Peter Jones wrote:nazard wrote: It would mean agreeing a set of words for each hymn, which would lead us down the thee/you, male or female/gender neutral……
I wasn't suggesting that a core repertoire of hymns/songs might need to be rigid or absolute and policed in a way parallel to that of the text of the Missal. Suggestions might suffice - e.g. in the section of the book concerning Entrance Songs at Mass, make sure there is a setting/paraphrase of Psalm 99 (100); in the section concerning the Communion Procession, make sure there is a setting/paraphrase of Psalm 33 (34). Under the topic Holy Spirit, make sure that translations of (or at least songs based on) Veni Creator and Veni Sancte are included. That sort of thing.
If you're going to have a core repertoire at all, that's the way to go. List, for example, a Magnificat as part of the core, but don't specify any particular setting.
I venture to suggest, though, that as our congregations become more polyglot, as has already happened across the Atlantic, the concept of a core repertoire becomes increasingly unrealistic. You simply cannot accommodate all the ethnic groupings who need to be catered for within the 50 core hymns/songs that are commonly mentioned as being the size of the core. And don't mention musical styles.
There's also a copyright issue with specifying a particular version of a particular item. Publisher X, who does not normally allow their works to be used by Publisher Y or Z without charging them a hefty fee, could find themselves being compelled to grant permission for works they control to be reproduced in someone else's hymnal against their will, and for a reasonable rate. And Publisher X, who wouldn't include a particular setting from the stable of Publisher Y at any price, could find themselves being compelled to publish material that they don't consider to be worthy of liturgical use.
Further, the list of core is almost infinitely extensible. Would you include an Exsultet, for example? Probably not, but every parish ought to be singing one.
Rather than a core repertoire, which is probably ultimately unworkable as a concept, it seems to me that it would be better for national Churches to sponsor some genuine formation for parish musicians, so that the Churches wouldn't have to play the policeman by insisting on a setting of (for example) the Magnificat. The musicians' formation would have already got them to the point where they would already know why such a setting was needed, so they wouldn't have to be compelled to use one. And publishers wouldn't feel that editorial control was being wrested from their grasp.
