A music poll of sorts

[OraLabora]

None of the above.

 

[Cat]

I am mostly here. My favorite music is traditional English hymns from the 15th-19th centuries, but I like a lot of contemporary stuff and even some P and W music. I also like chant somewhat, and am trying to use it more and more. We are using Jubilate Dei this Lent in English, with a switch to Latin for Holy Thursday. We also have hosted our first Chant workshop, which isn’t bad for a parish as small and devoid of musicians as we are. It does kind of get under your skin once yo get used to the notations and the style, especially if you stick to the simple stuff. I am not the only one here that is doing this. I think Cat too is working on chant, and we are both products of the last generation.

In the end, I think we will return more to the chant and Latin hymns of the Church, which will allow us to retain only the best of praise and worship music, contemporary hymns, and classic hymns.

Actually the chant experiment has been ended at our parish, since no one sang and there was no positive feedback at all.

I think that the “new chants” are not very pretty, so it’s no wonder it didn’t go over with the congregation. Perhaps if something older and more “tried-and-true” had been used, it might have worked. Oh, well.

So now we have gone with a newly-composed setting (2011) for the new translation of the Mass, which is quite melodic and very easy to learn with or without music. I like it a lot better than the old “Creation” setting. It’s not really pop and not really folk–it’s just kind of a simple melody with no real style. To me it sounds like something that a Theory 101 student would compose for an assignment. But at least it’s singable and kind of pretty, and the congregation is starting to sing again. For awhile there, things were really glum.

I think that as long as there is a Latin Mass parish in our city where the chants and polyphony are done at every weekend Mass, most Catholics who prefer this kind of music will probably migrate there.

BTW, my answer to the poll was “all three.” We tend to hear a mixture, mainly the older traditional hymns, at our Masses. I would say that we probably do 3/1 traditional hymns/contemporary (last 40 years) hymns, which is quite nice. We’re doing a lot of the old Lenten hymns during Lent, and I really like them; I just wish we would sing all the verses so that we could sing the entire “story” of the hymn, instead of just the first half.

 

[pnewton]

I think that as long as there is a Latin Mass parish in our city where the chants and polyphony are done at every weekend Mass, most Catholics who prefer this kind of music will probably migrate there.

Perhaps. In my situation, we are an hour away from a major city, so I try to provide some of everything locally. Also, we are easily split 50/50 on language, so I have an added incentive to have an alternative for bi-lingual Mass.

 

[DiZent]

I just wish we had a variety again. I understand that there are those who prefer chant, and they were denied their preference for a long time. But at my parish, it has swung the other way, and ALL of the contemporary was jettisoned. And the attitude toward those who prefer contemporary is “get with the program or go away”. Mass attendance has dropped significantly and no one is singing. People are leaving because they are ignored and many are changing their membership to the liberal parish down the road. I love the music there, but the pastor is not in compliance and his off the wall remarks are troubling.

 

[Cat]

I just wish we had a variety again. I understand that there are those who prefer chant, and they were denied their preference for a long time. But at my parish, it has swung the other way, and ALL of the contemporary was jettisoned. And the attitude toward those who prefer contemporary is “get with the program or go away”. Mass attendance has dropped significantly and no one is singing. People are leaving because they are ignored and many are changing their membership to the liberal parish down the road. I love the music there, but the pastor is not in compliance and his off the wall remarks are troubling.

Thank you for saying this.

The same thing happened in many Protestant churches during the 1980s and 1990s, when the traditional music (18th century hymns, gospel hymns, e.g. Fanny Crosby, Phillip Bliss, Ira Sankey, etc) was completely eliminated and the organs were hauled away, and the “Praise and Worship” bands, some of them very rock-y, but most merely “boomer rock,” became the norm for worship services.

In my mother’s Baptist church, many of the older people were ignored and even accused of “stifling the Holy Spirit.” These old ones, who had spent decades serving their church, were understandably hurt by such attitudes. Many of them quietly left to join the mainline denominations, which at that time still offered older music. Unfortunately, a lot of the mainline churches were (and still are) teaching very liberal theology and politics (e.g., support of abortion, support of gay marriage).

It just goes to show how very important music is to human beings, that they are willing to leave what they have always considered truth just to hear music that edifies their soul.

I’m NOT saying that Masses should contain only music that tickles the ears! But it seems to me that Holy Mother Church allows a variety of music in the Mass, and does not demand that Masses use only Gregorian chant and ancient polyphony. So it’s too bad when parishes slash instead of balance.

 

[Holly3278]

I’ve heard Amazing Grace and Faith of Our Fathers. Those are the two that I can recall anyway. My memory isn’t that great so I may have heard On Eagle’s Wings as well and just don’t remember it.