CatholicZ09,

We're not allowed to have music, full stop.

Here's a question, to expand yours, slightly: given what the documents tell us about priorities in singing, should we return our music in a specific order?

We can have an organist and a cantor. Since I often double as cantor, I've taken the liberty of having a cantor and singing harmony when I can. We sing the Entrance, Offertory, and Communion antiphons, the full Ordinary (aside from the Credo) and a hymn during Communion. The responsorial psalm is no longer responsorial because we sing it straight through. Recessional is instrumental.

No entrance hymn. The Introit (GR) is sung--various settings: Willan, Arbogast, Ostrowski etc. Cantor and organ

Kyrie, Gloria, Psalm response, Alleluia, Sanctus, Mystery of Faith, and Agnus Dei are sung by the congregation. At first, it was meant to be the cantor, alone. But, people in the pews just started to sing on their own. (Everyone wears a mask.)

At Offertory, I have been using hymns that have a familiar refrain so that people in the pew can sing if they so desire.

Communion: We wing a Russian Orthodox anthiphon "Receive the Body of Christ" which the congregation knows. In between the antiphons, the cantor sings the Communon Proper and Psalm verses.

No closing hymn--just the organ.

So from a four hymn sandwich, we are down to one.

Our bishop has said no congregational singing or choirs. As a result, the Ordinary of the Mass is spoken. We have been singing the Entrance and Communion Antiphons from Fr Weber's propers, doing hymns at the Offertory and at the Recessional, and singing the psalm and gospel acclamation.

The musicians have been an organist and cantor. For the mass I normally do music at, there are two of us who both play organ and both sing. We switch off who does which job each week, but we sing the propers together a capella.

Our DM was laid off until the end of the year and isn’t even allowed to volunteer in any capacity related to his job.

In the meantime, we are prohibited from any and all singing, even just one person singing the Benediction hymns away from everyone else. Congregational humming is legally permitted now, though.

UK
We have Cantor and Organist, but from my reading of the government guidance a couple of Cantors is possible.
5min sermon has been suggested by the bishop... we had incense at Benediction yesterday but not at sung Mass today. Any way we have only been open Saturday and Sunday, so we will see what changes...

So solve problems we sing Vespers and Compline each Sunday in my house, with half the choir around to eat drink and of course sing!

St. Sebastian Akron EF (D. of Cleveland)
We get a cantor and an organist, and diocesan guidelines are to discourage people from singing by singing music that they don't know.

So here's what I'm doing differently:
1. There are no hymns (we usually split a hymn between pro- and re-cessional). Organist plays Fr. and the 2 servers in and out.
2. We're doing either Credo VI or a composed Credo (not so much that because of course I didn't copy them with the unison Masses because we'd rather have people sing the Credo.)
3. I'm doing more composed Masses, because chant really isn't a solo gig. When we do a Gregorian Mass, it's off the beaten path. Definitely no VIII or XI.
4. Dan the organist and I can move through repertoire fairly efficiently, so I'm doing more new solo things for offertory and communion motets. Limit to that: just have a half hour before the Mass to put things together.

>> diocesan guidelines are to discourage people from singing by singing music that they don't know.
Ho ho. That hasn't ever stopped our singers; i wonder why the diocese thinks it would work for the congregation!

Now returning you to the original thread.
As our Masses are outdoors, we are having sung ("EF") Mass, with masks optional and spacing as required (and record numbers attending).
Miss the organ, though. Having strictly voices w no organ means that my choices of choral pieces are dwindling

In British Columbia, Canada, our archdiocese reopened public masses nearly two months ago. Strict limits of 50 people, spaced out in every third pew. Parishioners have to sign up ahead of time and only those on the list may attend. To accommodate as many faithful as possible most parishes have increased the number of masses - our priests are working hard!

We have a lovely little late 1800s tracker organ near the front of our church, so I've been playing and singing from there. My pastor prefers By Flowing Waters Propers with some modifications, and we use the ICEL chant in English. I prepare sheets with the antiphons for the congregation to join, and they sing along somewhat. They sing quite well for the Ordinary. And, we live stream the whole thing.

But, I only get to do this for one mass, so that my attendance wouldn't keep others from fitting on the list. This means I've been months now without my beloved EF mass!

Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend: no congregational singing. Solo cantor permitted within a separate, closed room. To accomplish this we have a tent in our loft surrounding the organ console and with clear plastic around the perimeter. Inside that I built a separate "room" for a cantor. So we can have both myself and the cantor singing if we desire.

("Normal" = hymns at entrance and offertory. Common psalm or hymn for Communion)

For COVIDtide: Entrance antiphon from LCSG, sung Alleluia, offertory hymn, communion antiphon from LCSG or SEP. Organ pre/post.

While I miss the peeps being able to sing the dialogues and ordinary, I like the lessened reliance on hymns!

That usage has been popping up in a lot of conversations, not all of them of a specifically religious context.

Here in Birmingham, Alabama at St. Paul's, we basically have low Mass with organ for the anticipated and early morning Masses. Organ music just for entrance, offertory, communion, and sortie. The choral Mass has a six-voice ensemble. They sing the Gregorian proper (incl. gradual and alleluia) and a Gregorian or polyphonic ordinary, with motets at communion. It's great, but weird on account of 1) only having part of the choir there, and 2) the celebrant not singing anything other than the Gloria incipit.

This is all because 1) we can really only have 6-8 distanced people in our loft, and 2) we have no congregational singing purposely because of COVID-19 concerns. I think the thought here is that it's a much less invasive ask to not have people singing vs. taking temperatures on the way into church (although we DO do that for the choir), etc. We also have separate lines for Holy Communion for those who wish to receive on the tongue and those who wish to receive in the hand. This is very reasonable, but does make the communion procession a good bit longer.

I am enjoying the challenge of putting together the choral Mass every week and teaching my professional singers more about cantillation, especially in the responsorial chants. That said, I find it a challenge to keep the volunteer singers (who aren't singing now week-to-week) engaged through Zoom chats and the like. It's just not the same. For that reason alone (and the fact that choir rehearsal is very social here in normal times), I'm hopeful the pandemic ends quicker and more completely than current medical wisdom suggests.

>> I find it a challenge to keep the volunteer singers (who aren't singing now week-to-week) engaged through Zoom chats and the like. It's just not the same.

Yes.. worrisome. One singer has already stopped even coming to the sung Mass, and may quit entirely.

Jeffrey:

I think you meant Pentacovid.

Elmar - do you have a link to the government study? That seems to be big news.

I believe the major American studies will be finished by the end of July.

Elmar:

According to your link the chart recommends 5 feet between each zigzagged choralist.

That would mean you need a designated amount of space for various number of choralists... according to my math this is generally what is being said:

choir of 8 = 10' x 10'
choir of 12 = 15' x 10'
choir of 16 = 20' x 10'
choir of 20 = 25' x 10'
choir of 25 = 30' x 10'
choir of 30 = 35' x 10'

Because someone came to Mass sick, did not wear a mask, and did not maintain social distancing, several people got Covid-19 at Mass and the priest has canceled Mass until further notice. :(

BHCordova - oh no !!

We don't demand masks,
At the moment if you have the 6ft social distance you don't need masks, but if you have the 3ft plus masks are expected.

Even though they changed the law to make masks compulsory on public transport, many people are ignoring the advice! also you can use any material for the mask and I think the law did not stipulate that it had to cover your nose and mouth! Then again Chinese Flu came through here month ago, and around 20% have antibodies in London...

Have they not found a couple of promising therapeutics, and the care given to patients has improved from the previous panic measures. Outcomes seem to be improving... but a vaccine seems to be far off.

We just walk up in a nicely spaced line, kneel on the kneeler, pull the mask down, receive Communion and pull the mask back up before walking back to our pews.

There's not a lot of logic to anything going on. You can eat in a restaurant, which requires pulling down your mask repeatedly to put food or drink in your mouth.

We are still dispensed from Sunday Mass, and I could not receive Communion, if I preferred.

No, it is not very compicated. The purpose of masks and hand washing is to reduce, not eliminate, the viral load. Masks reduce spreading in air, but become contaminated, sanitizing hands after touching your mask reduces the amount of virus you subsequently deposit on surfaces.
You still depend on your immune system to mop up the enemy, the object of all these other measures is to reduce the weight of the attack.
Incidentally, this country (The Isle of Man) has had no newly detected case now for eight weeks, arrival numbers are limited and have to quarantine. Our community choir re-started rehearsals yesterday, with no protective measures.

Where I've been, Holy Communion was administered to the faithful immediately after dismissal at plexiglass-protected stations at the transept exits.