Church Music

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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First Thoughts put out their ideas for the ten worst hymns of all time and what followed was a long trail of comments that are worth reading for their narrow minded, unimaginative, pompous, self-righteous displays of pig ignorance.  The tithe of dissenting commenters were rightly upset by the vitriol.  It simply boiled down to a personal dislike of the style of music, whatever they wanted to dress it up as, and a fear of any text that smelt liberal. (Note to right wing catholic bloggers – don’t read Amos, he’s a red.)  Obviously, not all the songs of the 70s and 80s will last, but those that resonate with assemblies will and be joined by new material with the best surviving.  Cathedrals can continue their museum pieces but they won’t work in the suburbs.

At the As One Voice conference last week they had a delightful historical sing through these years including many of these songs, which admittedly have suffered more than their fair share of uninspired renditions over the years.  Played sensitively and sung enthusiastically they all shone.  Perhaps these old warhorses just need to be looked at with fresh spectacles.

As a perverse entry into this fresh look how about a mildly bossa version of Here I Am, Lord, number four on the list.

Here I am Lord

I’m going to continue blog the song book As One Voice: the Next Generation.  I’ve decided I still have the gall to second guess the talented people who have put it together.  Perhaps a view from the suburbs is needed, if only because the very talented may not always see the difficulties faced by the less talented.

By the way, I’ve heard enough of the music now to just recommend you buy the thing.  It will save you a lot of looking for new material and it is 70% Australian composed which is a good thing to support.

This song is by established Australian songwriters, Monica O’Brien and Trisha Watts, and is loosely based on Ps 19:1-4.  The sample on the website is very sedate and polite but I’ve heard it done in a more lively way to better effect.  It has a lot of pushes half way through bars that will test the non syncopating singers in the assembly, but really the song has the rhythm of speech and is quite intuitive.  It should work fine.  I’d like to use it as the psalm when it is close enough to the Psalm of the week (I know that’s “wrong”) or just the refrain as a sung response.

My backing is pretty basic.  I use two different horn sounds for the call and response to aid with learning it and they are mixed up higher than you normally would for a backing track.

Refrain

Come, let us praise our God, Come, let us sing for joy,

With a heart of thanks we give honour.

You are a mighty God, You are the source of life.

Creator God we give praise.

Verse 1

From the deepest seas  (a voice is heard)

From the highest hills (a voice is heard)

From the rich, dark earth (a voice is heard)

All creation sings, God is heard.

Verse 2

Through the darkest night (a voice is heard)

Through the breaking dawn (a voice is heard)

Through the heart of life (a voice is heard)

All creation sings, God is heard.

© Monica O’Brien and Trisha Watts 1998.

David’s “Reflections and Suggestions” are well worth reading.  He laments the lack of singing by the people at mass and the lack of supervision by the Church of what is sung.  While he’s from another planet theologically to me, he makes a lot of sense when he promotes greater assistance for the parishes with their music and liturgy.  His experience from his Lutheran days was that:

we discovered that when parish pastors and musicians were provided with a quality resource in a number of formats (including electronically) with as little copyright restriction as possible, and to which they could quickly go to for everything they need to prepare Sunday liturgy, they no longer went to the effort of searching out resources from unofficial sources.

I don’t think there is any great need to discourage unofficial sources, but there is a great need to at least provide better official sources.

He also decries the use of CDs because they reinforce the culture of listening rather than participation.  I strongly agree and fear that their use will lead to a return to complete marginalisation of the laity and be as bad as a return to the exclusivity of chant by monks or polyphony by elite choirs rather than participatory singing by those in the pews. 

There is yet the problem of the decline in available musicians that has seen the rise of the use of pre-recorded music in our parishes (played either on CD or as MP3’s on a computer). The problem with using pre-recorded songs is that they are not designed for congregations to sing along; in fact the recorded voice of the professional singer or choir actually encourages the congregation to become a non-participatory audience which listens to rather than sings the song. I would personally recommend that in the production of any resource by the NLMB, the Bishops Commission consider also providing a complete set of pre-recorded musical accompaniments – without vocal tracks – for use by parishes that do not have musicians. These may be CD’s, MP3’s or (conceivably) even midi files (designed to be played through the many high standard electronic keyboards currently available). A resource that provided a seamless combination of print music, electronic texts for powerpoint projection and recorded musical accompaniment would make a very attractive package for Australian parishes.

Now I know I’m going to be the first to scream blue murder when the hymn police shoot down the hymns that mean a lot to many parishioners, but to my amazement I find myself agreeing with much of David says.  I also personally find that the singing style of the choirs and vocalists on recordings of the songs we usually sing are like no normal choir I’ve ever heard.  They are generally devoid of all signs of life and sung with Celine Dion levels of faux sincerity.

And for those who think the sport of complaining about the state of music in the Catholic Church is new, may I suggest you peruse Richard Terry’ 1907 book “Catholic Church Music,” especially the chapter on the evils of modern music.

As threatened I’m going to blog “As One Voice: the Next Generation.”

All the songs in AOV NG have clips to listen to at their site.  Just search for the song at the site and you can hear an MP3 snippet. You can also purchase the sheet music for this song from GIA.

These songs may be familiar to others but I’m coming across most of them for the first time.

I’m making my own backings and since I don’t know the songs I’ve mixed the melody line up.  Even if you hate canned music, they are a good way to teach new songs, especially to singers and musicians who don’t read music.

Song 1

A Place at the Table   Words: Shirley Erena Murray    Music: Lori True

For everyone born, a place at the table,
for everyone born, clean water and bread,
a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing,
for everyone born, a star over head.

Refrain:
And God will delight when we are creators
of justice and joy,

Yes, God will delight when we are creators
of justice,                              justice, and joy.

For woman and man, a place at the table,
revising the roles, deciding to share,
with wisdom and grace, dividing the power,
for woman and man, a system that’s fair. Refrain

For young and for old, a place at the table,
a voice to be heard, a part in the song,
the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,
for young and for old, the right to belong. Refrain

For just and unjust, a place at the table.
abuser, abused, with need to forgive,
in anger, in hurt, a mind-set of mercy,
for just and unjust, a new way to live. Refrain

For everyone born, a place at the table,
to live without fear, and simply to be,
to work, to speak out, to witness and worship,
for everyone born, the right to be free.

Words © Hope Publishing Company & Shirley Erena Murray

NB Shirley Erena Murray’s work may be accessed here at Hope Publishing and may be printed as a one off copy. Absolutely no alterations are to be made to the text. Any other use requires permission from the author.

Lori True is a GIA songwriter from Minnesota.  I’m not sure if she is responsible for the version excerpted on the AOV site but it has the usual wishy washy vocals that drive me nuts.

You might want to give it a try with my backing and sing normally.   I think it will sing easily for a congregation, it is pitched appropriately and could be sung with real enthusiasm.  It would make sense as a gathering song putting us in mind of the Kingdom of God we are striving for and a communion song telling us that we are the real presence of God in the world.

…and I don’t just like it because it will get up the nose of right wing traditional catholics.

It is also one of the songs that caused this conservative choir master to despair.  That’s really a recommendation in my book.