A Guide to Music Choices for Thursday Evening Community Eucharist

Of all the week’s services, the Community Eucharist requires the most planning and preparation, both for your tutor group and the Chapel Musicians. The Community Eucharist is your chance to experiment with music, to expose people to new things, and to learn about planning liturgy. We want you to consider the full range of options and to come up with ideas of your own.

Ideally, please discuss your ideas for music for the Community Eucharist with one of the Chapel Musicians three weeks before the service. This may seem like a long period but it allows us to make use of the full range of musical talent in the house. Carol will email you with a questionnaire to help you plan what music you want to use.

Although the structure of the Community Eucharist follows the ‘Westcott House Style’ (see the service planning template on the homepage), the music you choose will give the service a particular character. You may wish to consider Taizé chants, contemporary worship songs, African music, plainsong, or Celtic-inspired hymns and songs.

Any of the Chapel musicians will be happy to help you, although certain people have particular responsibilities as indicated below.

Things you will need to consider: 1. Choir Items The Community Choir provides much of the musical support for Thursday night services. It tries to use music which is accessible both to people who have not sung before, and to those with more musical experience. In addition, the Gallery Choir may be able to tackle more advanced, chamber choir music, not only for Thursday nights, but for other services. Please discuss any music well in advance as it takes time for a mixed ability choir to learn new music. In the first instance, please see Alex or Dwayne to discuss items for the choir.

Each week the choir will usually sing an anthem during the distribution of communion. This is chosen in advance by the Chapel Musicians, but if there is a particular piece you would like the choir to sing or a particular theme you would like reflected, this will usually be possible if discussed far enough in advance.

There may be other items you wish the choir to sing, recent items have included Introits (music to open the service), the Asperges, and the Nunc dimittis for Candlemas.

2. Hymns The number of hymns and their length will depend on what other optional material you include in the service. There will generally need to be hymns for at least the entry of the altar party (opening /introit hymn), the ofertory (ofertory hymn), and the exit of the altar party (final / recessional hymn). You may also want a gradual hymn (see below), or some extra music during the distribution of communion (usually after the choir anthem).

When choosing hymns, think about the theme of the service (as suggested by the readings, the feast, or the liturgical season) and the overall music style (traditional Anglican, contemporary, Taizé, etc.). Don’t forget to think about inclusive language. If you’d like some advice about which hymns might fit with the readings, feasts, or season, or which hymns are suitable as introits, ofertory hymns, recessionals, etc., please ask the musicians. You may also find the thematic or scriptural indexes in the back of the hymnbooks helpful; likewise www.oremus.org has a useful guide.

The overall musical style will determine the appropriate instrumentation for the service. It may be that you’d prefer just the organ or some unaccompanied singing but brass, strings, woodwind, percussion, etc. can also be used. Again this will need planning and coordination with the organist, choir, instrumentalists, and those with the skills to write arrangements. Please see Dwayne to discuss options for instrumentation.

3. Gradual Another common place for music is after the first reading: this item is referred to as the Gradual. The lectionary provides a psalm or canticle for use here, and you should consider this option first. The psalm or canticle may be sung by the choir alone, by the choir with a congregational response, or by the whole congregation. If you would like the whole congregation to sing, you may wish to consider a hymn based on the psalm or canticle suggested by the lectionary, or alternatively a hymn related to the first reading or to the gospel. Please get in touch with Dan if you’d like to discuss these options further.

4. Mass Setting and Other Music The congregation usually sings the Mass Setting: the Kyrie/Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus, Acclamation, and Agnus Dei, usually to a setting by one composer. You will need to decide which ‘mass setting’ you wish to use. The community currently has three in its repertoire:

1. The Mass of St Thomas by David Thorne, 2. A New People’s Mass by Gregory Murray, 3. The St Anne’s Mass by James MacMillan (no Gloria).

We will also be working to bring in new settings to the Westcott repertoire during Monday night music practice, so please discuss your preferences with the Chapel Musicians to ensure we rehearse sufciently!

There are other items in the service that can be sung, such as responses to the Kyrie (either as part of the confession or following a non-responsorial confession), the Lord’s Prayer, seasonal prayers such as the Advent Wreath prayers, and many more. You may also wish to request a sung eucharistic preface, although the feasibility of this will depend on the president. Guidance and Support A few important things to remember are: – Too many non-standard items or too wide a range of styles in a service can make a service seem cluttered and can detract from worship. – It is important that the Eucharist maintains a ‘Westcott style’ (see the service planning template) and is not significantly diferent from the norm every week. – Worship needs to be accessible for the congregation. Too many unfamiliar pieces of music or non-congregational items can lead to people feeling alienated. Some new or unfamiliar music can be taught at Monday evening music practices with advance notice.

Finally, with so many options and things to consider, planning music for liturgy can seem overwhelming if you are not used to it. The Chapel musicians are here to support you and are always happy to help. We have a wide range of skills, experience, and resources and we know who the people are who can do the things we can’t!

Happy service planning! The Chapel Musician Team: Alex [email protected] (Choir, Organist) Carol [email protected] (Admin, can help with non-traditional music) Dan [email protected] (Compline, Organist) Dwayne [email protected] (Choir, Instrumentalist)