For awhile now, we’ve been working on an acoustic “mass setting” which, for those of you not familiar with liturgical traditions, are the sung parts of the liturgy – the Kyrie (“Lord, have mercy”), Gloria (“Glory to God in the highest”), Credo (The Apostles’ Creed), Sanctus/Benedictus (“Holy, holy, holy”), and Agnus Dei (“Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the word / have mercy on us”).
So far we have three parts written, the Gloria, Sanctus/Benedictus and Agnus Dei, and continue working on the other two. We’ve also managed to find time amidst ministry and family to lay down rough demos of two sections (do you know how hard it is to find time to record when you have three kids under age 5?!). These are works in progress, and even though they are nowhere near as lovely as they’ll be once we add Gloria’s vocal, we wanted to share them and give you a glimpse of the creative process.
Agnus Dei by The Italics
Sanctus & Benedictus by The Italics
If these might be useful in your church context, feel free to use them – if you’d like chord charts, just leave a comment or shoot us an email.
P.S. the Sanctus features Brannon’s official banjo debut. Let us know what you think!
Excellent. I love the way the liturgy was put to music – especially the surprising banjo in the Sanctus, which seemed wholly appropriate.
Thanks, Melissa! It’s nice when a musical choice can seem both surprising and appropriate at the same time. 🙂