The Recovering Choir Director

Today our focus will be on articles 47-48, which give us the objectives that the Entrance chant is supposed to meet, and gives us the many options available for the Entrance Rite.

47. After the people have gathered, the Entrance chant begins as the priest enters with the deacon and ministers. The purpose of this chant is to open the celebration, foster the unity of those who have been gathered, introduce their thoughts to the mystery of the liturgical season or festivity, and accompany the procession of the priest and ministers.

An article worth reading regarding the function of the Entrance chant is “Sing Them All!” by Gary Penkala of CanticaNOVA Publications. (N.B. The essay relies on the previous General Instruction and ICEL’s translation of “cantus” as “song”.)

48. The singing at this time is done either alternately by the choir and the people or in a similar way by the cantor and the people, or entirely by the people, or by the choir alone. In the dioceses of the United States of America there are four options for the Entrance Chant:

1. the antiphon from the Roman Missal or the Psalm from the Roman Gradual as set to music there or in another musical setting;
2. the seasonal antiphon and Psalm of the Simple Gradual;
3. a song from another collection of psalms and antiphons, approved by the Conference of Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop, including psalms arranged in responsorial or metrical forms;
4. a suitable liturgical song similarly approved by the Conference of Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop.⁵⁵

If there is no singing at the entrance, the antiphon in the Missal is recited either by the faithful, or by some of them, or by a lector; otherwise, it is recited by the priest himself, who may even adapt it as an introductory explanation (cf. above, no. 31).

The options are myriad, but unfortunately not everyone is aware of them. Option 1, “the antiphon from the Roman Missal or the Psalm from the Roman Gradual as set to music there or in another musical setting,” is rarely used. The boldfaced phrase above seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle of the liturgical reform in the United States. Composers can set the antiphon to their own music, as long as the music “corresponds to the spirit of the liturgical action and that they foster the participation of all the faithful” (GIRM § 41). (Although the compositions contained in William Byrd’s Gradualia may be seen ny some parties as not being able to foster the “full, active and conscious participation” of the faithful, the collection stands as a prime example of the creativity allowed by this first option.)

Option 2 is being put to use by the campus ministry at the University of Chicago, and according to the choir director,(sung) assembly participation does not suffer in the least.

Options 3 and 4 are effectively the norm for most parishes in the United States.

Any other observations?