Church Music

I attended the inaugural general meeting of this organisation in Sydney on the 25th of June at Mary McKillop Place in North Sydney.  The election bits were painless – all nominees elected and the two workshops interesting.

There were a lot of ideas for the network to work towards and I suspect they will turn up on their website when the dust settles.  Getting music taken seriously and properly funded and trained for in the Church was emphasised.  Providing a network for resources and ideas to be exchanged and available to all pastoral musicians on line seems a sensible suggestion.

What need to happen now is an avalanche of members.  Anyone involved in pastoral music or liturgical music in Australia should join as soon as possible and then get networking.  The current people involved are mainly from the songwriting and publishing area but if the network is to flourish it needs the support and contribution of talent from those providing music for mass in the suburbs and the rural areas where the struggle for musicians and resources is at its most acute.   Let’s make a start.

We start using this mass this weekend. The Gloria gets a little high so I’ve made a backing 2 semitones lower.  I’ve also made it less abrasive but still with melody line fairly obvious to assist singing along if you are new to the tune, or even worse having to relearn it with new words and tune.

The MP3s I’ve put up are for the purpose of learning the songs and were done quickly on Band in a Box.  As in, too fast for any reflection on their suitability for anything other than learning a song.  The version I did here is a fun Latin version but that isn’t how I’ve been playing it at mass.  I don’t know if this is any better, but it might be more useful if you want a funk version.

Dashboard tells me this is the 200th post and a fine time to look at the collection of songs I’ve been blogging since last year.

This book is really the only practical way to get your hands on the best material of Australian Catholic composers.  It also usefully aggregates a selection of the best overseas songs, and not just from the USA.  I spent A$57.95 on the book at St Pauls Book Centre in town, which was an absolute bargain. If you haven’t bought it yet you should – go to the AOV site and do yourself a favour.

They have tried to get as much as possible into the sheet music and have run the risk of obscuring the main melody line at times, but it all could be worked out and the properly musically trained will fix it on the fly with no trouble at all.  We less gifted will just have to slog it out.  The errors in the sheet music are overall minor and I suppose will be picked up in future editions.

Prior to getting this collection at our parish we had already used Michael Mangan’s, “Hearts on Fire” and “Holy Spirit Come”, emmanuelworship’s “Lord, Send Me Your Spirit” and “My Witness You’ll Be” and Wild Goose’s “The Summons”.  (Oh well…and “Shout to the Lord” from Hillsong)

We have now used:

Blessed Be Our God

Come to the Table (Burland not Angotti)

Gather as One

Go Make a Difference

Like a Candle

Jesus is Risen

Send Out Your Spirit, Lord

We have also previewed many songs at our “Sing Along with Ed”sessions including a Judy Bailey evening.

We will be using this resource for many years to come and adding more of the songs as they fit into our liturgies and at a rate paying attention to the assembly’s acceptance of new material.

The 156th and last song in the collection, As One Voice: the Next Generation, is “Your Grace is Enough” by Matt Maher.  It ends things in an upbeat P&W mode.  His version has a touch of neoprog rock about it and you can hear it here.  Chris Tomlin does a noisier version here if you like that sort of thing, although in leaving out the “of Jacob” he makes you wonder if he missed the whole wrestling with God idea.

As usual with spiritandsong they helpfully provide the lyrics, a snippet of the song and sheet music that can purchased for download here.

My backing is rather basic and unnecessarily noisy but suitable for singing along to.

At No155 in As One Voice: the Next Generation is a delightful pop song based on Ps 139 called “You Are There.”  Anne-Maree Higgins sings the version on the AOV NG CD, but the song is written by Kathryn Radloff of Keystone Creations.

My backing does not take up the option of further repeats of the chorus with a key change from E to F#.

Verse 1

Lord you have searched me you know me
You know when I sit, when I rise

You’re standing behind and before me
There’s no place from you I can hide.

Chorus

And even if I go up to the heavens
Even if I travel distant roads
And even if I find myself in
darkness you are there.

Verse 2

I praise you, O God my creator
I’m fearfully, wonderfully made

My days have been set out before me
You knew them before they began.

Chorus

Bridge

Search me, know me
Be there to guide and hold me
The night will shine as bright as day

Search me, know me
Be there to guide and hold me
The night will shine as bright as day
Bright as day

Chorus x2

© Kathryn Radloff 2002, 2007.

No 154 in AOV NG is Hillsong’s “You Are Near” written by Reuben Morgan.  I suppose it’s a hymn of praise but it is a slight piece really – perhaps you had to be there.

No 153 is a setting of Ps 138 called “You Answered Me” by Aaron Thompson.  It is less convoluted than a lot of modern Psalm settings and is suitably laid back. The version on the CD (excerpt here)is no great shakes but I appreciated it more after hearing the awful snippet at the WLP site. It can purchased at WLP.

If you have the music, and if not why haven’t you bought AOV NG yet, this backing might assist learning the song.

* see below – Aaron Thompson has the updated download site now that WLP is owned by GIA.

Gina Ogilvie sings this song she wrote with Monica O’Brien on the AOV NG CD.  It is “Worthy” and is No 152 in As One Voice: the Next Generation.  Suitable for a healing service, reconciliation or consolation and encouragement, this song rocks out in her version. The chorus is fine for the assembly but the verses and bridge would benefit from a solo singer.  The idea of appreciating the presence of God in feeling forgiven is certainly worth expressing in song.

Verse 1

In our times of darkness, we turn away from love;

We choose a path that brings despair, we have no place to run.

But when we seek forgiveness, we open up our hearts,

There we know God’s presence, we embrace a brand new start.

Chorus

Worthy, worthy, worthy in God’s sight.

Worthy, worthy, we’re people of the light.

Verse 2

We come to know that life is found in the truth that we all seek;

Forgiveness comes to all who ask, the rich, the poor, the weak.

When we face our failings and look toward the light,

By grace we know the meaning of ‘worthy in God’s sight.’

Chorus

Bridge

We know the power of your love.

Jesus, your healing light has come to shine upon our world.

Chorus

Worthy, worthy, we’re people in the the light.

© Monica O’Brien and Gina Ogilvie 2008.

No 151 in As One Voice: the Next Generation is “With You by My Side,” by David Haas.  This is a gentle but insistent pop song of encouragement and consolation.  I’m not sure it has a liturgical use, but you are already singing lots of his songs at mass already aren’t you.  You can here a really stodgy version of it here.   The version on the AOV NG CD is far superior and it really sounds as if Mr Haas loosened right up, so if you get a chance to hear it, that’s the one that will make you like this song.

The text is available here.

You can buy it as part of a collection at GIA or as a single sheet at sheetmusicplus.