This was the song I wrote for Preparation of the Gifts and I think it has merit as a tune but strikes me as a bit melodramatic. The text obviously draws on the Beatitudes.
I wrote it in A then updated the lyrics (? worse or better) and made it much too high in C in case a talented soloist wanted a crack at it. The lower key is more suitable if an assembly wanted to do it.
This is in C though:
Are we the poor in spirit?
Are we with those who grieve?
Are we the gentle? Are we the meek?
Can we be people who hunger and thirst for justice,
the pure in heart, the peacemakers.
Chorus
We give bread, we give wine, we give what we’re able.
But we are the gifts we bring to this table.
Within the reign of heaven, can we bring God’s peace?
Are we a fam’ly for times to come?
Sat at table spread for all of God’s righteousness,
I’m labelling my songs here “Collab project” to make them easy for me to find and to look towards collaboration amongst parish song writers. Also, since I wrote many of these before I knew anything about liturgical music, they are lessons about what not to do, and may be adaptable by others into something usable in other contexts.
I am trying to remember what was going on here. I remember there was a special celebration of some sort that was to happen at church but got cancelled. I had the thought that the Creed could be set to Affirmation by Savage Garden, a local Logan band that became world famous. I got permission to do that for one performance only, but it never happened due to the cancellation.
Sometime after that I was writing my misguided mass and while not using their tune did try to make it a dance number. I note that I started hand written corrections after the text was made worse, but funnily enough it looks like a gave up at consubstantial, a word rarely used in dance music.
I made a demo, but the lesson may be that the creed is hard to set, especially now, and probably isn’t best as a techno track.
At the APMN conference last year I went to a session where we were shown wrong music to suggest how to do things better. I fear selections from my songs written years ago could provide the same service.
This is a completely incorrect Gospel Acclamation from a mass I wrote before I knew how wrong this was. In my defence, I think we were always a little lax in our Alleluias in those days and didn’t follow the prescribed responses for each week. I don’t think I even knew there were such things really, until I looked at all the options in one of Paul Mason’s masses. I went on to rewrite other parts of the mass that I thought needed it too! This was before the people in Rome got the same bad idea and rewrote them all in terrible English.
Having said that, I would advise just writing an Alleluia and leave the response spoken unless you are really keen or Paul Mason or both. By the way, the Gloria in my mass at this stage had no redeeming features and was before the change in text, so it shall remain hidden, as I can’t even see any use of it as a warning to others.
Having dragged this beast out though, I made a new backing for fun. I’m not sure this text has a use anywhere, but maybe elements could be reused.
We are people of your story, we thirst for your Word.
Alleluia
As much as your body and your blood, into the world we carry your Word.
I am an occasional hymn writer, but it tends to happen in bursts. Many years ago an indulgent priest let me do a completely original mass setting along with ancillary hymns. My recollection is that I was very depressed for some reason and this is what happened. The only problem was that I had done no liturgy studies at that point and pretty much everything was I did was wrong. The music group at church practised with me and we did the mass and that was the end of that.
I recently found a burnt CD (remember that technology) that had rough demos I had done as well as a recording of a practice session. I don’t remember what technology I was using to record twenty odd years ago. I also haven’t listened to some of these in ages but perhaps some songs may be worth another look or adaptation.
This was the entrance song for which my wife helped on the lyrics. This was one of the least egregious. This backing is much more recent than the demos.
This song I wrote some time ago has an obvious specific purpose. The question is whether the host imagery is acceptable in Catholic Liturgy. I recall the original lyric was much worse but I’m open to suggestions.
I recently made new demos for what they are worth. They lack some enthusiasm! I also note I can’t follow the subtleties I put in the melody – for goodness sake Madden.
This song was written last year based on the readings for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C. I got stuck on the fourth week and didn’t get going again after that.
My backing has the tune as I wrote. My demo perhaps not so much.
Chorus Bringing good news to the poor, Setting the captives free, For the Body of Christ, It’s time for this text to be.
1 Amen, open the book. Amen, Amen, it’s time to look.
2 It’s time for many parts, To come together in o-one heart.
3 Church is diversity, The parts are complimentary.
4 Do not mourn, do not weep, The joy of the Lord is yours to keep.
I wrote this song last year based on the readings from the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C. If I feel like writing a song but I am not sure where to start, it’s not a bad idea to do that and if things work out you have a song to match a liturgy.
I am most open to suggestions for improvement.
1 We are not forsaken. Our land is not abandoned. God is always our help. To his way we are wedded.
Chorus Let God’s glory be seen, Shining like the dawn, Flaming like a torch, Firing our Antiphon.
2 All good gifts God gives us, Fair is his judgement. Spirit give us wisdom, So we may not be silent.
I’m labelling songs I have written “Collab Project” to make them easier to me to search for in my blog, even if there isn’t much need for further collaboration in this song at least.
This was the other collaboration with Pam Bowen, and is in a completely different style. The text reminds me of the Buddhist concept of the Monkey Mind in the Mindfulness course I’m currently doing.
1 A cracked vessel is the mind What goes in leaks out in time: People’s names and people’s faces, What took place in certain places, All the science, all the math, Memories of the distant past.
CHORUS YOU CAN’T ADD MORE TO A FILLED-UP CUP, YOU NEED TO LET SOME OUT. THAT CRACK IS A BLESSING YOU CAN BE GLAD ABOUT.
2 A cracked vessel is the heart: Passions, fashions all depart, Tastes change, love grows cold, Old obsessions lose their hold. Why cling to the overrated? What you treasured gets donated.
CHORUS, REPEAT
3 But when God’s love rains, it pours. If some seeps out, there’s always more. Mind and heart and soul fill up; A holy torrent floods your cup. Overflowing, leaking too, That’s how much your God loves you.
CHORUS: YOU CAN’T FIT GOD IN A FILLED-UP HEART; YOU NEED TO LET SIN OUT. THAT CRACK IS A BLESSING YOU CAN BE GLAD ABOUT.
I have no memory of this, but it looks like I rewrote the lyrics and made a rough demo. I can’t even find any sheet music for this, but I obviously spent some time with the rearrangement:
1 A cracked vessel is the mind What goes in leaks out in time: People’s names and people’s faces, Memories and distant places.
Chorus But God’s love rains – a pure downpour. If some seeps out there’s always more. Mind and heart and soul fill up, A holy torrent floods our cups, overflowing we can trust, That’s how much our God loves us.
2 A cracked vessel is the heart: Passions, fashions all depart, Tastes change, love grows cold, Old obsessions lose their hold. Chorus Bridge Each leaks a blessing in disguise We need to make some space For God to come and live inside And fill us with his grace. No room for fear and doubt Let that all run out and give a joyful shout Chorus
About ten years ago Pam Bowen from the States sent me two lyrics to see if I could set them for her. I quite liked this prayer and she liked the setting, although, after a workshop she went to, she asked for a bridge to be added. I did write music for it, but I thought it ruined the simplicity that made it attractive in the first place. It didn’t make us famous or rich but after ten years I though it worth posting. Future songs in this series will invite collaboration but this one is done.
I made a backing and she got a terrific vocalist to sing it, who added her own grace notes etc.
Gen Bryant‘s Mass For Youth, in the sheet music I purchased, ($A9.95 at Willow) does not have a Gloria. Maybe the masses she intends this for rarely use a sung Gloria, maybe she isn’t happy with hers yet, who knows.
As a great impertinence and completely unsolicited, I wrote one for it. Of course, if Gen asks me to bin this I will.
I used the form of her second memorial acclamation – OK I am in 3/4 rather than 6/8 – using her chords and notes to start off and then added one musical phrase of my own and with repetition could fill out the Gloria. Having nicked most of the ideas I claim no copyright on this at all and I did it as an exercise, about which more later.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will. We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you. We give you thanks for your great glory, Lord God, heavenly King, O God, almighty Father. Lord Jesus Christ, only Begotten Son, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, You take away the sins of the world have mercy on us; You take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer; You are seated at the right hand of the Father: have mercy on us. For you alone are the Holy One, You alone are the Lord, You alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, With the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
I occasionally write songs or hymns. I suspect a lot of parish musicians do likewise. When I was looking at Gen Bryant’s music to write the melody of the Gloria, it came very easily, having set words and the restrictions I gave myself. Years ago a lyric writer in the US sent me a couple of lyrics and I found it easier to set them than write something myself. I suspect, therefore, that I would work best as a collaborator, and it is interesting the companies like OCP lock up their songwriters together to get their committee songs.
Monica O’Brien and the Willow team are having a small song writing get together soon, and my hope for it is that we can establish a network for those who want to, to collaborate on our song writing. Except for a very few hardworking professionals, no-one is going to make any money out of this game, so I don’t think there is any great drama or risk in most of us doing this. Looking at Erwin Cabucos’s work recently reinforced my belief that our new song will come from the amateurs in the parish. I will be dead before anything useful comes from the hierarchy and we can only count on the schools for so much.
I’m going to put up some songs I have written of variable quality and age. I will post demos of me trying to sing the songs – fair warning, I have a poor voice. A lot of my songs have obvious flaws, but maybe someone else is best to fillet anything useful. I wrote hundreds of terrible songs when I was young for the two or three I still think are alright some forty something years later, so I doubt many of these songs are up to much.
Conversely, if anyone has a song fragment that they have lying around that they would like to bat around, do let me know.
I've worked my way through the As One Voice books and other collections making backings on Band in a Box to help me (& you if you're interested) learn new songs for church. This is aimed at churches and musicians that own the collections but haven't exploited them fully. If you don't have them they are certainly worth buying. This site is educational, nonprofit and designed to enhance the commercial prospects of songwriters. This site does not distribute copyrighted sheet music.
Disclaimer
Any opinions expressed here are personal views and not the responsibility of any Church.
All music backings posted are created by myself and the intention is for them to be used to learn the songs. If any copyright holder wishes me to cease publicising and promoting their wares and directing people to where sheet music can be legally purchased please let me know.
Mason’s “Mass of Glory and Praise”
To access my backings for Paul Mason's mass go to Feb 2011 in the archive.
