Music for High School Liturgies

HeatherD

So, I'm an accompanist at a local Catholic church and have been for 9 years now. My other day job is teaching music and I find myself now at a private, Catholic high school. The assistant principal handed over the responsibility for liturgical music this year and my hope is to improve the quality. One of the issues that I face is that we only have mass once a month, sometimes on normal weekdays and other times on solemnities or important occasions (All Saints, Immaculate Conception, Ash Wednesday). It is difficult to repeat music from month to month because of the changing seasons. The other challenge is that many of the students are not Catholic but are required to attend mass. Finally, the students want the P&W songs that many of the local churches are still using in their LifeTeen programs. I've tried explaining the appropriateness of liturgically sound song selection compared to P&W stuff but it's going over their heads.

Any recommendations for music literature? The other fun part is the new setup (increased enrollment) means no projector so I can either print handouts (900 copies) and clean them up afterwards or accept that the student body won't sing.

On the bright side, I have a small choir that wants to sing and thrives on traditional chant in English or Latin, and likes learning the traditional hymns in 4-part harmony.

Any feedback or advice is welcome!

chonak

On the CMAA site, we have some materials that you can download as PDF files and use freely in projections or reprints:
Hymns in English, some classic, some newly composed in classic form
Simple English Propers: unison settings of the entrance, offertory, and communion chants for Sundays and solemnities (the Sunday texts can often be carried over into the weekdays)
Simple Choral Gradual: easy choral settings of chants for the entrance, offertory, and communion, set in an appealing Byzantine-influenced harmonic style
Parish Book of Psalms: Gregorian-style a cappella responsorial psalms for Sundays and solemnities.
Parish Book of Chant, CMAA's convenient anthology of Latin chants

(I'll add a link for a weekday resource, when I find where it's moved to!)

There are some fine Mass settings in various styles from various present-day composers, which you can download free from the site of Corpus Christi Watershed.

And I assume you know about the vast free choral resources at cpdl.org.

Chris Garton-Zavesky

Your situation sounds very familiar to me.

May I suggest the following:

1) Don't debate or argue with the children about Praise and Worship music. You can't win the argument that begins with "Father..... allows it....."

2) Remember that the canard, "The children aren't singing" is just that, a canard. There is no guarantee whatsoever that using sewage in the cups of these children will get them to drink more. Sweet smelling sewage is still sewage.

3) Don't plan to repeat music from month

KARU27

I think that anything you can do to introduce or reinforce reverent liturgy to the students would be wonderful. If you choose some solid traditional hymns, I'm sure some kids will know them, and you will be introducing others to them. Really, anything that is reverent and doesn't have bongos, will be well worth doing. As a parent of a high-schooler, I thank you for your efforts.

PaxMelodious

If the people don't have the words (at least) or the music (ideally), then of course they cannot sing - and they learn that they aren't expected to. If sheet's it must be, then sheets it is. Recruit students to help you distribute and clean up the 900 sheets. Either from your choir / their friends, or from some different group, eg are there some youth service awards that people participate in, for which they have to do certain hours of community service.

Catholicism is intrinsically both/and, not either/or. Realistically, you're stuck with lots of P&W. But you can have some other stuff too - and as an educational institution, you should, to broaden horizons. Personally I've found that with some thought, two styles can be combined in one liturgy, but but a third is jarring.

CGM

I'd recommend using P&W for the Mass Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei), since it should be OK to use the same music each month for the parts of the Mass that don't change. This gives the congregation several items in "the style they're supposed to like."

Then let the choir handle the other stuff, which is to say, the "propers" of the Mass, which typically belong to the choir anyway (Entrance antiphon, Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, Offertory antiphon, Communion antiphon). You could use simple antiphons, like the ones in Adam Bartlett's Lumen Christi Missal, or more complex ones, like those in Fr. Samuel Weber's The Proper of the Mass. You could do simple motets at Offertory (short works, if there's no incense) and Communion (longer pieces, if 900 students are going to receive communion).

Maybe do one more P&W anthem as a closing song/exit music, if you need to.

Chris Garton-Zavesky

I Strenuously advise against CGM's position.

Casavant Organist

Doing P&W Mass Ordinaries just gets the students used to it and it'll be likely too hard to transition out of that later on. I'd suggest adding one P&W once in a while at Communion if it's absolutely necessary. Or, just have a separate P&W hymn sing once in a while.

CGM

I totally agree with the OP on the "appropriateness of liturgically sound song selection compared to P&W stuff". However, it may not be possible for her to come in, lay down the law, and transform the entire liturgical music oeuvre, top-to-bottom, especially considering (a) there's only Mass once a month, (b) lots of the students aren't even Catholic, (c) there's a stated preference for P&W, and (d) there seems to be an unwillingness to consider her position ("I've tried explaining ... but it's going over their heads.")

Therefore my proposal is clearly not some sort of liturgical ideal, but a compromise between competing interests, intended to (a) give the choir a chance to do some liturgically appropriate music, and (b) give the P&W stuff a presence so that it's total absence cannot be held against the OP.

The OP should advocate for a "no P&W" liturgical approach as strongly as she can, and if the administration will back her, she should take that approach and run. But if not, if the kids "have to" have "their" music, then this is how I would structure the beginnings of a new approach. If the choir sings well and sounds good, people - at least some people - will begin to wonder, "why do we need all this cacophony? why can't we have the prayerful choir all the time?"

As Chris Stefanick says, it's important that there be an clear delineation between a "youth event" and "Liturgy. And the teens know, 'this is different than the rest of what we're doing.' That's how it should be. People often forget that young people crave solemnity, they crave something that sounds sacred - just like the rest of us! There's nothing more relevant than the transcendent."

There's nothing more relevant than the transcendent - that should be a big part of the OP's advocacy.

canadash

Taize worked nicely as a transition for me, especially at communion.

Pick a Taize Chant, "Adoramus Te, Christe" for example (Latin is always good)...
Repeat the refrain twice, in between verses.

Add verses. You can use the verses from the Simple English Propers, or use the idea of singing the Psalms to psalm tones here: http://www.stutler.cc/russ/sing_psalms.html

Repeat the refrain (twice if it is short) in between. You can move on to more difficult (even the Gradual if you want) in the coming years when they are used to this format.

Marc Cerisier

Taizé is an excellent suggestion. Further, I’ve used their canons as a way to introduce HS singers to the concept of singing in parts without each part being different.

I would point out that few things tend to alienate and discourage more than being told “what you’ve always done is wrong, and we’re changing everything”. The most successful transitions I’ve seen done and done myself are those done so gradually that they don’t realize they’re happening until they’re already done—and at that point, tradition...

Marc

Chris Garton-Zavesky

CGM,

If most of the students are non-Catholic, what better way to teach them about that difference than to use authentically Catholic stuff? If teens get P&W as the entrée, or P&W as a concession.... they're still getting P&W, which is the bread and butter of most Protestant music programs ---- and they're shrinking. The illusion of growth continues to exist in some places.

No. I say that the OP should challenge the kids to understand that (despite whatever limitations the building has or your predecessor left you) Mass is a step into eternity, an act of worship of God -- and isn't about them at all. Otherwise, they will take the lesson away that since at Catholic school and at their home-away-from-home entertainment center and at home they can get the same music, clearly this just isn't serious.

canadash

The ordinary for use on weekdays from the Kyriale is easy and solid. You can use the English version and transition to the Latin. People like singing the Kyrie in Greek for some reason; you could begin with that. It is also brief which may appeal to the nay-sayers. (Long P&W intros are, in my opinion, frustrating.)

Kathy

I'd probably try for:

Prelude: p&w
Entrance: Hymn Tune Introit to Duke Street
Ordinary: Missa simplex
Simple gregorian Alleluia
Offertory: Motet
Communion:
-Ad libitum Psalm 23, 27, 34
-Taize chant
-P&W
Recessional: SPH (Stately Protestant Hymn)

Chris Garton-Zavesky

Kathy,

In doing this, you give the mistaken impression that Protestant hymns, Protestant ostenati and P&W have a place at Mass.

Perhaps we should all sing Ein Feste Burg is Unser Gott next month, in joyful celebration of the 5th Centenary of Luther's Revolt?

KyleM18

Well, let's see.

I, as a student in Catholic high school for three years, worked to fix the music program for our masses effortlessly. What we did was go in 2 year-long stages. (I tried for a full gregorian mass, but was overruled constantly.)

First year:
Prelude: P/W
Entrance:
- Chant introit on feasts
- Appropriate seasonal or feast day hymn on normal weekdays and feasts.
Kyrie: Chanted, either Iubilate Deo or Proulx's "A Community Mass"
Gloria: Congregational Mass (Lee)
Responsorial Psalm:
- Mostly OCP faire
- The occasional chanted psalm, especially in Lent.
Gospel Acclamation:
- Celtic Alleluia (OT, Advent)
- Alstott "Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ" (Lent)
- O FILII ET FILIAE (Easter)
Offertory:
- Taize Chant or P/W-style song
Eucharistic Acclamations: Mass of Creation
Our Father: Chanted at Priest's request
Agnus Dei: Chanted
Communion:
- Simple Gradual Antiphon w/o psalm verses
- General or Seasonal Communion Hymn
- P/W-style meditation song
Recessional:
- Holy God, We Praise Thy Name (OT, most Feasts)
- The king shall come when morning dawns (Advent)
- The Royal Banners forward go (Lent)
- Sing with all the saints in glory (Easter, All Saints Day)
- Hail Holy Queen or Immaculate Mary (Marian Feasts)

Second Year:
Prelude: Simple Choral Motet (The Oxford Book Of Easy Flexible Anthems)
Entrance:
- Simple Gradual or Feast-day English Chant Antiphon (No Psalm Verses)
- Seasonal or Feast Day Hymn
Kyrie: Chanted, either Iubilate Deo or Proulx's "A Community Mass"
Gloria: Congregational Mass (Lee)
Responsorial Psalm:
- Michel Guimont (Feasts outside of Lent, Common Psalms outside of Lent)
- Richard Rice (Lent)
Gospel Acclamation
- In honor of William Couture (OT, Advent)
- “Option no. 6” for Lent (Lent)
- O FILII ET FILIAE (Easter)
Credo: Recto Tono on feasts, Marier Accompaniment if possible
Prayers of the Faithful: Byzantine Intercessions
Offertory:
- Choral Motet
- Taize Song
Eucharistic Acclamations: ICEL Chant Mass
Our Father: Always Chanted
Agnus Dei: Latin Chant or Polyphony
Communion:
- Simple Gradual or Feast Day Antiphon w/o psalm verses
- Hymn or Song
- - General Communion Hymn (OT)
- - Advent Prose (Advent)
- - Lent Prose (Lent)
- - At the Lamb's high feast we sing (Easter)
- - Magnificat (Pawel Bebenek) (Marian Feasts
- Hymn of Praise
- - Thanks be to you, O Lord (Pawel Bebenek) (OT, Advent, Lent)
- - This is the Feast of Victory (Easter, Feast Days)
Recessional
- Holy God, We Praise Thy Name (OT, most Feasts)
- The king shall come when morning dawns (Advent)
- The Royal Banners forward go (Lent)
- Sing with all the saints in glory (Easter, All Saints Day)
- Hail Holy Queen or Immaculate Mary (Marian Feasts)

chonak

CGZ writes:

In doing this, you give the mistaken impression that Protestant hymns, Protestant ostenati and P&W have a place at Mass.

Remind me: do you actually work for a parish or a parochial school?

Priestboi

I would invite the choir (I assume that there is a choir at your school) to lead the conversation. Play some selections for each part of the Mass, hymns and propers and let them help decide what to implement first. Only offer what you in conjunction with your priest is open to and take it from there.

P&W could be held during lunch hour on selected days by musicians who are keen to keep the tradition going. I don;t see anything wrong with it as a para-liturgical devotion.

Also, why not translate some of the worship songs into Latin as a middle ground. It may be a great deterrent and you could also sing a new style into being :P

Chris Garton-Zavesky

Chonak,

Formerly worked at several parish schools. Currently organist at a parish.

Kathy

Chris,

Do you ever play Protestant hymns at Mass?

Liam

I have a different association with "A Mighty Fortress is Our God". It is the beaming smile and booming voice of my father circa 1970, singing it with relish when we were first allowed to sing such a thing at our 4-hymn sandwich recited Mass. His four Catholic grandparents left the nascent German empire in the late 1860s and early 1870s and quickly helped found a German national parish in their new home in southern New England, a parish with a tradition of lusty congregational singing and study of the Bible (rather different in both respects from the Irish Catholic parish of my mother at the top of the hill). He had been waiting for years to be able to sing that in Mass, and retained his relish of it into his nineties. He never knew German hymns (even Grosser Gott, which is the German Catholic anthem par excellence) in the original tongue*, because he was born after World War I and, unlike his four oldest siblings who ranged in age from 10 to 16 when that war began, he didn't learn his prayers and songs and Bible in German like they did - that war quickly swept away the formerly strong and lively overtly Germanic part of German-American Catholic culture, which had more friction with Irish-American Catholics than Lutherans in some matters.

It was the opening hymn at my father's funeral this spring. (This parish don't do no propers - my parents' funerals this year and 3 years ago were novel enough in their lack of contemporary hymnody and inclusion of In Paradisum). At mine, I'd prefer Holy God We Praise Thy Name, but I have a soft spot for AMFIOG because my father so loved it.

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egCkpISmkRg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AsgIgNGBz8

Andrew_Malton

Lux aeterna luceat ei Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es.

Chris Garton-Zavesky

Kathy,

If you mean "Did you ever choose Protestant hymns because they were Protestant? -- the answer is no. Did I ever find the texts of some Protestant-origin hymns more Catholic in tone and tenor than some of the stuff that was called
Catholic? Yes. I therefore used what I deemed the closer to what the Church wants us to use, since nothing contrary to the faith can be admitted to the august worship of the Church.

After I first discovered the wealth of chant -- and I'm discovering more and more and more of it -- I was not in the position to implement it because (although nominally "in charge") I didn't have proper freedom to act and my forays into good music were quickly snuffed out.

Kathy

Chris,

I don't think we disagree too much, then.

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