Choral items for the choir / music group

[johnquinn39]

Further to the suggestions pages on the SSG planner last issue, I think that it would be really interesting to develop choral singing at various points in the Mass, including using music from the 'Public Domain Choral Library'.

I have found that choirs and music groups really need points in the Mass where they can perform on their own and 'shine'. It is indeed very difficult to motivate, and / or get new choir members, if they sing only what the congregation are singing.

On a practical level, looking at 'Sing to the Lord: Music in divine worship' (USCCB), there is provision for choir items (optional) at many points in the Mass, so I think it would be really useful to look at the psalm / scripture references given in the Sacramentary and Graduals, and match these to the nearest choral item available

The recommendation given by the various Bishops' comittees, is that, for example, preference is given for an antiphon that all can sing during communion. However, choral items are permitted (and by no means excluded).

Surely we do not have to sing a communion antiphon sung by all every week. (How many suitable ones are there anyway?) [Not everything is up to the standard of 'Eat this bread' - Berthier, or Take and eat' - Joncas].

As far as I can tell, there is a free-for-all at the Prearation of the gifts, where we can have singing, or instrumental music, so maybe this would be a good place to start.

Has anyone tried this?

Any ideas?

[docmattc]

I have found that choirs and music groups really need points in the Mass where they can perform on their own and 'shine'. It is indeed very difficult to motivate, and / or get new choir members, if they sing only what the congregation are singing.

True, but I would tend to avoid too frequent 'performance'. The choir can augment what the congregation are singing with harmonies. This gives the choir something more meaty without the congregation being forced to shut up and listen. If the choir are singing to impress the congregation (to 'shine'), rather than to add to the prayer, then they're off target somehow.

Surely we do not have to sing a communion antiphon sung by all every week. (How many suitable ones are there anyway?) [Not everything is up to the standard of 'Eat this bread' - Berthier, or Take and eat' - Joncas].

That would be my ideal. Not everything sung at communion need be specifically eucharistic. Many (most?) of the communion antiphons specified in the missal are not, but echo the theme of the readings. Psalite is a good source of communion antiphons and if you want one that is eucharistic, I can heartily reccommend the Maundy Thursday one "This is my body". This has harmonies for the choir and verses for cantor which are superimposed in the manner of many Taize pieces. In a similar way, Anne Ward's setting of psalm 34 "Taste and See" * enables the choir to decorate the congregation's singing to good effect.
During Lent and Easter, there is much useful material in Bob Hurd's recent collections "One with the Risen Lord" and "A Lenten Journey" which give a choir more to do than sing the tune with the congregation but have short enough refrains so that they can be sung on the move by the congregation. (Most would be child's play to a good choir, but sufficiently demanding, yet achievable, for many parish choirs.) For two Sundays this Advent we used Bob's "Await the Lord with Hope" (Ubi Caritas and Veni Emmanuel) which my choir love singing. I added verses from the relevant psalm from the graduale to lengthen it to fit the communion procession.

As far as I can tell, there is a free-for-all at the Prearation of the gifts, where we can have singing, or instrumental music, so maybe this would be a good place to start.

This is my preferred place for a choir solo if we do one. A choral magnificat 3rd Sunday of Advent this year, Palestrina's Adoramus Te on the feast of the Triumph of the Cross, Bach's "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern" one Sunday last Advent...

*In Cantate, parts for strings and woodwind available too

[Nick Baty]

it would be really interesting to develop choral singing at various points in the Mass

And don't forget the choral arrangements of so much mainstream repertoire: for example, have you ever tried the choral verses of Walker's Teach me, O Lord?

[dmu3tem]

Yes, I agree. If you do not give the choir/music group the opportunity to do things on their own then their incentive
to rehearse and raise their overrall musical standard is reduced. Such activity helps give a defining character to the music in any church and also provides useful encouragement for composers who want to try out new more specialised approaches. At the same time all this, of course, does not mean that such activity should deprive congregations of the opportunity to sing. You should have both.

I also think it is equally important to give instrumentalists the opportunity to 'shine' too; and for the same reasons. We are apt to forget that at least a third of the available pool of musicians in a congregation are instrumentalists who do not regard themselves as singers. A failure to make full use of their talents strikes me as nonsensical, especially given the general shortage of competant musicians of all sorts in many church communities.

Here is what I usually do:

(1) I frequently write/arrange a communion antiphon. The advantage of this is that the text is short - so the music is short too and therefore can be quickly learnt but at the same time be moderately taxing. Basically I am using this as a device to gradually improve the ability of my choir to sight-sing in parts. A short text anyway means that a congregation is poorly placed to pick up a new 'tune' because it is not repeated enough times. Often I write short instrumental introductions, conclusions and interludes between sung repetitions of the text.

(2) I used to compose/arrange a responsorial psalm in such a way that the response was straightforward for the congregation but the verses really stretched my cantor/choir. The addition of instrumental descants and other lines catered
for these people quite effectively too; although I always took the line that such instrumental parts had to be an integral
part of the music. If you just bolt it on to give them 'something to do' then the result is often an unsatisfactory clutter.

(3) On the purely instrumental front I sometimes substitute pieces for organ voluntaries at communion and after the service. For instance this Christmas we did the following at such times:

(a)William Boyce: Trio Sonata No. 12(2 Violins, Bassoon and Continuo Organ) - 2 movements.
(b)Purely instrumental arrangements of 'Est Ist Ein Ros', 'Song of the Nuns of Chester' and 'Come, come to the manger' for
Clarinet, Violin and Bassoon. In each case the material was 'cycled' around three times using different instrumental arrangements.

On other occasions I have composed/arranged pieces for Violin and Organ, Bassoon and Organ, Flute and Organ, Flute and Clarinet, Clarinet and Bassoon.

I know some people are very alarmed that this might produce a 'holy concert'; but if this is handled with taste I really do not see why we should worry about this. Music, after all, if used properly, can be used to 'set a religious mood' and it is an appropriate use of our God-given talents.

Thomas (Muir)