Psallite - our first attempts

[TimSharrock]

Inspired by the music at this year's Summer School, we came back with a few copies of Where two or three are Gathered (the year-A sampler) and one cantor/choir edition of Psallite.

My thought was that we would try one or two of the psalms from the sampler, and see how they went in our context. We are a big parish, and organise the Children's Music Group, which sings twice a month at the 10am Mass. This is the busiest Mass, where one needs to keep ones eyes on the floor to avoid tripping over toddlers, and is not the favourite of those who find it hard to pray in a noisy environment. (The other Sundays the 10am Mass has organ-and-hymns, and a later Mass has organ-and-choir)

We decided not to wait for the new Liturgical year, and contacted Liturgical Press for a Psallite antiphons reprint license - their online ordering could not cope with someone in the UK, but after exchanging emails I managed to pay, and Amazon provided the Year C music we needed quickly.

As most of the children, and our Pianist, attend the Children's Liturgy on of 'our' Sundays, we only have one Sunday a month when it is easy for us to sing a responsorial Psalm, and we started with that. The first time we adjusted the Psallite setting so it exactly matched what was written in the Mass books the congregation use. We separated off a few of the older children to sing the verses with the Piano and Alison our conductor. The rest of us joined in with the Antiphons. It did take most of our available practice time, but we did sing the psalm! I cannot tell how much the congregation joined in the antiphon, but I hope that at least some did! We did get some favourable comments afterwards.

The next month, we used the Psallite setting as written, which did mean that the Antiphon was were asking the people to sing was not what was in their Mass books - the license would have allowed us to print out the antiphon for the congregation, but logistically it would have been very difficult (the newsletter is always short of space, and time to distribute an extra sheet is short, let along gather it in again before the next Mass. Once again, I cannot tell if the congregation joined in, but we had appreciative comments.

We won't use Psallite itself every time (for Advent 4 we will use a different Antiphon, but will use a Psallite Antiphon for Christmas), but I think it is a resource we will make increasing use of - so thanks to all The Collegeville Composers Group! Next thing is to order the Year A books we need...

Tim

[VML]

Thanks for that post, Tim. It is so useful to read what other parishes are doing.

[docmattc]

and contacted Liturgical Press for a Psallite antiphons reprint license

Do you not have a Calamus Licence?

[TimSharrock]

and contacted Liturgical Press for a Psallite antiphons reprint license

Do you not have a Calamus Licence?

I have been told that the Parish does have a Calamus License (though I have not seen it with my own eyes, and am not at all sure that those who told me know exactly what it does and does not cover). I don't think the Psallite books themselves mention Calamus - so I did not consider that Calamus might cover it...

[docmattc]

Calamus does cover Psalite, even though Lit Press isn't one of the publishers listed on the Calamus webpage. All the Summer School material was reproduced under the school's Calamus Licence. Of course simply being in posession of a parish licence does not mean one can reproduce the stuff willy-nilly- acknowledgments must be printed and returns filled in, but that's a topic for another thread.

[TimSharrock]

Of course simply being in posession of a parish licence does not mean one can reproduce the stuff willy-nilly- acknowledgments must be printed and returns filled in, but that's a topic for another thread.

so at least since I have paid for the Psallite license directly I don't need to worry about that!

[Southern Comfort]

Doc is right. The Calamus licence does cover the Psallite products. If you don't have a Calamus licence, you need to buy a licence from the UK agents, Magnificat Music.

Also, buying from Amazon is often going to cost you more than if you buy from Decani Music or direct from the importers, Magnificat Music. In fact Amazon should not be able to supply you with the product in the UK. If they do, they are probably adding on a hefty import duty charge.

[TimSharrock]

Doc is right. The Calamus licence does cover the Psallite products. If you don't have a Calamus licence, you need to buy a licence from the UK agents, Magnificat Music.

That is not at all clear from the books, and Liturgical Press were happy to take my money and did not point me elsewhere.... (but, as I said, the parish does, I believe, have a Calamus License)

Also, buying from Amazon is often going to cost you more than if you buy from Decani Music or direct from the importers, Magnificat Music. In fact Amazon should not be able to supply you with the product in the UK. If they do, they are probably adding on a hefty import duty charge.

Try searching Amazon and see! Amazon also quotes delivery times and prices, which was very useful for "we need this before next Sunday". I was not aware that Magnificat Music were the importers - again I noticed no information in the books, and searching Decani for the books did not given any results on the search page (but if click the link for the Triptych the books are listed - I did not find that last time - maybe that is because they are listed with as Psallité with the accent...)

Tim