This call and echo Sanctus was composed for the Iona Community in Scotland. It can be sung unaccompanied or with a drone instrument (like a shruti box).
The echo comes quite quickly and there is slightly overlap between the leader and the assembly, so be ready to cue them with a clear, inviting gesture.
"Holy, holy,
Holy Lord of pow'r and might.
Heaven, earth,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
All glory to your name.
Blessed, blessed,
Is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Blessed, blessed,
Is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest!"
Copyright for the piece is held by GIA Publications, Inc. so you'll need a OneLicense membership to print the text or music.
You can find more information and purchase sheet music on Hymnary. The piece is also published in The Faith We Sing.
Whoever Eats This Bread is by composer and consultant Eric Law of the Kaleidoscope Institute. It is an excellent example of a notated composition found in a hymnal that can be easily adapted for paperless singing.
Commonly used during the Distribution of Elements within a eucharistic liturgy (the time when the bread and wine are shared), the antiphon/antiphon can be taught through call and echo patterns. Once confident, it can be sung as a three-part canon; secondary canons can also be added on the verses.
The piece can be sung a cappella or accompanied by an ostinato chord progression played by a keyboard instrument or guitar.
Antiphon:
Whoever eats this bread will live for ever.
1. This is the true bread
which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world. Antiphon
2. Whoever believes in me
shall not hunger or thirst,
for the bread which I give
for the life of the world is my flesh. Antiphon
Copyright for the piece is held by Church Publishing, Inc. If you don't have copies of The Episcopal Hymnal or Wonder, Love, and Praise in your community, you'll need a OneLicense membership to print the text or music.
Sheet music can be found in The Episcopal Hymnal #S170, as well as in the supplemental hymnal Wonder, Love, and Praise. It is also available for purchase here.
Here is a recording of Eric Law teaching the piece at our Music that Makes Community workshop in Los Angeles in October 2008.
This song is originally from Ghana, and the version we've sung at many MMC events is from a setting by Marty Haugen and Marc Anderson. You can find the sheet music and a recording of the song at GIA Music.
This joyful sending song was composed by Pastor Chad McKenna at a Music That Makes Community workshop in Chicago. The text is based on the Canticle of Simeon from Luke 2 and invites us to name the ways we have experienced God's salvation with all our senses.
The piece can be taught phrase by phrase using call and echo patterns. Notice the third line changes for each verse. Some leaders sing that alone, then invite the group to respond affirmatively with the final phrase. A more advanced technique is calling out the upcoming text (singing or speaking several beats ahead), essentially feeding the group the new words while they sing.
"Send now your servants, send now your servants,
Send now your servants, Lord.
Our eyes have seen salvation here.
Send now your servants, Lord."
Additional verses:
"Our tongues have tasted salvation here...
Our ears have heard salvation here...
God has given salvation here..."
Chad has given faith communities permission to sing and share the song without copyright restrictions.
You can find sheet music for Send Now Your Servants here.
This is a mass composed by Daniel Schwandt in honor of Scott Weidler when he left his position as cantor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Chicago, IL in 2014.
Here are the sections of this Mass:
Kyrie - simple melody
This is the Feast - call and response
I Saw the Water Flowing - simple melody (repeated with cantor part)
Gospel Acclamation - Alleluia - simple melody
Holy - echo
Lamb of God - layered (with cantor part)
Thankful Hearts and Voices Raise - (call and response, solo verse with refrain)
This lively call and response song composed by Marilyn Haskel was originally written for a weekly paperless Eucharist at St. Paul's Chapel in New York City that welcomed visitors from around the world.
Begin by teaching the 'Hallelujah!" responses, then sing the call and invite the group right in. Before you know it, the group will be singing the whole song. In Marilyn's context, a quartet of singers filled out the harmony parts in the printed score.
"Listen to the Word of God.
Hallelujah!
Hear the living Word.
Hallelujah!"
Here's a link to a printed score, and here is a recording provided by Marilyn.
I Will Supply Your Need is a call and response song by Ben Allaway, inspired by Philippians 4:19 and the devotional book God Calling by Two Listeners, edited by A. J. Russell. Easily learned and well-suited to many liturgical contexts, the song can deepen into a place of spacious prayer. Improvised harmonies can be invited and additional calls can be written or extemporized to name specific needs within the community.
Additionally, the song leader can shift the language of the response from 'I will...' to 'You will...' as well as offer dynamic instructions that shape the energy and flow of the song.
"Jesus said to me, "I will supply your need."
The weak need my strength...
The strong need my tenderness...
The fallen need my salvation...
The righteous need my pity for sinners...
The lonely need my friendship...
The fighters need my leading...
No one of this world can be all these to another...
Sing it over...
Believe him/Christ when he says...
Hallelujah...
Thank you, Lord..."
Teaching note: Perhaps the biggest challenge is the shift from teaching the response (which we model through call and echo) to the call and response structure. Most groups need a gentle reminder (either spoken or sung) that they keep singing the response and don't echo the call.
Sheet music can be found in Singing In Community, our latest songbook published by Augsburg Fortress. It was first published in Music By Heart, MMC's first collection of paperless songs.
Marilyn begins by teaching the community's responses, which can take some time and patience. As the piece grows in confidence, harmony can be invited and a second leading voice can be added.
I believe. I come to drink.
From the rock came life-giving water;
from the well, water for all.
from my heart, outward to all."
Sheet music is printed in Music By Heart, the original collection of songs published as part Music that Makes Community's work.
Here's a video of the song created by The Rev. Sylvia Miller-Mutia that incorporates ASL and prayerful movement:
This setting of Psalm 47 was written by Pascal Jordan, a Benedictine brother from Trinidad. We learned it from Hilary Seraph-Donaldson in her wonderful series of instructional videos, Break into Song.
A solo or cantor line carries the psalm text, while the community responds with “Alleluia,” and rhythmic leg-slapping and clapping. The rhythmic underpinning is reminiscent of a child’s clapping game or the ubiquitous accompaniment of drum kit, congas, and other percussion that drives a steel drum band. This infuses the song with the strong sense that the whole community is drawn into the act of worship.
Sheet music can be found in Andrew Donaldson's With Many Voices Songbook.
Here's the episode of Break into Song that features All Peoples, Clap Your Hands:
Sithi Haleluya is a well-known Ndebele church song from Zimbabwe, often sung in Shona, as well. It was popular during the anti-Apartheid movement where it was also part of a wide-ranging repertoire of South African protest/freedom songs.
The song was first shared with the MMC community by Canadian song leader Hilary Seraph Donaldson, who learned it from Maria Minnaar-Bailey. Maria grew up in rural Zimbabwe where she played in local marimba bands and learned and taught indigenous styles of music. She now brings those first-hand experiences of African music making to communities in the United States.
You can learn more about the context of the song and find teaching strategies through Break into Song, a series of instructional videos created by Hilary.
Ndebele:
Singaba hambayo thina kulumhlaba
Siy’ekhaya ezulwini.
(Sithi) Haleluya.
Literal English translation (Maria Minnaar-Bailey):
We are walking along in this world of woe,
but onward home to Heaven we go.
Hallelujah.
English singing translation (Andrew Donaldson and Hilary Seraph Donaldson):
Together we walk along in this world of woe,
for heaven calls us on and home we go.
Hallelujah!
Sheet music for the song can be found in the recent Global Song resource Hosanna! Ecumenical Songs for Justice and Peace. You can also find an arrangements for SATB choir and marimba ensemble in Maria's Chaia Marima Songbook 3.
Here's the Break into Song episode created by Hilary exploring Sithi Haleluya: