Electronic music ahead: Proceed with caution

Instrumentation

• Bright electric piano patches such as the old Yamaha DX7 "crystal piano" or a similar sounding patch on other synths is an excellent choice for songs that move the soul.
• For the responsorial psalm, I choose a very warm-sounding electric piano like that of the good old Fender Rhodes. Adding a very mildly wet chorus effect to it helps warm the soul and does not overpower the cantor and assembly.
• For all songs, the acoustic piano patch is an excellent choice, but be careful with these patches as dominant accompaniment instruments. The quality of the synthesizer's patch(es) varies from one brand and model to another. But even though manufacturers of today's synthesizers have captured the acoustic piano so wonderfully, there are very few Catholic church sound systems that can do it justice.

Church P.A. sound system

Organists must exercise the same cautions as synth players. The instrument's timbre and volume must be scrutinized for the support of the assembly.
 

The sequencer

To do sequencing you must first and foremost be someone who can arrange music. I believe that sequencing is best taught as a course. But, if you are absolutely positive that you have a knack for arranging or if you have had training in music composition and/or arranging, then allow me to pass on some thoughts just to give you some sense of the use of this medium. Before I begin, let me say this: In preparing all music, whether it's live or sequenced, you must place your bodily person in the assembly and be one of them first.
 

Dos and don'ts

• Do first know well the song you're going to do. Listen to it in your mind as someone warming a bench in the assembly. Then, listen to it in your heart.
• Don't jump into sequencing a song without first learning it.
• Do remember that minimal is more desirable.
• Don't load it up with a lot of instruments, such as string guitars and horns and woodwinds, all going at once. Let them take turns. French horns are wonderful for descants, for counter melodies, and especially for doubling the refrain melody that belongs to the assembly. Be careful: not too loud.
• Do picture in your mind what kind of live players you would like to have. Then sequence carefully only those instruments. In other words, sequence what's missing in your group.
• Don't use any patch that can overwhelm the assembly during any part of the song, especially a refrain that belongs to them.
• Do use flute and oboe patches as lead instruments. They're usually clean and realistic.
• Don't use patches like saxophones as lead instruments. While some may sound good, they just don't cut the mustard for realism and can be irritating. Here you must really know what the instrument sounds like in real life and how the "human element" effects its sound. Some synthesizers are excellent at reproducing instruments' sounds, and some not so. Again, scrutinize the sound of the patch over the P.A. system and decide on its use as someone sitting in the assembly.
• Do allow the basic rhythm section to play for the assembly's singing part, that is,. piano, guitar, bass and drums. (There is a word of caution about drums and percussion coming up; don't miss it.)
• Don't overdo drums. Be conservative with them and keep them clean.
• Do always play some instrument "live" along with the sequence, even if it's the keyboard itself.
• Don't push the go button and just stand there and sing.
• Above all, never, never, never ever put your sequences on tape or CD and use a player for liturgy.

Arranging

If you're going to sequence for the four main hymns, remember the following:

• Entrance procession: This is not traveling music. This is when the people are supposed to center and prepare themselves to pray the liturgy with their family-community. I encourage you to choose a song long enough to get the people praying together. It usually takes about three verses to get them going.
• Presentation of the gifts: This music covers only the ritual movement: collecting money and bringing it and the bread and wine forward. When the presider is ready for the preface dialog of the eucharistic prayer, all presentation music must stop. I suggest that for this song, live is better. If you really want to sequence, time it to finish with the presider; you've been doing this long enough to know how long it takes on any given Ordinary Time Sunday. If you miss it by a minute or so, you can simply fade it out by turning the master volume down on your mixer. Then, stop your sequencer and return the volume to its original setting.
• Communion procession: These songs also cover the ritual movement only, which is, of course, the procession of the assembly, including the musicians. Here is where a sequencer can be worth its weight: While the musicians are sharing communion (after the rest of the assembly is recommended), the sequenced music can continue to accompany your and the assembly singing. I hope you are finding ways to be part of the procession.
• Sending forth: Freedom! A song here is not required; it's just something we have done for centuries. So you're free to do an appropriate piece with as much, or as little, production as you want. Keep something in mind, if you would, please: If you're going to do a song or instrumental here, try something that helps the people feel like they're being sent forth and not driven out.

You're wondering about the service music (Gloria, Gospel acclamation, eucharistic acclamations, Lord's Prayer, Lamb of God). Again, if sequencing is to be a part of your music presentation, this really should be a course of study or at least a workshop at the NPM Convention, Liturgy Conference and/or Religious Education Congress. These parts can be sequenced successfully but they have to be handled with extreme care. I'm not going to open a discussion on this here, but if, after reading this article, there is a demand for me to write about it in a future article, I'll be happy to. I'll just say again that minimal is preferable.

Here are some examples of what I have done with songs you may know:
 

• "All The Earth" (Lucian Diess) [entrance procession hymn]: warm tines; acoustic bass; flute at intro, turn-arounds, and double the melody in the refrain; I play 6-string guitar.
• "Philippians II" [Passion Sunday's second reading]: A cantor at the ambo, another singer at the lectern, and choir do the singing. This takes special consideration, planning, arranging and coordination to pull this off. Some, not all, of the organ parts are sequenced to allow me to play a real trumpet at the intro and interlude. The first complete sentence is sung a cappella; I play the synth's registers organ patch for the next sentence; the sequencer runs for the rest and I blow trumpet for the interlude; then "that Jesus Christ is Lord"is sung by all while I play the organ patch again. To keep my hands free I use a start/stop foot switch for the keyboard sequencer.
• "We Come to Your Feast" [presentation hymn]: Bright tines EP with blocked and arpeggiated chords; fingered bass, a little bongos; marimba roll-chords during the refrain; I play 12-string guitar. All instruments played very lightly.
• "Kordero Ng Diyos [Tagalog fraction song for the Lamb of God]: shakuhachi (for its ethnic sound) for intro and turn-arounds, bright tines EP; acoustic bass; bongos and bell: I play 12-string guitar.
• "One Bread, One Body" [communion procession song]: acoustic piano; minimal drum kit; fingered bass; I play 12-string guitar. I used to have strings and French horns but found them to be intrusive to the assembly, so I removed them.
• "Recucíto" [Spanish communion procession on Easter Vigil (multi-cultural)]: acoustic bass (to emulate a guitarón); doubled up three different guitar patches, sequenced them like strumming, and then offset their start times by about four time-clicks so they sound like many more; alternated claves, shaker, bongos, castanets, and triangle; I play mariachi-style trumpet.
• "We Are Called" [a sending forth]: acoustic piano, fingered bass, a wet gospel organ with rotary speaker effect; I play 12-string guitar.

Drum patches and Drum Machines

Enough is enough

Conclusion

I have used a sequencer for more than 10 years and have learned how to use it to enhance a song and give it a quality that helps draw the "orchestra of the assembly" into the sung prayer. I have overmixed and overwhelmed, missed a volume setting or two, had a wrong patch play, had patches and entire songs disappear, and have grown from my mistakes and successes. I've been embarrassed and congratulated and, thanks to God for his eternal vigilance, I haven't had any disasters.

Let's face it: Music is a creative art and we are creative artists. What makes us more special than our entertainment counterparts is that we have charge of the care of the liturgy and our assemblies. We must discard our self-centered egos to minister to the assembly, not entertain or impress them. If I were to present a class or workshop on this subject, I would have a prerequisite that, before anyone even walked through the doors, they would have to have read and understand Music in Catholic Worship, especially the sections "The Musical Judgment" and "The Liturgical Judgment." If we really get a powerful understanding of what it takes to lead the assembly in sung prayer, we can use any musical instrument -- traditional, established, ethnic, or high-tech -- to help bring the assembly into the spirit to which Jesus has called us.

Terry Arford is the director of liturgy and a pastoral musician at St. Jane Frances de Chantal in North Hollywood, Calif., and is certified as a liturgy director with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He has been a pastoral musician for more than 15 years and a practical musician for more than 37 years.