Responsorial Psalm

[TimSharrock]

and http://www.benedicamus.org.uk/ won't even show the price before asking for contact details and clicking accept! not friendly at all.

[blackthorn fairy]

I have written my own (except where we have something else to use). We each have a large ring-binder with everything in the right order in each cycle, with rerefence details for other sources where necessary (e.g. see book such and such, page whatever) It was a big project many years ago but has stood us in good stead. I sometimes update them when the feeling comes on me.

[alan29]

and http://www.benedicamus.org.uk/ won't even show the price before asking for contact details and clicking accept! not friendly at all.

Yes I saw that and went no further!

[Southern Comfort]

Paul's new collection, The Collegeville Psalter, is available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/081 ... UTF8&psc=1

Its a whopping £28.61, so I will wait until it hits the charity shop shelves.

Is the US lectionary still out of step on the psalm words from ours? There were rumours of them adopting the Grail words.

Yes, the Collegeville Psalter uses the US Lectionary texts: NAB psalms and ICEL responses, as opposed to the Grail psalms and Grail-derived responses used in the UK Lectionary. The psalm tones can, of course, be used with any psalm translation. Eventually the US will change to Revised Grail Psalter texts (but see below).

Where are we up to with the much-discussed changes to our lectionary? I can't imagine any publisher producing a new responsorial psalm book until that's clear.

There has been much shillyshallying about which version of scripture to use, and no real resolution in sight. And the UK bishops have stated that they will use the Revised Grail Psalter. But that is already being changed, and the changes have not yet been approved by Rome. Even when/if they have been, those changes are only for the US. No one knows if the rest of the English-speaking world will have to have the same changes or whether they can request their own. It seems that Rome's position on making language areas have the same texts may be shifting. So, all in all, although some sources say a new Lectionary could be with the UK in 2-3 years, it seems unlikely that this will happen. In the US, they are talking about 10 years for theirs....

iirc the Gradual is also an option.

Both the Graduale Romanum and Graduale Simplex are available for use by those who want an alternative to what is in the Lectionary. Paul Ford's By Flowing Waters is an English version of the latter. I think, though, that most priests prefer to stick to the Lectionary text.

[nazard]

I wish that Rome would stop considering English and American to be the same language. Consider the following sentences:

Go do the math.

Make sure your football does not go off the pavement.

[alan29]

I wish that Rome would stop considering English and American to be the same language. Consider the following sentences:

Go do the math.

Make sure your football does not go off the pavement.

I believe the same doesn't hold with Spanish where there is a variety of translations.

[dmu3tem]

Sorry to be slow responding: Just some quick reactions:

I take it you are working in an Anglican church, if your congregation is used to Anglican chant, so here are some of my 'Anglican' experiences:

[1] The church where I currently work uses Anglican Redemptorist service sheets with modern Anglican versions of the responsorial psalm texts; if you have encountered these you will find they are not really designed for Gelineau type psalmody; so you will probably be driven to use settings specially designed for such texts.

[2] In my experience Anglicans - even when they have well established choirs in parish churches - find it difficult to grapple with the concept of using cantors. You therefore either have to train up one or two brave souls yourself or produce settings where each verse can be sung by a unison or, in some cases, part singing choir. In turn this makes it quite difficult to have a new setting ready each week.

[3] In any case, most Anglican churches that I know have a different service format for each sunday of a given month - where I am they have 2 basic standard holy communion Common Worship texts, an 'All Age Worship text, and an 'All Age Worship with Holy communion text'. In some ways this might you more time to prepare Responsorial Psalms for when they are wanted.

In general my strategy with Responsorial Psalms in Catholic Churches has always been to compose (or occasionally arrange) my own. The great advantages of this are (a) You can write exactly for the resources at your disposal (b) a sense of a distinct musical identity can be built up (c) You can experiment with different approaches - in my experience I still think that the potential of the form has not been properly exploited.