T ONE PARTICULAR CHURCH, within the space of a single year I was able to transition their Spanish Mass from completely contemporary (OCP’s Flor y Canto as well as Spanish Christian ‘pop’ repertoire) to completely sacred: all with pipe organ; chanted propers; chanted ordinaries; Spanish hymns; and Latin hymns. No parishioners were lost and the Mass attendance grew slightly. Some people even come from across the Phoenix valley to attend this Spanish Mass simply because it is solemn and sacred, unlike 95% of the Spanish Masses in the area. The pastor supported me 100% and the congregation was open to it. It was an easy transition. Indeed, the question I’m asked—more than any other—is how to transition a contemporary music program to one that is more solemn, sacred, and dignified. The speed at which one can accomplish this transition (at least in my experience) depends upon two important things:
(1) Pastoral support
(2) Congregational acceptance
“Frog In Water” Approach • Unfortunately, not all situations are like the one I described above. Sometimes, one must get more “creative” in one’s approach. My goal is to gently win over the congregants by having them experience the beauty of ancient and modern sacred music at Mass without making any drastic/rapid changes in the repertoire. Rather, I started small, just adding in the communion antiphons every week and a new sacred hymn every few weeks. All of this supplemented the existing contemporary repertoire so beloved by this congregation. One priest called it the “frog in water” method. The results have been marvelous: the congregation *sings* the simple Gregorian chant propers … at both English and Spanish Masses!
Morning Song • One hymn my choir wasn’t familiar with is The King Shall Come (married to a tune known as MORNING SONG). However, our congregation has come to love this song at Advent and some congregants have even said to me that it doesn’t quite feel like “Advent” without it. So I wanted to share my simple arrangement with you here:
The Same In Spanish • Our congregation is predominantly Latino so I compose and arrange nearly everything (!) in English and Spanish. You can download the Spanish version of the The King Shall Come here:
Advent is an Ideal Season to establish Sacred Music • All solemnities and solemn seasons are great for sacred music, obviously! But in the context of a gentle transition, the Advent season has been a key time for me to introduce “new” (though ancient) material for a few reasons:
(a) It’s the beginning of a new liturgical year;
(b) One can generally select one or two new sacred hymns that will be appropriate for all four weeks;
(c) The congregation seems “open” to more ancient works during this season.
I believe that my third reason has proven true because the hymn traditionally associated with Advent is Veni, veni, Emmanuel (“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”), which has its origins over 1200 years ago.1
A few songs welcomed with open arms at my parish include:
Come Thou Almighty King
The King Shall Come
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Gabriel’s Message
The Future • My website consists of many thousands of scores, rehearsal videos, and mp3 files. Almost all of them are completely free, but you need to create a login. Over the next few years, I look forward to (each week) making readers aware of what I offer—again, everything I will share here is 100% free once you create a login—because I realize it can be overwhelming. If you find my resources helpful, I hope you will take advantage of all of them! Regardless, I think it’s important for everyone to at least be aware of what I offer. (A new project I’m particularly excited about is pronunciation guides for Spanish.)
1 The verses of “Veni, veni, Emmanuel” come from the O Antiphons for the octave before Christmas. I am not recommending that this hymn be sung for the entirety of Advent. I am simply making a point that this *quite* ancient hymn is so representative of Advent to Catholics (and even many protestants), that stylistically other ancient hymns can be worked in without feeling too “out of place” for a congregation accustomed to contemporary music.
