A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 61 - Responsorial Psalm or Gradual
Articles 61-63 pertain to the chants between the readings. Today, we’ll look at Article 61 that refers to the Responsorial Psalm and a couple of options that professional liturgists may not be aware of (or summarily dismiss under the heading of “pastoral insensitivity”, etc.).
The Responsorial Psalm
61. After the first reading comes the responsorial Psalm, which is an integral part of the Liturgy of the Word and holds great liturgical and pastoral importance, because it fosters meditation on the word of God.
The responsorial Psalm should correspond to each reading and should, as a rule, be taken from the Lectionary.
Fair enough. Happily, this happens to be the case in most parishes.
It is preferable that the responsorial Psalm be sung, at least as far as the people’s response is concerned. Hence, the psalmist, or the cantor of the Psalm, sings the verses of the Psalm from the ambo or another suitable place. The entire congregation remains seated and listens but, as a rule, takes part by singing the response, except when the Psalm is sung straight through without a response. In order, however, that the people may be able to sing the Psalm response more readily, texts of some responses and Psalms have been chosen for the various seasons of the year or for the various categories of Saints. These may be used in place of the text corresponding to the reading whenever the Psalm is sung. If the Psalm cannot be sung, then it should be recited in such a way that it is particularly suited to fostering meditation on the word of God.
In the dioceses of the United States of America, the following may also be sung in place of the Psalm assigned in the Lectionary for Mass: either the proper or seasonal antiphon and Psalm from the Lectionary, as found either in the Roman Gradual or Simple Gradual or in another musical setting; or an antiphon and Psalm from another collection of the psalms and antiphons, including psalms arranged in metrical form, providing that they have been approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop. Songs or hymns may not be used in place of the responsorial Psalm.
Although it’s allowed, I’ve always found it disjointed when a lector reads the verses, yet the assembly is supposed to sing the response. Much preferred (by GIRM and my own sensibilities) is a fully-sung setting.
Also mentioned above are seasonal and common psalms which can be substituted for the Lectionary responsorial psalm, and sources from where non-Lectionary psalms can be used. Here in the first place are mentioned the almost-forgotten Roman Gradual and Simple Gradual—options rarely used. The Roman Gradual’s Psalm (the “Gradual”) is proper to the day, but outside of a monastery you’d be hard-pressed to find an assembly that can handle the melismatic chants found therein. (Perhaps this is why the GIRM mentions the possibility of a Psalm being sung without a response.) The Simple Gradual’s responsoria brevia Psalms are proper to the day or season, as easy to learn by ear as any Haas or Haugen, and without the cultural baggage (unless you’re an aging hippie/VOTF type).
Here’s something interesting. “[A]n antiphon and Psalm from another collection of the psalms and antiphons, including psalms arranged in metrical form, providing that they have been approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop.” Hmm. Now does this approval have to be explicit, or can it be implied? Does a Diocesan Bishop’s explicit approval carry weight outside his diocese? Does it even matter anymore?
A Musical Journey through GIRM
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 41 - Sacrosanctum Concilium Revisited
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 47-48 - Introit/Entrance Chant
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 51-52 - Act of Penitence, Kyrie/Lord Have Mercy
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 53 - Gloria/Glory to God
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 61 - Responsorial Psalm or Gradual
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 62-63 - Chant before the Gospel
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 67-68 Credo/Creed
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 71 - Prayer of the Faithful
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 74 - Offertory
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 78-79 - Eucharistic Acclamations
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 81 - Lord’s Prayer
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 83 - Agnus Dei/Lamb of God
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 86-88 - Communion
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 90 - Concluding Rites
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 102-104 - Roles of Musicians
- A Musical Journey through GIRM: § 312-313 - Choir and Instrument Placement
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20 Comments
I’m seeking a psalm to use in a Catholic weddng service. I’m not particularly fond of the “new” music that most of them are sung to. Do you have any suggestions for a more traditional sung psalm that could be used? Is “Joyful, Joyful, we adore thee” a psalm?
Thanks
Ann Cooling
No, “Joyful, joyful” is not a pslam.
Some usual psalms used at Catholic weddings are 33 (the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord), 34 (I will bless the Lord at all times), 103 (Bless the Lord, O my soul), 128 (happy are those who fear the Lord).
The responsorial psalm must be an actual psalm from the Book of Psalms in the OT.
Any of them can be done to a simple, traditional Gregorian psalm tone (much more elegant than the Haugen-style melodies that are so ubiquitous.)
Bennet - your typo (pslam/psalm) is possibly inspired. If it’s written by the Haugen/Haas/et.al. crowd… we can call it a “pslam” — against one’s sensibilities??
Just a thought. (grin)
More likely than Haugen/Haas is Owen Alstott, who does them all for OCP. OCP now claims musical control over 2/3 of US parishes–up from half a few years back.
My typo?
Purely serendiptious!
(And I would call the first couple hundred pages of the Gather hymnal deserving of the appelation, “Pslams.” What drek.)
Is OCP really that ubiquitous now?
That is startling. But maybe some food will come of it — Heritage mass may overtake that horrid Mass of Creation.
yes, serendipity can be a Good Thing.
I’m hoping within the next month or so to start diving into some of the other hymnals (Collegiate, et al) that have been mentioned on these pages — I’ll have to find them at libraries, I guess (we don’t have a musical director at present and I don’t think these publishers would send out freebies to ‘mere’ cantors). It’s about time for our “We Celebrate” (Paluch) subscription to expire and the prevailing opinions are either stick with it or go to OCP. I’d like to provide a meaningful alternative without all the musical ‘pslams’. (g)
We have recently had some controversy in our music ministry regarding the singing of the Responsorial Psalm ONLY from the Ambo, or Lectionary.
Is it really necessary, or would the choir loft be considered a “suitable place”? If not, what place other than the Lectionary would be considered suitable?
Several months ago, we were instructed by our priest that the psalm was to be proclaimed from the Ambo becasue it is part of the Liturgy of the Word. Thus it is to be done from the same place the other readings are. We don’t have a choir loft so that wasn’t one of the choices for us anyway.
Our situation, I believe, is rather unique. We have 6 cantors at our church who rotate on a monthly basis. Two cantors were comfortable at the Ambo or a separate lectionary during the entire mass, while the others chose to sing from the choir loft where our organ is located. Recently, the decision was made that all must sing (at least) the responsorial psalm from the Ambo for exactly the reason you stated, Jenny. Now, most cantors have elected to stay in the front of the church away from the organ for the entire mass, instead of moving back and forth between the choir loft and Ambo.
The organists (of which I am one) are complaining of a lag between the organ and choir, the miked cantor and the congregation. When the cantors were physically close to the organ, this wasn’t a problem. Needless to say, it was also much easier to communicate with the cantor, which at times is necessary, when you’re all in the same place.
I guess what I’m asking is if there are others with the same problems and what do you do to compensate for the lag? Keep in mind that both the cantor and the choir are miked and the organ has external speakers in the front of the church which are also engaged. Nothing seems to work in our large church and we are out of ideas.
Why do the cantors need to be miked in the first place? If they have a full singing voice, in most ordinary parish churches (as opposed to cathedrals) they might be better heard (and have better vocal production) if they were not miked.
From most churches that I’ve seen in our area, the cantor is miked but the choir isn’t. The cantor does a brief introduction to the liturgy and announces the songs, etc., so I believe they do need to be miked.
The cantor can turn the microphone away for singing, which usually helps. I’ve done this myself, and seen it done by many others. Works like a charm.
For a properly used voice, the mike often gets in the way, because the singer has to restrain full vocal production, which screws a lot of things up.
Peace, all.
I’m with Liam. The only time a cantor would need to be mic’ed for singing would be the verses of the psalm or alleluia, which could be done without accompaniment, if needed. A good organist can compensate for time delays and a church of any signifcant size should have one on staff.
And if a cantor “up front” id truly needful for the example of an open book and wide singing mouth, just turn the mic off when people are singing.
In our church, the psalm or alleluia would rarely if ever be done without accompaniment.
We have four organists and one pianist, all of whom are good in my opinion. We do compensate for the lag, but feel there’s room for improvement as a whole.
The ambo is miked and I don’t think they would want to get into an on/off situation; however, when the congregation is singing, I believe the cantor does step back from the mic after the introduction, but not always. I don’t know for sure, I’m not a cantor.
For you cantors here, are you all “up front” and do you usually do everything from the ambo?
When I and others cantored the psalm solo or duo, it was done from the ambo.
However, when the choir or a schola offered the verses of the psalm, it was done from the choir’s usual location.
Each weekend mass at our church is attended by about 400 people. It has much natural reverberation, and miking is essential if the cantor is to be understood when singing the psalm. We’ve also found that the congregation is much more likely to sing out if a cantor or choir is leading them. It has made a dramatic difference for our church. People used to not sing much, now they sing louder than the choir and it sounds beautiful. By the way, the lectionary is in serious need of rewriting/editing, particularly for a few psalms that have unclear meaning or focus too much on “we men” or talk about the greatness of animal sacrifices or focus too much on “God’s chosen people” — we’re all chosen, even if we’ve never been to Israel!! (Jerusalem may be some people’s destiny, but it isn’t mine).
At my parish, the choirs lead the assembly from a loft in the rear (near the organ). Our psalmists proclaim the psalm from the Ambo (always with a mic), but the gospel verse from the loft. We have a small space (seats about 250 sardine style), so delay, and travelling to and from the loft are not major issues. In our space, the loft is acoustically the preferable place from which to lead singing.
Some would argue that the true spirit of Sacrosanctum Concilium is to have choirs, not cantors leading the assembly singing. So, no problem with cantors in the microphone!
Just found this useful site and it helps a lot…I am the only musician in our family choir…i used nylon guitar or keyboard sometime..but i preferred guitar…we haven’t yet started to sing psalms…I need advise on how to plan…God Bless
We are having a family reunion and my uncle, a priest, is saying a mass for our family. My daughter was asked to be a Responsorial cantor. But we are no longer Catholic. (I don’t think the family member asking this of her knows that.) Is this allowed?
My daughter and I were also asked to sing a couple of hymms. Is this allowed? I don’t want to offend my relatives (I don’t know them well) by asking, and will gracefully decline the offer if it’s not acceptable for us to participate in the Mass.
Thank you for any responses!
Well, it was something uncomfortable for us at first but gradually we are finding ways to make it happen. (singing at the Ambo)
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