Church Music

Sarah Hart got another spot in Breaking Bread for 2023 with this joyous song of welcome and gathering from 2019. It is another song of hers with a country feel.

The sheet music can be purchased at OCP. They provide the text here.

The is a very singable Eucharist waltz from Sarah Hart, who has become one of the most prolific Catholic songwriters of our time. The refrain is intentionally kept simple and memorable to be sung while processing.

A lot of her songs have a country feel to them and this is no exception. By the way, my non-scientific survey shows that OCP music is getting less up tempo and more ballad focused (ie less Spirit & Song) and this includes their more youthful contributors. There is an an opening in the market for other approaches but is seems unlikely to come from mainstream OCP/GIA axis. I suspect it will come from schools but young people’s music is a mystery to me.

The sheet music can be purchased at OCP, where the text is in their preview.

I used the preview to make a BIAB backing to help us learn it.

This is a lovely gentle song for Eucharist in Spanish that has been selected for Breaking Bread in 2023. It is by Colombian American songwriter Iván Díaz. There is also an English text by Estela García-López and Tom Booth.

THIS IS A HIT SONG.

The text is at OCP where you can purchase the sheet music.

My backing follows the Spanish text but you can see the slight differences for the English text in their preview.

The next song selected for Breaking Bread 2023 is actually “May the Angels Be Your Guide” which I blogged here from my ragged copy of the Guitar Accompaniment Book from OCP. It was written in 1998 so maybe it was in, then out and is in again.

Which brings us to a new setting of Genevieve Glen‘s text “Oh, Who Can Know the Mind of God”. I have previously blogged it set to MORNING SPRING.

This setting is by Justin Wedgewood and is simple, dignified and lovely. The sheet music can be purchased at OCP where the text is in their preview.

This is a Swiss army song from a liturgical perspective as it covers pretty much everything and could be used pretty much anywhere in the mass. The useful text is by John T. Kyler and it is set by Orin Johnson and it was added to Breaking Bread for 2023. It was composed only a couple of years ago but has a timeless quality.

The sheet music can be purchased at OCP where the text is in their preview.

Their version is quite grand but it sounds like Appalachian folk to me – son of BEACH SPRING! It is in 5/4 time so was a dog to put on Band in a Box.

This is either a lovely Kyrie for an assembly or a stern test for your cantors. “Have mercy” indeed. Luke D. Rosen used the Sarum Missal for his verses. The 3/4+4/4 setting is marvellous if annoying to program into Band In a Box! It is a new addition in Breaking Bread for 2023.

You could put your choir to work during a second Rite of Reconciliation or find a place for it in Lent.

The sheet music can be purchased at OCP where the text is in their preview.

My backing puts the ostinato refrain on one side and the cantor part on the other for learning purposes.

Doing this litany at Gethsemane, as above, would just about done me in I think.

This is a delightful hymn of consolation based on 1 Peter 5:6 by Dan Schutte. It has been selected for Breaking Bread 2023 and the song is only 5 years old so he is still pumping out the hits.

The sheet music can be purchased at OCP, where the text is in their preview. I used that for my backing.

The next song added to Breaking Bead for 2023 is actually “I Have been Anointed” by Steven C. Warner of Notre Dame Folk Choir fame, but I have already blogged that here. Astonishingly, it is an old WLP copyright now looked after by GIA in an OCP publication … space for amazed silence.

Which gets us up to Paul Inwood‘s recent song “I Love the Lord”. It is suggested for Passion Sunday but really fits in anywhere as a song of praise. Like many of his tunes it goes where you don’t expect, which is his great charism as a composer.

The sheet music is at OCP where the text is in their preview.

This is a gospel song by Jeffrey La Valley from 1985 that is designed to build up to maybe five vocal lines, so is a choir vehicle for the most part. OCP have selected it for Breaking Bread but so far it appears it will only be in the print version.

The text is here. I found several settings for sale including this one from Hope Publishing. I also found a few amateur choir arrangements that had been put up on the web so I made a backing from one of them. It is a very long one with the main melody repeated throughout and several vocal lines done sequentially followed by lots of space to practice singing them against the main melody. It also is a reggae backing but seems to work.

This is the original:

This is a song for Lent with a text by Michael Joncas and set recently by Scott Crandal. It was chosen to be in Breaking Bread for 2023, which is great because the tune is achingly beautiful.

The sheet music can be purchased at OCP where the text is in their preview.