Management of Music Programs - MusicaSacra Church Music Forum

Transitioning to a more traditional music program

Clara Chung — Mon, 11 May 2026 23:11:21 +0000

Hi everyone,

I started a job as a full-time music director at a parish about 3 months ago, and am looking for advice, others' experiences, etc. In short, I am transitioning the parish from the usual OCP fare to traditional hymnody and sung simple propers. The parish actually does sing for music that they know, and while some people have been very resistant to change there are others who have really appreciated it. I'm trying to change the musical culture in such a way that people can get used to it and the new hymns can eventually become the familiar hymns, and I'm hoping not to lose the culture of congregational singing here that's honestly just really rare in the area. We have the crotchety people who are threatening to leave because of the Latin and incense and tradition, but I think the normal parishioner here just wants to know what's happening and if you go slowly and explain things as you go along, they'll probably amble along with you.

The pastor is relatively new (just under 2 years at this point, I think) and has already been moving towards restoring the liturgy, and set out to hire a new music director as sort of a next phase in renewing parish life. He believes--as I'm sure we all do--that music is a crucial and powerful tool in sanctifying the liturgy and the people. He had been pushing for using the Source & Summit hymnal and the chanted propers for over a year with the last music director, who ended up retiring after 38 years for health reasons. I'm very lucky that the pastor is supportive, and the staff have been as well.

The parish has been solidly OCP drivel for decades. The musicians were up in the front next to the sanctuary, and there were drums at 4 of the 6 weekend Masses. There used to be "choirs" of a sort, but they were essentially unison backup singers to the music director who played piano and sang, and by the time I arrived it was just hired cantors plus piano or guitar, drums, and electric bass at most of the Masses. The 8am Mass does have a volunteer choir run by a 90-year-old volunteer director who is pretty spry and who generally has a mix of more traditional music and the usual OCP stuff: one time I came for a rehearsal and they were working on Palestrina's O Bone Jesu, another Sunday they were singing Panis Angelicus, but also Hosea, and this weekend they're singing Be Not Afraid and Servant Song. Honestly I have way bigger fish to fry so while I'm increasing oversight, I'm mostly leaving them alone.

I began right before Lent and moved all of the musicians out of the sanctuary and into the choir loft (which had mostly been overflow seating) by around the 5th Sunday of Lent. I've decreased the number of Masses that the band plays at, and we have a pretty adequate interim organist playing at most of the Masses now while I cantor as much as humanly possible. I'm trying to integrate myself into parish life where I can, singing for things like May crownings and leading the music for the youth ministry's Living Stations, etc., so I'm a little less of just the hateful new person who's destroying everything. I'm also looking into planning some catechetical sessions to talk about what the Church has said about music and how we're trying to align with that. We've had some complaints, but I've also been stopped by plenty of people who have commented on the beauty of the music or on how reverent it is and how happy they are about the changes.

The fact remains though, that people are used to what they're used to and even if they think the music is beautiful, they don't really sing along with music they don't know. Active participation isn't just a singalong, but it's still a good thing I would like to continue to foster. I think it's much harder to get people to sing with a cantor than it is a choir--I'm lobbying for funding for section leaders, and right now I have a handful of volunteers who come to sing in the loft (like, one or two per Mass at most, so it's really more vibes and morale than anything else--which still matters, of course), but I'd also like to hear what else people have done that has worked. How have you created familiarity with new (very old) hymns--do you repeat a hymn or hymn tune over and over? If you sing the propers and aim for congregational singing there, what do you use? What other kinds of tactics have worked for you?

Thanks for reading! I'm sure there have been plenty of similar discussions in the past, but I do find the search function on the sidebar a little less than helpful most of the time, so feel free to link to previous threads too!

CPDL Down?

NihilNominis — Tue, 05 May 2026 14:18:27 +0000

It appears the backbone of so many worthy programs is down again. Any word on what's up or the timeline?

* When do you just give up?

Gavin — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:11:28 +0000

It seems nearly every day (sometimes more often) is a post, usually from a newbie, sometimes not, like:

I'm so glad to have found this forum, the CMAA, and the Colloquium! I love chant and polyphony, but the pastor, choir, and all the school staff wants bongos during communion and "Awesome God" for the psalm, and chained the organ console shut. How do I switch to the Graduale Romanum and Palestrina ordinaries?

Usually this is met with a chorus of "brick by brick", "baby steps", or other comments, which I frankly find to be unhelpful platitudes. Or perhaps a "moderate" route is suggested, where the musician is encouraged to use either "less offensive" music or familiar, tired hymns. Note the absence of the propers.

I think we've all been in the hypothetical poster's situation. So my question is, at what point do you throw your hands up and say, "I'm not going to do any good staying here!" and just find employment elsewhere? I know people with families to support need to do so and some people are less mobile than others. But why not look for work elsewhere? Or at least if you NEED the job, just stop making waves and keep your mouth shut.

Every time I see one of these posts, I just want to say, "It's hopeless, you're only hurting yourself, go somewhere else." But I don't want to be discouraging, so I just keep my mouth shut. But isn't it sometimes hopeless? Or at least change is more trouble than it's worth?

Or am I just being pessimistic?

I'm not talking about "I'm quitting because the priest asked me to do Mass VIII!!" And I know that every job has its trials and downsides. I'm talking about a church with total static inertia, where decent music and musical talent are treated as evils to be feared rather than gifts to be celebrated. That seems to be the place a lot of people are posting from, and I continuously wonder: why do you place yourself in that situation willingly?

Ideal loft layouts

davido — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 04:53:57 +0000

If you were designing an organ/choir loft, how would it be arranged?
I am particularly interested in seating of figuration of choir.
What features do you like?
What features do you hate?

Do you have a novel set up?

Diagrams are welcome!

Lectionary discrepancies English vs Spanish

Ragueneau — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:21:37 +0000

Friends,

For some reason, the "Seasonal" Responsorial Psalms given in the Spanish Lectionary are different than the "Seasonal" Responsorial Psalms given in the English Lectionary.

Why is this?

Is there anything to prevent using a "Seasonal" Advent Responsorial Psalm given in the English Lectionary (for instance, "To You O Lord I lift up my soul") in the Spanish language?

(My head hurts just asking this question)

Novus Ordo Latin Mass Cards

ejklemz — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 18:51:35 +0000

Hey guys,

Does anyone know of a pew card for purchase with the ordinaries in Latin? I'm VERY slowly but surely having my parish swap the Mass responses to Latin—so far we sing the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei to Missa XVIII, my next step will either be the Gloria (currently the Heritage setting, I tried to change it once and had to deal with some VERY grumpy boomers) or the Mysterium Fidei, depending on the temperature of the figurative water. But so far so good.

However, as our parishioners are not very accustomed to Latin, I've been requested to have the Latin responses available on a Mass card like we currently do in English (the plastic-y ones from Vianney). I can't seem to find anything that isn't the extraordinary form or just English. Just looking at the text, not super interested in printing the chant notation yet as we were singing the same setting but in English.

Do I just need to make one myself? If so, any recs on how to make a durable one?

Obnoxious congregational singer

MitziCee — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 18:55:49 +0000

Hello, all,

At the parish where I'm directing music, there is a particular congregant who sings loudly, confidently, and poorly. She sits at the front, near the organ, and her voice is extremely distracting and confusing to me when I am cantoring Masses on my own (I sometimes struggle to hear my own voice). She sings in tune, can get through incredibly long phrases, and has a remarkable ability to quickly pick up new melodies; however, her tone is harsh and abrasive, she dominates the whole church, and her diphthongs send chills of horror down my spine.

So, my question is this: is there any possible way to put an end to this? I've considered approaching her to ask her to joining the choir, my theory being that if I can get her in the practice room under my control, I may be able to a decent sound out of her. Of course, it could backfire if she does join, or if she doesn't, my invitation may simply serve to flatter her and double her confidence.

Anyone with experience in a similar situation: thoughts?

Advice needed: auditions and job applications

searchfgold6789 — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 18:27:27 +0000

Hi, everyone. I'm new here, so I hope this is going to the right sub-forum.

Quick blurb about me: I recently graduated with my DMA and am suddenly and unexpectedly going through round two of the job application process. It was frustrating in round one, and is becoming downright depressing in round two. I'm overqualified for a regular parish job, but the higher level jobs I was trained for are rare.

That said, it's somehow been an immense struggle to communicate with priests and committees, even to find and keep a normal parish post, or to go through a normal auditions process, even when personalities and priorities seem to align perfectly.

My question is: priests and search committees, since it's clear you're not looking for good experience and training, what are you looking for? If experience and training doesn't matter, what are you looking for in job candidates who make it past the initial email?

I'm posting here in the hopes that this info will help others, too. I know it isn't just me, based on my conversations with others in the more conservatory-oriented sphere. And of course, if this is as widespread of an issue as I think it is, it's costly for the Church.

Choir software tools

jhpak99 — Sat, 22 Nov 2025 18:34:00 +0000

I'm curious whether people use any software tools to manage their choir, for things like planning, scheduling, communication, rehearsing, managing members and repertoire.

I know of Choir Mate and Choir Genius but those are not specifically designed for liturgical music.

At the risk of getting flagged as a commercial post, some of you may be interested in checking out an app I built for myself and my choir. It's totally free and open to anyone interested.

https://choirdirector.app/

Choir Website(s)?

AnimaVocis — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 03:09:43 +0000

Hello Hivemind!

What do you all do/use for management of your choirs?

Ultimately, my goal is to provide a place where I can post documents, links for recordings, archive recordings of our choir(s), manage communication, share "choir columns" (think liturgical "concert notes"), as well as so much for for a total of 3-4 liturgical choirs, cantors, accompanists, etc...

I inherited a google site (and I'm thankful) but it's simple, and I hate google sites. They are so NOT user friendly.

I'm familiar with squarespace and love the UI. But I'm curious what you use!

Also, would you build a standalone site, or piggy back off of your parish's website for all that I'm wanting to do?

Happy to read your thoughts, and thanks in advance!

Seeking Wisdom: Navigating Parish and School Politics as a Dual Music Director and Teacher

Dr_Haze — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 01:42:03 +0000

Seeking Wisdom: Navigating Parish and School Politics as a Dual Music Director and Teacher (sorry for the long read)

I find myself in a unique and increasingly difficult position that I hope others here might understand—or at least help me make sense of. I serve as both the music director of a parish and the music teacher at its attached Pre-K–8 Catholic school. It’s a rare privilege, but lately, it has felt more like a tightrope walk.

I began as the part-time school music teacher near the end of the pandemic, and for a year I collaborated with the former music director and helped with the children’s choir. When he moved to Chicago (his wife began a DMA at Northwestern), I naturally stepped into the music director role. That same year, the parish transitioned from Gather (3rd Edition) to Source & Summit. I wasn’t behind the decision, but I came to embrace it wholeheartedly—especially its use of antiphons, chant, and its thoughtful hymn selection. With mentorship, liturgical documents, and some trial and error, I began forming a music program centered on the principles of singing the Mass—not just singing at Mass.

My first year as both teacher and director was hard but fruitful: one school Mass with music a month, a capable adult choir, skilled cantors, and growing enthusiasm from students. A fall concert, Christmas concert, a spring staged musical. In my second year I introduced Missa de Angelis, and it caught on faster than I could have hoped. Before I even arrived at the school, the students were already familiar with the Latin mass parts from the Missa Primativa, and I began seeing real musical and spiritual growth, particularly in one class I’ve taught consistently now over three years. That group has grown into a truly exceptional children’s choir. This year, we launched a Girls' Schola and now have a pool of young cantors who serve at both school and parish liturgies.

But everything changed this past year.

We welcomed an interim principal (after the previous one was fired) and also lost the priest who had hired me—he left on sabbatical. The resulting leadership vacuum left me reporting to two people new to the community, to the liturgy, and new to Source & Summit. Tensions emerged, particularly around school liturgies.

First the principal requested having music at every weekly school mass, not just once a month. I saw that as an opportunity, though it involved a lot more work. But it didn't take long for her to begin asserting control over the music planning, often pushing for popular “feel-good” hymns like "Here I Am, Lord" or "Christ Be Our Light", arguing that students need to "know the songs", and ALL of them should sing in order to participate. She expressed discomfort with the use of Latin—despite the fact that the students had already been singing Latin Mass parts for years and were quite comfortable with it. She saw even a the few minutes of Latin during a one hour mass as a barrier to participation. By contrast, I saw it as a way of forming our students in the Church’s musical and liturgical tradition. The content within Source & Summit has proven to be an effective teaching tool as well, introducing plainchant to children, making it easier for them to learn and read modern notation, and even discover and decipher the original chant notation. Like with the parish, changes like this take time, and I was shocked by the principal's urgency to change things to suit her personal taste when it really shouldn't be a high priority in her first year as principal.

Thankfully, the new priest did step in to support keeping Latin chant during Advent and Lent—but the overall experience has been deflating. For the first time, I feel like my vocation has been reduced to taking requests. Like being someone's personal DJ. After a few contentious meetings, and agreeing to disagree, the principal has since taken to calling herself the “spiritual leader” of the school, though she hasn’t clearly defined what that means in liturgical practice. What’s more painful is that previous principals never interfered with liturgy planning at all, and the two previous directors who are now close friends and colleagues of mine were allowed to use their knowledge and expertise with advice but not overreaching oversight. I sought their advice at the end of the year along with some of my other colleagues and former employers, who were all universally surprised—if not dismayed—by what I shared. They encouraged me to continue advocating for sacred music and proper liturgy, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Now, I’m at a crossroads. I want to continue the good work I’ve begun with these students. I still believe in the mission of forming young Catholics through the beauty of sacred music. But I’m weary. I sometimes wonder if I’m clinging too tightly to ideals and trying too hard to “do things right,” when I should just go along to get along.

Has anyone here navigated something similar? How do you balance fidelity to the liturgy with institutional politics—especially when working across both school and parish spheres? Is there a way to maintain hope and integrity without burning out?

Recorded Music at Mass

Jeffrey Tucker — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:32:27 +0000

I seem to recall something in the GIRM that discourages pre-recorded music and canned accompaniments at Mass, but now I can't seem to find it.

I've recently heard of a case of a musician who uses some accompaniment tracks provided by OCP that can be plugged into a Clavinova via a floppy disc that plays the entire hymn accompaniment for you, completely with strange arrangements etc. I'm supposing that this would qualify as taped music since the piano is merely being used as a set of speakers.

Anyone know what passage I'm thinking about?

Singing seasonal Marian Antiphons

Guidry — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 07:58:05 +0000

My priest would like to sing the seasonal Marian Anthems. He'd like to do them year-round following the traditional alignment with the different liturgical seasons. Anyone care to share share at what point in the mass would we sing this? His idea, to begin, is to sing it as the recessional during Advent. He hopes that the assembly hearing this lovely chant (hearing = they will not likely sing) would help to change the old habit of the assembly bursting out into conversation at the end of mass. (I normally play an organ recessional, but he wants to follow the practice of having more reserved organ music during Advent, which I could still do but, hey, having a bit less to prepare weekly during Advent sounds good too!) Any thoughts on this? I'd like resume playing organ recessionals after Advent, so** at what other point during the liturgy would it be most effective to sing it?** Thank you!

Cost comparison of Missal/Missalette vs Worship Aid

RosieDreese — Thu, 22 May 2025 17:12:27 +0000

Hello!
Has anyone done a cost comparison for purchasing Missals/Missalettes vs printing Worship Aids?
Thank you!
-Ro

Self-published pew resource?

btodorovich87 — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 19:28:16 +0000

Does anyone have any experience assembling and having printed a pew book for a congregation? Here we are interested in having a bilingual (English and Spanish) book with side-by-side Order of Mass, benediction, Stations of the Cross, novenas, instructions for the Rosary/Divine Mercy, confession, etc.

Running a workshop?

MatthewRoth — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 19:05:08 +0000

Alright everyone. I am probably an overthinker slash sometimes in church things, you realize that so long as you are reasonable, a budget is a suggestion, not a hard requirement. My parish will be hosting a workshop this year. (Watch this space!)

I have a ton of questions, even after reading the CMAA workshop page.

Budget: how do you come up with one that actually makes sense? Paper copies of handouts separate from a book are négligeable. If we do print a book, it’s probably spiral bound via Office Depot/Staples (I use Staples, but the church account is Office Depot) and that price is likely around $15 or $20. Food: well, I need to know how many people are coming if we do anything more complicated than boxed sandwiches (which I personally hate), and some coffee/tea/hot chocolate, cookies, other snacks etc., and paper goods are just extra items to pick up at Costco, which the office would do for me. There’s the fixed cost of whatever it costs to pay the workshop’s featured musician (hotel, airfare, nicer meals outside of workshop time, etc.). I suppose name tags, markers, writing supplies as a courtesy…anything needed by the instructor(s)…

We’ve never done this before, and the last even I ran here was so small that we just chipped in as individuals or the parish didn’t really fuss.

Getting everything done how do you do it without just doing it yourself?? I’m sure that this temptation is there for all of us. I’ll probably make the booklet since I can use Gregorio (at least for the parts of any offices; I don’t know what our guest musician will want). I’ll make the flyer and send it out. There’s set-up, clean-up, taking out trash; setting up in the church and then tearing down (we won’t be on our normal schedule so I’ll either have to pitch in or get extra help to do this).

Other supplies like water on ice (unfortunately we have space to host events, but cold water requires coolers), keeping coffee flowing…it can all be done, but I feel bad asking the same three people to help me, and that’s if I don’t do it myself.

Our parish is a commuter parish located in a fairly bustling and (mostly) safe neighborhood with, for now, ample parking and access via taxi/rideshare, including space for anyone who helps bring in large equipment or a minivan with the coolers or Costco load. So that aspect isn’t so bad. We have plenty of tables and chairs, a sufficient photocopier (and we’ll be able to arrange for internet, speakers, projector etc.). But we’re not the kind of parish with an attached parochial school in a modern building with a cafeteria where these things take care of themselves (especially having a full commercial kitchen…).

Thanks for your help, and I promise to have more information asap. I’m very excited.

Motet list resources for Sundays throughout the year

GerardH — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 00:49:29 +0000

I seem to recall a website being shared here with curated choral motet suggestions for every Sunday and solemnity throughout the year. I neglected to bookmark it when I saw it. Does anyone know of the site?

CanticaNOVA's Liturgical Planning pages are excellent for hymns, but a bit lacking in suggestions for choral music, and CPDL's Sacred music by season pages usually only contain texts explicitly assigned to a particular Sunday, which I have also found less useful.

Reasonable Salary Ranges in 2025

JaredOstermann — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 17:46:43 +0000

THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL POST, NOR A RANT OR COMPLAINT - JUST RUNNING SOME NUMBERS OUT OF CURIOSITY!

Please don't waste time or space derailing this in a political direction. Inflation is a reality that affects our employment, and its effects are worth calmly considering.

That said:

An earlier post on substitute rates included a link to a Chicago archdiocesan guideline on musician employment. Picking apart the many flaws of that document would be an interesting subject for yet another thread (e.g. a highly skilled organist/choral conductor ranks lower on their scale than someone who has guitar/voice/piano, because the latter has three and the former only two instruments). BUT it got me curious about numbers and inflation, after over a decade in the field fulltime, and rather than derail that thread I thought I'd share my perspective.

When I got into the field fulltime after graduation, in 2012, I was very invested in watching the national job market and comparing things, and applying to a number of jobs. There seemed to be a pretty standard and clear 3-tier breakdown for fulltime pay back then, with, of course, some extreme outliers on either end:

Bachelors/Low-to-mid Responsibility/Prominence: $35k-$50k/year
Masters/Mid Responsibility/Prominence: $50k-$60k/year
Doctorate/Mid-to-High Responsibility/Prominence: $60k-$75k/year

Your experience may vary, but I think that's a very reasonable assessment based on a lot of comparison of jobs. I keep up on the market still, largely through my alumni job posting newsletter, through Notre Dame. That is not totally comprehensive, but it's a very well-curated list and ranges from small parishes to cathedrals and universities. When I pull up the US Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator and enter the numbers above I get the following in December 2024 dollars (and I do see these numbers borne out in the current national market):

Bachelors/Low-to-mid Responsibility/Prominence: $48k-$68k/year
Masters/Mid Responsibility/Prominence: $68k-$82k/year
Doctorate/Mid-to-High Responsibility/Prominence: $82k-$100k/year

Of course, there are many many variables, especially when you get into part-time, cost of living, etc., etc. I just think it's a worthwhile thing to talk about - with real numbers. Like in the good old days, when the AGO pay scale hadn't been shut down by the feds! I think more calm, collected conversations with real numbers and ranges would be great for us and for our employers alike.

Side note - this is also why it is valuable to make sure there is some provision for cost of living bumps in your contract. Those little 1, 1.5, 2% increases reflect reality and just wages, and they really do make a difference when you stay in a job for a while.

EDIT: Again, I'm talking about FULLTIME jobs that are posted in a job search. I understand these may be higher and more serious than jobs that get filled through word of mouth locally.

Using the St. John Brebeuf Hymnal

rvisser — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 14:04:47 +0000

I have a copy of the St. John Brebeuf hymnal (pew book) as well as the Choral Supplement, and I'm trying to figure out how this works for a parish choir. Does the choir have to use the Choral Supplement in order to sing in parts? I thought this book was for the organist (each verse written out separately) but online I see that there is also a spiral bound accompaniment book. If a choir uses the Choral Supplement for SATB parts, they also need the pew book for unison hymns.
What am I missing here...?

Men's Schola Seeks Male Singers in Nashville, Tennessee, Area.

WJA — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 14:31:00 +0000

~~Five-year old men's schola seeks male singers in Nashville, Tennessee, area.~~

Men's Schola Seeks Male Singers in Nashville, Tennessee, Area.

The schola, which has been in existence for five years, sings at ordinary form and extraordinary form masses at the Church of the Assumption in Nashville, Tennessee, on Sundays and holy days, plus the occasional wedding or funeral (the latter performances fund the grog supply; see below). The schola presently has six voices (having lost one to the priesthood and one to the pursuit of marriage—yes, yes, we know, what kind of priorities are those?) and would like to grow.

The schola sings Latin and English plainchant exclusively, not because we have anything against polyphony but because we don't have enough ~~girly men~~ tenors or enough voices, period. Also, chant is way easier. (Joking about the tenors; I can play a tenor on a good day, and we'd love to have some more tenors!)

Candidates must be men who are practicing Christians or catechumens (or who are at least seriously interested in learning more about Jesus Christ) and must willing to practice weekly on Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m. for about two hours. Ability to read music a plus. Ability to read chant notation an even bigger plus.

Schola members who attend practice receive one tot of grog as long as we haven't run out. Any member who dies will receive a free Requiem Mass (OF or EF, at his option), but the last one standing is on his own. The position is otherwise uncompensated.

Despite the irresponsible tone of this posting, we are serious about sacred music. Besides being a great opportunity to worship the Most Holy Trinity by singing the sacred music of the Church, the schola is an excellent men's group and opportunity for fellowship.

If you are interested, please send me a private message and ask me about our special 30 Day No Commitment Trial Offer™.

Please feel free to forward this posting to others.

(Note to sitemaster: I didn't apply the "Job Openings" label to this post because it's a (mostly) uncompensated position, [though seriously, we do have really good grog]. Please let me know if I should have and I will repost, or maybe you can just re-label.)

Worship Aid Design (multiple Masses in one)

JT_Fields — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 04:23:10 +0000

Say you want to only print one worship aid for the weekend, but you have different Masses with different music. Your 5 PM Anticipatory may be a contemporary guitar/piano thing with a different ordinary/different hymns/ not all propers — unlike the principal Mass on Sunday. But sometimes there may be a lot of overlap.

At what point do you make 2 worship aids? When is the overlap just enough to justify the extra work? Just wondering if anybody has been in this situation before and if they have found ways to make differences between Masses visually clear and easy to follow. What I’ve seen from others is usually some sort of document so confusing it seems like the user manual for my Honda civic.

Curious about this: discontinuing the introit/entrance antiphon

MarkB — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 19:52:24 +0000

I came across this announcement from a basilica parish:

https://stmaryoldtown.org/musicchange

In summary, the parish is discontinuing singing a simplified English setting of the entrance antiphon at all Masses, except that the Mass which features (it seems to me) more elevated music will continue to sing the Gregorian introit.

The reason stated for the change is that the chanted antiphon seems out of place -- doesn't fit artistically -- compared with the rest of the music at the other Masses.

This is interesting to me, and I wonder what the "real" reason is: whether there were loud and numerous complaints about the chanted antiphon.

I agree that chanted antiphons don't fit well artistically with OCP music. That's what makes attempting to impove and reorient a parish liturgical music program so difficult. When a reorientation is done in small steps, the chants will at first seem to many people to be strange, off-putting, out of place, and incompatible with the other familiar music sung at Mass.

OCP inertia is very difficult to overcome in a parish.

Favorite Mass settings (Novus Ordo edition)

ServiamScores — Sun, 20 Oct 2024 17:23:54 +0000

Since there is a wonderful thread detailing some of everyone's favorite traditional / latin / polyphonic mass ordinaries, I'm curious to know what your favorite vernacular / novus ordo ordinaries are.

One of my absolute favorites is Michæl Olbash's Mass in Honor of Our Lady, Star of the Sea which is available for free on CCW. There are some nice recordings of the Gloria
https://youtu.be/uYQ1fYikfZM?si=YcTK0FXHlrW2_0Ut
and Sanctus of a boy's choir singing it on Olbash's YT channel which are phenomenal.
https://youtu.be/ZJKU1eN11Q4?si=gy6PfkyOFJYcy9q5

To me, it strikes that fantastic balance of being modern, but still having the "spirit" of chant.

Last year I inherited Proulx's Missa Simplex, which has a particularly accessible Gloria, IMHO. In a similar-but-different vein, Walker's Belmont Mass is also rather nice.

For a particularly lush setting of traditional chant, but set in a modern way intended for novus ordo high masses, I don't know if you can do any better than Normand Gouin's Mass of the Transfiguration. It is truly stunning, and I'm genuinely contemplating teaching it to the diocesan choir for ordination in the spring.
https://youtu.be/bur4ja2xahg?si=q_-kXK78omOHHRmY

(And for a polyphonic setting that I've used successfully multiple times in a novus ordo and vetus ordo setting, Dalitz's Missa Tribus Vocibus cannot be beat. It feels every bit old-world but is succinct enough to use in the N.O. Here's the Sanctus: https://youtu.be/OLpGoeiWBz8?si=2OG_1VGFOjYoMs8p)

So, now your turn. What are some other wonderful mass settings worth considering for a novus ordo context.

Old Ritual Song hymnals

rvisser — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 00:33:19 +0000

If you, hypothetically, were in possession of 150 pew editions of the Ritual Song hymnal (prior to the 2011 translation of the Roman Missal) would you:
A) attempt to sell them on facebook marketplace
B) keep them boxed up at your parish
C) burn or bury them
D) put them in the dumpster
E) other...

Asking for a friend...

Index Canticorum Prohibitorum

noel jones, aago — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:58:26 +0000

Read the article.

View, add, justify.

Thoughts on Introit and Entrance hymn?

Guidry — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 07:43:18 +0000

Hi, all. I read the thread on this topic from 2009. Are there any new developments? Resolutions? Resources? My new priest (young) hopes to repair some of the remaining issues that started long before he was born. We want to take baby steps in bringing our parish more in line with the standards of Musicum Sacrum, especially in bringing more chant to the mass, including the introit. Some of the young guys coming out of seminary experienced processing to a hymn, then the organist would modulate during a quick decrescendo leading into singing the Introit during the incensing. I look forward to reading information on this topic. Thank you! (My first poste, happy to be here!)

What hymnal do you recommend for a TLM community?

rvisser — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 17:28:39 +0000

Can someone with a copy of the St. Michael Hymnal (5th edition) let me know which Latin Mass Ordinaries it contains? My online searches are coming up with nothing. Thanks!

MS-Publisher going away

JT_Fields — Tue, 14 May 2024 12:54:43 +0000

(I feel like I’m always asking software questions on here, apologies in advance!)

With Microsoft Publisher being discontinued in a year; is there a software that you would recommend for worship aids? Anything that would do a decent job of reading all the old .pub files so I’m not recreating the wheel with all the templates I’ve created?

Or is there a way to save the .pub files as a more universal file format for publishing software?

Choir web sites and community platforms

Andrew_Malton — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 13:26:05 +0000

I'm asking for an open discussion about online facilities for sharing choir information with the choir. (Not about publicising the choir, but communicating with and amongst members.)

How does your choir or schola share schedules, information, and communication amongst yourselves online? If you do.

If you're a director or choir secretary, and so you have to manage that online community, what's good and bad about the ways you (have to) do that task online?

Could be you use a custom web site, social platform, community platform, file sharing, shared document editor, email, instant messaging, or ad hoc combination of those.

Or, you might find that being online doesn't help, or choristers don't use it, or even some are put off. Maybe you distribute paper at rehearsals and that's all.

Gounod-St.Cécile-Mass: reduced version (strings, organ)

Orlando — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 16:38:07 +0000

In biographys we find a historic version (1895) by Henry d'Aubel of the famous Gounod-Mass for voices, strings (harp?) and a reduction of the wind-parts for organ. The editor Lebeau doesn't exist any longer.
Does anybody know something about it? I didn't find it even in the "Bibliotheque nationale de France". Are there any reprints (online)? It would be an interesting version to combine with St.-Saëns Oratorio de Noël e.g.
Thanks for your answers from Switzerland!