Below are some resources. Good luck and see you soon!
Simple English Propers (SEP). Official webpage with PDFs – Practice Videos.
Anglican Use Gradual (AUG). PDF
The below table outlines the choral music selections for Advent and Christmas.
Note that page numbers indicate the printed page numbers on the page itself, not the PDF internal numbering.
Some small changes may occur as we near the service dates. If that happens, I will do my best to update this table accordingly.
| Service | Date | Introit | Alleluia | Offertory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advent I | Dec. 3 | SEP p. 1 - video | AUG p. 8 | SEP p. 2 - video |
| Advent II | Dec. 10 | SEP p. 5 - video | AUG p. 12 | SEP p. 6 - video |
| Advent III | Dec. 17 | SEP p. 9 - video | AUG p. 16 | SEP p. 10–11 - video |
| Christmas Eve | Dec. 24 | SEP p. 16–17 - video | AUG p. 27 | SEP p. 17–18 - video |
| Christmas Day | Dec. 25 | SEP p. 28–29 - video | AUG p. 38–39 | SEP p. 29–30 - video |
| 1st Sunday after Christmas | Dec. 31 | SEP p. 32 - video | AUG p. 42–43 | SEP p.33 - video |
In the Western liturgical tradition (of which we as Anglicans take part), the principal part of the choir is to sing the Mass propers.
The propers are a set of sung liturgical texts, each of which correspond with the day in the church calendar and accompany or ornament a liturgical action.
Each day's propers are typically based in Scripture and often derived from the Psalms. They often relate with the texts of the lectionary and display the wonderful interconnectedness of the written Word.
These are the propers:
- Introit
- Gradual
- Alleluia (replaced by Tract during Lent)
- Offertory
- Communion
Other propers exist such as Sequences and Tropes. For our purposes, we will focus on the five given above.
Below we will examine the propers one by one.
The first of the Proper or variable chants of the Mass. It is sung, as its name suggests, during the entrance of the celebrant and his ministers at the beginning of the Mass.
— James McKinnon, "Introit." Grove Music Online.
In more recent usage, the introit, sung by the choir, is sometimes placed after a supplementary "entrance song" sung by the congregation.
In our parish's current usage, we typically begin the liturgy with two congregational entrance songs accompanying the procession and censing of the altar. This year we will try something new during Advent and Christmas while we have the choir. We will replace the first of those two with the introit sung by the choir alone; the second will remain as before and be led by the music leader on rotation for the day.
So the liturgy will begin with the sounds of the choir chanting the introit. The procession will enter, and all will witness as it moves from the nave to the altar.
See an example of this practice from Salisbury Cathedral:
{% include youtube-player.html title="Introit - Salisbury Cathedral" id="LJheGyhBGPU" %}
Chant following the Epistle in the Roman Mass…The gradual, a chant of great melodic elaboration, is so named because it was sung on one of the higher steps – gradus – of the ambo (the same step on which the subdeacon read the Epistle, one below that on which the deacon read the Gospel).
— James McKinnon, "Gradual." Grove Music Online.
A psalm, hymn, or anthem that is sung or read between the OT reading and the epistle at the eucharist.
— An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church
In our BCP 2019, the responsorial Psalm after the Old Testament reading fills the role of the gradual. There is no need for the choir to chant a separate gradual (although it would be most delightful for us all to chant the Psalm together!).
The alleluia of the Mass is a Proper chant sung during the Fore-Mass [Liturgy of the Word] after the gradual except on liturgical occasions associated with penitence and fasting (most notably during Lent), and on ones associated with sorrow (such as the Requiem Mass), when it may be replaced by the Tract…
The alleluia is performed in a responsorial manner: first the word ‘alleluia’ is sung, concluding with an extended melismatic flourish – the Jubilus; then a verse (rarely, two or three verses) is chanted in a moderately elaborate setting; and finally the alleluia is repeated.
— James McKinnon, "Alleluia." Grove Music Online.
A chant of the Western Mass rites sung while bread and wine are prepared for eucharistic consecration.
— Joseph Dyer, "Offertory." Grove Music Online.
Chanted during the distribution of the consecrated elements.