The Bach harmonization of O Lamm Gottes unshuldig is sublime. But since you would be singing it unison a cappella, something else might work just as well.

The 1967 Graduale Simplex had the antiphon Dominus tamquam ovis (The Lord was led like a lamb to the slaughter and did not open his mouth; Is. 53:7) with Psalm 22 ad libitum during communion on Good Friday.

The chant is absent from the 1975 edition of the Simplex...



In English, this antiphon can also be found in The Simple Gradual (1969). A composition of Paul Inwood:

Two options:
"Think of the Son of God"
"O Lamb of God, All Holy" (but with a less forced English text)

Doesn't the Roman Missal suggest Psalm 22?

"Think of the Son of God"

What's with the poisoned dart?

We do choral music like the following:

O Sorrow Deep by David Hurd
O vos omnes by Victoria
Crux fidelis by King John of Portugal
Adoramus te, Christe by Villanueva or Palestrina
Ave verum corpus by Byrd, Des Pres or several others (not Mawby!!! because of
the organ part and the wrong affect).
Ecce quomodo by Ingegneri

If I were to use a congregational piece, it would probably be Ps 22 set to a simple original tone.

I see no reason not to sing during this time.

We will sing this version of Psalm 21(22) during Communion on Good Friday as well as during the stripping of the altar on Holy Thursday. OF.

Oh, no! Really???
So music is to mask noise?
Come to think of it -
this is why we have carpeting foisted off on us, is it not?

Not so much to mask noise, as to create alternative noise so that short (or other) people don't spot a gap in which they can make noise themselves.

Complain all you want, but this phenomena is widely noticed: Sacred silence is achievable in monasteries. But in real world communities we have kids of parents who aren't so devout, adults with intellectual disabilities, older people whose muttering may or may not be early-stage dementia, vehicles with sirens driving past, air conditioning humming and all sorts of other distractions.

...alternative noise...

While I appreciate what you have said, and offer you sympathy for vexation resulting from the unkind parents and their ungoverned children at your parish, I must adamantly assert that music is not noise, 'alternative', or otherwise.

Music is music. It is, inherently, an act of worship. It serves a liturgical and spiritual function either by its presence or absence (as at moments during Lent). It exists to aedify and spiritually illuminate. If it's only purpose is to mask the noise of children whose parents haven't the parenting skills to teach them reverence from birth (and I've seen too many do just that to accept the insistence of some that it's not possible!), it is being cheapened and sacrileged - 'used' in the worst sense of the word. As for me, I should rather listen to the 'noise' that you describe and love the little ones than to try to be moved by some unfortunate music which was being performed to mask it (which would, it seems to me, only add another level of frustration!).

Nor is sacred silence achieved only in monasteries. It may be experienced wherever people genuinely want it and inculcate it in parish liturgical life, including amongst their youth, their children, and even their suckling babes. We don't have this problem where I go to church.

And, a little off subject: concerning noise: it is a very serious problem in our American culture. Atmospheric noise assaults us everywhere we go, especially if we live in a large city. Noise is psychologically and spiritually destructive, is proven to result in lower IQ, and, whether it is screaming, ill-bred children, or machines, or free-way or airport, or any other kind of noise, we become inured to it at our mental and spiritual peril. Schopenhauer noticed quite some time ago that intelligence decreased in inverse proportion to one's ability to withstand noise undisturbed. I think that he was spot on!

Back to music, though. Musical sound waves are quite different from those of 'noise'. Music's sound waves are regular, beautiful and repetitive patterns on a graph, whereas those of noise are (and they're really ugly) very irregular, jagged, and totally random and ungoverned unregulated sound without any tonal focus or artistry at all. So! Music and noise, phenomenologically, are two very distinct categories of sound.

The Roman Missal says ""During communion, Psalm 22 (21) or another appropriate chant may be sung."

M. Jackson Osborn,

While completely agreeing with your points about the fundamental difference between music and noise, and the inherent relation of the former to worship and the spiritual in general, I respectfully disagree with:

the noise of children whose parents haven't the parenting skills to teach them reverence from birth (and I've seen too many do just that to accept the insistence of some that it's not possible!)

Quite to the contrary, I've seen too many parents that are obviously more skilled than I am, struggling with their over-active children, to accept the insistence that bad behavior of children is mostly due to parental failiure (of course it sometimes is).
More generally, I oppose the whole idea that human behavior is mainly determined by upbringing, education and other external influences; to me this thinking neglects too much original sin and free will (which obviously exist already in children).
I always refuse complimets about our well-behaved children, I see it as a blessing, not an achievement.

By the way, I'm going to suggest 'O vos omnes' (Vittoria) for communion on Good Friday. Not to mask any childrens' noise, though; I do not expect any children to come anyway ...

I can handle child noise because they are being - shock, horror, amazement - children. Granted, there are excesses and extremes of that. It's the adults with ringing cell phones I would like to mangle.

We have been learning Vittoria's O Vos Omnes (glad to see your suggestion Elmar) -- we'll break it in on a weekday this year. Then we'll be more confident for (Our Lady of Sorrows? and) Palm Sunday next year.

Our bishop actually requested the Vexilla Regis this year, which was a pleasant surprise. The past two years, he's preached on "hymns of Good Friday/Holy Week", which is really enjoyable.

Yep. One is the Septuagint number, the new system is the Masoretic number.

This reminds me of how glad I am that we no longer have to double (or dual) date. Imagine having to write things like

18 March, 2015/16

or worse. But I digress...

Predisposition..... inherited aspects....

Yes, Somewhere it's writ in holy writ that 'the sins of their fathers shall be visited upon them unto the tenth generation'. In other words: 'genes'.
But, whilst there are those children who defy all efforts to make civilised people out of them and turn out to be brats of various stripes, there are others whose parents know, without raising their voices, how to expect and receive respect and civilised behaviour. (Sometimes one can observe the parent and see just where the 'bratness' comes from.) Ne'ertheless bratty children, given more talented parents, are less likely to be brats. Most loathesome of all are those parents who make no effort to govern their children in public places. Then there are the ones who scream at and hit their children, and are then surprised when their children are unruly and violent. To reprise: yes, some children are incorrigible - most are exemplary of whatever their home life and parenting is like.

We sing Allegri's Miserere. Works with a large number of communicants. Choir receives first so there is some prayerful silence.

We have learned it this year and will be doing the same. This will be our new offering for the Triduum.

Psalm 22 is the appointed psalm for communion on Good Friday, so here's my setting of Psalm 22 from yesterday's Mass. The video was badly out of focus, but the audio is fairly accurate:

http://youtu.be/vDn7HXueFww

Enjoy!