The introduction of the new Missal is one year away and many pastors are planning ahead. I’ve heard from many pastors who have no chant programs in their parishes, no scholas working their way through the Gradual, who see this new Missal has an opportunity to unify their music programs toward a solemn direction and do something about the problem that afflicts nearly every parish in this country: the fracturing of the parish community into niche sectors organized by demographics and musical style preference.
ICEL and the American Bishops are intensely aware of this problem, and regard the music in the new Missal as part of the solution. The widely held aspiration is that these chants will become the standard music for the new translation of Mass. This message is certainly getting out.
I have my own issues with the chants that will appear in the new Missal. In particular I think more could have been done to provide weightier English versions of the Sanctus and Angus. And yet, there might be wisdom in the easy settings that are provided in here. Those of us with developing, progressing programs can easily forget just how impoverished the musical life of most parishes truly is. There are no choirs, no organists, no real directors of music in them; there are only volunteers trying to do what the Church wants but who feel mostly confused and lost.
These easy chants can get them on the right track. I do that is the most important accomplishment here. There is an additional factor here: the chanted text will help people to get to know the new text, just as little songs we sing in grade school help us to remember poetry, grammar, and even math. A sung text becomes more familiar more quickly than a spoken one.
My own hope is that parishes will push beyond the Gloria, Sanctus, and Agnus and look to the credo. Every document says that a sung Creed is a priority in the Roman Rite and yet, it is hardly ever sung. This is a chance for a real change.
I prefer the credo based on Credo I but here are two in the new missal.
I'm a non-musician who has had to take over the 'music ministry' at an English Mass in Poland. I really NEED to be able to hear something sung while I look at the notes, so this helps me tremendously! I think the second one would be easier for our congregation to learn. Is there someplace online where I can print out the notation? It helps me so much to learn when I can see the notation and hear at the same time (but sadly, I can't just look at the notes and 'hear' the tune in my head). I have no musician to help me at all. Everything is a cappella, and naturally I'd like to move toward chant as much as possible – especially when we have the new missal. In spring, I hope to have a class for our little congregation, explaining about the changes in the translation abnd also – if possible – introducing them to as many musical settings for the new Roman missal as possible, so when Advent 2011 comes, we are all ready to sing as well as pray the new words.
Any help at ALL with finding recordings of settings for the new translation and downloadable notation would be most gratefully received. We are very poor – any costs would be borne entirely by me, so Internet resources are really a Godsend.
So is there somewhere online where I could download and print out the notation, especially for the second one?
http://www.icelweb.org/musicfolder/openmusic.php
This is astonishing. To hear the creed sung to these ancient tunes in my own tongue, in a sacral translation, and to know that this will actually be printed in the new Missal… I had no idea about the musical component of this reform. What an incredible blessing.