~ the universal beauty that invites the involvement of the entire assembly in prayer ~
Welcome!
It's a pleasure to welcome you to my website - Liturgical Song. It features my musical settings of the Mass, the responsorial psalms, and other songs for liturgy. You can look for a song from my collections; you can find help in learning and performing them (see example). You can also read about my songbooks, compilations and CD recordings, and order these online. You'll also find links to my journal articles and news on workshops.
Happy browsing!
What is Liturgical Song?
Liturgical Song is the category of songs and sacred music that is sung in the liturgy - liturgically holy, musically beautiful and pastorally universal (see sidebar for a summary discussion, based on John Paul II's Chirograph on Sacred Music).
Christian liturgy is a tapestry of many different genres of liturgical song. Each genre has an intrinsic musicality determined by its particular form and its service to the liturgy. You can explore the world of liturgical song using the top navigation bar - from silence, to cantillation, to dialogues and acclamations, to litanies, to responsorial psalms, to processional antiphons, to songs and hymns, to instrumental music. Each page presents a summary overview of the song's service to the liturgy, a star rating of its importance for singing, and references to it in key documents.
I hope you find this website helpful for your own particular parish or school situation. Some parts are still a work in progress, so pop back from time to time to see what's new.
News
Workshops and Conferences
- "Sing the Mass" in collaboration with the Australian Pastoral Musicians Network (APMN) and the Wollongong Diocesan Liturgical Commission, a workshop on the seven Mass settings recommended by the Australian Bishops. Held at St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Wollongong (Sunday, 29 April, 2012 1.00pm - 4.00pm).
- "Leading the Assembly" in collaboration with the Australian Pastoral Musicians Network(APMN) and the Wollongong Diocesan Liturgical Commission, a workshop for cantors, accompanists and voice trainers on responsorial psalm resources, cantor accompaniment techniques, and vocal training techniques for liturgy. Held at St Thomas Aquinas Church, 2 Bendooley Street, Bowral (Sunday, 17 June, 2012 1.00pm - 4.00pm).
Full details on the Workshops page.
NEW! Backing Tracks for Mass Shalom
These recordings of organ accompaniment, made by Godelieve Ghavalas on an Allen organ, are suitable for use when an organist is unavailable. Click here for more details.
Mass of Glory and Praise on list of seven settings approved by the New Zealand Bishops
The New Zealand Bishops have now approved seven Mass Settings. In addition to the Chant Mass and Mass of St Theresa by Douglas Mews, they have now approved Celtic Mass (Christopher Walker), Heritage Mass (Owen Alstott), Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen), Mass of St Francis (Paul Taylor) and Mass of Glory and Praise (Paul Mason). Click here for more details.
FREE Assembly Downloads of Mass Settings
Help your assembly sing the new translation with FREE assembly edition downloads of Mass of Glory and Praise, Mass Shalom and Mass of the Saints. Holders of Word of Life Restricted Copy Licenses, CCLI Church Copyright Licenses, and LicenSing Annual Licenses may reproduce these editions provided they record and report copy and usage activities according to the license held.
More samples now available!
More sample recordings and PDFs are now available for listening and viewing for Mass Shalom, Mass of Glory and Praise, and Psalms for All Time. More recording samples for Mass of the Saints coming later in March 2011. Click on the images to the right and follow the "More Info" links for details.
Mass of Glory and Praise reviewed in Rite Notes and Pastoral Liturgy
For details of the reviews, click here.
New Mass Settings NOW AVAILABLE!
The new Mass Setting - Mass of the Saints - and revisions to Mass of Glory and Praise (2nd Edition) and Mass Shalom (3rd Edition) are now available for order. Simply click on the images in the right column to obtain further information and to order online.
Mass of Glory and Praise and Mass Shalom recommended by the Australian Bishops
On September 30th 2010 the Australian Bishops announced Mass of Glory and Praise and Mass Shalom among the six Mass settings they are recommending for use by parishes and schools as the new Missal translation is implemented during 2011, with the aim of encouraging a common repertoire throughout the country. For more information, visit their website.
New Mass settings from January 2011
The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference has given permission to allow the musical settings of the new English translation of the Roman Missal (3rd Edition) to be used in Mass commencing January 2011. This will allow an extended period for parishes and schools to learn the new settings and become familiar with them in Mass prior to the introduction, from June 2011, of the new spoken dialogues, responses and prayers.
Recent article in Worship Magazine
For an in-depth review and guide to pastoral implications of John Paul II's Chirograph on Sacred Music, please read my article in Worship Magazine Volume 82 No 5, published in September 2008. See my page on Other Publications for further information.
Psalms For All Time reviewed in Pastoral Liturgy
In the current edition of Pastoral Liturgy Magazine (Vol 40, 4-5, June 2010-November 2010), Angela Bendotti reviews two resources for liturgical worship - Bob Hurd's Dining in the Kingdom: Songs for Communion and Gathering, and Paul Mason's Psalms for All Time.The article is entitled "Music in the Eucharistic Liturgy: A Priority Not an Extra!" It explores both resources in detail and provides an excellent in-depth review and recommendation of Psalms for All Time.
For excerpts from the review, click here.
Pastoral Liturgy is a publication (ISSN 1446-0661) of the School of Philosophy and Theology, University of Notre Dame Australia. For more information visit their website.
Workshop and Conference Bookings
Please email me at paul.mason@liturgicalsong.com to make a booking for a workshop or presentation for a conference.