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Matchmakers: Music directors ensure songs suitable for Mass
By Ambria Hammel, The Catholic Sun
October 4, 2007
From the gathering to the closing songs, liturgical music helps draw churchgoers into prayer.
Whether parishioners read the music from a worship aide, song sheet, projector or hymnal, it’s the music director’s job to ensure each selection is liturgically appropriate and easy to sing.
“Music is an accompaniment to what’s going on” at Mass, said Sr. Ginger Downey, OLVM, interim director of the Office of Worship.
A U.S. bishops’ report said music ministers should ask themselves three questions when evaluating songs for Mass: Is it musically sound? Is it theologically-based? Is it well-known?
When using the three-point test Paul Yoder, the director of music and liturgy at St. Clement of Rome in Sun City found the “Lord, You Give the Great Commission” tune too complex for his congregation. So Yoder put the words to the tune of a more familiar song, “Alleluia Sing to Jesus.”
This allowed parishioners to focus on the Mass rather than their hymnal.
Rori Campbell, a music director in the Diocese of Orange County, selects songs that she termed “hands-free music.”
“If we can get off the song sheet and get the song in our heart, then it’s more meaningful,” she said. Campbell was in town for a Life Teen conference last month.
That’s one reason simple and contemporary songs work well for her Yorba Linda, Calif., congregation. Campbell wants parishioners to be able to wrap their hearts and minds around the song in prayer.
“The people who are sitting in the pews are the ones who are going to be singing the songs, so you need to have them in mind as you’re writing and as you’re picking your song,” Life Teen musician Matt Maher reminded fellow music ministers during the conference.
Even though it’s important to select songs that work well musically, evaluating how well the song matches the readings is also key.
Music directors read Scripture to discern if music appropriately expresses the week’s readings.
Many musicians meet with the priest giving the homily to select songs for each Mass.
Maher said the beauty of the liturgy is that God has something new to say through the readings every week.
A recent Sunday’s Gospel proclaimed the parable of the Prodigal Son, traditionally understood to preach God’s forgiveness.
Yet when Maher meditated on the readings this year, he was struck by an element of compassion within the Gospel. That’s why he chose “Everyone Needs Compassion,” by Hillsong.
Introducing new music into the liturgy takes practice and time as well as funding for licensing and copyright fees, but the U.S. bishops said new forms should be used and adapted to modern tastes.
This helps make it pastoral.
While Campbell uses contemporary music, she is also content playing traditional songs and freshening them up by changing the instrumentation.
Music directors agreed gauging parishioner reaction and even asking for feedback is a good way to aid future song selection.
“You absolutely have to know your parish,” Sr. Ginger said. “Know what you’re celebrating.”
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