Liturgy planning Software
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,465
    Do any of you folks use some kind of a database interactive software for planning liturgies? Online or from a disk or whatever.
    I remember GIA used to have something called Precentor that was useable.
  • irishtenoririshtenor
    Posts: 1,296
    What kind of "planning" are you talking about? What features do you want this software/service to have?
  • Nathan_the_Organist
    Posts: 434
    For our music schedule we just have a Google Sheet that we use.
  • MarkB
    Posts: 1,025
    I didn't find the publishers' planning resources helpful, so I created a parish master music repertoire spreadsheet in Excel, categorized music by use (entrance, offertory, Communion, recessional), color-coded for seasons in some cases, and also added a list of unprogrammed music that I wanted to add when I could.

    I have another single-page spreadsheet that can contain the order of music for up to five weeks of Sunday Masses that I fill in with selections from the categorized and color-coded master repertoire list. That's what I print and hand out to choir members.

    The benefit of planning with my customized master list is that I have eliminated from view the titles of music that I'm not going to select. When I plan, I'm only looking at a list of titles that the parish already knows or that I want it to learn and that I have decided are good enough to sing at Mass.
    Thanked by 2mattebery EMH
  • EMH
    Posts: 47
    @MarkB,

    Any way you could share that or DM it?
  • MarkB
    Posts: 1,025
    Okay. Attached.

    Some explanation:

    It's not sophisticated nor automated, but it is simple and efficient for the way I plan.

    On the Repertoire tab:
    1. Master Repertoire list: if a title is displayed in strikethrough that means the parish and choir know it but I've retired it, or am phasing it out, or avoiding it if at all possible.
    2. Strictly seasonal songs are color-coded.
    3. Click on the down-arrow at the top of the "Use" column in cell A1. Enter a single letter in the search field to filter the master list according to use at Mass: p=prelude; e=entrance; o=offertory; c=communion; r=recessional. Then click on okay. The subset of songs I've designated for use at that moment in Mass is displayed. To return to the master list click on the down-arrow again and cancel the filter.

    For the liturgical season tabs, music is listed for each Sunday or Holy Day. I fill in the information and print the page to give to my choir members.

    My planning method is to look at the Mass texts, including readings, propers, collect and other prayers, then begin selecting music that aligns with what the various texts emphasize or that is appropriate for the liturgical season or feast. The convenience of being able to display filtered subsets of songs (for prelude, entrance, offertory, Communion and recessional) is that I'm only considering 25-40 titles to find one that is apt for that point in the Mass. No need to scan a hymnal's index of 700 song titles each time I'm looking for a song idea. Some songs work better as an entrance than they do at offertory so it makes for much easier selection to categorize or filter music by designated use at Mass.

    In summary, I've reduced the set of music that I select from when planning to a master repertoire of only about 150 songs that I have subdivided into lists of 25-40 songs filtered according to use during Mass.
    2021MusicLists.xlsx
    45K
    Thanked by 2EMH Elmar
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 967
    Perhaps the Source & Summit liturgy preparation tool is something you're looking for?
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,724
    I liked the source and summit system during my trial. Sadly we let it lapse because we didn’t have congregational singing at the time (we start this week! Woohoo!).

    I use an excel sheet with multiple tabs. One for each year and another with a list of all the links to the practice track videos I’ve made for the choir for easy reference.
    Excel is far from my favorite way of doing it as it is less sympathetic to text than to numbers, but it works.
    Thanked by 2sdtalley3 marymezzo
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,465
    Thanks, this Source and Summit looks good, a bit pricey. I will probably create something in Excel.
  • MarkB
    Posts: 1,025
    Bumping this because I was finally able to upload my Excel file. See above.
  • trentonjconn
    Posts: 543
    MarkB, I thoroughly enjoyed skimming through your spreadsheet and seeing what you've phased out.
    Thanked by 2petrus_simplex ServiamScores
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,724
    As did I. I also appreciate your effort to include a chant every week.
  • MarkB
    Posts: 1,025
    I'm turning the ship. It's sort of a snapshot of current progress that I'm happy to share and hope it helps others. It's a real-world attempt to reorient a parish.

    Yes, Communion begins with me chanting the antiphon (setting i or ii) and verses from Weber's collection while the choir receives the Eucharist, then we sing one of four Gregorian chants that we rotate among, and then a "regular" Communion song until the vessels have been purified. That approach has worked well. We've been singing at least one chant in Latin at every Mass since September; that at a parish that sang almost no Latin or chant prior to my arrival, and in a diocese where Latin is hardly ever sung or heard. I wanted chant to be expected and normal, and now it is. I wanted Communion to be reverent, and now it is.

    I'm trying to have every Mass feature a) the Communion antiphon, b) at least one Latin chant, c) between 1-3 traditional hymns, d) between 1-3 contemporary songs, e) at least one piece played on the organ.

    So far everyone is pleased, and we are slowly attracting noticeably more traditional Catholics, whom I identify by the veil-wearing women and those who receive Communion on the tongue while kneeling.
    Thanked by 4Elmar ServiamScores irishtenor CHGiffen
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