• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
    • Views from the Choir Loft • “Our Team”
    • Our Editorial Policy
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Mass in Honor of Saint Noël Chabanel
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

The Choir Isn’t Everything

Richard J. Clark · September 23, 2016

USIC AT MASS is all about the choir, right? Wait, the cantor on a microphone? Really it’s all about the organist who can play the loudest. The musicians provide all the music that is important or that is needed, right? But the most obviously element to sacred music is often the most overlooked.

What happens when a priest sings the Greeting? Intones the Gloria? Sings the Collect? The Preface Dialogue and Preface? The Institution Narrative? The Lord’s Prayer? Etc.?

What is going on here?

The priest is singing more than the choir. The priest is singing the Mass. The people are responding to the dialogues. The choir sings. The people sing even more. Fitting are the words of the Exsultet: “Let this holy building shake with joy!”

Where appropriate, the choir sings. The choir has its role—a very important one: sometimes to simply sing with the congregation or enhance, fostering the unity of the faithful and exterior participation. Other times it is to sing alone to foster interior participation.

The choir’s role is indeed important, but it is only a part of a larger unified role. Ideally, sacred music is a wider effort that goes well beyond the choir loft. It emanates from the choir loft and from the sanctuary. It comes to fruition in the pews and resonates in song and in the heart. Music—hence prayer—is unified throughout the sacred space.

The priest’s musical role is enormously influential for the congregation. But not all priests are comfortable singing. Remember, a small amount of singing from a priest will yield enormous dividends. This can not be emphasized enough. Even singing recto tono (singing on one note only) for the Greeting or Collect can energize a congregation. (Keep it simple!) This in turn can kick start a congregation to sing everything else more robustly.

I encourage all priests to sing even a little bit. I encourage all music directors to work with and encourage their clergy. A few notes at Mass will be a mustard seed that will yield great fruit.

At all times, all sacred music—whether sung by the priest, choir, or congregation—the role of sacred music is to help the faithful pray the texts of the Mass. Ultimately, whatever our individual role is during the liturgy, all are working towards the same goal: the edification and sanctification of the people—the salvation of souls.

PRIESTS! DEACONS! CHOIRS! Want to sing the Mass and learn the chants of The Roman Missal? Here they are:

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: ICEL Chants, Singing the Mass Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    “Glory To God” • (For Choir + Congregation)
    I wish to thank everyone for the nice comments I received vis-à-vis my Glory To God setting for Choir & Congregation. A gentleman with a musical doctorate from Indiana University wrote: “Love this setting so much. And I will pray, as you asked, for your return to composition more fully. You are very very good.” A female choir director wrote: “I love your harmonizations, your musicality, and the wonderful interplay you have with dissonance and consonance in your music. So fun to listen to, and great for intellect, heart, and soul!” A young woman from California wrote: “Thank you for releasing your new Glory To God in honor of Saint Noel Chabanel. I'm enjoying reading through the various parts and listening to your recordings.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    William Byrd • “Mass for Five Voices”
    Our volunteer choir is learning the “Sanctus” from William Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices. You can hear a short excerpt (recorded last Sunday) but please ignore the sound of babies crying: Mp3 recording. We still have work to do—but we’re on the right track. Once we have some of the tuning issues fixed, I desire to use it as an example proving volunteers can sing complicated polyphony. — One of our volunteer choirs also sang that SANCTUS on 24 September 2023, and you can listen to how that came out.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Baptism” • A Unique Hymn
    Father Christopher Phillips is the founding Pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church. One of his hymns is unique and (in my humble opinion) quite beautiful. His hymn is basically a prayer to the Holy Trinity but also speaks of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. It would be an ideal Communion hymn on Trinity Sunday or the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. You can hear live recording from last Sunday by clicking here.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Only against this background, of the effective denial of the authority of Trent, can one understand the bitterness of the struggle against allowing the celebration of Mass according to the 1962 Missal after the liturgical reform. The possibility of so celebrating constitutes the strongest, and thus (for them) the most intolerable contradiction of the opinion of those who believe that the faith in the Eucharist, as formulated by Trent, has lost its validity.”

— Cardinal Ratzinger, 2001

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • All Seven (7) Movements: “Mass in Honor of Saint Noël Chabanel”
  • Composer Kevin Allen in Europe!
  • “Slander!” • (Response to an Accusation We Received)
  • Some Questions Answered
  • Concerning Alterations to the Vatican Edition

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.