Communion song anyone?

[Nick Baty]

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[The original poster has removed his posts to this topic - Musicus, moderator]

[Scholastica]

While not always successful,we find that music with a refrain can encourage those processing to sing, also some of the very well known hymns.
We have found that since the Communion Procession now starts from the back rows of church, replacing the previous free for all, the keen singers are often near the music group at the front of church and last to receive communion. So they support the singing until the procession is almost over.
Popular ones:
Ubi caritas - Taize
Ubi caritas (transposed) leading into A new commandment
One bread, one body
Lord Jesus Christ, you have come to us
and This is my body, broken for you ,also go well

We also try to stick to one piece throughout Advent and sometimes other seasons. Is this a start for you? Or have you tried something similar without success?

[Ian]

Nick,

Do you have a choir?

[Ian]

Nick,

If the congregation has a choir that can draw it into cosmic praise and into the open expanse of heaven and earth more powerfully than its own stam­mering, then the representative function of the choir is at this moment par­ticularly appropriate.

It does us good, before we set off into the centre of the mystery, to encounter a short time of filled silence in which the choir calms us interiorly, leading each one of us into silent prayer and thus into a union that can occur only on the inside.

[nazard]

Nick,

i have exactly the same problem. There are just a few hymns that the congregation will sing on their way to communion, and those very half heartedly. They will not take their books with them, so it is understandable. Our previous pp insisted that the communion queue is a ceremonial procession and had to be accompanied by a congregational song, and I have come across others with this theory too. I can't find any official document which agrees though, and the GIRM does allow you to just sing the Communion Antiphon.

Have you tried singing the communion antiphon from the graduale romanum or graduale simplex, or setting the english words. I haven't found a published set, but there is a book called the "Anglican Use Gradual" posted somewhere out on the net which gives settings of the american version of the english. They are usually easily adapted. Another thing worth trying if your choir can sing in parts is to point the words and set them to an anglican tone from something like the Cathedral Psalter. Then you can fill the rest of communion with a quiet organ prelude or a piece for guitar or guitar and flute, whatever you can manage.

[docmattc]

Our previous pp insisted that the communion queue is a ceremonial procession and had to be accompanied by a congregational song, and I have come across others with this theory too. I can't find any official document which agrees though

Its in CTM, article 210 and this leaflet http://www.catholic-ew.org.uk/liturgy/Resources/GIRM/Opportunities/Communion/I081-CommProcess.pdf from the liturgy office.

I'm not sure I can be of help Nick as my lot sing quite happily at communion. I tend to do repetitive pieces (Taize-ish) that can be sung without a book. Would they sing one of the old sentimental Eucharistic adoration hymns? Most are unsuitable for communion, but it would be an interesting experiment to see if it was the music or the time of the Mass which was the stumbling block?

[Ian]

Nick,

I guess you recognised the quote.

[gwyn]

"Our previous pp insisted that the communion queue is a ceremonial procession"

Paul Inwood once posed the question, "What's the difference between a queue and a procession? The answer of course is song."

[alan29]

Why not have some instrumental music? Something repetitive that keeps a prayerful atmosphere should be good. When people do not want to sing, there is little to be gained by trying to make them.
Or save the singing until post-communion thanksgiving. The song could be played through as an instrumental during the procession.
For a lot of people, communion is their own individual moment, and the one part of the liturgy that isn't communal. That could make communal singing feel intrusive.
Alan

[MarylandMusician]

I have had the least success in getting the congregation involved in the Communion Procession Song when the total time of this procession is short, perhaps less than three minutes. This can occur where there are
only a few people in the congregation, or where the number of Eucharistic ministers is disproportionately large. There are many dynamics involved here. If the congregation has ALWAYS been small, then there may be no history of ever singing during the procession, and this time may have remained as "personal time with Jesus." A very difficult tradition to break.
I've moved to the model of choral or instrumental music during our 2.5 minute procession, and a hymn of thanksgiving immediately thereafter.

[musicus]

Welcome to the forum, MarylandMusician!

An instrumental followed by a thanksgiving song works well in my parish too. We do sometimes use a very well-known Taizé chant for the procession, and a few people will sing, but it doesn't really 'take off'.

[Gabriel]

Could I broaden the discussion?

How well do people sing in the processions of Palm Sunday & Triduum?

My guess is that the problem is not primarily musical - though finding the right music helps - but theological. We are hoping that people will express communal faith at moments they understand as personal whether it is communion or the veneration of the cross, for example.

Gabriel

[John Ainslie]

Half the people are singing quietly and the looks on the other half's faces tell me they're quite enjoying the music – and this is a parish where people do speak their minds.
I think I'll leave things as they are: quiet, partial co-operation and a greatly prayerful atmosphere.

I agree. I've spent years cajoling my Sunday Mass congregation to join in Communion songs, unsuccessfully. Mantra-type refrains just annoy folk: they've told me! The only Taize song that has really taken off is 'Jesus, remember me' - very effective it was, too, at Communion on Good Friday this last week.

As for processions, e.g. on Palm Sunday, it's almost as if it's just not British to be so demonstrative. In an average mixed crowd, the vocal/instrumental group and a few devotees singing is about as much as one can hope for. And don't think it is any different abroad; processions in Italy might be grander occasions, but most people 'tag along', joining in the general spirit of the occasion, but without vocal participation or much attention to what is going on.

The only exceptions, in my experience, are at places of pilgrimage, where well-tested and tried loudspeaker amplification and crowd-leading skills, together with the devotion of the participants who have come there for the purpose, make processions quite different experiences.