The New Texts: Implementation without Accompaniment

[FrGareth]

I'm proposing a new thread to exchange suggestions and ideas about a very particular kind of circumstance: implementing the new texts with congregations which do not have regular access to musical accompaniment on Sundays. My own parish has an organist on Saturday evenings twice a month, and the Sunday congregation has a choir who are now without an organist.

I'm proposing a possible phased way of introducing the new texts, and my expectation is that both weekend congregations and the weekday congregation should be singing the Sanctus, Eucharistic Acclamations and (when required) the Gloria. For the time being, there is no need to change settings of the Kyrie and Agnus Dei, where the texts are unchanged.

This thread, then, is here for your suggestions on
- new settings of the Gloria, Sanctus and Eucharistic Acclamations which can easily be learned without accompaniment
- how best to teach them, without accompaniment (but allowing for the possibility of demo CDs/MP3s to illustrate)

Over to you!

FrGareth

[Nick Baty]

The Liturgy Office will be maintaining a list of all published (therefore, approved) settings on its website. Settings may be published from 26 April so, presumably, they will start to appear on the website from then.

I would introduce them the same way I would introduce anything else: quick sesh with the assembly before Mass.

The Eucharistic Acclamations should come first. The Gloria is sung perhaps 40 times a year while the Sanctus is sung every day.

[NorthernTenor]

I believe ICEL has published model chant settings for some of the new texts . Chant is well suited to unnacompanied singing. I would recommend you get an experienced chant director to teach them to your parish cantors and choir, who can then lead the rest of the congregation in singing them.

ps things must have changed in your part of South Wales, Fr. There used to be a thriving organists' society, with enough local skill and interest to put on regular recitals. Have you thought of contacting RWCMD, and Cardiff & Glamorgan's music departments, for recent graduates who are organists (please bear with me if I'm stating the obvious & you've already been there)?

[JW]

You do need a very confident choir to learn new music unaccompanied. No doubt there will be electronic accompaniments available to some of the new settings.

A recording of the missal texts for study can be found here: http://musicasacra.com/ordinary/.

There are lots of other very simple settings in the pipeline by a wide variety of composers (both recognised and completely unrecognised) - and some familiar settings are being re-worked, so you might be able to use your existing settings.

I know money is an issue if you don't have a voluntary organist, but perhaps there are some A level (Catholic?) music students locally that may be able to help.

[Nick Baty]

You do need a very confident choir to learn new music unaccompanied.

I'm not sure you do, JW – most of this is, after all, the song of the assembly. Most of the parishes I've worked in over the years haven't had a choir at all. And if we're talking about a simple chant setting the Bob's your dad's brother! Hopefully we'll see some good simple chant adaptations for the new text.

[NorthernTenor]

You do need a very confident choir to learn new music unaccompanied. No doubt there will be electronic accompaniments available to some of the new settings.

True, JW. It's very easy for trained musicians to over-estimate what can be achieved by those who aren't, without adequate preparation and coaching. It is surprising what can be achieved, though, with a sensitive and realistic approach and one or two lead voices who know what they're doing, and the ICEL chants are pretty straight forward. They're a country mile simpler than, say, the Christmas introit that our non-chant choir learned in fairly short order last year. Invest in some time and a good coach and you may be surprised by what can be achieved; and once cantors and choir have it cracked, some of the other members of the congregation are likely to follow suit at least some of the time.

[FrGareth]

I would recommend you get an experienced chant director to teach them to your parish cantors and choir, who can then lead the rest of the congregation in singing them... Have you thought of contacting RWCMD, and Cardiff & Glamorgan's music departments, for recent graduates who are organists?

My parish's financial resources are extremely limited. We cannot afford a long-term coach, but I would consider paying for 2 or 3 "masterclasses" to get the choir and interested congregation members up to speed. Should I be looking for graduate organists or (JW) A-level students, when what I need is competent musicians who can train my choir to chant unaccompanied?

It's very easy for trained musicians to over-estimate what can be achieved by those who aren't, without adequate preparation and coaching. It is surprising what can be achieved, though, with a sensitive and realistic approach and one or two lead voices who know what they're doing...

There are lots of other very simple settings in the pipeline by a wide variety of composers...

Exactly! And what I hope to achieve in this thread is to pool our experience to identify those which are simple enough to be learned and carried off without accompaniment. For instance, for those (including myself) less able to carry a tune, perhaps a Gloria set to something like a two- or four-line psalm tone, so there's not too much irregularity to memorise?

(I see I will have to learn a whole new Exsultet for Easter 2012, but one thing at a time!)

[musicus]

Let's promote this thread and make it a "sticky" one.

[alan29]

I think part of the trick for successful unaccompanied singing is strong rhythm and memorable melody ....... just really good music, in other words.
Responsorial settings would help, too, especially if they are cunningly enough written to drop the echoing once learned.

[auchincruive]

And what I hope to achieve in this thread is to pool our experience to identify those which are simple enough to be learned and carried off without accompaniment. For instance, for those (including myself) less able to carry a tune, perhaps a Gloria set to something like a two- or four-line psalm tone, so there's not too much irregularity to memorise?

I've been looking at the Gloria from Christopher Walker's Belmont Mass as a very simple starting point. It's got a four line psalm tone http://www.ocp.org/newmasssettings/news ... elmontmass
Also the Gloria Simplex http://www.wlp.jspaluch.com/11893.htm
They seem very easy to learn but I don't know how quickly folk might find them very repetitive.

[presbyter]

I've been looking at the Gloria from Christopher Walker's Belmont Mass as a very simple starting point.

Me too - I've even bought a copy from Decani.

Is the Inwood Psallite Glory available here yet? It was an interesting (chant) approach to the text given at the Seminar for Composers.

[Calum Cille]

Many people find that modal music such as Gregorian chant or compositions in a traditional folk idiom make musically satisfying and effective mass settings when there is no supporting modern harmony.

Auchincruive, sections of Christopher Walker's Belmont Mass are vaguely similar in mode and melodic contour to my old Aifreann Chaluim Chille, which is a bit uncomfortable as it perhaps means that we're both going for the obvious and not being very original! However, the modern Gaelic style is to have stepwise movement from syllable to syllable rather than lots of recitation on one note which is a characteristic of Christopher's set. Although there are more notes to learn using the more modern approach, each section of melody has more individual character. I also find that, in the absence of a regular beat, Scottish congregations find it harder to stay together rhythmically in new sets which have a lot of syllables on one note. The current English translation of the Gloria departs radically from the shape of the Latin and the Scottish Gaelic translation. As a result, when making my set singable in English, I had to complete redevelop the tune. The shape of the new English translation is much closer to the Latin so I can actually fit the new English text to my original tune.

I don't favour simple sets and that old setting of mine was not intended to be learned easily and quickly but to remain rewarding after many repetitions. I wouldn't go for simpler sets of the mass parts but for what people will ultimately find more satisfactory to sing in the long term. I wouldn't choose to rush anything in just so that we can have something sung instead of merely said. If possible, I would make sure that the children were taught the new mass settings early on as they are used to learning new music and can often pick up new material with a lot more ease than an adult congregation. At mass in Scotland, many adults embrace the music that they see the children can sing. I find that when the children already know a more challenging setting, the adults seem less inclined to perceive the music as being too complicated for them to learn.

I think it's important that children, while young, are not merely taught children's music but also music which is worthy of the grown-ups most of them will one day be. People often cleave with a special fondness to the material they were exposed to as children.

[auchincruive]

Is the Inwood Psallite Glory available here yet? It was an interesting (chant) approach to the text given at the Seminar for Composers.

I haven't found it here yet but a downloadable review copy is available at http://www.theromanmissal.org/LUYH.htm

[presbyter]

Anthony Ruff OSB - worth a look - video takes a little while to load, possibly.

http://liturgy.nd.edu/web-catechesis/fr-anthony-ruff/introduction-singing-and-chanting-the-liturgy/

[musicus]

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