Church Music

This is as much a show tune as a recessional, but at least this song by Fr Ricky Manalo hasn’t too much trickery to actually be sung with one voice.  Oddly, however, the chorus is harder to sing than the verses with a high E and some rhythmic interest that would require some work.

The text is at spiritandsong where you can purchase the sheet music for download. You can hear it at soundcloud.

This parish does a terrific version including the section with just handclaps for accompaniment but even they don’t get the “spread the goodness of God” bit in the chorus right.

Scot Crandel has set a text by Delores Dufner OSB in a gentle funk style for this song. I could be another sending forth song but has a specific intention for mission and ministry. The third verse is more like a bridge starting quietly in minor chords and then building until you are blasting out “Christ we proclaim!”

It is an interesting setting and although I wonder at its singability would love to try it. The text is at spiritandsong and it is available to purchase for download there.

I suppose this is meant to be a recessional but it sounds more a solo vehicle with perhaps a singalong chorus.  It is by Rory Cooney and he has fun finding rhymes for Lord (hoard, bored, sword and horde – as in pagan horde).

The text is at spiritandsong and it can be purchased for download at OCP.

My backing is a bit electronic.

The choir appears to be having trouble staying together in this clip and I suspect it is because the song does not lend itself to this task.

While I’m still in the gathering and sending forth section of Spirit & Song Vol 1,this song by Tom Booth, Israel Houghton and Matt Maher, for all its merits, is just not suitable for congregational singing.  The two verses and the bridge have different tunes, go ridiculously high and like the chorus have rhythmic devices suitable only for solo performance.

The text is at spiritandsong, where you can hear a snippet. You can purchase the sheet music in a collection at OCP.

My backing is a messy blues.

I’m still blogging the gathering and sending forth songs from Spirit & Song Vol 1. This song by Jean Anthony Greif is, at least in Tom Tomasczek’s arrangement, a gentle funk setting of the Beatitudes so I’m not really sure how that fits the category. In Spirit & Song it is 4/4 time and full of triplets, but not surprisingly it was meant to be in 6/8 time.

This might be more like the original arrangement.

The text is at spiritandsong where you can purchase the sheet music for download and hear a snippet in the more modern arrangement.

I went the funk route for my version.

I’m not sure I can find a spot in a liturgy for this one by Jesse Manibusan. It might be better in a praise and worship setting. It is a guitarists song and has the classic restrained verses and feakout noisy chorus of the P&W genre. The verses are unsuited to congregational singing so you’d need a cantor for that at least.

The text is at spiritandsong where you can listen to a snippet and purchase the sheet music for download. The whole song can by heard at his myspace page.

Mark Friedman has written a gathering song with a refrain in Spanish or English with a Latin feel. In Australia, where there is generally no reason to sing in Spanish, there is no reason that the full English version could not be used as long as you aren’t scared off by masses of triplets.

The text is at spiritandsong and you can hear a snippet and purchase the sheet music for download at OCP.

These songs have been chosen by the music liturgy team:

Entrance: Jesus Is Risen (O’Brien-Ogilvie) AOV NG 82

Psalm: The Lord is My Shepherd – Crimond AOV 1/144

Gifts: Gather Your People (Hurd) AOV 1/71

Communion: Shepherd Me O God (Haugen) AOV 1/33

Lord To Whom Shall We Go (Herry) AOV 1/6

Thanksgiving: The Joy of the Gospel (Text Fr James Lyons; Tune Beethoven’s Ode to Joy)

Recessional: Hearts On Fire (Mangan) AOV NG 62

A song by Julie Smith and Tim Smith (not Timothy R Smith) that could be a recessional but also with an obvious application for ministry and commissioning.

The text is here and you can hear it here, although this is very much a solo vocal. I can’t find a site to purchase for download with this one so you might have to just use Spirit & Song or contact Resource Publications.

This is rather singable despite a couple of leaps in the verses (E up to D) and very gentle syncopation. Witness this choir:

This is another song from the gathering and sending forth songs in Spirit & Song Vol 1. It is by Timothy R Smith and is based on passages from Luke 12 and Psalm 41. I think it is more a Gifts song myself and but perhaps it could be a recessional. It really is a bit of a grab bag affair with many images used over the four verses and I’m not sure it hangs together as a text. The tune is nice and has a singable range.  The third verse is more a bridge than a verse and the fourth verse introduces some minor changes to the chords for some reason.

The text is a spiritandsong where it can also be purchased for download. You can hear the original here.

This Taiwanese church slows things down a bit and it works well.