music and mass

• Music in Catholic worship


  Sacred song united to the words forms a necessary or integral part of the liturgy
• Benefits of using music in Catholic worship

  • Enhances people's experience of the liturgy
  • Adds delight to prayer
  • Fosters unity of minds
  • Confers greater solemnity upon the sacred rites
• How music adds delight to prayer

  Music has the ability to inspire people and provoke feelings and emotions that words alone cannot achieve, thus it helps Catholics to pray more deeply within the liturgy
• How music fosters unity of minds

  Singing together demonstrates unity and community among people singing together in the liturgy, can help people feel united and more involved with the worship by being a participant rather than a spectator
• How music confers greater solemnity

  Music helps to give a greater sense of purpose and direction to the worship
• St. Augustine: 'He who sings prays twice'
• Types of music used in Catholic worship

  • Plain chant
  • Traditional hymns
  • Contemporary worship songs
  • Psalms
  • Mass settings
• Plain chant

  Oldest form of music used in worship, consisting of a group of voices singing unaccompanied and usually using a limited range of notes, still used in some monasteries as part of their daily prayer of the Divine Office, particularly useful for singing parts of the mass that can be said in Latin
• Traditional hymns


  Songs meant to be sung by the whole congregation and accompanied normally by a single instrument such as an organ, generally sung at the start or end of the mass and are sung in the local language of the congregation, usually consist of several verses and a chorus which is repeated throughout, some people find them comforting and familiar with words that have lots of meaning
• Contemporary worship songs


  Songs that usually reflect a more modern style of music, typically written to be played on a range of contemporary instruments, do not always follow the same verse chorus pattern of traditional hymns but instead often have less words but with sections that are repeated multiple times, may allow people to engage more deeply with the words, some people like these because they are more vibrant or upbeat than traditional hymns
• Psalms


  The Psalms were the hymn book of the Jewish people, today they still form an essential part of Catholic daily worship, priests, monks and nuns as well as some lay Catholics use the Divine Office where the recitation of the Psalms form an essential part, the Psalms can be set to standard tunes and can also be sung in a responsorial form during the mass, they cover a wide range of human experiences and so can be appropriate in almost every situation
• Mass settings


  Many of the common mass parts or acclamations can be sung, some composers have written a mass settings where they write a common tune and put each part of the mass to that tune, in the past these were often written for four-part choirs and were very complex and only sung by the choir, more recently these have become more simplified so that the whole congregation can join in by putting parts of the mass to music, it can help people to feel more involved than simply saying the words
• Gloria

  A hymn of praise to God starting with the words glory to God in the highest, based partially on the words of the angels who appeared to the Shepherd's outside Bethlehem when Jesus was born, used at the beginning of mass just after the penitential act, not used during the seasons of Lent and Advent as these are seasons of penitence and waiting
• Alleluia


  A song of praise, the word Alleluia means praise God, used before the reading of the gospel to announce the presence of Christ in the scriptures, not used during the season of Lent because it does not fit well during a time of fasting and penance
• Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy)


  A song about the holiness of God, the words are based on the song of the angels in Isaiah's vision of the temple, the fact that the word holy is used three times is a reminder for Christians of the triune God, sung or said before the start of the Eucharistic prayer
• Mystery of Faith (Memorial Acclamation)


  Said or sung immediately after the moment of consecration in the mass, there are several variations but each one declares the essential Christian belief in the importance of the death and resurrection of Jesus