Bad Music in Mass

[Biggie]

As an organist myself, I would ask: is your church able and willing to pay a competitive wage in order to attract a more-competent musician? If not, you’re probably stuck with this person. Pray for her. She is probably doing the best she can with the modest ability she has. It is likely that she is really not an organist at all, but is a pianist trying to play the organ. Despite their similar keyboards, piano and organ (esp. the pipe organ) are two very different instruments. Pianists who switch over without proper instruction from a real organist often have no idea how much they do not know. I didn’t have a clue myself until I began my studies with a university organ professor.

There are worse “sins” than failing to use the pedal division of the organ…like, overestimating your skill at playing the pedals and then totally butchering the bass line of a hymn, esp. when you are using a loud reed stop. And personally, I would rather hear a hymn played somewhat accurately on the piano than to hear someone murder it on the organ. Hymn-playing is an art in itself, and for many it is actually the hardest part of being a church organist.

When I first returned to the organ after a decade away, it was as an unpaid volunteer for our EF Mass. I was horribly “rusty,” but they were in desperate need of an organist, and I was better than nothing. I’m sure my first few weeks back at the console were an occasion of sin for those self-appointed music critics who are “charity-challenged,” because I hit quite a few “klunkers” as I regained my skills. So they were offered some good opportunites to practice charity while I had a many chances to mortify my pride.

Well actually you hit the nail on the head. It’s a poor inner city parish, precisely why I attend there. But is it wrong to recognize the difference between a real organist and a pianist, being neither myself? I live five minutes from a wealthy suburban parish. It has a guitarist as its music director, gifted without a doubt and widely recognized in this area. Not my preference, and unfortunately he is bald so there’s no hair to pull.

I really just wanted to weigh in on behalf of the traditional and recognize what has been lost and what has resulted. Again, anyone who loves music, and who had attended a high mass fifty years ago should at least understand my regrets.

 

[agp2176]

If the organist (or cantor, or other musician) is anywhere on the main floor where they can see the congregation, don’t think they can’t see or don’t notice the scowls and disapproving looks of people in the congregation. Worse yet are the people who comment. When I first returned to playing, I had a few people teasingly say to me, “Hey, you didn’t hit as many wrong notes today” and stuff like that. I laughed along with them, but it hurt on the inside, even to the point of making me cry a couple of times. If I had not been doing it for Jesus’ sake, I would have QUIT.

Oh my can I empathise with that. Its happened on a few occasions, and it took a whil eto not go home with tears in my eyes. I finally talked to Father and HE said, “You’re doing great! And I mean that!”. I came to realise that I am human that I to owill have a bad day.

There have been times, particularly over the last 6 months due to strains at work, that I’ll be in the middle of something, chanting the responsorial (Gregorian chant rocks!) and I’ve lost the plot because my mind went elsewhere. But I have great support in my wife – she’s my cantor-groupie!

I practice on the afternoon before Mass – download midi files to rehearse if I’m not familiar with a tune – and pray!

Still would like to do Oh Happy Day — or Day by Day though I joke with the organist when we do something that may be conceived as more traditionally protestant, Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, etc, that its protestant night at old St Nicks

God bless

Tony

 

[CarrieH]

Oh my can I empathise with that. Its happened on a few occasions, and it took a while to not go home with tears in my eyes. I finally talked to Father and HE said, “You’re doing great! And I mean that!”. I came to realise that I am human that I too will have a bad day.

Tony, that is so true. One of our priests plays the organ a bit himself, and he was actually one of the most sympathetic toward my struggles. But then, he knows first-hand the challenges that organists face. He is also the most aware of how much progress I have made, because he knows what to listen for. And OTOH, some of the “dabblers” were among the most critical. One guy was telling me about my mistakes (as if I hadn’t noticed them myself!) and said that he had played the organ when he was younger. So I invited him to take his turn at the console, and of course he turned me down.

What helped me the most was reminding myself that I was never going to be the next Diane Bish (organ-diva on PBS), so I was going to be like St. Thérèse of Lisieux, doing little things with great love. I also thought of the poor widow who offered only two coins, but it was all she had, and her offering was very pleasing to God. So if my playing isn’t “good enough” for any critics in the congregation, well, too bad. At least my heart is in the right place, even when my hands and feet might slip up. Besides, organists of Madame Bish’s level would never accept such a small “gig” as mine, and God needs people like me to play in these small parish churches just as much as He needs the more-accomplished musicians to play for the cathedrals, big-city churches, etc. There is plenty of room for all of us who choose to serve.

St. Cecilia, pray for us! God bless.

 

[FrCorey]

Oh my can I empathise with that. Its happened on a few occasions, and it took a whil eto not go home with tears in my eyes. I finally talked to Father and HE said, “You’re doing great! And I mean that!”. I came to realise that I am human that I to owill have a bad day.

There have been times, particularly over the last 6 months due to strains at work, that I’ll be in the middle of something, chanting the responsorial (Gregorian chant rocks!) and I’ve lost the plot because my mind went elsewhere. But I have great support in my wife – she’s my cantor-groupie!

I practice on the afternoon before Mass – download midi files to rehearse if I’m not familiar with a tune – and pray!

Still would like to do Oh Happy Day — or Day by Day though I joke with the organist when we do something that may be conceived as more traditionally protestant, Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, etc, that its protestant night at old St Nicks

God bless

Tony

thats why chant and others only has 8 tones. it has a beat and you can move to it. ever see a monk rock out to ave maria? it ain’t pretty.

 

[CarrieH]

Well actually you hit the nail on the head. It’s a poor inner city parish, precisely why I attend there. But is it wrong to recognize the difference between a real organist and a pianist, being neither myself? I live five minutes from a wealthy suburban parish. It has a guitarist as its music director, gifted without a doubt and widely recognized in this area. Not my preference, and unfortunately he is bald so there’s no hair to pull.

Well, there is nothing wrong with recognizing the difference, but when the humble efforts of a poor parish’s organist (who very well might not even be paid) drive you to fantasies of assault, that is a different matter altogether.

In choosing to attend Mass in a poor parish, you are choosing the whole package, and that means not much money in the music budget. Perhaps you could help in this regard?

 

[HelenRose]

As an organist myself, I would ask: is your church able and willing to pay a competitive wage in order to attract a more-competent musician? If not, you’re probably stuck with this person. Pray for her. She is probably doing the best she can with the modest ability she has. It is likely that she is really not an organist at all, but is a pianist trying to play the organ. Despite their similar keyboards, piano and organ (esp. the pipe organ) are two very different instruments. Pianists who switch over without proper instruction from a real organist often have no idea how much they do not know. I didn’t have a clue myself until I began my studies with a university organ professor.

There are worse “sins” than failing to use the pedal division of the organ…like, overestimating your skill at playing the pedals and then totally butchering the bass line of a hymn, esp. when you are using a loud reed stop. And personally, I would rather hear a hymn played somewhat accurately on the piano than to hear someone murder it on the organ. Hymn-playing is an art in itself, and for many it is actually the hardest part of being a church organist.

When I first returned to the organ after a decade away, it was as an unpaid volunteer for our EF Mass. I was horribly “rusty,” but they were in desperate need of an organist, and I was better than nothing. I’m sure my first few weeks back at the console were an occasion of sin for those self-appointed music critics who are “charity-challenged,” because I hit quite a few “klunkers” as I regained my skills. So they were offered some good opportunites to practice charity while I had a many chances to mortify my pride.

I am the “pianist” for my little mission church. My prayer has been, “Oh, God, help me become better than better than nothing.”

Thanks to the sweet wonderful congregation who encourage me weekly, my music is getting better and I am learning. There are times when I feel that my contribution is considerably better than better than nothing. I pray that God looks on the musicians of our mission church and loves us for our efforts.

We are, of course, unpaid. There is no money to hire a professional.

I do want to add this. I love traditional music but some of it is difficult to do and do correctly. It is better to play simple music well rather that difficult music poorly.
Beautifully sung Gregorian Chant is wonderful. Poorly sung Gregorian Chant is a whole different matter. It takes a GREAT deal of skill to sing Chant properly and I haven’t achieved that degree of skill.

 

[OraLabora]

Does bad music please God? While it satisfies our need to ‘pray twice to the Lord by singing’, does God like it? I wonder. When it’s obviously bad – I mean *really bad *-- I suspect God might feel agitated. Might He prefer that we not sing, when we can’t? Might He prefer that we *not *assemble and play groupings of instruments that don’t go together? Recently attending a Mass with attrocious music, I couldn’t help ponder this question…again.

We have no idea how God would “feel”. We cannot pretend to know the mind of God; to do so is actually for me a form of idolatry in that we project what we feel on God and we therefore make God in our image rather than the other way around.

We can hope that He can feel if the bad music is truly heartfelt and is simply due to lack of talent but not lack of love.

But we can apply a human aesthetic to the music keeping in mind Who we are singing for, and therefore do our best to make the music as reverent as possible.

I’m as rattled as anyone with bad Church music, but I can’t determine how heartfelt the performers really are, so I really have no business determining the impact of their bad music on God.

Beautifully sung Gregorian Chant is wonderful. Poorly sung Gregorian Chant is a whole different matter. It takes a GREAT deal of skill to sing Chant properly and I haven’t achieved that degree of skill.

Funny you mention that, I sing in a Gregorian choir. We are about a dozen singers on any given occasion. We sing at Masses and funerals. I actually think we’re pretty decent. We received solid training from the former choirmaster of a local Benedictine abbey that uses Gregorian Chant in its daily liturgy and we have regular formation sessions with the new choirmaster.

It does take some skill, but it isn’t insurmountable, I had zero musical notions nor any musical training when I joined 8 years ago. I now sing in the “schola” portion of our choir (the portion that handles things like the difficult verses in an offertory or gradual).

I was also at the World Oblate’s Congress in Rome last October. For the Mass at Monte Cassino abbey, we were asked to form a small ad-hoc choir. I was surprised at how well we managed to pull it off, about 10 people who never sang together before, mixed men and women (my own choir is men only). We all had some experience though.

I actually chant the Liturgy of the Hours every day in Latin to keep in shape.

 

[benedictgal]

I have a different take on this. When I read the title of this thread, I thought that the OP meant bad liturgical music, as in compositions and such.

This evening, I came across this article from the New Liturgical Movement. It is a translated speech delivered yesterday by Msgr. Guido Marini, the Papal MC. Here is what he said about music:

1. Sacred or liturgical music.

There is no doubt that a discussion, in order to introduce itself authentically into the spirit of the liturgy, cannot pass over sacred or liturgical music in silence.

I will limit myself to a brief reflection in way of orienting the discussion. One might wonder why the Church by means of its documents, more or less recent, insists in indicating a certain type of music and singing as particularly consonant with the liturgical celebration. Already at the time of the Council of Trent the Church intervened in the cultural conflict developing at that time, reestablishing the norm whereby music conforming to the sacred text was of primary importance, limiting the use of instruments and pointing to a clear distinction between profane and sacred music. Sacred music, moreover, must never be understood as a purely subjective expression. It is anchored to the biblical or traditional texts which are to be sung during the course of the celebration. More recently, Pope Saint Pius X intervened in an analogous way, seeking to remove operatic singing from the liturgy and selecting Gregorian chant and polyphony from the time of the Catholic reformation as the standard for liturgical music, to be distinguished from religious music in general. The second Vatican Council did naught but reaffirm the same standard, so too the more recent magisterial documents.

Why does the Church insist on proposing certain forms as characteristic of sacred and liturgical music which make them distinct from all other forms of music? Why, also, do Gregorian chant and the classical sacred polyphony turn out to be the forms to be imitated, in light of which liturgical and even popular music should continue to be produced today?

The answer to these questions lies precisely in what we have sought to assert with regard to the spirit of the liturgy. It is properly those forms of music, in their holiness, their goodness, and their universality, which translate in notes, melodies and singing the authentic liturgical spirit: by leading to adoration of the mystery celebrated, by favouring an authentic and integral participation, by helping the listener to capture the sacred and thereby the essential primacy of God acting in Christ, and finally by permitting a musical development that is anchored in the life of the Church and the contemplation of its mystery.

Allow me to quote the then Cardinal Ratzinger one last time: “Gandhi highlights three vital spaces in the cosmos, and demonstrates how each one of them communicates even its own mode of being. Fish live in the sea and are silent. Terrestrial animals cry out, but the birds, whose vital space is the heavens, sing. Silence is proper to the sea, crying out to the earth, and singing to the heavens. Man, however, participates in all three: he bares within him the depth of the sea, the weight of the earth, and the height of the heavens; this is why all three modes of being belong to him: silence, crying out, and song. Today…we see that, devoid of transcendence, all that is left to man is to cry out, because he wishes to be only earth and seeks to turn into earth even the heavens and the depth of the sea. The true liturgy, the liturgy of the communion of saints, restores to him the fullness of his being. It teaches him anew how to be silent and how to sing, opening to him the profundity of the sea and teaching him how to fly, the nature of an angel; elevating his heart, it makes that song resonate in him once again which had in a way fallen asleep. In fact, we can even say that the true liturgy is recognisable especially when it frees us from the common way of living, and restores to us depth and height, silence and song. The true liturgy is recognisable by the fact that it is cosmic, not custom made for a group. It sings with the angels. It remains silent with the profound depth of the universe in waiting. And in this way it redeems the world.” (trans. from the Italian.)

Msgr. Marini makes a lot of sense. He is merely restating what the Church’s stance has been all along. Granted, there can be times when a badly sung hymn can cause dismay. However, what is more distressing and troublesome is bad music masquerading as something suitable for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The harbingers of this kind of bad music, mainly OCP and, to some extent, GIA, do not do the Church any kind of a service by consistently promoting stuff that really is not fit to cross the proverbial threshhold that the late Pope Paul VI referenced when he discussed the subject of music for the Mass.

 

[paperbackwinter]

Personally, I would take a a hymn poorly sung by the whole congregation than a well sung solo. It appears to me that many churches have bands, not choirs, that choose songs that really can’t be sung easily in a large group. Many of the newer songs have odd or difficult patterns that really only lend themselves to solo artists or well-practiced small groups. If I wanted to listen to Mariah Carey, I’ll go to her concert.

This tends to relegate me to the role of audience member which I really dislike. I like singing and the old hymns were nice quarter-note based songs that we could all participate in. Maybe they weren’t artistically inspiring, but I felt more in touch at Mass. I now go to a low Mass late in the day just because I couldn’t stand the music.

I realize this is a reply in a discussion that’s old, but I had to say it.

 

[Biggie]

Well, there is nothing wrong with recognizing the difference, but when the humble efforts of a poor parish’s organist (who very well might not even be paid) drive you to fantasies of assault, that is a different matter altogether.

In choosing to attend Mass in a poor parish, you are choosing the whole package, and that means not much money in the music budget. Perhaps you could help in this regard?

Do you know something of my contributions? Perhaps you and Mr. pnewton think the issue is collections and not preference?

The parish raised 150,000 to have the leathers repaired on the original organ in the church. Once the goal was met, the counsel (on which I sat) decided instead to spend the money on an electric organ and rearrange the area near the sanctuary for that and a piano. I, of course, opposed that as not being the purpose for which people contributed and for being the waste of the beautiful original instrument which does in fact sit idle.

There is indeed a dearth of talent and a want of funds, but is it vaguely possible that is a result rather than a cause? It is my opinion the lack on interest in liturgical music is in part the result of a model of liturgical music we pursue (no problem finding plenty of guitarists, fiddlers, drummers, flutists, etc.)

 

[Sparki777]

I can see both sides of this.

I’m not much of a singer myself, but I would really hate to be told NOT to sing. What I do is when a song is singable for me (which means it’s not in the “Reaching the Rafters” range and it doesn’t have those goofy time-signature changes all through them, which is the mark of a weak composer), I sing in a normal voice. When it’s a tough song, out of my range so that I have to sing high here and low there, or one of those really badly written songs that are hard to follow, I sing very quietly. Whisper-singing.

On the other hand, my husband is a musician, and when we were protestant, he was a very popular worship leader, serving at churches all over. It has been hard for him these last six years since our conversion to not have the opportunity to offer these skills to the Church. He loves chant and the old hymns, but he is a guitarist, and organ music just doesn’t translate well to guitar. (We avoid “guitar Mass” because the music drives him nuts). He sings fine, but Father picks the hymns for Mass and there are too many bad ones and too many that he’d have to sing in a range that would be difficult for most of the congregation. As a worship leader, he doesn’t think it’s right to present a song that most people can’t sing. Anyway, our historic church has a pipe organ, and he doesn’t know how to pay it, so that takes him out of consideration as it is.

He has a very low tolerance for poorly written worship songs or bad singers in the choir. I know we’re desperate for singers, but there is one fellow who sings really loudly and he is ALWAYS flat, and my husband can’t even sing in the choir with that guy there because he’s so overpowering. I don’t have a good ear, and I can hear this poor man hit bad note after bad note – for my husband, who has perfect pitch, it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard. And the badly written hymns – why, my husband will pick up the hymnal, look at the author and either sing if it’s a good composer or shut the hymnal and try to tune it out if it’s not.

It’s not enough to keep him away from Mass or to keep from truly worshiping the Lord, but it is a distraction for him.

 

[LindaSK]

Personally, I would take a a hymn poorly sung by the whole congregation than a well sung solo. It appears to me that many churches have bands, not choirs, that choose songs that really can’t be sung easily in a large group.** Many of the newer songs have odd or difficult patterns that really only lend themselves to solo artists or well-practiced small groups.** If I wanted to listen to Mariah Carey, I’ll go to her concert.

This tends to relegate me to the role of audience member which I really dislike. I like singing and the old hymns were nice quarter-note based songs that we could all participate in. Maybe they weren’t artistically inspiring, but I felt more in touch at Mass. I now go to a low Mass late in the day just because I couldn’t stand the music.

I realize this is a reply in a discussion that’s old, but I had to say it.

I would take a a hymn poorly sung by the whole congregation than a well sung solo. YES!!! A choir, instrumental group, or cantor should be there only to lead, not replace, the singing of the congregation.

** Many of the newer songs have odd or difficult patterns that really only lend themselves to solo artists or well-practiced small groups.** / **[T]he old hymns were nice quarter-note based songs that we could all participate in.**YES!!! Music for the Mass is ‘good’ if it is easily sung by the majority of the congregation and fits the liturgy. (There will always be those who consider themselves to be too ‘musically-challenged’ and won’t sing no matter what.) Some of the newer songs should be reserved for solo use OUTSIDE the Mass! I don’t care if they ARE in the Missal.

 

[CarrieH]

I would take a a hymn poorly sung by the whole congregation than a well sung solo. YES!!! A choir, instrumental group, or cantor should be there only to lead, not replace, the singing of the congregation.

Agreed. My latest crusade is to have the cantor at the solo microphone for only the responsorial Psalm and the Gospel acclamation, and for the occasional call-and-response-type hymn, such as some of the Taize songs. It has been the practice in this parish to have the cantor singing into the solo mic for everything, including the hymns and Mass parts, even when the choir is present. I feel that the choir will lead congregational hymn singing far better than will a soloist/cantor, and I’m slowly working with the choir director to make this change. One voice standing out tends to make others be quiet and listen, rather than singing along. Of course, on some Saturday evenings, there is only the cantor and no choir, so that is different. But at least the cantor is in the choir loft and not up at the front of the church!

 

[CarrieH]

As a worship leader, he doesn’t think it’s right to present a song that most people can’t sing.

One problem is that those with natural singing abilities often don’t understand why “regular” people can’t sing some of these songs. They figure that if they can sing it, anyone can, and that is not always the case.

He has a very low tolerance for poorly written worship songs or bad singers in the choir. I know we’re desperate for singers…

If we got rid of the bad singers, we would lose 1/3 of our small choir. The two biggest “challenges” in this regard are both elderly sopranos. One has a huge warbling tremolo and sings loudly, and her singing is truly a test of my patience and charity. But both of these ladies have devotedly served the parish for decades, and would be crushed if anyone suggested that they retire. I remind myself of this every time their “joyful noises” clash with the accepted standards of good musicianship. Accepting them with love is far more important than putting on a better musical performance without them.

 

[CarrieH]

The parish raised 150,000 to have the leathers repaired on the original organ in the church.

So your “poor inner-city parish” isn’t all that poor; there are evidently funds available, but their priorities are different than yours. I can understand your frustration, esp. after they pulled a bait-and-switch with the organ restoration monies. My parish, OTOH, is truly poor; we can barely scrape together the $300 for the organ tech to walk in the door a couple of times a year. And that is the perspective from which I speak.

It is my opinion the lack on interest in liturgical music is in part the result of a model of liturgical music we pursue (no problem finding plenty of guitarists, fiddlers, drummers, flutists, etc.)

It’s a vicious cycle, and unfortunately, the fact that guitarists, flutists, etc. are available in abundance feeds this beast. A church can’t find a decent organist, so they use the piano and maybe a couple of other instruments, and that sounds “OK” and perhaps even better than the struggling organist. The leaders of this group pick the more pop-style hymns because these sound better with this instrumentation (can you imagine “O Salutaris Hostia” on fiddle and guitar? Ugh!). The powers-that-be have a hard time justifying the expense of restoring the pipe organ when nobody is going to play it anyway, and the congregation is (mostly) satisfied with the guitar group. In the mean time, the organ becomes more and more run-down, and no decent organist would be willing to waste his or her time on a poorly-maintained instrument, even for a halfway decent wage. The people become accustomed to hearing pop-tunes instead of solid, traditional hymns. And the cycle continues.

 

[Biggie]

So your “poor inner-city parish” isn’t all that poor; there are evidently funds available, but their priorities are different than yours. I can understand your frustration, esp. after they pulled a bait-and-switch with the organ restoration monies. My parish, OTOH, is truly poor; we can barely scrape together the $300 for the organ tech to walk in the door a couple of times a year. And that is the perspective from which I speak.

It’s a vicious cycle, and unfortunately, the fact that guitarists, flutists, etc. are available in abundance feeds this beast. A church can’t find a decent organist, so they use the piano and maybe a couple of other instruments, and that sounds “OK” and perhaps even better than the struggling organist. The leaders of this group pick the more pop-style hymns because these sound better with this instrumentation (can you imagine “O Salutaris Hostia” on fiddle and guitar? Ugh!). The powers-that-be have a hard time justifying the expense of restoring the pipe organ when nobody is going to play it anyway, and the congregation is (mostly) satisfied with the guitar group. In the mean time, the organ becomes more and more run-down, and no decent organist would be willing to waste his or her time on a poorly-maintained instrument, even for a halfway decent wage. The people become accustomed to hearing pop-tunes instead of solid, traditional hymns. And the cycle continues.

Well, Carrie, the parish actually is poor, but not destitute. The collection took a couple years to accomplish, and was a campaign the parish conducted because there was no working organ, so people were pretty motivated to give. But I wonder how churches did it in years past? I am the great-grandson of a choir master and church organist who a few remaining old folks still remember as the professor. He gave music lessons, directed a professional choir, etc.for additional money, and raised five children on the income.

Again, I think you get what you ask for, and we haven’t asked for grandeur lately.

 

[pnewton]

Biggie, I never meant to criticize you about your giving, since I know nothing of it. I only meant to show that there are options that some individuals can excercise. If you can not, then think positvely about others that they too may not. Often, the best a parish can do is to just do their best. That is surely our situation. We are not intercity, but we are very heavily immigrant, blue collar and unemployed. Organ and schola would be great, but it is not going to happen anytime soon. Sure we could make it happen, but all charity, CCE, and pretty much every program might have to be eliminated to pony up enough money to hire this done. I am sure you can relate to such economic choices.

 

[Biggie]

Biggie, I never meant to criticize you about your giving, since I know nothing of it. I only meant to show that there are options that some individuals can excercise. If you can not, then think positvely about others that they too may not. Often, the best a parish can do is to just do their best. That is surely our situation. We are not intercity, but we are very heavily immigrant, blue collar and unemployed. Organ and schola would be great, but it is not going to happen anytime soon. Sure we could make it happen, but all charity, CCE, and pretty much every program might have to be eliminated to pony up enough money to hire this done. I am sure you can relate to such economic choices.

I’m really not being defensive and I don’t feel criticized…

Isn’t it interesting, though, what a vigorous discussion liturgical music can inspire? Points to the actual importance of it in our religious experience. Whenever I get the chance, I always think it is worth defending the traditional. My own issues are not really with the quality of the performance or the abilities of the organist. Just the opposite, since I think a heartfelt effort is much more meaningful…

But I do object to forms and choices of music that reflect an approach to the liturgy that strips it down. We tend in our time, for example, to emphasize the community aspects of the liturgy and deemphasize the contemplative aspects. Music has followed that movement. As a result, I believe we come up with some hymns and means of performing them that are simply inane in the context of the Mass, while we ignore hymns and forms that would much more complement it.

 

[LindaSK]

I’m really not being defensive and I don’t feel criticized…

Isn’t it interesting, though, what a vigorous discussion liturgical music can inspire? Points to the actual importance of it in our religious experience. Whenever I get the chance, I always think it is worth defending the traditional. My own issues are not really with the quality of the performance or the abilities of the organist. Just the opposite, since I think a heartfelt effort is much more meaningful…

But I do object to forms and choices of music that reflect an approach to the liturgy that strips it down. We tend in our time, for example, to emphasize the community aspects of the liturgy and deemphasize the contemplative aspects. Music has followed that movement. As a result, I believe we come up with some hymns and means of performing them that are simply inane in the context of the Mass, while we ignore hymns and forms that would much more complement it.

I have already said to people that the best compliment we, as church musicians, can get, is when nobody says anything about the music at a Mass. People always comment if it is bad. They comment if it is a good ‘performance.’ If the music doesn’t call attention to itself, then, I think it complimented the liturgy well, as it should. It wasn’t outrageous. It wasn’t over the top. It was just right!

 

[Yellow_Belle]

My current parish hasn’t a regular Sunday choir - in fact the church doesn’t even boast an organ. But we do have a community group (of adults and children) that gets together for the Christmas and Easter ceremonies. They are, frankly, atrocious but so full of enthusiam as to be inspirational and much appreciated.

I’m embarrassed to confess that I try to avoid the Masses/ceremonies they sing at as they bring me out in beads of perspiration.