The National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM) has two wonderful resources to help musicians plan music which flows from the Sunday readings. They are definitely worth a look!The NPM Music Planning Calendar includes suggestions of Psalms and hymns appropriate for each Sunday and holy day of obligation in the Church year. Each suggestion notes the hymnal(s) or other publication(s) in which the music is found.
The stated purpose of the Choral Anthem Project is
to list repertory suggestions for parish choir directors, independent of publishing industry interests, so that those responsible for selecting and preparing choral anthems may have a rich store of selections of high quality choral music related to the Sunday scriptures from which to choose.
Once again, each Sunday and holy day of obligation of the Church year is listed, although some days have few or no suggestions. Most of the music suggested is accessible to the average Catholic parish choir and embraces a wide-range of repertoire from historic music to compositions of today.
Both of these resources are one tool to help musicians plan. They should not be the sole resource for planning in your parish, nor should you feel bound to do something from these lists. Such lists are an excellent place to turn for ideas and I often find that when consulting them, new ideas pop into my mind.
The rest of NPM's website has a great deal of information for pastors, liturgists and musicians. There are catechetical resources, materials for liturgy preparation, and guidelines regarding professional concerns. It's a good place to bookmark and visit now and then.
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