Psalm 103 – the Lord Is Kind and Merciful

Recorded live 2 April 2016 (iPhone)
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen

Psalm 103 with the response “The Lord is kind and merciful,” appears several times in the lectionary cycle. This was recorded at a wedding, so the small congregation is hard to hear. Only two verses are included in this video because the lack of memory on my iPhone prevented me from capturing the entire psalm setting.

The music for this piece is found in Audubon Park Psalter – Weddings and Funerals.

Psalm 145 – Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C

Recorded 24 April 2016 (iPhone) at the 11am Mass
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Baltimore MD

Psalm 145 – I Will Praise Your Name Forever
for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year C

The music for this piece is found in Audubon Park Psalter – Year C.

Audubon Park Psalter

    PsalterCovers


    The Audubon Park Psalter consists of five volumes: one for each of the liturgical years (A, B, and C), a fourth for Solemnities, Feasts and other holidays and a shorter fifth volume containing palms for weddings and funerals. It uses the new Revised Grail Psalm translation for the verses with the ICEL refrains. Each liturgical year volume is 60-70 pages and contain over 50 psalm settings.

    After several years of leading very eclectic music programs, I felt the need for a psalter that would raise the standard of music available and that could be adapted to many different settings. The Audubon Park Psalter is designed to be flexible instrumentally and vocally. The verses are written most often in a one pulse per measure chant style (like Gelineau) so that a consistent tempo may be kept between the refrain and the verses. Having chant style verses makes the singer’s task of learning multiple verses easier than a through-composed setting, but by keeping a pulse, it is possible to have much more interesting melodies than a common 3-5 note chant settings would offer.

    Because the verses are most often written in traditional four-part harmony, a choir could sing the text or accompany the cantor by singing on a neutral syllable. A string quartet or woodwind ensemble could also read the vocal lines for additional accompaniment colors. Because of the consistent rhythm, a skilled ensemble of piano, guitar and drums, could take many of these settings into different jazz or contemporary styles. Written with a harmonic language that is interesting, yet accessible, these settings are designed to be singable, playable and achievable for most any parish music program. Check out the playlist of recordings from live performances of the psalter.

    TIFF and JPG files of the refrains are available for download. You may search by occasion or first line:

    Scores may be purchased as a set or individually: Year A, Year B, Year C, Solemnities and Feasts, Weddings and Funerals.

Approved!

PsalterCovers
Today I received official approval from the Committee on Divine Worship of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to publish my settings of the Revised Grail Psalter with the ICEL refrains. The Audubon Park Psalter will consist of four volumes: one for each of the liturgical years (A, B, and C) and a fourth for Solemnities, Feasts and other holidays. Each volume will be 60-70 pages and contain over 50 psalm settings.

After several years of leading very eclectic music programs, I felt the need for a psalter that could be adapted to many different settings. The Audubon Park Psalter is designed to be useable in the traditional organ and cantor setting, but also by the contemporary ensemble with piano, guitars, and even drums. Any attempts to find repertoire common to both groups, would usually lead to complaints from one or the other, so when creating these new settings, I endeavored to use a harmonic language that will be interesting to the highly trained musicians and yet accessible to those with less formation.

The verses are written most often in a one pulse per measure chant style (like Gelineau) so that a drummer could play continuously through the psalm (instead of dropping out for non-metrical chanted verses). The verses are also written in traditional four-part harmony so that a choir could sing them (if desired). Having chant style verses makes the singer’s task of learning multiple verses easier than a through-composed setting, but by keeping a pulse, it is possible to have much more interesting melodies than a common 3-5 note chant settings would offer. These settings are designed to be singable, interesting and achievable for most any parish music program.

Look for more information to come as I finalize the drafts for publication.

10/22 – NOW AVAILABLE HERE