The Recovering Choir Director

Choir, Congregation And the Catholic "both/and"

Choir, congregation and the Catholic ‘both/and’, an informal follow-up to my multi-part series on the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, was an attempt in May 2005 at easing the tension between exclusively-choral and exclusively-congregational liturgical singing. While exceptions to the norms were acknowledged, a solution of shared singing responsibilities was offered; rough guidelines for composers to effect this ‘third-way’ solution—while respecting the texts of the Mass—were outlined as well.

1. Regulatory considerations
2. Illustrating shared duties
3. Compositional guidelines
4. Exceptions to the norms