This buoyant call and response song by composer and retired church musician Marilyn Haskel is an invitation to joyful unity found in the sharing of the Eucharistic meal.

Marilyn begins by speaking the rhythm of the "Hallu, hallelujah!" response in rhythm, then asks the community to echo. Once the rhythm is clear she teach the responses, using her hands to remind the group of the melodic shape. Finally, she adds the cantor part and cues the response with a rhythmic gesture and an encouraging smile. 

While it may take time to learn, a song like this can be life-giving and empowering when the community is able to practice it before worship, as well as repeat it over several weeks.

You can help support the community's participation by teaching the responses to the choir. And model shared leadership by assigning the cantor part to choir members or other song leaders.

The piece can be sung unaccompanied. A drum can be helpful, but be careful it doesn't muddy the rhythm.

Cantor: The bread which we break
Response I: Hallu, hallelujah!
Cantor: is the sharing of the body of Christ. 
Response II: Hallu, hallelujah!
We being many are one bread.
Response I: Hallu, hallelujah!
We being many are one body.
Response II: Hallu, hallelujah!
For we all share in one bread.
Response I: Hallu, hallelujah!
For we all share in one bread.
Response III: Hallu, hallelujah!

Marilyn has given faith communities permission to sing and share the song without restrictions.

This powerful, multi-part layered song was composed by Ana Hernández. It has often been used as a prayer song, holding space for fears and challenges to be named, held, and blessed by our collective voices.

Ana often begins with two lower voices (the ostinato, "Hold my hope... and the response, "Hold my trembling...") and lets the rhythm settle before lining out the melody. Further harmonies can then be lined out or improvised by the group.

"Hold my hope. 
Hold my trembling.
Hold my heart, teach me to be love."

Tar a thighearna is a beautiful Gaelic chant by singer and composer Ruth Cunningham. Translated "Come, Lord, come thou Being," the piece is a powerful invocation and useful for centering/gathering, prayers, and times when a gentle, focused energy is needed. 

The text and the melody can be learned through call and echo. Take your time and repeat passages that need extra care, especially those with ornamentation. Invite improvised harmony when the community is ready.

Gaelic:
Tar a thighearna.

Pronunciation: tahr ah hear-nah, tahr-ah-hee

English translation:
Come, Lord, come thou Being.

Ruth has given faith communities permission to sing and share the song without copyright restrictions.

This is a gorgeous setting of an Orthodox funeral liturgy, written by Daniel Schwandt at our MMC Composers' Gathering in Brattleboro, VT in 2013. 

Peace, Salaam, Shalom was written by Emma's Revolution (activists and singers Pat Humphries and Sandy Opatow) after September 11, 2001 and it quickly became an anthem of the peace movement. It sets the word 'peace' in English, Arabic, and Hebrew, offering a powerful interfaith message that has been shared at protests, religious services, and in other community contexts.

"We were moving from NYC to the Washington DC area over September 11th, 2001. When the only response from the government and the corporate media was “war and retribution,” we wrote “Peace, Salaam, Shalom” and sang it at an impromptu peace march in DC that week. Less than a month later, we led the song at the first peace rally in NYC after 9/11, where over 10,000 people sang with us for the three hour march, all the way from Union Square to Times Square."

Emma's Revolution asks groups, organizations, schools, churches, etc., that use their music to pay a one-time, sliding scale fee of $75-150 for use of the song in perpetuity. See their website for more information.

This song was composed by Marilyn Haskel. 

This beautiful, layered chant by Ana Hernández is one of the best-known pieces in the MMC repertoire. The text is adapted from a Chinese mantra to Guan Shi Yin, the Buddhist goddess of compassion. 

Leaders in the MMC community teach the song differently. Some begin with Part I, then move to Parts II and III. Others reverse the order to great effect. No matter how you teach it, be sure to tend the beautiful dissonance on the word "heart" and keep inviting the community to deeper listening. Additional parts can be improvised and you can also support the voices with guitar or keyboard accompaniment.

Ana suggests using the chant during Communion, in Taize services, underneath prayers, or to shift the energy of a tense situation. It can also be sung in Spanish and French. 

Open my heart.
Abre mi corazón.
Ouevre mon coeur.

You can purchase sheet music or a license to use Ana's music from her website. 

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.

This Gospel music-inspired communion song was written by Mary Kay Beall and John Carter.

"*Here is bread for the hungry soul.
Here is wine for the thirsty heart.
Here is forgiveness, full and free.
Here at the table of the Lord."

*Several MMC leaders have sometimes swapped the first two phrases to good effect: 'Here is bread for the hungry heart. Here is wine for the thirsty soul.'

Copyright for the piece is held by Hope Publishing. If you plan to reprint the text in a bulletin, a program, or in individual song sheet form, you must submit a request for use.

This layered chant commonly used for the service of Compline was written by tunesmith Ana Hernández. Here's a description of the piece from her website:

Guide Us Waking, Guard Us Sleeping is an eight-part circular chant with optional piano accompaniment you may improvise in almost any musical style, from early music to gospel. It's also beautiful with unaccompanied voices. You may also use as few as three parts and still create something beautiful, which makes it perfect as an anthem for small choirs, chanting groups, and improvisors. My friend Julia taught it to her choir and they sang it at the end of rehearsal every Thursday night for years while they put away their books and put on their coats.

"Guide us waking, guard us sleeping,
that awake we walk in love/watch with Christ;
and asleep we may rest in peace."