The Responsorial Psalm

The Psalm has a different role in the Liturgy of the Word to the other selections from Scripture. It is less scripture read or sung to the assembly than it is a scriptural response from the assembly to the First reading. That Psalm is selected which will put on the lips of the assembly an appropriate scriptural response to the First reading. It also, and especially in Ordinary Time, serves to continue the work of preparing us for hearing and responding to the gospel. Although the singing of the Psalm is normally led by a psalmist, the assembly as a whole makes the song its own at least through the singing of the response.

At Your Word, Lord – Liturgy Office

Start here:

If your parish are not used to singing the psalm then how you introduce it will probably depend on the resources you have.

If you have a cantor or group of singers that can learn a different psalm every week then you have no problem. Simply choose your setting, learn it, make sure the assembly know their part and off you go.

The reality for most places is likely to be somewhat different, however.

You may wish to consider using the common psalms or even the common responses to make life easier for your congregation.

If you do not have a cantor or singers who can sing the verses you still have options. Think about just singing the response and having the verses read. Again, if a new response every week is too much then use one of the common responses but have the verses of the psalm of the day read.

“… other ways of singing or sharing the psalms are appropriate, such as the use of a sung response with a recitation of the text, these too may be used, so that the people’s participation may be facilitated by every means”

Celebrating the Mass #162

You can find settings of these common responses here.
Scroll down the page until you see something that says ‘Common response’. Martin’s settings also include a tone for the verses.

Note that the Easter season is a really good time to introduce psalms in this way as the common response during this period is ‘Alleluia’, maybe sung more than once.

An alternative approach is to have everyone sing the verses to a chant tone and omit the response.

In many places, where the psalm is not sung, it is customary for everyone to recite the verses together. If your congregation are used to this then it should be fairly straightforward for them to sing instead of speak. You will need to know how the chant is applied to the verses. This will differ depending on the chant you use. Once the assembly get used to it they will have few problems.

In this way you could actually uses the verses of the psalm of the day, but you may want to use a Common Psalm until the assembly are used to singing.

Using the common psalms

Taking it further:

Once you and your parish are used to singing the psalm you will want to expand your repertoire.

There are two excellent (and free) resources for singing the psalms. Both use chant versions for the verses although many of the settings are more melodic.

Martin Foster’s settings can be found here.

Kate Keefe’s settings can be found here. Kate’s settings have the bonus that she provides an audio track so that you can hear what the psalm sounds like.

A further free resource, and one that is good for guitarists, can be found on the CJM website. These use the various ways outlined above to deal with the verses.

Where can I find further resources?

There are many compilations of psalm settings available.

In the UK you may wish to look for ‘The Responsorial Psalter’ which is published by Mccrimmons.

This has settings for every Sunday in the 3-Year cycle and also for feast days.

Also available from Mccrimmons is ‘Sing the psalms simply’. This collection by John Ainslie is comprised of chant settings.

This book and its companion ‘Sing the psalms festively’ (more elaborate settings) are also available direct from the composer.

Your hymn book, especially if it is the revised version, is a further source of settings. Be careful that you do use pieces that are actually the psalm and not just based on the psalm, perhaps with other scripture included. Check the words against the missal version.

The big American publishers (GIA, OCP, Liturgical Press) also have their own collections as well as numerous individual settings. A word of warning here though that the US lectionary is a different translation from the one used in the UK so you will find some differences.

This is not an exhaustive list and other sources are available both online and in print.

One thing to note:

The psalm is from scripture and should not be replaced by a song that is not either the psalm of the day or one of the common psalms. A metrical setting of one of the psalms or a song-setting of the same is OK but should be used with care as the verses may not mirror those in the Lectionary.