Church Music

This is a fine Gospel Acclamation by Ed Bolduc should you need a stand alone one.

It can be purchased for click and print and a sample page with the text is available all at WLP.

My backing is faux gospel.

This is another request.  It’s a very loose paraphrase of the Magnificant by Rory Cooney to the traditional tune “The Star of County Down”.

The text is here. The sheet music can be purchased at GIA or for download at musicnotes.

This is the original:

Here are some nice covers:

Choirs slowing it down a lot:

Just for fun here is the real song:

Voices As One is the site for WLP’s contemporary area of liturgical music. They have several volumes of sheet music published in this area and excellent song writers that I haven’t been looking at, since I’ve been going through OCP’s spiritandsong collections. A few WLP songs were picked up for the As One Voice Collections in Australia, but in general they have very little penetration into the Australian market. As far as American music is concerned, which is widely used here, GIA and OCP have far more influence in Australia than WLP. I have used some of their material in the past when I was looking for a specific song to plug a liturgical hole and have always been impressed.

Despite being modern music it appears to be more liturgical rather than P&W, which is what I’m looking for, and has quite a variety of modern styles. It isn’t all Ed Bolduc either.

Their website will generally give a preview of the sheet music, a snippet of the song for listening purposes and some guidance as to it’s purpose and weeks of the liturgical year when it is particularly useful. I find this to be more consistent and helpful than OCP’s background material. They also provide a link to cheaply purchase for click and print in case you like the song and want the sheet music.

My plan is to blog my learning of the songs in the collection by my usual method of making a backing. Since WLP provide the text in the preview on their web site, I will just link to their page where you can find all their material and purchase the sheet music. I will also start linking to author pages again, as since the same songwriters were coming up over and over again it had become superfluous.  With a new bunch of liturgical musicians this is no longer so.

I will otherwise assume you have the Voices As One Collections and, like me, you can’t just sit down and play the music, but need some help to learn the pieces.

All Will Be Well is an unusual chant by Steven C Warner based on a text by Julian of Norwich – one of the C14 English mystics who are all worth a read, including Richard Rolle and especially “The Cloud of Unknowing”. The words of consolation are suggested for Lent, Good Friday and healing masses and you can see why from the text. It has even inspired a blog that has the text as well. Apart from purchasing the music through WLP it is available elsewhere on the net (eg Sheet Music Plus – more expensive there) amazingly including a handbell version at GIA.

Remembering that chant and BIAB don’t go well together my backing is the usual fail but is just to help learning. The ostinato remains constant, but the verses alternate melody lines. The verses are meant for a cantor, but they are extinct where I live and there is nothing that would stretch an assembly here.

When I blogged Haugen’s revised Mass of Creation I only did one of the Memorial Acclamations.

This is another, requested by Ken:

We proclaim your death O Lord,

and profess your resurrection until you come again, until you come again.

This song by Rory Cooney was requested by Ken.

Cooney has written a lovely blog post about the song’s inspiration and he has included the text here.

The sheet music can be purchased for download at various sites on the internet including musicnotes.

The music liturgy team has chosen this music for the celebration of Mass this week.

Entrance: Christ Be Our Light (Farrell) AOV 2/3

Psalm 146 (Keefe)

Praise the Lord who heals the broken hearted.

Gifts: Blessed Be Our God (McKenna) AOV NG 13

Communion: Bread Broken, Wine Shared (Horner) AOV 2/155

You Are Mine (Haas)  AOV 2/2

Thanksgiving: Galilee Song (Andersen) AOV 1/15

Recessional: Strong and Constant  (Andersen) AOV 1/110

Entrance: Praise to You O Christ Our Saviour (Farrell) AOV 1/28

Psalm 94 (Mason)

If today you hear his voice , harden not your heart.

Gifts: Come to Set Us Free (Farrell) AOV 1/39

Communion: Bread of Life (Farrell) AOV 1/164

Will You Love Me? (Boniwell) AOV 1/40

Thanksgiving: We Remember (Haugen) AOV 1/81

Recessional: Lord the Light of Your Love (Kendrick) AOV 2/59

Entrance: Galilee Song (Andersen) AOV 1/15

Psalm 24 McKenna

Teach me your ways, O Lord. Teach me your ways.

Gifts: Be Not Afraid (Dufford) AOV 1/114

Communion: Table of Plenty (Schutte) AOV 2/20

The Servant Song (Gillard) AOV 2/169

Thanksgiving: You Are Mine (Haas)  AOV 2/2

Recessional: City of God (Schutte) AOV 1/57

I am away for a few weeks so here are the music liturgy team’s selection for the next few weeks.  We are casting our net wide for music for the Psalm responses over the coming masses, including the wonderful Kate Keefe, Amanda McKenna and Paul Mason.

Entrance: Here I Am Lord (Schutte) AOV 1/90

Psalm 39 (Keefe)  Kate Keefe’s site

Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.

Gifts: Come to Me (Norbet) AOV 1/37

Communion: We Are Many Parts (Haugen) AOV 1/86

Song of the Body of Christ  (Haas) AOV 1/27

Thanksgiving: The Summons (Maule-Bell) AOV NG 149

Recessional: We Are Called (Haas) AOV 2/60

This song about the communal nature of sacraments is by the heavyweight team of Matt Maher and Tom Booth and is the last song in Spirit & Song Vol 2. I’m not sure if it is a communal song however. The second verse is a confiteor of sorts if that is useful.

The text is at spiritandsong where the sheet music can be purchased for download.

My backing is the first done I’ve done with Band in a Box 2015 and shamelessly uses spaghetti western guitar doodling:

Matt Maher:

Live:

A fine cover: