Time and psalmody (what I learned)

What I learned this week:

I learned that some weeks, especially early in the season when I'm frantically trying to get 3 choirs ready for their first rehearsals of the year and a particularly thorny cantor schedule out into the world, it is very difficult to get the "music summary" blog postings up. I missed the 23rd Sunday--Sorry!! (to the 4 people who so far read this blog...)

So, somewhat posthumously:

September 9, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Opening: Take up your cross (GC 690)
Psalm: 90-- PRM C93, “In every age, O Lord”
Presentation: The Summons (GC 687)
Communion: Here I am, Lord (GC 671)
Closing: Canticle of the Sun (GC 495)

The PRM (Psalms and Ritual Music, the 3-cycle psalter books from World Library) psalms do have a tendency to be a bit pedestrian, and are clearly composed so that the words will dominate and the melody will be less memorable and fabulous. (Well, I doubt the composers sit down and say, "Aha! I want to write a pedestrian and non-fabulous melody that people will be able to sing but will immediately forget!"--but the basic priority is fidelity to the text and immediacy of apprehension (I use too many big words...just People Can Sing It Right Away is all I mean there), not deep heart-felt inspiration that will make people go, "Oh, my GOD, that was so BEAUTIFUL, I could just FEEL the wings of the spirit as you sang..." etc. and so forth. These settings exist to highlight the text, to permit the text to shine through a simple setting. (I'm also finding that the more the cantors become comfortable with this mode of proclamation, the more "shining" the text becomes...some of them are really getting the hang of this chanting, and it's lovely.)

Brief digression: as a church, we North-American types (they're even worse in Britain:-) have a tendency to hear "Responsorial Psalm" and think "Response to the first reading." While the psalm was chosen to relate to the first reading, just as the first reading was chosen to relate to the Gospel, it is not so much simply a "response" than an actual proclamation of the Word of God--just a sung proclamation rather than a spoken one, because the Psalms were created as poetry to be chanted or sung. Therefore composers in recent times have put out greater efforts to highlight the difference between the Responsorial Psalm and the other sung music within the liturgy. The word "Responsorial" refers simply to the manner in which it is sung: "responsorial" singing involves a dialogue between cantor and assembly. In an ideal world (or when the psalm of the week is particularly familiar), you may notice that the cantor won't even sing the people's part with them--in a dialogue, which is what the Responsorial Psalm is meant to be, it is important not just for each party to get to speak/sing, but for each party to take turns BEING QUIET and allowing the Other to take their turn. No one wants to be in a dialogue with someone who won't ever shut their mouth, right?:-)

ANYWAY...Steve Janco's setting of Psalm 90, from this week's liturgy, was a particularly beautiful setting of the text--the kind of rare refrain which remains in the head after the liturgy with the words attached so that it keeps on singing after you're done. (Okay, I did get to play/hear/sing it 4 times, which gives me an advantage...) I even used it as my prelude improv this week, and it was lovely on its own even without the text...

This week the Youth Choir, Cherub Choir, Parish Choir, and the Choral/Instrumental Ensemble all have their first rehearsal. I'm going nuts. But excited...this is the best part of the year, in many ways, there's just so much more fun and creative stuff to do than there is time to do it all...

peace,
Jennifer