Church Music

I’m pushing into the songs from Spirit and Song for a topical choice. This song is listed for washing on the feet on Thursday and I’ve never blogged it so I thought I should at least mention it. It can be purchased for download at OCP.

It is by Gregory Norbet and has been done at my current parish forever, although new to me. We will also be introducing Schutte’s “As I Have Done for You” from my previous parishes’ liturgy this year.

Refrain

The Lord Jesus, after eating with his friends,

Washed their feet and said to them:

“Do you know what I, your Lord, have done to You?

I have given you example that you also should do.”

 

1 “You are my friends and you can have no greater love

than to give your life for your friends.”

2 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to all who live

with sincere love for everyone.”

3 “I am the vine and you, the branch: remain in me

and you will bear abundant fruit.”

4 “Those who come to me will never thirst nor want for food,

and I will raise them up on the last day.”

© The Benedictine Foundation of the State of Vermont 1973, 1981.

A gospel song full of good intentions from Tom Booth continues the gathering and sending forth songs from Spirit & Song Vol One.

The lyrics are at spiritandsong, where you can purchase the sheet music for download. It has some tricky triplets to negotiate and the gospel feel would be easy to lose as some versions on Youtube demonstrate.

This version keeps the gospel feel and nails the coda that I couldn’t get right in my backing.

Pedro Rubalcava wrote this joyful acclamation that can be used whenever we need to thank God — so that’s always. It would be different to live in a parish where bilingual songs made sense. Here there are small groups of lots of different ethnicities but nothing like the Spanish speaking segment of the American Catholic church.

The text is at spiritandsong, where you can hear a snippet and purchase the sheet music for download in various forms.

My backing is in a slightly manic gypsy-mexican style with no offence intended.

I’m going through Spirit and Song Vol 1 looking at their gathering songs and recessionals and I’m up to this one by John D. Becker, who is another songwriter new to me.

You can find the text, listen to a snippet and purchase the song for download at spiritandsong.

You could use this anywhere the Beatitudes are referred to in the liturgy.  The verses take these thoughts from Matthew and marry them to an uplifting chorus from John (the way, the truth, the life). I think it works and not just for children.

I’m still in gathering and sending songs in Spirit & Song Vol 1. Steve Angrisano wrote this entrance song that would be best for a youth mass or gathering. I know him mainly from “Go Make A Difference.”

It is upbeat and could be very noisy and joyful. There is a key change to negotiate and it is syncopated and littered with triplets to trick people up.

The text is at spiritandsong. It is available in the collection “You are the Way” at sheetmusicplus.

My backing is gratuitously noisy with over the top guitar solos but is just for learning purposes after all.

This is another Ricky Manalow song, this time with a Japanese/Asian style in a setting based on the Pentecost sequence.

The text is here and it can be purchased for download at OCP. Perhaps it could be used as a gentle gathering him during the Fifty Days of Pentecost with different verses chosen each week. The verse gets pretty high and might need a cantor. I’m not convinced by the idiom and it strikes me as being at risk of being patronising and cringeworthy.

My backing puts the counter melody/harmony in from the second verse. The lines are separated in the stereo mix to assist learning the tunes.

This is a song by Ricky Manalo for Lent from Spirit and Son Vol 1. It is a restrained, gentle song that sounds very singable for most uses in Lent.

The text is here and the sheet music can be purchased for download at OCP.

For this gospel tune Christopher Walker used a nineteenth century refrain by Caroline Noel and adapted the verses from Phillipians 2. I’m still in the gathering and sending songs in Spirit & Song Vol 1.

The text is at spiritandsong and it can be purchased for download at OCP, where you can hear a snippet that has the first chorus done very effectively as solo acapella. The verses have subtle variations and the music notes that the first two verses are quiet with a crescendo in the third and the final verse loud. My backing has none of that subtlety.

This is a dandy version:

This is a P&W setting of an old anonymous American text from the nineteenth century written by Timothy R. Smith.

The text and links to purchase for download are at spiritandsong.

It might work as a recessional at Easter Vigil or other joyful occasions, but its triumphalist nature would require discernment at other times, esp in P&W format. My backing has guitar solos where they are indicated in the music but not the written ones.  As that would have taken work I just asked BIAB for solos and it obliged.

Entrance: Blessings on the King (Lynch) AOV 1/104

Psalm 22 (O’Brien)

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

Gifts: God of Second Chances (Haas)

Communion: Tree of Life (Thompson) AOV NG 138

Were You There (trad) AOV 1/103

Recessional: We Remember (Haugen) AOV 1/81