The Recovering Choir Director

The simplest way to share singing duties for the Mass Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus/Benedictus, Agnus Dei) is to alternate the chant melody between the choir and the people. But perhaps a choir would desire to offer more work to embellish the Sacred Liturgy through part-singing. This is laudable provided that the motive is and remains to the glory of God first.

(”Non nobis, Domine” ought to be etched and re-etched firmly into each choir member’s consciousness to properly shield egos against possible praise from churchgoers, as well as to educate on the nature of their craft, which is a humble presentation of a vocal gift in sung prayer, not a self-aggrandizing performance.)

But the choir director fears losing the churchgoers’ hard-earned sung participation, week after week—especially after many years of ingraining Masses VIII, XI, and XVIII into their beings.

What is a composer* to do? As mentioned in the first part of this series, the composer can limit choral embellishment to only those parts that, in parish practice, pertain to the choir. But there are other pastoral considerations.

1. The composer does not want embellishments (homophonic or polyphonic) to confuse the people into not knowing when to resume their singing. Therefore, it would be a good idea for the composition to be in some way related to the original chant on which it is based. This can be done simply by transcribing the organ accompaniments to voice parts (homophony), or using the chant as a cantus firmus upon which polyphony is based.If a composer takes the polyphonic option, the cantus firmus may be sung by those less experienced members of the choir (since they know it already), while allowing those with more musical ability to embellish the chant with the composer’s stylings.

   In any case, the choral embellishment should have a clear termination on a note or chord that makes it clear enough for the people to figure out when to pick up the singing.

2. The composer does not want his embellishments to detract from the flow of the liturgy. Therefore, the compositions should maintain the chant’s prevailing tempo, and be compact enough so as to enable practically seamless transitions between choir and people. If a phrase takes 10 seconds to chant, do not have the polyphony stretch the phrase to a full minute.
3. The composer’s stylings should not be overly ornate as to bring attention to the choir; rather, any ornament should serve to embellish the liturgical text. A prime example is in the Credo: “Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine: et homo factus est”. The reasons behind the example ought to be clear.

The next post will address exceptions to the norms laid down by US-IGMR.

*We are assuming that the composer is a bona fide composer, well versed in the principles of Western tonality, composition, and the heritage of sacred music, and filled with the Holy Spirit as Sacrosanctum Concilium mandates.