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Since St. Patrick's Day falls on a Sunday in 2019, I'm planning to play at or after church next year. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for hymns and/or tunes appropriate for a Roman Catholic mass? I did searches and found some information for religious settings, but not specifically for a Catholic liturgy. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

see here

or this :

Ceol an Aifrinn :Seán O'Riada

Be Thou My Vision.

The King of Love my Shepherd Is, also called St. Columba's hymn. If you are playing during Mass, this might work particularly for during offertory, or as a Communion meditation. Just my 2 cents.
Cheers!

What about Caoineadh na dTrí Mhuire?
There's a lovely video out on the web of Joe John Mac Con Iomaire singing the verse, with a small men's chorus, and as icing on the cake Sean McKiernan plays pipes for a couple choruses.
It was on youtube, but now the easiest place to find it is http://www.dailymotion.com.

dave boling

The "usual" setting of Salve Regina (DFABA...) works quite well as an air on the pipes.

Thank you all for your kind and considered responses!

Just be aware that the Mass itself is a somewhat hermetically-sealed thing with an unchangeable format.

Anything that occurs during the Mass has to be part of the Mass and is decided by the Liturgist.

There are Mass settings, and usually all of the main musical bits are drawn from the same setting, say The Mass Of Creation for example.

So the musician can't just play anything he pleases.

Now there are points duing the Mass where it's more open, say during Communion, or during the Offertory.

Still the expectation is that anything played during the Mass will be sacred music.

Before and after the Mass pretty much anything can be played, depending on the whims of the Priest. I've yet to find an Irish Priest here in the USA who didn't approve of me playing Fields Of Athenry! And other Irish songs and airs.

Due to the musical capabilities of the uilleann pipes you can play pretty much any Mass setting, any Hymn. There are thousands of Hymns, any of them can be played for Masses, pretty much.

One unusual aspect of the Roman Catholic Church is that there's no one-and-only official Hymnal.

Playing for LDS services, Episcopal services, United Methodist services etc is easy because each of these denominations has a single official Hymnal. I have all the Hymnals and you just play stuff out of them, you're good to go. Most denominations are like that, they have committees who put together their official Hymnals. If you walk into a church of most denominations you know what you're going to hear: it's going to be out of their Hymnal.

Catholics aren't like that. Anybody can publish a "Catholic Hymnal". Here in the USA there are two major firms each of which publishes several different Catholic Hymnals. You'll hear pretty much anything, I know, I've been doing church gigs for 40 years.

If you're going to be serious about doing church gigs it behooves you to learn the church idiom- it's like any other musical genre, that way.

pancelticpiper wrote: Now there are points duing the Mass where it's more open, say during Communion, or during the Offertory.

Still the expectation is that anything played during the Mass will be sacred music.

Yes, I remember Offertory and Communion at my old parish was somewhat of a free-for-all . It's not quite the same at my current parish (still Roman Catholic, mind you), as they try to perform something appropriate to either the feast day or the Liturgy of the Word. Even still, though, they are able to push the envelope a bit. In any case, like I said in my earlier post, some hymns during Offertory and/or Communion should be perfectly respectable.
Cheers!

You might find some ideas for music browsing these sites.

https://musicasacra.com/music/english-h ... e-commons/
https://musicasacra.com/music/

http://www.scholaministries.org/

I'm an RC priest, so might jump in for my two cents worth.

It's true that the sung parts of the Mass are fixed, but there is a fair bit of latitude for instrumental interludes. I'm a bit biased, but I'd say the pipes are well suited to the liturgy (if we're talking airs, rather than jigs and reels!) as they can be very meditative and uplifting. If played well!

I could start with a rant about "liturgical music" which is barely religious let alone liturgical, and about the poor deluded musicians that inflict their bad taste on their long-suffering coparishioners. Maybe some other time on some other forum.

If a piper came to me to ask what to play, I would suggest to play nothing that is known as secular songs (Danny Boy, etc.). I'd suggest to pick a sean nós air that no-one (in the congregation) knows and that will really raise them up (not à la Josh Grobin!).

Feel free to email me if you have any questions, and I'll be glad to help from a liturgical perspective: brendan.arthur AT cam.org.au

Thank you all again for your help. Fr. Brendan, I just sent you a PM.