Meningen er at vi katolikker skal synge hele messen – både dens proprium og dens ordinarium – men de fleste steder (også i Norge) gjøres dette nesten aldri. Messens ordinarium synges på ganske gode melodier i Norge (på norsk eller latin), mens inngangsvers, event. graduale, offertorievers og kommunionsvers synges nesten ingen steder på norsk; man synger mer eller mindre tilfeldig valgte hymner. (Det er tillatt, men da synger man i messen, heller enn å synge selve messens tekster.)
Jeffrey A. Tucker skriver om hva som holder på å skje noen steder i den engelskspråklige verden på dette feltet ved utgivelsen av «Simple English Propers» (men utgangspunktet der er mye verre enn i det katolske Norge):
… I’ve told the story many times of how it suddenly dawned on me a little over one year ago that we really didn’t have anything to offer parishes that stood somewhere between the perfection of the ideal in the Graduale Romanum and the parish reality of four songs of non-liturgical text per Mass. So long as that was true, progress would be stopped simply because it is nearly impossible to leap from one to the other. You need musicians, training, experience, a pastor who is on board, and a people who are ready – ingredients that rarely come together all in one parish.
Today, we have the book and the viable option for any parish to start singing the real text of the Mass starting this next week! That is a glorious thing. The book is now used in many monasteries, convents, seminaries, and innumerable parishes. The North American College, for example, is all abuzz with the implications of this new book. This is helped by the fact that these are freely downloadable, so you don’t have to take the risk of buying for the entire year to try them out for one Sunday or just one communion chant.
The Simple English Propers are only the beginning. They serve as a model of the kind of music we need. I would also add that the Simple Choral Gradual by Richard Rice also falls into this category: simple music but absolutely beautiful in the real experience of Mass at regular parishes. There will be many other editions and approaches pouring out as the years go on. What matters most is that this book has finally begun to break up the old system that long predates Vatican II of singing any old thing at Mass. …
Her er de to bøkene han anbefaler: Simple English Propers og Simple Choral Gradual.