Music for Adoration
  • Goretti
    Posts: 2
    Hello!

    I'm the music director for my parishes, and my pastor is very on board to make music at Mass more sacred (wants more chant, incorporating antiphons, etc. he's on board with it all and very much is passionate about music).

    Well, I've been asked to help out with an Adoration night at our parish. Typically, a night like this would consist of praise and worship music. Our pastor wants it to include more chant (which is great! Can't say I'm a praise and worship fan...)

    I'm wondering if you have any advice on chants or hymns that would be fitting to use at Adoration, as well as something that people in our parishes would accept? Our parishioners are fairly familiar with many common traditional hymns in English.
  • SponsaChristi
    Posts: 606
    IMHO, the most fitting hymns and chants are those traditionally sung during Exposition and Benediction, and then silence for Adoration. I find music during adoration so off-putting and distracting that if I know it’s going to be there, I just avoid it altogether. How do people who organize these things expect people to hear our Lord speaking to them if they’re always making noise and seeking an emotional/dopamine experience?
    Thanked by 2LauraKaz rich_enough
  • Goretti
    Posts: 2
    I totally agree. If it were up to me, I'd start a silence and worship movement for Adoration. But, in this situation, I have to do some kind of music during it, so looking for options that would be okay. I am going to try and advocate though for some silence between songs
  • GerardH
    Posts: 620
    See the back page of the Parish Book of Chant for suggestions of Eucharistic chants from that collection.

    Most hymnals should have a Eucharistic section, which would include standards such as
    • Soul of my Saviour
    • Jesus, my Lord, my God, my all
    • Godhead here in hiding
    • Sweet Sacrament Divine
    • Let all mortal flesh keep silence
    • O Sacrament most holy

    If you have a choir, the CPDL category for Eucharistic songs is very useful.

    You could also sing Vespers during Exposition, or if it's quite late, Compline.

    EDIT: soft solo organ music might be an option if silence is not acceptable
  • Chant_Supremacist
    Posts: 228
    You can sort of split the difference by doing one hymn at the 20 minute mark and one more at the 40. I don't find this disruptive if the music isn't bad. I would recommend music that is long enough to be meditative and doesn't demand attention. Godhead Here in Hiding is a nice choice.
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,627
    ^Godhead Here in Hiding is a nice choice^. And was probably written for this purpose, unlike its companion pieces by Aquinas for liturgical use on Corpus Christi.
    I like Taizé style ostinato chant, simple, repetitive. But you do need a nucleus of people who appreciate simple repeated use of one phrase, otherwise it falls flat.
  • DavidOLGCDavidOLGC
    Posts: 117
    Our pastor wants me to play a quiet prelude then accompany "O Salutaris Hostia"...then silence. Then when he uses the incense I lead him in and accompany him singing "Tantum ergo" - and more silence. Then the monstrance is shown, and then the group prayers.

    And a bit more accompaniment to the Latin prayers like "Adoremus in Aeternum" , and end with "Holy God We Praise Thy Name".

    On First Friday we add the Litany of the Sacred Heart before the second incense.
  • Xopheros
    Posts: 71
    I agree with @a_f_hawkins that Taizé stuff is perfectly suited for this. Concerning the repetitiveness, this actually serves the purpose of contemplative prayer. Moreover, many Taizé pieces have sections where the congregation hums a chord and a soloist sings prayers or psalm verses on top, for which you can plug in any suitable text. There might also be a top voice like in "Adoramus te Domine" that sings a varying different text on each repetition. Alternatively or additionally, if you have an instrument (violin, recorder, whatever) with a dedicated player, this can improvise above the permanent repetitions.
    Thanked by 1Abbysmum
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,211
    David, I find that you should just go from Tantum to the collect (and versicle, even though that’s suppressed in the NO)… More silence gets to be thumb-twiddly. And he really ought to be using incense to expose the Sanctissimum too…

    Also, I guess you can do a recessional hymn, but it winds up being a lot of music stacked at the very end if you have the Tantum plus any chants before it, a reposition chant or hymn, and a recessional hymn.

    Why is benediction so hard??
    Thanked by 1DavidOLGC
  • AnimaVocis
    Posts: 196
    What we have done is the following, over the course of an hour at our most recent parish Holy Hour. Future holy hours (1st Sunday of each month will have similar structure, but slightly different rep)

    Procession Music (Organ improv) leading into O Salutaris
    Silence
    Soul of My Savior (Dobici)
    Silence
    Sweet Sacrament Divine (Stanfield)
    Silence
    Adoramus te, Domine (Taize)
    Silence
    Compline
    Benediction w/ tantum, sung Divine Praises, and Großer Gott leading to postlude on Ave Verum Corpus (Improvised)
  • RoborgelmeisterRoborgelmeister
    Posts: 307
    So many seem to be enthralled by Soul of My Savior set to the Dobici tune from the St. Gregory Hymnal (although Proulx redeems it to some extent). But the tune, ANIMA CHRISTI, by William J. Maher, SJ, 1823-1877, is less saccharine. Do not accept the OCP version, where verse three is lifted, in part, from God of Our Fathers. The Maher has a good harmonization in the New St. Basil Hymnal. And here is a possibly over enthusiastic rendition.
    https://youtu.be/tO_is6VPn3w
    Another version, in Dutch, from St. Willibrord’s Church Utrecht (NL), with a descant. Used as a final hymn at mass (note the celebrant and servers DO NOT MOVE until the hymn is completed).
    https://youtu.be/I5cYONh0m9I?si=EQzDEVCqVed-DO3c
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,627
    Looking at what has been done to Taize chants over the last 40 years, I am inclined to repent having mentioned them. This was music for pilgrims resting on a French hillside in contemplation of the presence of God, I fear Mammon has dug its claws deep in since then.
    Thanked by 1Abbysmum
  • SponsaChristi
    Posts: 606
    Our pastor wants me to play a quiet prelude then accompany "O Salutaris Hostia"...then silence. Then when he uses the incense I lead him in and accompany him singing "Tantum ergo" - and more silence. Then the monstrance is shown, and then the group prayers.

    And a bit more accompaniment to the Latin prayers like "Adoremus in Aeternum" , and end with "Holy God We Praise Thy Name".

    That’s just traditional Exposition and Benediction for the most part (it’s not customary to have silence after O Salutaris). The monstrance isn’t being “shown”. That’s benediction. The priest (or deacon, but never ever a lay person) puts on the humeral veil to signify that he’s not the one giving the blessing, but rather it’s coming from Christ himself.

    Ave Verum (the chant version) is also traditionally sung during Exposition and Benediction. Going back to the Middle Ages is was also sung at the elevation during Mass.

    I find that you should just go from Tantum to the collect (and versicle, even though that’s suppressed in the NO)… More silence gets to be thumb-twiddly.

    The rubrics specifically call for a moment of silent prayer after Tantum Ergo before the collect/Versicle is chanted/recited.

    It’s only “thumb-twiddly” because almost no one teaches Catholics what they’re supposed to do during the silent moments, so then parents don’t know to teach their children what to do, so traditional Catholic piety gets replaced by novelty and liturgical abuse. Or people sit in silence pondering their grocery list, counting the burnt out light bulbs in the church while waiting for the silence to end.

    This is where the having an arsenal of traditional ejaculatory prayers and holy aspirations comes in handy (ie: “My Jesus Mercy!”, “Have mercy on me, a sinner”, “My Lord and My God!”, “Most Precious Blood of Jesus wash over me and heal my wounds.”, “How lovely is your dwelling place!” “Create in me a clean heart o, God”, etc.) Eventually it becomes habitual and you will find yourself praying throughout the day and those awkward silent parts are no longer awkward silent parts.

    Why is benediction so hard??

    Because people don’t follow the rubrics.
    Thanked by 1DavidOLGC
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,211
    Sponsa, nobody does this.

    The rubrics specifically call for a moment of silent prayer after Tantum Ergo before the collect/Versicle is chanted/recited.
    It’s not just about following the rubrics, it’s about using some common sense and following tradition. The classical Roman rite does not call for silence of which the length is completely arbitrary and dependent on the priest. It happens mostly at the Divine Office and at the absolution after the Requiem Mass, where the Pater Noster is recited silently to ensure a more or less uniform period, but never at any other point.

    And I just object to this framing that it’s only because we have failed. I find it thumb-twiddly, and I’m the server! It’s actually obnoxious to the point of the priest is being rude to not know when I’m supposed to do something.

    Of course there is silence after O Salutaris; there might not be if you have only devotions, but if you hear confessions or otherwise have a set period of adoration, you will (or not, but you should).
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,627
    The OP asked about an evening of Adoration, which is obviously a protracted period. For the period of Adoration, between Exposition and Reposition for which there are rubrics, the general rubric is :-
    Adoration
    Readings, homily, prayers, songs ad libitum
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