Liturgical Top Ten?

[Nick Baty]

I’m just tidying up in preparation for the new liturgical year. And I noticed that, by the Feast of Christ the King, we’ll have sung Now in this Banquet 12 times. I know that sound like overkill but the reason for such frequency was twofold: 1) It had several extra outings for the John 6 weeks and 2) I popped it in another couple of times while the assembly got to grips with it. Similarly, one of the reasons Sing to the World of Christ came up eight times is that, a year ago, the parish didn’t know it.

So, the liturgical Top Ten for Our Lady Immaculate, Everton, in the liturgical year 08-09 (Cycle B) is as follows (note that several items tie in fifth place):

1) Now in this banquet – Marty Haugen (12)
2) Sing to the world of Christ – Patrick Lee and Ernest Sands (8)
3) Christ be our light – Bernadette Farrell (7)
4) Gather us in – Marty Haugen (6)
5) Bread of Life – Bernadette Farrell (5)
5) This is my body (5)
5) Unless a grain of wheat – Bernadette Farrell (5)
5) Will you come and follow me – John Bell (5)
5) You are salt for the earth – Marty Haugen (5)
10) Be thou my vision (5)

Items which have had just one outing include:
All creatures of our God and King, Hail Redeemer and O bread of heaven.

This is based on usage only. If I compiled my Top Ten faves the list would look rather different. Also, the list does not include music written especially for us which we use frequently.

So what are the Top Ten most used items in your parish (not including Glorias, Holys, Alleluias and other service music)?

[docmattc]

I'd have to go through all my lists for the past few years to work it out Nick, and I don't have time now. Ask me in a few months when I'll have more time that I know what to do with.

[Nick Baty]

Being the sad, anally retentive Virgo that I am, I keep a running total on an Excel spreadsheet – helps me make sure I'm not repeating things too often.

And I'm sure all that time you're worried about won't necessarily come to pass!

[mcb]

Nick, you must be the only person round here who's planned all the way up to the end of the liturgical year! Ask me again in the second-last week of November.

I'll have a look at the last twelve months, though.

[Nick Baty]

Nick, you must be the only person round here who's planned all the way up to the end of the liturgical year!

And further. Have planned in rough up to Ascension Day. Service music and psalms are planned in detail to the end of 2011. We have to: We only rehearse three weeks out of four so that bring everything 25% (?) nearer. I have a note here reminding me to finish Advent in detail by October 8 as that's six rehearsals away from Advent 1.

But, at risk of going OT and risking a growl from Mr Bear, how can we not plan this far ahead? If, for example, I need to add a new set of acclamations to the parish repertoire, I have to look ahead to a time when the assembly is mostly singing well-known items with which they're comfortable. Take last month, as another example, I couldn't have asked them to sing a Holy they're unfamiliar with as we were getting to grips with one or two new eucharistic items for the John 6 readings. By a fortnight ago they were singing Eat this bread confidently during the communion procession. But our small choir was learning the piece back in June as we knew we'd have fewer rehearsals during holiday time. Smilarly, in July we were learning a Gloria which we're introducing on 27 September because I knew we wouldn't be able to rehearse much in August. Does this make sense or am I waffling?

I suppose it's not a million years away from the schemes of work which teachers produce: Although there's quite a bit of detailed work to do on lessons plans for the new academic year, I have a scheme which tells me what I'm doing in each of the 360 lessons I'll lead between now and the end of June. Without this, my students wouldn't be ready for the exams in November, January, May and July.

My church planning sheets aren't much different although they're a tad more complicated and feel like a rather large Sudoku at times. Although they look a tad cold and scientific at this end, in execution the whole thing feels quite organic.

[mcb]

I looked at the last twelve months, and found something surprising, namely that there's almost nothing we've sung more than twice in that period. We sang Now thank we all our God four times, if you include the Rite of Election, Bob Hurd's Ubi Caritas three times, and Bring to the Lord a glad new song (to the tune of Jerusalem) three times, if you include the Mass of Chrism. Beyond that, though, a quick glance says we didn't sing anything more than twice. We did sing a ton of stuff twice, mind you.

I wonder if that's a cathedral thing? That is, having a choir that can sing anything you want them to, and can support the assembly in anything, means there's less need to repeat things for the sake of repeating them? Food for thought, though: I wonder how it feels for the average member of the assembly - does it all go by in a bit of a blur?

how can we not plan this far ahead

As for this, I think there's a difference between knowing how the year patterns, and knowing to the letter what you'll be doing in six months time. The former is essential to the job, the latter to my mind is beyond what's needed, and could even be a brake on creativity. Maybe that's the university teacher in me coming out - next term's lesson plans are an alien idea. Who knows what new ideas I'll have had, or what new ideas of others I'll have come across, six months from now?

[Nick Baty]

I wonder if that's a cathedral thing? That is, having a choir that can sing anything you want them to, and can support the assembly in anything...

It just means you have an assembly which can assimilate music easily. It's definitely not a cathedral thing – there are far too many cathedrals which don't give a fiddler's *beep* about the assembly.

knowing to the letter what you'll be doing in six months time...could even be a brake on creativity. next term's lesson plans are an alien idea.

Not at all. Nothing is written in stone but you do need to know where you're heading. If we're using a new sprinkling song at the Easter Vigil I need to know now so I can plan it in – Baptism of Our Lord for example. With you on lesson plans – mine are produced only to please Oftsed. But a scheme of work is a must – need to know everything's covered in time for the exams, especially in these litigious times when students are customers and will try to sue the *beep* off you if something comes up in the exam which you haven't covered.

[Gabriel]

I think I with mcb. I know what Mass settings we will be doing through the year. I have a good idea of what psalm settings for any particular responsorial psalm. I also have a good idea of 2-3 pieces which will be different next Easter Triduum. There will also be pieces that I know that I would like to do and they need to be practised and integrated appropriately into the repertoire. Though I have confessed elsewhere to having a note of Communion songs until - that is unusual. Seasons, not Ordinary Time, are easier to prepare as there is more that will be repeated from year to year.

Beyond that I couldn't tell you everything that we will do tomorrow.

The danger I recognise, to keep in some way OT, is some items such as hymns might either appear to too frequently - or a greater risk be used one week when they may have been more effective the next. I do try to avoid that. Above all it seems to me to be about becoming conscious of the flow of the Lectionary.

[Nick Baty]

All my planning fell apart this morning: visiting priest (lovely man) while PP is on holiday.
All the music related to the Gospel but he preached (impressively) on the second reading!
C'est la vie!

[TimSharrock]

I cannot tell you this liturgical or calendar year yet (I need to tweak the logging programs), but since we started (context - "The Children's Music Group", twice a month, typically with Piano, electric violin and hand-percussion, very limited time to rehearse with the singers - typically primary-age children - and one greying bass [me]) - don't be too fierce, please, we are trying to shift up a gear or two - and have moved since we started, but it is not easy for us:

• 9: 22 L603 Blest Are You Lord
• 10: 21 L610 Take Our Bread
• 12: 15 L785 Though The Mountains May Fall
• 13: 15 L878 You Shall Go Out With Joy
• 15: 14 L611 Blest are you who made the universe
• 16: 14 L713 Sing Of The Lords Goodness
• 17: 14 L749 The Servant King
• 18: 14 L865 Here I Am Lord
• 19: 14 L966 Walk With Me O My Lord
• 20: 13 L627 This Is My Body

The first number is its order in the the complete list by frequency, including service-music, the second is the number of times we have scheduled it to be sung (just occasionally one gets left out, and I don't always correct the data), the third is its tag - in this case they are all in Laudate, and then the title)

Tim

[johnquinn39]

I cannot tell you this liturgical or calendar year yet (I need to tweak the logging programs), but since we started (context - "The Children's Music Group", twice a month, typically with Piano, electric violin and hand-percussion, very limited time to rehearse with the singers - typically primary-age children - and one greying bass [me]) - don't be too fierce, please, we are trying to shift up a gear or two - and have moved since we started, but it is not easy for us:

• 9: 22 L603 Blest Are You Lord
• 10: 21 L610 Take Our Bread
• 12: 15 L785 Though The Mountains May Fall
• 13: 15 L878 You Shall Go Out With Joy
• 15: 14 L611 Blest are you who made the universe
• 16: 14 L713 Sing Of The Lords Goodness
• 17: 14 L749 The Servant King
• 18: 14 L865 Here I Am Lord
• 19: 14 L966 Walk With Me O My Lord
• 20: 13 L627 This Is My Body

The first number is its order in the the complete list by frequency, including service-music, the second is the number of times we have scheduled it to be sung (just occasionally one gets left out, and I don't always correct the data), the third is its tag - in this case they are all in Laudate, and then the title)

Tim

Some of this if good. However, why do 'Childrens' groups' always sing 70's music, while avoiding anything old, new, and traditional?

[TimSharrock]

Some of this if good. However, why do 'Childrens' groups' always sing 70's music, while avoiding anything old, new, and traditional?

(hmmm, maybe this should be split to a different thread - Mr Bear, what do you think?)

In this case you have a partial picture - as I don't keep count of what is sung at this mass on the other Sundays. On those Sundays there is organ accompaniment, and more of the old and traditional hymns are included on those weeks, so the babies can sing them on those sundays. (They are chose independently). In addition there is another Mass with a more formal choir which has a different balance again.

There is still some truth to it - partly due to personal preferences (eg our pianist, does not think that the accompaniments of many traditional hymns in Laudate work well on Piano).

As for newer material - we try hard to avoid anything not in Laudate, as we want everything available to the assembly, and different service sheets for each Mass would cause logistical difficulties. We keep wishing to include some new material - but the next things we ought to introduce are to refresh the service-music, and find some way that we can manage to sing a psalm.

I will tweak my logging software to give me statistics by year, and perhaps post a longer list of the last year...

[TimSharrock]

I looked at the last twelve months, and found something surprising, namely that there's almost nothing we've sung more than twice in that period. [...]
I wonder if that's a cathedral thing? That is, having a choir that can sing anything you want them to, and can support the assembly in anything, means there's less need to repeat things for the sake of repeating them? Food for thought, though: I wonder how it feels for the average member of the assembly - does it all go by in a bit of a blur?

A quick bit of perl... and I found something similar, though not quite so - we rarely sing anything new to us (for some definition of us), but over the last school year, and ignoring service music again, over the twenty-four Sundays we sang:

• One hymn five times (The Kingdom L816)
• Four hymns four times (Sing Of The Lords Goodness L713, The Servant King L749, Though The Mountains May Fall L785, Here I Am Lord L865)
• Twelve hymns three times
• Twenty two hymns twice each
• Forty Nine Items once

Some will have been sung again on the "other" Sundays.... but maybe we are singing too many different hymns!

[musicus]

Some of this if good. However, why do 'Childrens' groups' always sing 70's music, while avoiding anything old, new, and traditional?

(hmmm, maybe this should be split to a different thread - Mr Bear, what do you think?).

Tim, we cannot easily cut posts out of the middle of a thread - it's a limitation of the board's editing facilities - but by all means start a new thread, perhaps quoting from this one to get you started.