Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Church | How do you pick the music? - EPH. 5:19 and the Various Types of Music at Mass (1 of 5)

by Jeffry Kuznicki, Jr., Director of Music and Liturgy

“…addressing one another [in] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,…” (Eph. 5:19)

There are multiple types of music used at Mass, some have more variety than others in their text. In traditional categorization, there are the Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus (including Benedictus and Hosanna), Agnus Dei, and Ite, missa est), the Proper (Introit, Gradual with Alleluia or Tract, Offertory, and Communion), and other situational music. In the Mass today, these are reflected in the Ordinary- Kyrie, Gloria, Creed, and Eucharistic Prayer Acclamations, the Proper- Entrance Procession, Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, Hymn during the Presentation of the Gifts, Communion Procession, and other music- the Meditational Hymn, Song of Sending Forth, Sequences, Litanies, and other Acclamations.

The Ordinary consists of the parts of the Mass that do not change, where the Proper changes according to the date, or the special Mass, feast, or solemnity being celebrated. For example, the Kyrie is the same at Easter, Christmas, and the 23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (as well as every other Mass with few exceptions), where the Responsorial Psalm changes at each Mass.

The texts used for the music of the Ordinary are, for the most part, fixed. The major differences we see in these are in the melody, harmony, and accompaniment of the music. Sometimes there will be a small variation in text with repeated words or repeated refrains, but the text cannot be dramatically altered in any way. These Ordinary Mass Parts are commonly combined into a musically consistent suite called a Mass Setting. The Mass Setting we use most at Our Lady of the Lakes is the “Mass of Wisdom” by Steven R. Janco. Other popular Mass Settings are the “Mass of Renewal” by William Gokelman and David Kauffman, the “Mass of Creation” by Marty Haugen, and the “Celtic Mass” by Christopher Walker, among many others.

For continuity, some of the Proper Mass Parts are also combined into musically similar collections. This is especially true of the Responsorial Psalms and Gospel Acclamations. At Our Lady of the Lakes, we use “Respond & Acclaim”, a resource published by Oregon Catholic Press, containing the Responsorial Psalms and Gospel Acclamations appropriate to each Mass. Other popular collections include GIA’s “Psalms for the Church Year” and various publishers’ “Lectionary Psalters”.

So, how does all this factor into selecting music for the Mass? Well, it shows that some parts of the Mass effectively have their music already selected. While hymns vary the most and may be chosen through a number of methods with various rationales, the Ordinary, Responsorial Psalm, and Gospel Acclamation are typically chosen based on what the parish is familiar with. Sometimes new Mass Settings or collections of Psalms and Acclamations are introduced as the makeup of a parish changes, or with new Musical Direction, but they are not as varied in their text as the hymns are. In parts 2-5 of this response, I will go into greater detail about the rationales and methods behind choosing the various music at Mass now that the groundwork has been laid for what parts we are talking about.

Listed below, all the sung parts of the Mass are:

Introductory Rites
+          Entrance Procession
O         Kyrie
O         Gloria (except in Advent and Lent and on other specific occasions)

Liturgy of the Word
+          Responsorial Psalm
S          Sequence (done rarely, Obligatory at Easter and Pentecost)
+          Gospel Acclamation (Alleluia, except in Lent when we use the Tract)
O         Creed (not sung at OLL, and recited in most parishes)

Liturgy of the Eucharist
+          Hymn during the Presentation of the Gifts
O         Eucharistic Prayer Acclamations (Holy, Holy, Holy; Memorial Acclamation; Great Amen; Lamb of God)
+          Communion Procession
S          Meditational Hymn
S          Song of Sending Forth (while this is technically a situational hymn, it has become common practice to use it at all Masses except on Good Friday when we depart in silence)

Key: + = proper, O = Ordinary, S = situational

Next week: “The Liturgical Documents and What the Church Permits”