedly fine while needing a lot of resources and goes beautifully “Voces 8” style in the descant:

Chris Brunelle shows it done simply and beautifully with taste and sensibly playing it capo 1.

Chris W has two other settings for this text – since BEACH SPRING is so well known it would make sense for a seasonal song:

Voces 8 are great:

It’s that time of year when I see what is in and out at OCP for 2026, before I get back to Australian compositions.

Spoiler alert, what is in is chant adjacent and solemnity and what is out is liveliness and joy. This should be no surprise as this has been their approach for some years now. I have heard nothing that isn’t worthy and liturgically appropriate but there is a sameness and a dourness and much revisiting of tropes from old traditional sources. I can only assume that this is the music that is now inculturated in the current US Catholic church and OCP is responding to that. Otherwise, you have to assume that any upbeat music for the church is being suppressed from above through OCP – perish the thought.

I should rejoice in this first song from the Palm Sunday mass by Howard Hughes SM, because I have never been happy with any of the entry songs we have used over the years. And maybe this is doable chant even for a recalcitrant like myself.

What isn’t doable is chant on Band in a Box so I won’t bother with an appalling attmept.

The sheet music is available at OCP where the text is in their preview.

The last song in Beth Doherty’s book, An Attutude of Beatitude, is this song honouring the work of grace in our lives. She notes its applicability for anointing and reconciliation. She also notes the influence of the song “Go Tell Everyone” by Alan Dale and Hubert Richards, and this song too would also make a good recessional.

The range is A to A, but capo up if need be. 12/8 time suits pianists arpeggiating more than guitarists strumming, but we should just strum less and prevent tendonitis.

This collection is different to most in its ambition, in that it is integrated into a thematic collection of reflections for group use in school and parishes. Beth Doherty is to be congratulated for going beyond the songs themselves into creating a spur for us to be Christ in the world.

The resource bundle is available at Willow.