Shantigarh: Home News/Journal

CHANT THIS! - April 12, 2012

LENT 2012

Year B

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

February 26, 2012

PRELUDE: 40 Days – Matt Maher © 2003 Vigorous beginning to Lent, I admit, but when this key of E song is over, and we have declared the spiritual trajectory of the next 40 days, we allow the silence to settle in… then continue in E minor with “Holy Us In Your Mercy.”

GATHERING RITE/PENITENTIAL LITANY: Hold Us in Your Mercy - Text: Rory Cooney; music, Gary Daigle. GIA © 1997. G 4760 We actually substitute the words, “Parce Domine” for “hold us in your mercy.” Congregation needs no music either way—pure call and response. http://www.giamusic.com/search_details.cfm?title_id=159

PSALM: Psalm 25: Your Ways, O Lord, are Love and Truth - Nick Calzada © 2012. Nick hasn’t published this. He’s on our staff and directs the youth/young adult Mass here at OLP. He is also the guy who turned us on the 40 Days. He also wrote the jealousy-inspiring next piece, our Gospel acclamation. If this isn’t published soon, I will ask him if I can make it available to our friends on the internet.

PRESENTATION: Live the Promise – Rory Cooney ©1994 The only song in my files that is about God setting his “bow in the sky” from this week’s first reading. And the second verse seems to refer equally to Moses wandering in the desert or—apropos of our Gospel today—Christ in his 40 day sojourn to self-knowledge in the desert. The song modulates and makes references, however obliquely to the crucifixion. You can pick and choose which verses work best. It was written for the 1994 Religious Ed Congress in Anaheim.

EUCHARISTIC ACCLAMATIONS: Mass of Renwal - Curtis Stephan. OCP ©2009 - This setting is a keeper. We used it throughout Ordinary Time, but feel that the new Mass texts warrant a consistency here. You will love having this in your files for Advent, Lent or a laid back Ordinary time liturgy.

LENT 2012

Year B

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

February 26, 2012

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

March 4, 2012

Psalms: Shantigarh has its own unpublished setting of Psalm 116, bi-lingual. Tomaré la Copa de Vida/I Will Take the Cup of Salvation

Caminaré – Juan A. Espinosa © 1970, OCP This setting of today’s psalm is very popular in the Hispanic churches in the Southwest and translates easily as “Yes, I Will Walk.” I’ve done the whole thing in English so I know that version is out there somewhere. Sing the refrain twice, first in unison, second time in harmony. Drums, guitar, bass, all good ideas.

PRESENTATION: Sometimes He Comes in the Clouds - © 1995 Steven Curtis Chapman Very rarely useful, this song seems inescapable when the story of the Transfiguration comes around with God saying, “This is my beloved son…” from the sky.

For download: http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtdFPE.asp?ppn=MN0099337

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

March 11, 2012

GATHERING: See above (seasonal)

PSALM: Lord, You Have the Words – Psalm 19. © 1983 GIA We sent one lad up to the ambo to begin this a cappella, four bars later, he is joined by unison men; then full harmony, then forte with all instruments. Very exciting.

PRESENTATION: No Greater Love © 2009 Words and Music by Matt Maher, Chris Tomlin, and Audrey Assad. We found harmonies easily for the refrain, altos below the melody, tenors above. This version comes to us from musicnotes. http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtdFPE.asp?ppn=MN0078093

SECOND COMMUNION: God’s Eye is on the Sparrow – Bob Hurd © 1990 OCP . I take the high G as a tenor harmony with help from Alicia Laski, our bass player who has a very wide range. She sings in her alto power range and I make do in my Billy Joel pop style and somehow it comes off great. Men on melody. Altos below. Somebody should learn how to finger-pick the guitar interlude between each verse. If I can do it, anyone can. You can hear it and order it to be shipped here: http://www.ocp.org/products/99963

RECESSIONAL: Your Grace is Enough - © 2003 Matt Maher. Amazing how many good songs are in the hymnals today. Also, amazing how many congregations are able to easily and intuitively master these off-beats on the verses. How ironic: ending the Mass with kudos to the congregation for musical talent. But there it is. For immediate download:

http://cdn.ocp.org/shared/pdf/preview/12143-Z2.pdf

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

March 11, 2012

RCIA OPTIONAL READINGS, CYCLE A

We substituted R&A for the psalm and for presentation…

I Thirst for You – David Haas. Three-part harmony. So moving, so evocative of the woman-at-the-well’s apparent thirst for the truth. People got weepy and I didn’t expect that. This kind of work justifies the continued existence of the choir as a human activity.

http://www.hymnprint.net/index.cfm?go=cCatalog.showCatalogByTitle&search=I

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

March 11, 2012

GATHERING: See above (seasonal)

PSALM: R & A. – We do the R&A when we can’t think of something better… but sometimes it is a liturgical highpoint. We send three people over, soprano in the middle, flanked usually by tenor and alto. A bass would sink the ship. I dunno. It just looks better to have three rather than four people. Sometimes I adjust the tenor line so that it borrows from the bass to fill in the chord.

PSALM: Lord, Your Love is Eternal – Ed Bolduc, WLP

Listen to it here from WLP: http://www.wlp.jspaluch.com/2089.htm

PRESENTATION: The Vineyard of the Lord © 2007 Shantigarh The first reading has us witness the destruction of Jerusalem. The refrain is faithful to the text but the verses were written when I was ignorant of the importance of scriptural veracity. Good thing, though, because the piece turned out pretty well.

SECOND COMMUNION: God’s Eye is on the Sparrow – Bob Hurd ©1990 OCP. I take the high G as a tenor harmony with help from Alicia Laski, our bass player who has a very wide range. She sings in her alto power range and I make do in my Billy Joel pop style and somehow it comes off great. Men on melody. Altos below. Somebody should learn how to finger-pick the guitar interlude between each verse. If I can do it, anyone can.

This has two-part harmony on the refrain. Spiritandsong book has nice three-part harmony.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

March 18, 2012

RCIA OPTIONAL READINGS, CYCLE A

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

March 25, 2012

GATHERING: See above (seasonal) One way to keep this seasonal gathering rite fresh is to make a different member of your choir the cantor for the verses.

PSALM: R & A

PRESENTATION: Write Your Blessed Name © 1993 GIA The second reading from Jeremiah includes the words “…I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts.” Which prompts this recommendation of a song by Bob Moore. To Hear this amazing piece (but not to download because I guess it’s only available by snailmail)…

http://www.giamusic.com/search_details.cfm?title_id=3451

RECESSIONAL: Amazing Grace (but sung to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun”) It actually works and the people actually sung it without any rehearsal. I just said, “Please turn to Hymn No. so and so, Amazing Grace, and we will sing it to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun.”

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

March 25, 2012

RCIA OPTIONAL READINGS, CYCLE A

PSALM: With the Lord There is Mercy

PRESENTATION: Lazarus - Robert Tanner © 2003 GIA Give your choir two weeks so they can master the three different harmonizations of the old spiritual. And so they can look into the eyes of the congregation when they sing it; that makes a difference with some songs. This is one of them. Hear it, preview it, buy it at the following.

http://www.giamusic.com/search_details.cfm?title_id=329

Palm Sunday

April 1, 2012

I don’t know of any churches doing the Palm Sunday ritual correctly. I know I have never done it correctly. Every Parish I’ve ever known gathers outside while a few volunteers hand out palms. The priest arrives, greets the people and reads the opening prayer, etc.

This year, I actually read the instructions (since there have been so many changes) and realized we are supposed to begin by singing Hosanna to the Son of David. Then we continue with the prayer. Then we sing our processional which, btw, is supposed to suddenly become “All Glory Laud and Honor” when the people reach the entrance to the Sanctuary.

Not on my watch. Anyway, they also allow for “another suitable song” and we chose “Prepare Ye the Way.” But we did begin with the chant, in Latin, of Hosanna to the Son of David. The example in the missalette did not jive with my vague memory of the tune from my childhood so our Pastor, Father MacNamara, dug out his Liber Usualis and found some square note notation which satisfied our memories. He was kind enough to stick around and run through the old Chant with the choir until we were all satisfied we could do it.

FIRST FORM: THE PROCESSION

INITIAL CHANT: Hosánna fílio Dávid - found in the missallette or hymnal but check a Liber Usualis for a more satisfying melodic line.

There is a recurring refrain, “Yeshua, you reign on high…” and we changed “Yeshua” to “Hosanna.”

To hear this useful gem on utube,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFRsNaoC3yg

http://www.mondoymusic.com/sounds/Psalms/p022_2_MyGodHAUGEN.htm

PRESENTATION: And No Bird Sang – Douglas E. Wagner

To hear a choir singing it…

http://www.search-results.com/web?l=dis&o=100000052&q=And%20No%20Bird%20Sang&atb=sysid%3D406%3Auid%3D7aa132355df93942%3Auc%3D1332037109%3Ab%3DSearchnu%3Asrc%3Dhmp%3Ao%3D100000052%3Aq%3DAnd%2520No%2520Bird%2520Sang

to order sheet music:

http://listeninglab.stantons.com/title/and-no-bird-sang/7818/

RECESSIONAL: None

Instead, Shantigarh took communion, then removed ourselves from the sanctuary by a side door. We reunited in the vestibule which is somewhat narrow and creates a natural echo to the human voice. With women on one side of the door and men on the other we sang Randall DeBruyn’s Were You There. This version can be found in his sometimes staid but useful Traditional Choral Praise. My late Aunt Jackie, also a choir director, introduced me to this tome. Each song has a solo voice version with accompaniment and C-instrument descant; then features an SAB version; followed by an SATB version. We used the SATB. Also, in the back of the book you will find B-flat instrument descants as well as a Metrical Index of Songs. If you don’t know what that is, check it out.

GOOD FRIDAY

April 6, 2012

ENTRANCE: In silence

COLLECTION: And No Bird Sang – Douglas E. Wagner

At least in the L.A. Archdiocese, we have a collection at this time for the Holy Land.

And No Bird Sang was recommended by a marvelous soprano and organist, Mary Jo Degens.

To hear a choir singing it…

to order sheet music:

http://listeninglab.stantons.com/title/and-no-bird-sang/7818/

VENERATION:

This is the brilliant but unwieldy setting of the Passion according to St. John by Randall DeBruyn. We’ve done the whole thing many times even though both Pilate and Jesus (and everybody else) is a low baritone and there are no reliable cue points to keep the narrator and the music in synch. It is nearly impossibly unless the accompanist is unusually patient, well-paid, and good at improvising. Still, we’ve done it about 10 times in the last decade. For this occasion, Good Friday, we only use the first 13 pages. At the point when narration is supposed to begin we do something magical: We suddenly involve the congregation in the E-minor based entrance rite we’ve been using all Lent. As the piano or organ or guitar continues to vamp on the E minor, a cantor suddenly looks out to the congregation and sings: “Hold Us In Your Mercy.” They respond in kind and the whole of the Lenten experience comes into perspective, vividly, musically, spiritually. (Hold Us in Your Mercy - Text: Rory Cooney; music, Gary Daigle. GIA © 1997).

SECOND COMMUNION: Panis Angelicus – Text by Thomas Aquinas, 1227-1274, Tr. By Jerome Stephen Siwek, b. 1930; Music by Louis Lambillote, S.J., 1796-1855

CONGREGATION DEPARTS IN SILENCE

SHANTIGARH DOES NOT SING AT HOLY THURSDAY OR THE VIGIL, ALTHOUGH INDIVIUAL MEMBERS ARE INVOVLED IN VARIOUS VIGILS AT CHURCHES THROUGHOUT THE SOUTHLAND. WE RETURN TO OUR DUTIES FOR AN EASTER CELEBRATION AT 5:30 P.M. ON EASTER DAY. THIS WAS MSGR. MACNAMARA’S IDEA, TO ACCOMMODATE CATHOLICS WHO, FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER, WERE UNABLE TO ATTEND A MORNING OR AFTERNOON SERVICE. TO OUR SURPRISE, THE ATTENDANCE AT THE 5:30 SERVICE IS ALMOST AS FULL AS THOSE AT THE EARLIER MASSES. HERE IS WHAT WE DO.

EASTER SUNDAY

April 8, 2012

Year B

“Good afternoon,” says the cantor from the Lectern, greeting a fairly large congregation which has somehow missed the entire schedule of Masses for Easter Morning at St. Bernardine of Siena in Woodland Hills. “We have an Easter present for you. The Hallelujah Chorus, by George F. Handel.”

PRELUDE: Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah – George F. Handel.

Shantigarh performed this exactly as written and arranged by the composer; however, we extracted our copy from Musicnotes Inc., so that we could perform the piece in the key of C instead of D. To download in C…

http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtdFPE.asp?ppn=MN0069773_D2

The juxtaposition of Hallelujah Chorus with Halle, Halle is the whole idea. Brief pause between the two and… you’re off!

GLORIA:

Be warned. This is not a Gloria. It becomes a Gloria by sheer force of will exerted by Shantigarh. We sing page one as the refrain in Latin… so far, so good: Gloria! Gloria! In excelsis Deo! Then we just sing the words of the Gloria in English while the accompanist plays page two. Back to refrain. For the middle verse which is very long the accompanist plays page two twice. For the third verse, the accompanist plays page 3. Try it. People loved it. They had no idea that the Gloria they were hearing and which they preferred above all others not actually exist. Why does that comfort me?

GLORIA:

This works well right off the shelf. We use the piano harmonization as the vocal harmonization. Verse 1, soprano only, followed by refrain unison. Verse 2a, soprano; 2b soprano/alto; 2c soprano/alto/tenor; 2d, soprano/alto/tenor/bass, then unison refrain.

Verses 3a and 3b: SATB followed by unison refrain.

We play the first refrains and first two verses with only conga accompaniment. Actually, the conga starts before the psalmist even begins her trek to the ambo. She walks, accompanied by this irresistible 6/8 beat. The piano gives her the pitch. She begins. We echo. The piano and guitars and organ only join us on the third verse. If we have drifted from the tonic we are doomed but that makes it fun. The entrance of the piano is full of suspense. This is how we like our Mass to be. If this offends you, it is good that you do not join us.

THE SEQUENCE: Ask the Presider if you can skip it. If not, sing the chant version in the missalette. At Shantigarh, we prefer to sing the Sequence the second Sunday at Presentation in a version arranged by Richard Proulx.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION: Festival Alleluia – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756- 1791; Arr. Lynn Trapp. Based on “Alleluia” from Exsultate Jubilate, K. 165.

PRESENTATION: Redeemer – Words and Music by Nicole C. Mullen. This is in the power-alto range for your best soloist(s). Lot’s of “ooage” in the background, and all join in on the last page on “I know… my Redeemer lives…” repeated many times in notated three-part harmony.

EUCHARISTIC ACCLAMATIONS: Mass of Renewal – Stephan Curtis.

COMMUNION #1: How Can I Keep from Singing – Traditional. We prefer the arrangement by Ed Gutfreund in the old Glory and Praise collection. © 1975 by North American Liturgy Resources. We add three-part harmony throughout. Very easy to accomplish.

COMMUNION #2: How Can I Keep from Singing - Eva Cassidy verison. To hear it…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmblB9JT0Uo

Now, again be warned. This version is easy to mimic and you should attempt it. However, only brilliant people touched by the Holy Spirit can reproduce what Ava Cassidy has done here. If your drummer is too heavy handed. If your lead vocalist is an unbeliever. If your choir thinks they are merely “background.” If your lead vocalist is an unbeliever who has not learned how to imitate belief. Well, then… don’t attempt this at home, kids.

Note: We changed to these two communion songs at the last second because Aubry Buchanan called to say she wanted to sing with us. A graduate of the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, she was a student of mine at Notre Dame and later interned at Notre Dame. When singers of that caliber show up, by all means change the line up.

For sheet music download…

http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtdFPE.asp?ppn=MN0046894&

RECESSIONAL: Christ the Lord is Risen Today – Charles Wesley; arr. By Dan Galbraith.

You must have this. Our hymnals usually include this version of the lyrics, with a few discrepancies here and there. In our church, we actually substitute the more familiar words to “Jesus Christ is Risen Today.” The coda becomes an irresistible sing-a-long. Much clapping. Much smiling. Much joy. How perfect.

http://www.praisecharts.com/search?Search=Christ+the+Lord+is+Risen+Today

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

(or Sunday of Divine Mercy)

April 15, 2012

Year B

The juxtaposition of Hallelujah Chorus with Halle, Halle is the whole idea. Brief pause between the two and… you’re off!

(see above for performance notes)

(see above for performance notes)

PRESENTATION: O Sons and Daughters (O FILII ET FILIAE from Two Sublime Chants; © 1996 G.I.A. Publications. Att. Jean Tisserand, d. 1494; Tr. John Maxon Neale, 1818-1866, alt. Plainsong, Mode II, rhythmic version Airs sur les hymnes sacrez, odes et noëls, Paris, 1623; Arranged by Richard Proulx.

You will never wish to sing another version after this. Somehow, the 17^th Century Parisians tricked out the rhythm in a way that is irresistible. Still.

Try alternating the verses among voice groups. First verse, men. Second, woman (cuz it says “the faithful women…”) Third, a solo male. Four, all (as the apostles); Five a solo.

RECESSIONAL: Christ the Lord is Risen Today – Charles Wesley; arr. By Dan Galbraith.

http://www.praisecharts.com/search?Search=Christ+the+Lord+is+Risen+Today

Sheet Music Download! New addition: Shantigarh Alleluia - October 2, 2010

Welcome to Shantigarh, virtual home of a real praise band. Let us be your favorite resource as you plan your own contemporary Mass or Christian service. Below, find week after week of our programming suggestions: sometimes a whole service, and other times, just an idea for a psalm or a meditation. Catholics and non-Catholics at home in the sweet harmony and strong rhythm section of today's Christian composers will find links to other sites where our suggested hymns can be either downloaded immediately or ordered.

We also include some of our own compositions in our Download Sheet Music page. We want to thank C.M. of Ohio for requesting that we finish a manuscript of I Will Rise and Go so that her Parish could possibly use it when the Catholic lectionary calls for it this September 12. Thanks for the motivation, girl! I hope you like this very new piano part.

We now have eleven of our originals available to you in full harmony with piano accompaniment as well as guitar chords. Our newest additions include the versatile Shantigarh Alleluiah, Hand of the Lord, I Will Rise and Go (just in time for its appearance in the lectionary on 9/12), God in Your Goodness (a setting of Psalm 68), and Kingdom of Heaven, which draws on Christ's parables of the Kingdom in Matthew 13 and is also the heart and soul of the Shantigarh Requiem for the Unborn. Also look for In Every Age, a setting of Psalm 90, which calls for a relaxed hip-hop feel as well as the talents of a smooth tenor soloist. Praise the Lord, My Soul, one of Shantigarh's most popular responsorials which doubles as a good entrance song or recessional, and, from the Shantigarh Requiem for the Unborn, we can now offer the prelude, Lover of Souls, the entrance hymn, Tell This Generation, psalm 42, As the Deer Longs, and the communion hymn, Veni Creator Spiritus, featurning a soprano descant suitable for this Mass and an alternate descant for Pentecost or any liturgy in which the role of the Paraclete (Holy Spirit) is of particular emphasis.

Another Road Trip - May 23, 2010

My daughter and I take a borrowed car with a single-disc cd player from L.A. to Berkeley. She thinks I'm here to help her move to her new junior year apartment. I am here to serve the greater good. By listening to every song in OCP's embarrassingly huge Second Volume and rating them with my Four-Star system. See Blog.

Shantigarh: Home News/Journal

CHANT THIS! - April 12, 2012

Sheet Music Download! New addition: Shantigarh Alleluia - October 2, 2010

Another Road Trip - May 23, 2010

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