How is this confusing? A state of necessity exists, right? That entitles you to do whatever you feel like until the emergency is safely behind us. :-/

Scott, when I was doing Extraordinary Form at Holy Name, usually if I had a good English piece I wanted, I'd have the choir do it about five minutes before Mass. I didn't DARE do an English piece at Offertory or Communion - not even at a Low Mass.
BMP

I sang in a Latin Mass choir in Wichita, KS, and our director programmed an English motet or anthem every other week or so----no problems. It was a custom of long-standing, since he'd been running the choir for over 50 years, well before the whole-hog introduction of the vernacular. Also, the director came from a German immigrant family, and the parish was historically German, and I believe the German Catholics have a longer history of vernacular singing in church. It can be easy, of course, to give scandal to some overly-scrupulous PIPs in traditional parishes.

The snark of some posters notwithstanding, it's a pleasure to welcome you to the forum.

The only exception in the law at sung Mass is "centenary or immemorial custom", which is still to be eliminated if it is prudent to do so. (De Musica Sacra, 14a).

Well hello again all and thanks for the comments. While I appreciate the input and direction, and I say this with a smile, I was afraid of that. Having said that, even in my Novus Ordo Parishes my choir sang the finest English Cathedral repertoire and, yes, Latin motets on occasion because the latter were more novelty pieces and not the norm, so in an effort to do only GOOD music (the Haugen and Haas ouvre omitted as much as possible!), it was my personal mission to NOT lower my programs to the dregs of popular taste and culture - God knows there's enough of that damage everywhere one turns.

I have only been at St. Vincent's for a year and a half and am very thankful to be here, believe me, after fighting and battling (yes) the Novus Ordo "mentality" all of my professional life. When I was a kid I was just happy to be able to get on the bench and play, that is when I wasn't faced with a locked choir loft and a locked rolltop!

Some of you I know, some of you I only know of, but I have been reading and "lurking" on Musica Sacra for several years now, and have only posted once or twice. My position here was created for me when I had been hired to play for a wedding two years ago and the current organist, who had played there for 30 years as a volunteer, wanted to step down and only sing alto in the choir and the then-choirmaster was entering the SSPX seminary in Winona, MN, where he currently is. He is "home" for Spring break, however, and we had dinner earlier this evening.

After leaving my beloved position in Royal Oak and the National Shrine of the Little Flower 10 years ago in July (I hear they now have projection screens in the rotunda of the Church and the organ which we gloriously restored is now becoming a mangled, out of tune, non-maintained mess once again), I have had nothing but battles and unsettling existences at my positions since - all Novus Ordo and all where I had to fight, beg, plead, lie, cheat and steal practically to CONVINCE and basically FORCE good music vs the bad. Thanks to inconsistent clergy, youth directors who insisted the entire Parish's music "reach out to the kids etc etc etc blah blah blah" I would leave one position and try, in vain, to find "the perfect place" in another. If it's Novus Ordo - it ain't gonna work, kids - not if truly good and solemn Liturgy and music are desired and allowed!

The three positions prior to St. Vincent's (two of which have advertised regularly on this forum in the "jobs" section and one of which still cannot find a replacement - no comment - were all overshadowed by the BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR...ah yes -the BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR brought in from a corporate human resources (read: personnel) background and wreak havoc in trying to force specialized, ecclesiastical lay staff into conforming to their vision of what a church staff should and WOULD be. Long story short: the very last position prior to St. Vincent's lasted a grand total of 3 months and I was booted out and told "this just isn't working out." however, they didn't mention that I wasn't feminist or liberal enough and that the PASTORAL ASSOCIATE (who did all of the priest's work and bidding for him along with her protege, the internet and bulletin girl) and constantly whined that I didn't seek FULL STAFF CONSENT AND INPUT before implementing the programs I was hired to build or decisions that affected my areas of ministry. I actually got raked across the coals, badly, because I rearranged the choir's seating without a staff meeting and consensus from the rest of the secretaries and the two women aforementioned. That weekend I went to St. Vincent's to play for a wedding and was naturally upset with what had just happened earlier in teh week and in leaving the job I had been moved here for and, like all the rest, had been the #1 unanimous candidate for during the interviews. God forbid I come in, do what I told them I would and could do and had a mind of my own. During the rehearsal dinner I asked to speak with the priest because I was literally at the end of my rope as far as musically and with my faith. I had had it. When I forst saw him it was obvious he was not cut from the same cloth as the N.O. "priests" I had experienced for so many years - no Dockers and open collar golf shirts here, we're talking full length black cassock and sash! He encouraged me, took almost an hour away from his own congregation and rehearsal dinner to speak with this total stranger who was really hurting. I also spoke with the district superior who also encouraged me and told me to not give up - God had a plan for me and my music was not in vain. The pastor then told me he was not budgeted for a new staff member but told me of the organist who wanted to step down and asked if I would consider playing per diem while I looked for a new position. In a cathedral-scale Gothic building with the Latin Tridentine Mass exclusively? YOU BET! Over the weeks and months I got to know him and the Parish and had an experience I had never been blessed with anywhere else previously: working in a Parish and WITH the clergy and other staff prior to any hiring. A few months later I was away on a concert tour and received an email from him. It said, quote "when you return to town, please come see me, I want to offer you a contract." I was in the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Rochester, NY and literally yelled out loud "all RIGHT!" The rest is history. Here i am, and here I hope and want to stay!

St. Vincent's was purchased in 1979 from the Diocese of Kansas City by the SSPX and consecrated the next year by none other than Archbishop Marcel Lefebure himself who named the church the episcopal Cathedral of the SSPX. Given what I had been through all of my professional life, working for the SSPX even over the other two main "traditional" orders made the deal even sweeter! Ha!

We are going to be starting a multi-million dollar capital campaign which will greatly benefit our Parish which sits quietly on the Southeastern corner of downtown Kansas City in the Linwood Corridor. This project will bring alot more visibility which should have been happening all along and, I think, also bring the church more into modern technology and accessibility, including a much-needed website. Did I mention a new organ?

The Parish Choir numbers roughly 30 voices currently, with a 10-11 voice Men's Schola which sings the Propers each Sunday and Holy Day Mass. A Treble Choir and Boy's Schola are being formed in addition, and we also just moved into the first choral rehearsal room in the Parish's history going back to its founding by the Vincentian Fathers in 1879! I cannot tell you how gratifying and humbling it is to have a church where good, solemn and beautiful Liturgy and music are not only the norm but expected, one does not have to fight and throw rubrics into the Pastor's face here and try to convince against all odds to get things done right and as they should be. It's also really something to see people who are serious about their faith and their worship, including women in DRESSES and mantillas and children who know what reverencing the Tabernacle means and who attend Mass with their families, and even sit together with them!

Sorry for getting a bit off topic here, but it's amazing where God puts us sometime. I have no doubt that my coming here was Divine Providence indeed, because had I never come here for another Parish I never would have found St. Vincent's. God had a place for me, He always did, it just took Him awhile to figure out just where the right place for me was. I just wanted to share my story and my happiness with friends and colleagues who would understand and appreciate where I have been and where I ended up - happily!

I have dreams of hosting AGO convention events when KC holds the national AGO in 2018, and also OHS and local AGO recitals, services and functions/workshops. When the new organ goes in I assure you that we will have a gala dedication weekend that will be well publicized. I even have the dream and desire to, hopefully, help plan and host a SACRED MUSIC COLLOQUIUM here in KC and headquartered right at St. Vincent's! (If anyone has anything to do with that planning, please get in touch - we'd LOVE TO DO IT!)

NOW BACK TO THE TOPIC AT HAND: what I think I might start doing is having the choir sing some of the really fine English choral repertoire I mentioned in starting this post as choral preludes and, maybe, as choral processionals and recessionals. Now, those latter two options don't exactly sit perfectly well with me because we do sing congregation processional and recessional hymns here. The SSPX is doing yet another hymnal I understand which is in the final planning stages. If it's like the previous "Traditional Roman Hymnal" (which is practically useless!) I might just do my own at this point. I already have the basis HYMN list made up. A hymnal should be just that - a HYMNAL for congregational song including the most familiar and frequently sung Mass parts, in this case, the complete Kyriale and Credos. But HYMNS for congregational song, in ONE volume, NOT three or four different books in the pews which only confuse and discourage congregational song, and with an organ accompaniment book that isn't as big as a coffee table and weighs 45 pounds! The hymnals we currently use are the New St. Basil (not a good hymnal!), Pius X Hymnal (mainly a choral supplement, NOT a real hymnal in my opinion) and the Traditional Roman (extremely rare and limited use). But I also firmly believe that there is much beautiful, theologically appropriate hymnody that can be borrowed from other faith traditions and included into, yes - a TRADITIONAL Roman Catholic hymnal: hymns such as "Lift High the Cross," "Festival Canticle: Worthy is Christ," "Lo! He Comes With Clouds Descending (Helmsley), "He Is Risen (Unser Herrscher) and the like. See why I feel a REAL traditional hymnal is needed? And wouldn't it be great if some of the other traditional orders got on board and desired just such a resource as well? I like the Adoremus to a degree, but it has way too much Novus Ordo influence and musical inclusion for our uses, sadly.

Anyway- thanks again for contacting me privately, those who did, and for the comments left here after my initial inquiry. I hope to hear back from more of you and that you'll stay in touch. Please pray for my work and efforts here and that the people and musicians under my care grow in their faith and continue to make music for God's divine liturgy with all integrity, sincerity and faithfulness, and that my own work continue to be for God's glory and the beautification of his worship.

Pax. -Scott Foppiano

OTOH, the German custom mentioned by another participant above does exist: at the German parish in Boston, Singmesse pieces (such as the Michael Haydn Hier liegt vor deiner Majestät) were sung in the old days, and the practice was revived when the EF Mass returned to that church in the 1990s.