Time to say "Yes" to the new Missal...

[HallamPhil]

dulce et decorum est ....?

[Nick Baty]

the "Holy, Holy" is in the public domain.

Which is why ICEL doesn’t charge for it – or for the Kyrie, Pater or Agnus. Publish any of these with no reference to ICEL and they won’t bat an eyelid. Change the words and they’ll step in and require the official text – unless, of course, the local bishops’ conference has beaten them to it.

In legal terms – and I’m far from a lawyer, although I can reach one if I stretch a couple of feet – ICEL is in charge of the entire contents of the new Roman Missal, except for national propers and adaptations.

For years organisations like the SSG, inidividuals like Paul Inwood, Bill Tamblyn et al have worked to encourage people to sing the official text – but this hasn’t stopped publishers producing what they like. The fact that collections which include any official texts must now be scrutinised is, surely, what many have longed for.

Putting aside the ongoing debate about the Panel, there can be few on here who will object to pressure to sing the text of the liturgy, rather than some sort of paraphrase.

Looking at the contents lists of the various new collections, it would appear that those who have composed for us for decades – Farrell, Inwood, Haugen, Walker – have been able to come up with the goods to gain clearance from the Panel, necessary if you’re going to get clearance from ICEL.

If the Panel process is in anyway unfair, I suppose one could complain to ICEL – although ICEL is an agency of the English-speaking bishops’ conference of which our panel is a part.

Next step might be to complain to Rome – although it might be worth remembering that the Holy See maintains copyright over the Latin text and does charge for its use.

Might it be easiest if composers simply stuck to the rules: set the text with minimal repetition, making it singable for the assembly.

After all, and I’m putting it very simplistically here, if Inwood, MacMillan and Walker can stick to the rules and still produce singable music for the liturgy, why can’t everyone else?

[VML]

Has every parish that intending to use the Belmont Mass as the first basic setting actually bought in and paid for sufficient copies for the congregation, or even the choir and musicians? Or is it all going to be learnt by ear? Copies were brought back from the diocesan training days, and we have used those for the rather inadequately attended practices. What budget have you been allowed to buy in new music?
What exactly is the situation regarding copies for this particular situation. Of course we will all be buying music in the near future, but there will obviously be settings that work better than others and we will decide accordingly.

There is indeed plenty of good new music to choose from.

Here we have the Farnworth Mass booklets, (something that is not going to change,) and they have printed the chant setting for this week. (Delivery problems mean I haven't seen any later weeks.)
Our PP has decided that in any case, it will all be spoken this week as he wants the people to get used to saying it first. Not what I would have done, but the first Sunday is not 'my' Sunday anyway. We will sing on the 11th!
Having the words straight in front of the people is great. Having a tune we probably wont be using for the Gloria, Accs. and Agnus, not so good. Our deacon's response when he saw the chant printed was 'nobody reads the music so what's the point?'

Is everyone here singing the Mass straight away? I had not considered the option of not even singing the common to start with. But thinking about it, I imagine there are plenty of parishes who just don't know where to start.

I have always felt uncomfortable 'messing around' with the words of the Mass. My few tunes have been set to straight words, so I find it liberating that that is what we now have. As a compulsive singer, I would probably sing the phone book if I had to....

I hope everyone's new adventure goes well.

[Nick Baty]

We have three settings of the acclamations and will be adding a fourth in October. The Gloria will remain as it is until 8th January.

[NorthernTenor]

dulce et decorum est ....?

I'm with Wilfrid Owen on that one, Phil (though admittedly his circumstances were a bit more serious).

[mcb]

Has every parish that intending to use the Belmont Mass as the first basic setting actually bought in and paid for sufficient copies for the congregation, or even the choir and musicians? Or is it all going to be learnt by ear?

OCP are allowing free use of the melody line for the next two years. You can download it here (though I think it involves firstly having to register, and secondly to pay $0.00 with your credit card. Or I may just have missed a more obvious route.)

[NorthernTenor]

the "Holy, Holy" is in the public domain.

Which is why ICEL doesn’t charge for it – or for the Kyrie, Pater or Agnus. Publish any of these with no reference to ICEL and they won’t bat an eyelid. Change the words and they’ll step in and require the official text – unless, of course, the local bishops’ conference has beaten them to it.

In legal terms – and I’m far from a lawyer, although I can reach one if I stretch a couple of feet – ICEL is in charge of the entire contents of the new Roman Missal, except for national propers and adaptations.

In legal terms ICEL has no right to constrain use of texts that are in the public domain. It has no property rights over them to be recognised by the courts. Full stop.

ps I hasten to add that my setting is absolutely faithful to the text, even to the extent that it does not include any repetitions that are not in the original. That is, it satisfies the stated purpose of the Process. In addition, it is entirely singable by the congregation.

[contrabordun]

(Picking up on VML's post) - budget is certainly a parameter. I'm doubly fortunate in that the PP is both able and willing to invest in music. Our congregational MacMasses cost 89p a copy (I haven't bought any choir versions yet, I want the choir to belt out the unison line for a few months yet!)

I'd often wondered how many people read music, and I took the opportunity to ask the congregation for a show of hands last Sunday before introducing the Sanctus. It looked like 20-25% which was certainly enough IMO to make it worth having put the dots out in front of people IMO. If you've got 1 or 2 people on most pews who can read the notes (even if just at the level of up-a-bit/up-a-lot/same/down-a-bit/down-a-lot), and who should therefore get confident with singing the music quicker than the rest, that's going to be good for encouraging the rest to sing.

We're MacMassing from here until Advent, and will then probably use the Missal tones (which I think are harmless enough, apart from the Gloria which is really too mournful IMO). We haven't decided what we'll do in the New Year, but Belmont is a strong possibility.

[Nick Baty]

Our congregational MacMasses cost 89p a copy

Which is quite a lot of money. If you use Belmont, as you say you might, you'll be covered by Calamus licence.

If you asked our assembly how many read music I suspect few would raise their hands – and yet they really do benefit from having the dots on the service sheets. As you say, "up-a-bit/up-a-lot/same/down-a-bit/down-a-lot".

[mcb]

If you use Belmont, as you say you might, you'll be covered by Calamus licence.

You don't need one. OCP are making their congregational editions available free for the next two years.

[Nick Baty]

Which you've already said and I've managed not to read!
Apologies!

[alan29]

Our congregational MacMasses cost 89p a copy

Which is quite a lot of money. If you use Belmont, as you say you might, you'll be covered by Calamus licence.

If you asked our assembly how many read music I suspect few would raise their hands – and yet they really do benefit from having the dots on the service sheets. As you say, "up-a-bit/up-a-lot/same/down-a-bit/down-a-lot".

Or having an open practice of new stuff, or even having someone up front doing a bit of flappy paddle arm waving. A congregation that sings can pick up stuff fairly quickly if it is memorable to start with - and there's the rub.

[Nick Baty]

Whatever our personal preferences, it's the memorable stuff that will stick.

[alan29]

Whatever our personal preferences, it's the memorable stuff that will stick.

.... like the Missal tones, you mean?

[VML]

It is the memorable stuff that will stick, and the Eldonian Gloria definitely passes the Old Grey Whistle Test. I've been whistling it all week.