The Recovering Choir Director

I am unable to download the mp3. Is it just me, or does anyone else have this problem?

[The link is now fixed. -AAE]

This is excellent. I have long been puzzled over why we never sing the Introit or Communion verses as is prescribed by the rite itself and by the GIRM. Most parishes I have been to recite the appropriate verses printed in the disposable missalette at daily Mass where hymns are rarely sung; but at Sunday Mass the hymnody is always from the missalette/hymnal and never from the actual propers of the day. This is indeed perplexing and your proposed solution seems to strike a balance between Sacrosanctum Concilium’s call for Latin to remain in the liturgy while also permitting the vernacular. Your solution allows the faithful, who may not understand Latin or may not be able adequately to learn Gregorian Chant, still to participate by singing the verses antiphonally in English to a simple tone (such as a Meinrad tone, which most anyone can pick up). The choir, meanwhile, can sing the antiphon in Latin to the appropriate traditional chant. Theoretically this should satisfy even the most ardent adherents to the banal idea of “busy” active participation - everyone is doing something (and, as an added bonus, we’re doing what the books say).

The question remains for me, however, to what extent regular hymns (and I mean good hymns, e.g. ones like “Crown Him With Many Crowns”, “Alleluia! Sing to Jesus”, and other hymns of praise with good theology and good musical form) have any place remaining. It has been my impression that, since the Mass ends with the final blessing, a recessional hymn is not really appropriate, but rather only the postlude. I’ve been to parishes where they do it this way (for example, St. Agnes Parish in St. Paul, MN), and it was quite well done and seemed fitting. It would seem that both the introit and an opening hymn could be used - for example, at the seminary, when we have a Latin Novus Ordo Mass on a feast day or solemnity, because of the fact that there is procession into the sanctuary and then the incensing of the altar, there is generally time to sing both a processional hymn, followed by the introit (usually timed to correspond with the incensation). There is also the time at the offertory, when a hymn could be sung, and depending on how large the communion procession is, perhaps both the communion antiphon and a communion meditation hymn could be sung while still allowing adequate time for silent meditation before the closing prayer.

In a sense I have been thinking out loud, and I apologize if these questions have been discussed before, as I have not always been able to read all the posts and replies due to a lack of time. But I greatly appreciate the work you are doing and am especially interested in this topic, particularly as I have been reading so much of the writings of (then) Cardinal Ratzinger recently and have become even more anxious (with him) to see the proper implementation of Vatican II come to pass.

It is a sad fact that in most American parishes the more important a Mass is, the less likely it is to be solemnly celebrated.
Oh, a music director might get away with programming the propers a week later when hardly anyone one fulfills his obligation anyway, but just TRY to deprive Mass attendees of Joy to the World as the introit or Silent Night as the Communio on December 25th.

And the lack of interest or knowledge of the fact that prescribed texts even exist among those with oversight of the liturgy at a local level has been disheartening. (Though it seems to be getting better, and has always varied drastically from parish to parish.)

Many music directors who are or feel compelled to utilize the Four Hymn Sandwich (with Cheese,) make an effort to program the hymn in their community’s repertoire which best captures or paraphrases the proper that hymn will replace.

I have had argu… I mean, conversations with ersatz liturgists where the “rubric” was presented and tenaciously upheld that “Marian” hymns should be avoided during Mass, and NEVER under any condition sung at Communion, even when I have pointed out a Communion Antiphon such as “Hail, Mary, full of grace…” or “A Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son…”

(If you’re reading this, no, I don’t mean you, it was years ago.)

“Geri, let’s not get too uptight about ‘Joy to the World,’ which is a ‘psalm in metrical form’ suitable for use as a responsorial psalm. It’s one of Isaac Watts’s great psalm paraphrases.”

I agree. I am emphatically NOT of the “no Christmas carols at Mass” crowd (I was surprised to learn that there were people who took such a position.)

I merely note that it is sad that the way things have worked out, the more solemn the ocassion, the less likely it is to be celebrated solemnly.

The more I work in, and delve into the recent history of parochial musical practice , the more I wish we would embrace the idea of the (among others,) Low Mass, the more I wish that more “choices” were offered to us not so much in musical style but in degree of solemnity.