As those of you who are Catholics - or have visited a Catholic church - know, the Mass contains a whole series of responses from the congregation. Some are spoken, some are sung. One of the things I've learned over the years is that every parish has its own special set of tunes for these responses. They may be singing the same words as are sung at every other Catholic church in the English-speaking world, but the melodies are as unique as if each parish had its own thumbprint.
Here's the tough part: these melodies are almost never written down. A newcomer can stick out like a sore thumb since there's no way of knowing how to sing along with each of the responses. If you attend Mass in that parish regularly, you'll eventually get to know the tunes --- but it certainly takes time. And just when you think you've got 'em down, the choir director will decide it's time to freshen up the service with a new melody or two! I'm not sure if this is peculiar to Catholics or part and parcel of every church experience, but you gotta laugh. It's like this secret code you'll only be in on if you do indeed attend church regularly. Heaven forbid you miss Mass the Sunday that the choir director introduces a new response to the congregation! If you can't sing along, it's a sure sign to everyone around that you've been sleeping in on Sundays.
The church I've been attending for the last three weeks is one I attended probably
a couple dozen times beforehand. So I'm already familiar with most of the responses that are sung. There's one in particular, though, that I can't for the life of me catch on to. The melody doesn't seem to follow any rules of nature. It twists all around, up and down, sideways and inside out. It's a really long response, too. Oy. Where's Father O'Malley when you need him?Shallow, huh? And sadly - not quite as shallow as the fact that I've spent the last two Sundays noticing that there are a heck of a lot of single dads in my parish. I sure hope one of these Sundays I'll be able to tune out all these distractions...
11 comments:
Hang in there. . . you'll pick up the tune. My guess (based on singing with the choir decades ago) is that the tune is written down somewhere - do you have missals or missalettes in the pew? Somewhere in there is "service music", and there should be service music grouped by, well, maybe tune for lack of a better word. Sometimes they will put up the song number/page number for service music.
Is it a prayer or a short response you're having trouble with? Some of the sung prayers can be long & harder to catch on to. Our church uses sung prayers in Latin occasionally and those took me quite a while to learn.
I had no idea about the singing melodies in a Catholic church! How fascinating!
Thanks doll,
The Glamorous Housewife
I've noticed this too and I hate to say it but when the melody changes it throws me into a confused tailspin for quite some time.
Last Sunday my husband I had a new song leader and he chose a new tune. ( to the same old Song) my husband and i just looked at each other as we stumbled through. They sound alike just enough to keep you mixed up.
I knew a lady that after her husband and children died she became a nun. One of her jobs as a nun was to write the music to those songs.So now i think of the widow ,now married to God..with pen in hand at the piano.(Happy again)
When I used to go, I hate to say that I used to pick the mass without singing. I cannot hold a tune to save my life now although when I was younger I was in the choir. I wonder if girls go through voice changes like boys? When I hit my teens, I was like a cat being tortured when I sang. =\
at our church, the Hosanna bit is sung differently EVERy week, I can never keep track of what tune we are going on ...lol
Mama Kit, the one that's really vexing me is a sung prayer. Strangely enough, the churches I've gone to have almost never used the tunes that are written down in the missalette for anything except for the official responsorial and the actual hymns.
TGH, I'm not sure where we fall on the spectrum when it comes to music during the service. It'd be interesting to find out!
Bonjour Madame, I bet as soon as I get this tough one down - they'll change it. :)
Mrs. Tailleur, what a sad-sweet story... Color me surprised these little melodies are actually written down by someone. Sometimes, I think the choir director just makes 'em up on the spot to keep people on their toes.
LPM, great question!
Oh dear, Atomic Mama, how can anybody keep up?!?
As a long time choir singer, I can tell you that the responses generally are from a particular "Mass." There is the "Mass of Creation," "Mass of God's Promise", etc. Look at the back of your missalette/hymnal and you'll find them grouped by Masses. If you can read music, you can figure out after a while which "Mass" they are following. Our choir director will have us sing the responses from one Mass for several weeks, and then switch to another one (he doesn't mix it up every week - that's asking for trouble and non-participation from the congregation, as far as I'm concerned!).
Ooh, an inside trade secret! I'm totally going to be digging through that missalette this coming Sunday.
The churches I've been to all have their own "trade marks". It is the prayer/response/thought that counts. :)
Agreed!
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