Bad music is destroying the Church

  • Thread starter Thread starter arieh0310
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
“Lord of the Dance”
“On Eagles Wings”
“Morning has Broken”
“Here I am, Lord”
“You Are Mine”
“Amazing Grace”
“All Are Welcome”
“This Little Light of Mine”
“Gather Us In”
“We Are Many Parts”

…just to name a few at our illustrious parish

Gradeschool play? Yes.
Liturgy of the Eucharist? No.
 
Another thought: good music at Mass is more than picking good hymns. There are parts of the Mass, like the Gloria and the gospel acclamation, that should always be sung. The Sanctus and the responsory after the first reading too! Authors --and publishers-- have neglected these. The best musical settings for some of the psalms and for the Gloria are decades old and quite threadworn!
The American bishops should really deal with the copyright and user fee issue too. Some of my favorite hymns have disappeared into the Black Hole of disuse because they appear in only one hymnal --and it’s not the hymnal we use in our parish! Remember “Round The Lord In Glory Seated”? “Father, While These Gifts Are Readied”, Russ Woolen’s “The Lord Is My True Shepherd”? and Omer Westendorf’s “Love Is The Greatest Gift Of All”? I think there are gobs of good hymns out there. Why they don’t appear in every Catholic hymnal probably has more to do with royalties than quality.
It should be possible for each parish to assemble a hymnal of beloved songs, old and new. Instead, the situation now demands that a parish choose either Hymnal “A” or Hymnal “B” – with the unspoken understanding that it will be the only hymnal in use in that parish until the covers fall off!
 
Cavaille-Coll said:
…my hiring criteria would consider an applicant’s orthodoxy and knowledge of the faith before moving on to technical and academic ability.
Click to expand...
Aboslutely correct! That is the root of the problem. People are doing their own thing based on their own likes/dislikes rather than looking to the Church for guidance. The Church gives an inch and they take a mile. Example–church documents say that the organ holds prime of place in the liturgy, but that other appropriate instruments are acceptable. That’s the inch the Church gave us. Now how do most parishes respond? They take a mile–they don’t use the organ at all, but instead have drum sets and electric guitars. Nobody can possibly make a solid argument that this is what the church intended, but that’s where we are.

Bottom line–it’s far more important to pick doctrinally correct hyms, accompanied by appropriate musical instruments, than it is to have a professionally trained musicians who sound good. I don’t care if it’s boring. I care if the content is sound and that the sound is reverent and appropriate for mass. Start with that and then work on the quality of performance. Right now we’ve got it all backwards.
 
My cousins sing at the Saturday evening mass at a small parish where we live. They are the only singers at this mass and there are nine alltogether (including parents). They are a very traditional family and the kids range in age from pre-teen to mid-twenties.

They do strictly traditional music, much of it latin, and eventhough Saturday Evening masses are usually much more casual with less music than Sunday masses at most parishes, the Saturday mass at our poor little parish has become for me the closest thing to heaven that I have found in any church.

We have a good holy priest, though he can be hard to understand (strong colombian accent) he gives the most beautiful homilies. Couple that with the beautiful music coming from my cousins in the choir loft and I feel a reverence that I don’t feel in most churches where “bubble gum” music is performed.

When they start singing the latin, oh let me tell you, their voices all in harmony, the organ, (sythesized, but still good), I just close my eyes and envision a choir of angels surrounding the host on the alter. I have been quite literally brought to tears on more than one occasion.

This, my friends, is how litergical music should make us feel.
 
jbuck919 said:
I’m a professional church musician who has had to make my (moonlighting) career with the protestants because it is not a question of standards in the Catholic church in the US–there are no standards. You cannot know how painful this has been to me all my life. I only see the pitiful situation deteriorating even further, while, for instance, the Episcopalians (Anglicans) uphold their own strong tradition.

The bottom line is that there is an aesthetic element to worship that will not be gainsaid, but which is practically ignored in most modern Catholic worship at the parish and often at the higher level. It has an absolute value as an offering to God of what is the very best we have.
Click to expand...
Are there any good recordings out there? It would be nice to listen to what we are missing on Sunday.

Thanks in advance.
 
I REALLY wish everyone would stop blaming us younger folks for the bad music. Most under-30’s I know prefer ancient sacred music. The only people I know who like the cheesy Haugen-Hass stuff are the baby boomers.
 
People don’t know how bad the music is. My wife is Presbyterian and they NEVER use a piano with the choir. The organ is much more majestic and it alone starts making you think of the sacred.

The missalettes are the problem. It sounds like they give the Music gal all she needs except decent hymns.

Is music required for Mass? If no then eliminate all music at the parish level and if you want it go to your cathedral on Sunday. If so then step in make some clear rules and enforce them.
 
Philothea_2.0 said:
I REALLY wish everyone would stop blaming us younger folks for the bad music. Most under-30’s I know prefer ancient sacred music. The only people I know who like the cheesy Haugen-Hass stuff are the baby boomers.
Click to expand...
I don’t really think the younger folks are being blamed. If you look at many parishes the music director is someone aged mid 40’s-60. They are the ones still clinging on to the hipster folk music from the 60’s and 70’s, and they run the parish music programs. They want mass to be entertaining and the music to be fun. I think many of us in our 30’s and under would prefer the mass to have a more reverent and sacred feeling. We want traditional hymns played by the organ or Gregorian chant.
 
I have refrained from posting here. I just left my parish because of an out of control “Music Ministers” that has been choosing “Mass Settings” that have been changing the wording of parts of the Mass. The final straw was last Saturday when she was going over the “Mass setting” for Advent. I walked out before Mass began. I have since joined another parish.
 
Bad music isn’t destroying the church. Irresponsible music programs are.
Kathy
 
Is music required for Mass? If no then eliminate all music at the parish level and if you want it go to your cathedral on Sunday. If so then step in make some clear rules and enforce them.
 
Modernism and Liberalism are ‘destorying’ the Church today - bad music, fabricated liturgy and grotesque architecture are just by-products.
 
AquinaSavio said:
Jim,

I encourage you to read the Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, issused by the Congregation for Divine Worship and The Discipline of the Sacrament. In section [57.], it states:

The Church is not bound by time. Therefore, there should be no need to “update” our liturgical music to contemporary songs. The purpose of this is too often to merely make the youth feel better and participate in the Mass. They should be participating anyways. Excuse the expression, but the warm’n’fuzzy music shouldn’t have to be used to “lure them in.”
Click to expand...
Exactly… If folks say that the new music is needed to bring more people into church, they are creating an atmosphere more of entertainment than of reverence. This attitude also betrays a lack of trust in the Holy Spirit. That is, it is the Holy Spirit that leads searching souls to His Church. If the Holy Spirit has accomplished it in the past, why all of a sudden do we not trust Him to continue to help the lost find their way.

I have an article to run in a particular Catholic magazine next month which details our departure from the Protestant camp to the Catholic Church. Our desire for change began with the realization that Protestant churches had lost the solemnity and revereance of worship.

Thank you to all you great musicians, by the way. I love sacred and classical music, but I don’t have a shred of musical talent in me. To give the Church so much of your valuable time without expectation of financial compensation is wonderful blessing for all of us. Keep up the good work!
 
Just came from Mass. The choir sang the Magnificat, oh so beautiful to hear the old Latin Hymns. Hail Mary Gentle Woman and Hail Holy Queen. It was so inspiring to hear so much adoration of Our Blessed Mother. Our Music Minister is a Nun of 66 years she is 81 years old and still dirves all over the country soliciting funds for her order. There Mother House is here and the Nuns are all very aged and some are infirm. She is quite a fund raiser but they are self supporting so thank God that she has the ability to do it.
 
“Bad” music still delivers a message, doesn’t it?

It’s hard for kids my age (teens) to sit through a Mass with only chanting and nothing that makes you bop in your seat.

It depends on personal taste. Many of the girls in my high school are Hispanic so anything that has a “hot beat” is in. Songs with 2 beats per minute are out. We complain loudly if the music is boring.

But I agree that heavy metal Church music is frightening, especially for elderly adults and small children.

Sometimes the “good” music gets murdered by musicians who don’t know what they’re doing.

I’d rather have well-played (so to speak) “bad” music than sleepy time “good” music. Lord knows I can’t sit/stand/kneel through an hour mass with meditative music and not fall asleep.
 
katiemonster said:
“Bad” music still delivers a message, doesn’t it?

It’s hard for kids my age (teens) to sit through a Mass with only chanting and nothing that makes you bop in your seat.

It depends on personal taste. Many of the girls in my high school are Hispanic so anything that has a “hot beat” is in. Songs with 2 beats per minute are out. We complain loudly if the music is boring.

But I agree that heavy metal Church music is frightening, especially for elderly adults and small children.

Sometimes the “good” music gets murdered by musicians who don’t know what they’re doing.

I’d rather have well-played (so to speak) “bad” music than sleepy time “good” music. Lord knows I can’t sit/stand/kneel through an hour mass with meditative music and not fall asleep.
Click to expand...
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but if you can’t stay awake during the mass because of “meditative music,” I don’t think the problem is the music. If music is the only thing keeping you or your teenager interested, then you are missing the whole reason for being there in the first place. The mass is beautiful by itself. Once you realize that Jesus Christ is truly present in body, blood, soul and divinity on the altar under the appearance of bread and wine, and that in mass we are surrounded by all the angels and saints, mass could not possibly ever be boring, regardless of the music. I would highly recommend a book by Dr. Scott Hahn called The Lamb’s Supper. It truly opened my heart to the beauty and wonder of the mass.
 
Chris-WA said:
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but if you can’t stay awake during the mass because of “meditative music,” I don’t think the problem is the music. If music is the only thing keeping you or your teenager interested, then you are missing the whole reason for being there in the first place. The mass is beautiful by itself. Once you realize that Jesus Christ is truly present in body, blood, soul and divinity on the altar under the appearance of bread and wine, and that in mass we are surrounded by all the angels and saints, mass could not possibly ever be boring, regardless of the music. I would highly recommend a book by Dr. Scott Hahn called The Lamb’s Supper. It truly opened my heart to the beauty and wonder of the mass.
Click to expand...
Well, I am a teenager and, despite the wonder of the Mass, its very difficult for a hormonal teenager to pay attention to the same old Mass that she/he has seen every Sunday for her/his whole life. Changing it up a little keeps the worship fresh and interesting, and the easiest way to do this is by changing what is heard at the Mass through the music. Using “older” music that all of the adults know by heart (and I’m the only one who needs a hymnal) sort of makes me feel excluded. It’s hard to pay attention when 1) I have the feeling of “I’ve heard this before…” and 2) I feel like the odd one out when person 50 years older than me looks at me with disdain because I don’t know every song by heart. At least changing the music will make everyone on the same level and make everyone raise their eyebrows.

We have Mass at school and it’s very easy to fall asleep anyway because…we’re simply teenagers. :shrugs:

And if a person doesn’t like the music being played…change parishes. Simple as that.
 
katiemonster said:
Well, I am a teenager and, despite the wonder of the Mass, its very difficult for a hormonal teenager to pay attention to the same old Mass that she/he has seen every Sunday for her/his whole life. Changing it up a little keeps the worship fresh and interesting, and the easiest way to do this is by changing what is heard at the Mass through the music. Using “older” music that all of the adults know by heart (and I’m the only one who needs a hymnal) sort of makes me feel excluded. It’s hard to pay attention when 1) I have the feeling of “I’ve heard this before…” and 2) I feel like the odd one out when person 50 years older than me looks at me with disdain because I don’t know every song by heart. At least changing the music will make everyone on the same level and make everyone raise their eyebrows.

We have Mass at school and it’s very easy to fall asleep anyway because…we’re simply teenagers. :shrugs:

And if a person doesn’t like the music being played…change parishes. Simple as that.
Click to expand...
Sorry I didn’t realize you were the teenager. I guess I read your post too fast. Anyway, I would simply encourage you to not ever stop going to mass. Many of your friends will likely abandon the church out of boredom. It’s normal to not find church very interesting at your age. I was the same way. In fact I was worse because I went through a period of inactivity for most of my teenage years.

The reason I came back in my early twenties is that I was challenged by someone of another faith. That forced me to make a decision of whether or not I was going to stay Catholic. It was then that I started really learning about the Church and the mass, and what I found was incredible. I never realized how beutiful it was until I started learning about it. Unfortunately nowadays in many cases, as a church we do a lousy job of education our youth (especially within the family) about the church. They end up leaving for a more “exciting” church or stop going altogether. But remember, the Church doesn’t exist for entertainment purposes. When you get a little bit older, and if you make the effort to learn more about the Church, you will find something amazing. You will find that the pope really is the successor of Peter. You will find the mass being celebrated in the earliest times of Christianity just like it is today. You will find the beauty of all its teachings, art, culture, and holiness. So keep going no matter what, and never let boring music get in the way.
 
I’m a fairly young person (22 years). Truth be told, I don’t find most of the music at church all that interesting - some of it is downright corny or saccharine sweet. With few exceptions, the hymns I like most tend to be the older ones, like “Holy God We Praise Thy Name” or “Salve Regina” - the old standbys.

Actually, my favorite hymn is Tantum Ergo, even though I only sang/heard it once - and it was outside of Mass. It gave me an uplifting and wonderful feeling that no hymn has ever given me before. It was just so inspiring.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top