Church Music

Again, I’ve tried to rock this contemporary mass up a bit.

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts.

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Bless’d is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Paul Mason only put 13 alternative verses for this acclamation.  I’ve chosen the first.

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus Christ!

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus Christ!

If today you hear his voice harden not your heart.

If today you hear his voice harden not your heart.

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus Christ!

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus Christ!

Paul Mason lives up to his reputation as Australia’s most wonderful liturgy nerd with 103 alternative verses to his gospel acclamation.  I picked verse 21.  It is a joyous waltz time piece with a fair old range but probably doable.

Alleluia, Alleluia, Allelulia, Alleluia.

Speak , O Lord, your servant is list’ning;

Speak, O Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.

Alleluia, Alleluia, Allelulia, Alleluia.

I’m taking a break from AOV NG to work on Paul Mason’s Mass of Glory and Praise.  Of the six recommended mass settings from the Australian Bishops it stands out as being suitable for regular parishes with ordinary musicians and also being interesting.  You can (and should) buy it from here or from the Willow website.

I know this mass has been around for a few years and that it has been revised for the new texts, but since we haven’t ever used it before, I’m approaching it as a new mass.

It didn’t sound like rock music when it was being played and sung at the workshop I attended yesterday, but I figure I may well as well make rock backings for it, since it is meant to be the “contemporary” setting.

The refrain has a interesting choice with “of” getting two syllables, but perhaps that will be the jaunty hook that will cement this in our minds.  It has been interesting looking at how composers are coping with the less than brilliant lyrics they have been given.  These lines of the Gloria clunk badly and have required some ingenuity to be made singable.

Refrain

Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace to people of good will.

Verse 1

We praise you, we bless you,

We adore you, we glorify you,

We give you thanks for your great glory,

Lord God, heavenly King,

O God, almighty Father.

Refrain

Verse 2

Lord Jesus Christ, only begotten Son,

Lord God, Lamb of God,

Son of the Father,

You take away the sins of the world,

Have mercy on us;

You take away the sins of the world,

Receive our prayer;

You are seated at the right hand of the Father,

Have mercy on us.

Refrain

Verse 3

For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord,

You alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ,

With the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father.

Refrain

Amen

I attended a workshop at St Paul’s Woodridge on 26^th of February at which some talented and patient musicians took us through the six settings recommended by the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference.  My comments are based on very different criteria to those used by the Bishops.  I am concerned that we should have settings that can be played on a variety of very basic instruments, that is a guitar or piano, and having little reliance on organs and cantors, since we have neither.  I am also interested in settings that are able to be sung by everyone in our church, preferably in our language, Australian English.

1. Mass of Our Lady, Help of Christians

Composer: Richard Connolly

The presenters noted that this was a chant like setting that was lyrical and contemplative.  It is in a minor key and suitable for reflective situations.

The Kyrie is in Greek and the refrain of the Gloria in Latin, which is praised at Canticanova as it avoids the “less-than-elegant” English translation.  It relies on a cantor and much of the cantor’s part is quite high.  The music is suited to organ.

2. Mass Shalom

 This is a familiar mass by Colin Smith that has been rewritten by Paul Mason.

The presenters suggested that its familiarity might be useful at Christmas for occasional attenders who would remember the tune and not notice that the words had changed.

There is considerable discussion about whether revised masses are a good idea.  We have the words and music locked together in our minds that we have sung for years and it has been suggested that changes will take hundreds of repetitions to become natural.

In this case the very extensive changes both to the tune and words of the Gloria would make learning the new version a very difficult task.  It has always been a hard tune to play other than on organ in any case and we have used it less over the years locally.

3. Missa Magis

Composer: Fr Christopher Willcock sj

This was written for, but not used, at World Youth day 2008.

It was described as joyful and singable by the presenters and doesn’t go too high for the parishioners to be uncomfortable.

What we heard was often beautiful, especially the Kyrie.

There is considerable use of a cantor in the Gloria and the Agnes Dei.

The Gloria is probably unusable.  The presenter called it a roller coaster!  It is very long with 5 verses and repeated refrains.  It involves changes in tempo and key in the verses and is dramatic and memorable and I seriously can’t see it being used.

It is not available to download from OCP yet.

It is a remarkable work but I can’t see it being feasible without a major revision to the Gloria, which of course would breach copyright.

4.  Mass of St Francis

Composer: Paul Taylor

This mass was described as accessible and easy to learn, but not particularly memorable – they said it had no “hooks”.  I think it bored the musicians!

The parts of the mass were pleasant, if unexciting, but at least they are playable and singable and will have music for piano and guitar.

5. Mass of Christ the Redeemer

Composer: Bernard Kirkpatrick

This was suggested as suitable for ordinations and festive occasions.  It is a piece for a cathedral and is completely unsuitable for use in a suburban parish.

If you hear it is being used in a cathedral I suggest you go to hear it, it should be a blast.

6. Mass of Glory and Praise

Composer: Paul Mason

This was described as “bright and cheerful” and having a “contemporary feel”. I have heard it said that it has a “rock” feel and contains some syncopation.  This could only really be said in comparison to the other settings as it could hardly be described as even close to rock music.  It is however an interesting and memorable work and has potential for use in the suburbs.

The Gloria has some fiddly melody bits that will take some learning and the Holy Holy has some tricky timings, but I think this is a piece that will reward some effort.

Summary

The six pieces chosen had to cover circumstances from the Cathedral to the suburbs and obviously no one mass is going to be able to accommodate every setting.

There is a bias towards organ music, cantoring and extravagant Cathedral pieces that may reflect the fact that it was coming from the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference.  There is also the problem that professional church musicians rarely have the gift of understanding the abilities of weekend warriors who have to play their pieces in real masses.

Of the six only the Mass of St Francis and the Mass of Glory and Praise are really likely candidates for a church in the suburbs with basic resources.

This is an absolute belter from Judy Bailey called “Inspired to Serve”.  It is No 79 in As One Voice: the Next Generation.  Looking ahead, she has another five more songs coming up in the collection in addition to this one and “Call for Mercy” so that is something to look forward to.

I couldn’t mimic the whoop at the end of the verses in Band in a Box, so you’ll have to do that yourselves while singing along or listen to excerpt at As One Voice or her website.  I note that the CD version starts with the bridge, which is not a bad idea.

Verse 1

Come along join the song that is stirring our days
Let the earth touch the sky with extravagant praise
Raise your hands lift them high as you ride the wave – Come on
Woah…God is good

Verse 2

We are one we belong we’re the family of God
We’re a body united together we’re strong
Here to stand in His name, here to make a change – Come on
Woah…God is good yeah

Chorus

Set free and I am on fire
Spirit is lifting me higher
Here we go here we go
Inspired to serve

Verse 3

Come along join the song we are taking this chance
Let us follow the leader the Lord of the dance
We will rise with the challenge loud and strong – Come on
God is good yeah

Chorus

Bridge x2

I’m gonna serve I’m gonna serve
I’m gonna serve the Lord forever

I’m gonna serve I’m gonna serve
I’m gonna serve the Lord forever

I’m gonna serve I’m gonna serve
I’m gonna serve the Lord forever now

Chorus

© Dyba Music / Judy Bailey 2003.

Michael John Poirier’s song “In the Light” is No78 in AOV NG and essentially an extended chant.  You could sing it all the way through or select an appropriate verse and repeat that.  The CD has a lot of instruments coming in and out and complimentary vocal lines coming in and out that could be ad libbed as needed.  The introduction is the whole verse played once.

The sheet music can be purchased at WLP.

The speed indicates a crochet =70.  I suspect they mean a minim.

For those with the As One Voice: Next Generation book you can sing along with my backing to learn the song.

I had planned to have more posts on general issues on Church Music, but I seem to have been caught up in trying to do backings for all of As One Voice: the Next Generation.  I may get back to more general topics at some stage but as I am more than half way through I thought I should restate some things I probably mentioned last year.

• Buy the book.
• You can listen to samples on the website of all the songs but it helps to listen to whole song on the CD if you get a chance.
• The backings are really more for learning than use in a mass, as the melody line is mixed a little high for usual use in a backing, but there is nothing other than copyright permissions (which your church already has) preventing their use in a mass.
• Buy the book.
• All the backings are made on Band in a Box and involve no human playing at all.  This is mainly to save time and simplify the process.  I could add human musicianship, and singing for that matter, but I don’t think it is necessary for this purpose.
• I see no reason that a church short of musicians could not buy Band in a Box and make their own backings.  It is simpler than recording and endlessly modifiable -rpts, key,        +/- melody line etc.
• On the other hand some song styles don’t lend themselves to BIAB, especially chants, so it’s not the answer for everything.  Unaccompanied singing is suggested in those cases.
• I have yet to overcome my unreasonable prejudice against Hillsongs.
• I have yet to overcome my distaste for a certain style of choir singing that turns up on mainly American church music.
• Despite that, I have found little to complain about in the selections made at Willow for this collection, other than that they had made a deliberate choice to include a lesser number of strictly liturgical songs than in AOV Vol 1&2.
• Buy the book!
• Try to get everyone interested in new material (ie your liturgists)
• Don’t give up on the assembly, but remember that some don’t easily cope with the syncopation that is in nearly every song in AOV NG.
• By all means sit at your computer and sing along loudly.  If anyone complains, invite them to sing too.

…and buy the book.

This beautiful song, “In Every Age”, by Janet Sullivan Whitaker is No 77 in As One Voice: the Next Generation. Based on Psalm 90, this song is listed for use in Lent and at funerals and has wider applications for more general use. I couldn’t get the feel of the excellent version on the CD sung by Jasmine Forsythe so I went for a simpler more rhythmic arrangement. You can also listen to a version (? Whitakers) at the spiritandsong site.  There is even a pdf (nonprintable) of the song. The sheet music can be purchased at spiritandsong.

It might be that the subtle variations in the verses might be too much for the assembly, so a cantor might have to sing the verses and leave the chorus for everyone else.

Verse 1

Long before the mountains came to be

and the land and sea and stars of the night,

through the endless seasons of all time,

you have always been,

you will always be.

Refrain

In ev’ry age, O God, you have been our refuge.

In ev’ry age, O God, you have been our hope.

Verse 2

Destiny is cast, and at your silent word

we return to dust and scatter to the wind.

A thousand years are like a single moment gone,

as the light that fades

at the end of day.

Refrain

Verse 3

Teach us to make use of the time we have.

Teach us to be patient even as we wait.

Teach us to embrace our ev’ry joy and pain.

To sleep peacefully,

and to rise up strong.

Refrain

Refrain

You have been our refuge

You have been our hope.

© Janet Sullivan Whitaker 1988, 1999.

“I Will Choose Christ” by Tom Booth is No 76 in As One Voice: the Next Generation.  A lovely song with applications for RCIA and confirmation, but again is more a solo gospel vehicle than a song for the assembly.  It has lots of odd timings and gaps and two (count ‘em) key changes.  The stated speed of ~94 is a little fast – 84 matches the recording and the feel better.  If you go looking on youtube there is a performance at the crystal cathedral, a black gospel version and a version with children doing actions.

Probable errors

p237 third line second bar – the bass E in the Gm chord is probably on  3^rd beat, not the second.

p239 second line, first bar – I don’t think the F is an accidental F# sounds right.

If you haven’t bought AOV NG yet, you can buy the sheet music at spiritandsong.

Refrain

I will choose Christ,

I will choose love,

I choose to serve.
I give my heart,

I give my life,

I give my all to you.

Verse 1

How many times must He call my name,

And show to me that He is God.
And as a servant He calls to me:

“You must serve too.”

Refrain

Verse 2

Christ my teacher and healer,

Teach my heart and heal my soul.

And as I walk this road with you,

Teach me to love.

Refrain (key change)

Verse 3

And as I look upon your cross,

So must I die with you.
And with the death of my own desires,

I shall rise with you.

Refrain x2 (another key change!)

© Tom Booth 1991, 2009.

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