Church Music

There are recommendations floating about of a provenance of most uncertain intelligence.

Songs that say Yahweh were removed by the Vatican a couple of years ago, because they showed disrespect to the tetragrammaton and because Yahweh had never been used in Catholic material.  Dan Schutte of “You Are Near,” (as in Yahweh I know You are near) fame notes that this is simply not true, Yahweh was used in the Jerusalem Bible.  I’m not sure if the decision percolated down to the parishes very much in any case.  I’m also not at all sure it is important as Yahweh is not the tetragrammaton, it has more than four letters for one thing, and so merely stands for the idea.   Ineffability is not compromised by human strictures on language.

Songs in the voice of God are also said to be anathema.  Ask the writer of the Psalms to revise a whole lot of them immediately as they are therefore quite unsuitable.  This idea shows such a lack of liturgical imagination, I’m amazed some clerics can find their way to Church at all.

For some reason, Australians thought it was worth asking Rome about music. The recommendations, if ever proceeded with, would only be binding in Australia.  Other English speaking areas look after these things themselves, ie the local bishop in America where a song is published.  Do we really need songs that are going to be continued to be sung in American Liturgies, banned in Australian liturgies?

What I am interested in, is decisions made by our local archdiocese that reflect local liturgical needs and backed up by greater support and advice to liturgists and musicians.

I’ve looked at the small section on music on the DVD and am unimpressed.  The only music other than organ and classical noted is music rooted in particular communities, Samoan, Maori etc.  Nothing wrong with inculturation, but ICEL has a blanket blindness to the inculturation within Western communities that are as far from organ music and chant as any other ethnic group on the planet.  I am still amazed that the great tradition of poetry in ENGLISH is not considered able to handle sacred liturgy, unless it apes the cadences of Latin. 

The videos on music start well enough with a priest and a congregation singing, but quickly lapse into organ recital, choir recital, classical group recital and an assembly sitting, watching and silent.  That may not have been the intention but that is what is on their video.  Have a look for yourself and weep.

Musicians are referred to as organists and others!  The church I go to is more than thirty years old.  There has never been an organ in the building.  The keyboard is played as a piano and always has been.

This is a pity because this DVD is the best RCIA resource I’ve ever seen.

It also has the entire new mass in chant to listen and learn to, if that is your thing.  You can download the music from their web site as well.

It does not have any more usual (ie not chant) sung parts of the mass on the DVD, although I gather the intent in Australia is to recommend a couple of settings.  We shall see.

Now that’s more like it.  A usable liturgical song.  No 7 in AOV NG.

I don’t know of John Angotti but his website is full of goodies and worth a visit.

This piece is also available as a click and print purchase at WLP.

This has a singable chorus and the assembly would handle refrain/verse 1 /refrain together as a Gospel Acclamation.  If you are going to do the second verse and the key change, which would be fun, you are going to need a cantor.  There are several high Fs and a tricky triplet awaiting the unwary.

The text is just the ICEL text from the Lectionary:

Refrain  Alle, alle, alleluia! Alle, alle, alleluia!

Alle, alle, alleluia! Alleluia!

1/ Speak , O Lord, your servant is listening;

you have the words of everlasting life.

2/ Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful

and kindle in them the fire of your love.

(On second thoughts, a cantor for both the verses would be better.)

Note to self – figure out formatting and plug ins earlier and you won’t have to go back and fix up old posts.

I have found the audioplayer!

I have figured out that you write these on a word processor and then insert them into wordpress to avoid formatting dramas.

Is there anything else I should know?

I’m waiting to hear if I Tunes will have my podcast – not hopeful.

I sounded like I was stoned.  Unfortunately not true – just old.

No.6 in As One Voice: The Next Generation is “All the Heavens” by Reuben Morgan.  This is the first of several Hillsong songs that made the compilation. It is also available for purchase and download here.

Holy holy are You Lord
The whole earth is filled with Your glory
Let the nations rise to give
Honor and praise to Your name

Let Your face shine on us
And the world will know You live

All the heavens shout Your praise
Beautiful is our God
The universe will sing
Hallelujah to You our King

© Reuben Morgan  2002

Prejudice alert…not a fan of generic Hillsong but this is inoffensive I suppose.  Their songs often sound very eighties John Farnham style. You know, they have a fast song template and a slow song template.

I’m not sure where it could be used liturgically, but could be belted out about a hundred times in succession in a praise and worship setting.

My backing is gratuitously 80s, but what the hell.

Old news I suppose but a nice defence of parish musicians from Amanda McKenna.

No.5 in AOV NG is by Bobby Fisher, one the OCP crowd, so it also turns up in Spirit & Song (No. 75).  It’s been around a while but I’ve never played it myself.  It is based on Ps 98 and is suggested as a Christmas Psalm.

You can buy the sheet music at spiritandsong.

Refrain
All the ends of the earth,
sing a joyful song.
Sing to the Lord,
there is salvation.
All the ends of the earth,
sing a joyful song.
Sing to the Lord,
there is salvation.

1. Sing a new song to the Lord, our God.
For he has worked wonders near and far.
Our God’s right hand
and holy arm
have brought salvation to the world.

2. The Lord has made his salvation known,
and shown his justice to all lands.
His truth and love
he won’t forget
for all the house of Israel.

3. Let us sing our praises to our God
with voices blended now in song.
With harp and horn
and trumpet sound
acclaim the Lord, our God and King!

© Bobby Fisher 1994

Now I could program this into Band in a Box but I really struggled to play the thing on guitar.  To assist I’d suggest you go with the Spirit and Song arrangement which says common time rather than 2/2 and suggests playing it capo 5.  I’d also leave out some chords in the chorus.

It’s awful fiddly for a psalm.  I’m not sure about it at all, but the backing at least helped me figure out the timings. If anyone uses this one, can you let me know if it works.  Perhaps if we practised it all through Advent we might get there.

The melody sounds familiar in the verse – hmmm.  Stan Freberg  “Incident at Los Voroces”  the plaintive folk song about the destruction of a gambling city in Nevada.  I hope that means Bobby Fisher is a fan of Stan the man Freberg.

No.4 in AOV NG is Trisha Watts’ chant, “All is Wonder”.

In this moment,

in this place,

all is wonder,

all is grace.

In this moment,

in this place,

we are one. or (silence waits)

© Trisha Watts 2003

This is a lovely little chant – my backing is a little busy as usual, but you’ll get the idea.  Just add some temple bells a la Trisha and All is Wonder.  This could even be used as a sedate and reflective entrance for Advent.

I’ve been going through the material in the DVD “Become One Body One Spirit in Christ” from the International Committee on English in the Liturgy.

It is a truly remarkable achievement with layers of material and written background that will take some time to digest.

I haven’t got to the bit on music but the material on the reasons for the translation is fascinating to watch for all the spin and subtext evident in the interviews.

The reason that they went for a transliteration of the Latin mass rather than a good translation has been revealed.  Firstly they knew that anything that attempted a proper translation or suggested English could be as poetic a language as Latin would be rejected by Rome, so they didn’t bother.  It was also noted that the English translation is used for further translation into many other languages, so a transliteration of Latin to English leads to other translations closer to the Latin text.  In addition, the new text was designed to be easier for chant settings.

Put that all together and a real translation into English that resonates with real parishioners was doomed.   It makes you wonder whether the collective failure of imagination and scholarship was deliberate or just realistic.  They ludicrously suggest that one standard English exists across the whole of the English speaking world and imply that English can’t be poetic without slavishly following the Latin text.

This is piffle.  However, it appears to be piffle we will all have to live with.  In another generation there may be a chance to have a real go at an Australian English liturgy, and to ditch the idolatry shown to the Roman missal.

The musical interest is in whether we can adapt the old parts of the mass to the new words, or whether it is better to scrap the lot and start again.

This more an experiment than anything else, as since I have no idea how to post a podcast, I thought I’d just make one and press some buttons and see if it works.

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