How many sets of acclamations do you sing?

[Nick Baty]

Another thread (viewtopic.php?f=4&t=908&start=15) raises the issue of introducing settings of the new texts. This has me worried – because I don't get out much – about whether to temporarily stand still or provide our assembly with one or two more settings of the present text in the meantime. After all, we could still be singing them for a year or two.

Having said that, when I was a treble (this was in the days when unicorns still roamed freely on the banks of the Mersey) I remember very few choices in our parish repertoire. We seemed to be able to churn out endless anthems and motets for every season under the sun. But the ordinary, as we thought of it then, was limited to Missa de Angelis (far too often), Missa Cum Jubilo (not often enough), Trotman's English Mass (the only one we also sang in school and later replaced by Gregory Murray's New People's Mass) and occasionaly Terry's unison Mass in C. In fact, Sanctus was the only acclamation we sang and I remember our elderly choirmaster thinking I was a serious lefty liberal when, at the age of 14, I suggested we should sing the Great Amen. And, from what I remember, those three or four settings were all we sang for many, many years. The assembly must have bored stiff – we certainly were.

So, here's the question(s):
How many sets of acclamations do other parishes have in the repertoire?
How long have you been singing them?
Do you change settings by season, by month or randomly?
How many settings do we really need to get through a liturgical year?
Do you plan for (in some areas) the occasions when parishes sharing one priest come together for Christmas/Triduum etc?

[docmattc]

So, here's the question(s):
How many sets of acclamations do other parishes have in the repertoire?
How long have you been singing them?
Do you change settings by season, by month or randomly?
How many settings do we really need to get through a liturgical year?
Do you plan for (in some areas) the occasions when parishes sharing one priest come together for Christmas/Triduum etc?

5
Between 1 and 10 years
seasonally, (though often a change mid OT)
I would say 4 minimum
Beginning to turn our attention to this at deanery level

[RobH]

In our parish, (the smaller of our two churches) they had been singing only one setting - the "German" Mass for years. When I was asked to play the organ (as the priest was desperate) I was surprised that not even the Alleluia was sung, and sometimes not even the Gloria! Admittedly, there are only a few singers in the choir who, like me, are not wonderful, but now we manage with a little difficulty to sing the following:
Gospel Alleluia - about six various ones.
Gloria - Lourdes, Duffy, Missa de Angelis, Berthier and Coventry.
Sanctus - German Mass, Annunciation (Kerry), Celtic Liturgy, Coventry, Murray, Mass viii,Missa de Angelis,
Agnus dei - 4 various.
We have been singing most of these for about two years. In Lent and Advent we have recently sung a plainchant setting, but usually just ring the changes at random. For the Triduum we join our 'sister' church in the parish and both groups of singers get together for several practices. We are very fortunate as they have a very enthusiastic and patient young woman choir leader who really knows how to get the best out of (sometimes) unpromising material.
Nick mentions singing Terry's Mass in C as a boy. I have only recently come across this and thought it quite good, if not a bit of a period piece. I tried it with my singers who thought it was great. However, the other day I gave a copy to a friend who is a well known organist/composer and he thought it was absolutely terrible and almost screwed it up in disgust. His comment was that I (me!) could compose something better than that. So it looks as though we will not be adding Terry to our list after all!!!

[NorthernTenor]

His comment was that I (me!) could compose something better than that. So it looks as though we will not be adding Terry to our list after all!!!

Go with your own judgement!

[Nick Baty]

but usually just ring the changes at random.

We tend to change seasonally because it helps the seasonal shift as much as the change of liturgical colour. Like DocMatt, we sometimes switch in the middle of OT but, where possible, to match a shift in the Gospel narrative. Years ago, we started with Farrell's Eucharistic Acclamations. They're now so well-known that we only bring them out for the bigger feasts because it's easy to add brass etc.

Our assembly doesn't know all the Memorial Acclamations from every set so sometimes we choose according to seasonal requirements. For example, this month (John 6) we're using a set which includes When we eat this bread.... for obvious reasons. At the end of the liturgical year and in Advent we'll go for one which stresses until you come in glory. In Lent, Lord by your Cross and Resurrection works, particularly well in settings which make more of You are the Saviour the World (which is more dominant in the new translation).

For the Triduum we join our 'sister' church in the parish and both groups of singers get together for several practices.

Excellent. Do you have a setting which both churches already know?

I have only recently come across [Terry's Mass in C] and thought it quite good... looks as though we will not be adding Terry to our list after all!!!

Yes, the problem with this, as with settings by Turner, Ette et al is that there is so little which can be used. The Kyrie only works with Penitential Rite I and the Sanctus excludes the assembly and, anyway, doesn't have matching Memorial Acclamation and Amen. And if you were going to sing a choral Gloria there are so many more satisfying settings from this period and before.

[nazard]

... and the Sanctus excludes the assembly ...

Nick, how does the sanctus exclude the assembly? Its unison and simple enough. By the way, this mass is on CPDL for board members who are not familiar with it.

[Nick Baty]

Yes, true, it is not too difficult to learn. Apart from the key change as it moves into the separate Benedictus. But if they're going to sing in Latin might they be better off with a Gregorian setting? Just a thought. Anyway, the other acclamations are absent so it doesn't really "form a unity which reflects the unity of the whole Eucharistic Prayer" (CTM192). Of course, I'm sure a skillful editor could create matching acclamations but it seems an awful lot of bother when there's so much else around.

[keitha]

Here goes:

Coventry Acclamations (Inwood) 1982
Millennium (Inwood) 1999
Gathering (Inwood) 2000
Angels & Saints (Janco) 2003
Millennium (Inwood) 2000
Mass XI 2001 (usually, but not always, Lent/Advent)
Creation (Haugen) 2007
Mass XVIII 2007 (as above for Mass XI)
Celtic Saints (Lawton) 2009

We also use the Jones and Duffy Glorias.

Generally change per liturgical seasons. Probably need at least 3/4 settings. The next setting we learn will be the Mass for John Carroll by Michael Joncas, then we will wait for the new missal translation.

We have 2 'partner parishes' and we come together for weekly mass (and sometimes evening prayer) during lent and advent, when we tend to make use of the Gathering Mass, which we also tend to use for deanery masses.

We have a folk-type group that sings at another mass and they use the Gathering Mass, Soli and Burntwood Masses (CJM) and the Anderson Gloria. When the two groups come together at, say , the Triduum, we have in the past used the Gathering Mass, but have now started to use the Celtic Saints Mass.

[Southern Comfort]

Coventry Acclamations (Inwood) 1982
Millennium (Inwood) 1999
Gathering (Inwood) 2000
Angels & Saints (Janco) 2003
Millennium (Inwood) 2000
Mass XI 2001 (usually, but not always, Lent/Advent)
Creation (Haugen) 2007
Mass XVIII 2007 (as above for Mass XI)
Celtic Saints (Lawton) 2009

I would subtract Janco, Mass XI and Celtic Saints, and add:
Inwood G minor responsorial setting (once called Eucharistic Acclamations 2)
Walker Celtic Liturgy (NB, not the Celtic Mass, which is awful)
Farrell D minor (now entitled "Mass of Hope" by OCP)
Lillis responsorial setting (New Songs for Celebration, and Laudate)

Of all of these, the only three that I can guarantee that everyone will know are
Gathering Mass (Inwood)
Celtic Liturgy (Walker)
Mass of Creation (Haugen)
in that order

[keitha]

We don't know Walker's Celtic Liturgy!!

[Nick Baty]

Of all of these, the only three that I can guarantee that everyone will know are
Gathering Mass (Inwood)
Celtic Liturgy (Walker)
Mass of Creation (Haugen)

Generally I would agree with this although I suspect there is some regional variation. And this brings us full circle, back to my original post.

It's taken quite a few years for these to become popular and widely used.

Take Walker's Celtic Liturgy, for example. I have the original green Clifton edition, dated 1981. I bought it as an enthusiastic student and my PP (who's the same age as me) learned it as a student at Ushaw. He was ordained in 1985 and he, and most of the guys he studied with, knew it well and brought it with them into the parishes. But, despite being included in Music for the Mass back in 1985 and, more recently, Laudate, it is still not known in many – I'd hazard a guess at most – parishes in these 'ere parts. And, as SC suggests, it has been largely overtaken by Inwood's Gathering Mass, another one which has still to get to those places other acclamations find hard to reach. (An ancient Carlsberg ad, for the younger folk on here.)

Celtic Liturgy was trialled at Clifton – as was much of Walker's music of that period – promoted at SSG summer schools and various other events before making its way around the parishes and into more permanent collections. Admittedly, this was pre-Internet and in the days of those many kitchen table publishing set-ups which did so much to make music cheaply available. I remember coming back from a summer school in 1981 with heaps and heaps of music I could not have easily bought anywhere else at the time. The larger publishers like Mayhew and McCrimmon – were they still one then? – were not touching this material at the time.

Back to my point: It's taken nearly 40 years for this material to be tried out, promoted and assimilated – most of the dross has been dropped along the way and the items SC lists, and a few others, have stayed with us through natural selection or survival of the fittest. And now that which cannot be easily adapted will disappear.

I really do think this is tragic. Didn't our bishops ask for the people's texts to remain unaltered, at least for a while and for this very reason, at the Green Book stage? How sad this request was not granted.

Admittedly, many of our congregations have become used to assimilating music in a way they weren't asked to before Vatican II – well, before Vatican II the majority of parish Masses were celebrated without music anyway – so perhaps it won't take quite as long this time round. But there seems little point in publishers revising books or bringing out new ones because, once again, we'll have to go through the process of trial and error. Only when a setting has proved successful in its home community is it really worth passing it around.

Many of the small one-man imprints disappeared after the arrival of Music for the Mass and with the growth of OCP. I think Bill Tamblyn started the ball rolling with Chiswick Music, soon followed by Magnificat Music, Parish Music, Clifton Music, Portsmouth Music etc. There's only really http://www.magnificatmusic.com and http://www.whitelightpublishing.co.uk around these days.

Perhaps it's time for some more of the old entrepreneurial spirit.

[musicus]

I'm sure that Nick is correct in his analysis (though I would add Decani at the end there). Even today, new music hasn't much hope of getting into parish repertoires if the parish musicians don't have direct contact with it - that is, opportunities to learn it and sing it - at local workshops. (Summer schools too, of course, to the extent that parish musicians are able to attend them.) I don't believe that just publishing something and advertising it on a website will shift many copies. Too many musicians pay for the parish's music out of their own pockets, so it is no wonder that they tend not to buy new material sight unseen. Even with a parish music budget, who is going to buy a choir set of anything unless they have had a chance to sing it themselves? I suppose more mp3s on the websites might help, but, then again, what proportion of parish musicians habitually trawl the net in connection with parish music?

There are, however, one or two hopeful signs. Martin Barry's excellent new blog from Salford at http://salfordcathedralmusic.blogspot.com/ (currently in Summer holiday mode) is interesting and informative: weekly music lists and (crucially) some commentary. It has made me aware of Mass of the Celtic Saints (unknown in these parts, I think), a piece I have yet to encounter in the flesh, so to speak. A few more blogs along these lines would be very useful.

In our parish, we ring the changes seasonally, choosing from:

Gathering Mass (Inwood)
Celtic Liturgy (Walker)
Eucharistic Acclamations (Farrell, D minor)

That isn't enough, and we really need at least two more good 'uns to provide more variety.

[Southern Comfort]

I'm sure that Nick is correct in his analysis (though I would add Decani at the end there). Even today, new music hasn't much hope of getting into parish repertoires if the parish musicians don't have direct contact with it - that is, opportunities to learn it and sing it - at local workshops. (Summer schools too, of course, to the extent that parish musicians are able to attend them.) I don't believe that just publishing something and advertising it on a website will shift many copies.

I think the difference between Decani and the one-man imprints is considerable. They are a much larger operation, descended directly from the St Thomas More Centre, which was the umbrella organisation marketing all the one-man imprints and which Decani continues to do insofar as those smaller imprints continue to exist.

Nick is right ─ many of the smaller one-man imprints have disappeared. In some cases (e.g. Geoffrey Boulton Smith and Geoff Phillips) the moving force behind the imprint has sadly died, in others the moving forces have moved on (!) to other things; so even the new Missal won't be bringing some of these back to life. Of course, Nick has modestly not mentioned his own imprint, which I believe operates only locally at present.

[Nick Baty]

I've posted elsewhere but it seems relevant here too:

I'm just paying the coming year's fee for a Calamus Licence for the smallest of our three churches and is struck me how cheap it has remained – Up to 100 people = £36.22, less than 70p a week. Even a larger congregation (up to 500) will only pay £78.20.

I suspect it's time everyone had a Calamus Licence: After all, we'll soon need to reproduce new items on service sheets and it will be a long time before there's enough tried an tested material available for a new pew book or the revision of an old one.

[FrGareth]

Our Sunday morning Mass (with organist and choir) can manage at least 15 sets:

Mass of Creation - Marty Haugen
Gathering Mass - Paul Inwood (with Glastonbury Gloria - Christopher Walker)
Celebration Mass - Kate Elson (by a parishioner when she was an A-level music student!)
Mass of Our Lady of Peace - Alan Rees
Psallite Mass - Michael Jonas
Philip Gaisford's Eucharistic Prayer II + Matt Maher's Agnus Dei
Ave Maris Stella Mass - Derek Fry
St Benedict Centenary Mass - Margaret Daly
3 settings composed by our organist, Ben Heneghan
Mass for a New Century - Andrew Moore
Messe de Sainte Boniface - Marcus Wittal
Missa de Angelis

where the setting doesn't include a Gloria we are current on Lourdes, Salazar and Anderson (the last used mostly for child-centred occasions).

I am trying to regularise a link between settings and seasons; Creation and Gaisford mostly for Solemnities.

Our Saturday night Mass doesn't always have an organist and sometimes managing to sing requires me to fall back on inexact renderings (cough...)
Hymn numbers are Liturgical Hymns Old and New. Recently Saturday crowd has picked up our home-grown Celebration Mass and I might try Our Lady of Peace (Rees) next...!

GAISFORD MASS – for *Feasts and for Solemnities
Taizé Kyrie 18
Salazar Gloria 26
Celtic Alleluia 37
Holy Holy - Gaisford
Eucharistic Prayer sung (*said)
Acclamation - Gaisford
Great Amen - Gaisford (*plainchant)
Lamb of God – Maher

SPRING MASS 2009 (Ordinary Time between Christmas and Lent)
Lord Have Mercy - said
Gloria – 29 Leftley – Sing to God a song of Glory [tune: Daily Daily]
Alleluia – St Dyfrig's triple alleluia
Holy Holy – Schubert (German Mass) 62
Acclamation - “When we,” Irish 74
Great Amen - plainchant
Lamb of God - said

BONIFACE MASS – for Advent and Lent
Kyrie - Boniface
Gloria – omitted
Alleluia – St Dyfrig's double alleluia or Lenten Chant [55?]
Bidding Prayers – “O Lord Hear my Prayer” 882 used as the response
Holy Holy - Sanctus Boniface
Acclamation - Boniface (Christ has died)
Great Amen - plainchant
Lamb of God - Boniface

FrGareth