Bad music is destroying the Church

[FrDale_Peterka]

We’re missing a few things in this discussion.

1. Sacred music is different in each parish! Looking for the good stuff is part of the fun. Finding the good stuff is a thrill! If you attend a church because it’s the closest, then proximity is more important for you than quality.
2. Maybe 1% of the world’s pastors are involved with choosing music for worship in their parishes. The other 99% leave it to the parish music ministers (professionals and amateurs). When you hear Schubert’s AVE MARIA performed at a funeral, a wedding, or a penance service, you can be sure that the organist --or a committee-- chose it! If you don’t like the choices being made, don’t blame Father!
3. My favorite place for sacred music is our cathedral (twelve miles away). Music there is appropriate, sacred, polished, professional, and effective. It brings us together as a congregation and helps raise our minds and hearts to the Lord. If
   the music at your church is not doing the job, why aren’t you looking for music that does?
4. Choosing appropriate music for worship is not optional. The bishop’s 25-year-old document MUSIC IN CATHOLIC WORSHIP is still a pretty good guide. If you don’t have a copy, haven’t read it, and can’t quote it to your worship commission, then you are guided in your choice and your discussions only by taste. And you know what they say about taste: de gustibus non disputandum!
   Sacertos Vallanus in Urbe Cincinnatensi

 

[Cavaille-Coll]

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.

It is common to change service music with the seasons, but the music chosen must be of the highest quality theologically and musically. No deviations from the approved texts can be permitted, which automatically disqualifies most modern service music. I won’t pick on a particular hymnal publisher because most of the larger publishers continue to print this kind of music and still manage to get a concordat inside their front cover.

The use of “Mass settings” is nothing new. It dates to the period when Gregorian chant and polyphony began to be supplanted by the works of popular musicians who wrote “Masses,” in which each element was connected in some thematic or structural way. I tend to see it as glorifying the composer’s skills rather than treating the liturgical themes in themselves. Interestingly, the Agnus Dei from Gounod’s Mass of St. Cecilia was criticized at the time for having added phrases not proper to that prayer, namely "Domine, non sum dignus . . .. Still a far cry from “hear our prayer, hear our prayer, through this bread and wine we share.” That being said, I’d rather hear a showy Mass setting by Gounod or Widor than the cheap, modern “Mass settings” that take their inspiration from movie themes and 1970’s television commercials.

 

[brotherhrolf]

1. My favorite place for sacred music is our cathedral (twelve miles away). Music there is appropriate, sacred, polished, professional, and effective. It brings us together as a congregation and helps raise our minds and hearts to the Lord. If the music at your church is not doing the job, why aren’t you looking for music that does?

It is such a vital thing for me that I have been a member of our cathedral parish for the last 23 years and sang in the choir for over 18. My family drives 25 miles to attend. Our liturgical planning committee and our choral director do a fantastic job of looking at the liturgical season, the scripture for each Mass, and choosing appropriate sacred music. And I have been profoundly grateful.

That having been said, what we do as a parish on our own is not what we do when we as the cathedral church host diocesan liturgies - ordinations, diocesan anniversaries, the yearly Chrism Mass. Out comes the muppet music (Haugen et al - anything that sounds like it could be sung by Kermit and Miss Piggy), out comes the liturgical dancers wafting bowls of incense like a Cecil B. deMille epic, out comes the banner carriers looking for all the world like they were heading for a medieval Maypole dance, and out comes all the changes to the Lamb of God (Prince of Peace, Bread of Life, etc.) which seem to be rampant elsewhere in the diocese.

Parce Domine it ain’t. I got to the point where I refused to sing at diocesan events. The baby got thrown out with the bathwater after VII. I resented then and resent now that I was forced to sing Simon and Garfunkle’s “Bridge over Troubled Waters” and “Sounds of Silence” as the Offertory and Communion ““hymns”” at my Catholic high school graduation in 1969. Did not like it then. Do not like it now.

 

[Faithful2]

It is very sad when a Catholic parish can drive out Catholics by monkeying around with the Mass!

Catholics are entitled to an authentic spiritual “product” when they come to Mass, at ANY parish and ALL parishes-- they should not get some geographical variant of what the locals like to do for entertainment superimposed on the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

I may not know all the technicalities describing what is permissible and what is not in the Mass (Thank you, Cavaille-Coll, for describing it so well!) but my ears and my sense of reverence can tell me what is right and what is wrong, too. I agree with Cavaille-Coll completely --“the music chosen must be of the highest quality theologically and musically.”

Our Bishop tells us that Mass music must be reverent madisoncatholicherald.org/2006-10-26/bishop.html.

The Bishops of America want our hymns to be reevaluated to follow doctrine ncregister.com/site/article/1480.

The Pope has also spoken on behalf of returning to more appropriate music in the Mass.

It makes sense to me, and I wish more people were prepared to listen to them.

I have not seen either any Bishop, nor the Pope suggest that such variation as you describe is permissible and that we should shop for a different parish if we don’t “like” the music.

It’s not a question of liking, but of authenticity. The Mass is a foretaste of what is described in the book of Revelation, the worship of God that we will one day (hopefully) be participating in with the Communion of Saints in heaven (Read "The Lamb’s Supper by Scott Hahn). If we don’t understand it now, we need to work on it.

Just as If we don’t understand calculus, we don’t throw it out, we either believe the experts, or study it intensely ourselves until we DO understand it. Similarly, if an infant does not understand French, we do not toss French or France, instead we teach the infant patiently. So if people do not understand the Mass or it’s music, they need to do some learning about understanding it better.

I suggest we all try to find out what our Church wants, what our Bishops recommend, what the Pope recommends, and follow those guidelines. We might start appreciating then, that sense of the sacred that has often been lost and that our Bishops are seeking to replace. The very sense of the sacred that so many people complain about missing today, can be restored. And boppier music is not going to give us this sense of the sacred!

I hope that our priests will help us to learn and observe what limits are set by our Church, and that our priests will do the hard work of safeguarding accurate Catholicism in their own parishes, so that we who come there for a spiritual nourishment would not be fed a diluted and counterfeit product, resulting in spiritual malnutrition.

If your parish is making serious violations in this area, you really need to inform your Bishop. If that does not work write any good Bishop (our Bishop in Diocese of Madison is GREAT!) for advice on how to pursue this problem further. You deserve real Catholicism, and it is the job of your parish to provide it.

God bless all who do not have a good parish nearby! Give them strength and courage.
I know for an absolute fact that there is no place in ANY Mass for “muppet music” or liturgical dance or “Bridge over Troubled Waters”

! Do the homework on what is permissible and what is not (try Zenit, the news agency from Rome for starters zenit.org/english/, and then complain if people are making unpermissible changes to the Mass-- first complain to the offenders, then to the pastor, then to the Bishop, then over the Bishop’s head if nothing has changed.

God bless you in your efforts to get a good Mass! And you really should not need to travel 25 miles to get a real Mass!

 

[brotherhrolf]

I was used to it and my family moved twice - from 25 miles southeast of said cathedral to 25 miles east of said cathedral …which is two parishes. Like I say, it means a whole lot to me and worth the drive.

 

[Victorious]

… However, I don’t really think it has anything to do with age. but an understanding (or lack of understanding) of what the mass is really all about.

Yep. Still, I can’t help noticing that almost every single member of the “Life Teen” garage band at my parish is over 30.

 

[countertenor]

Every time I go back home for vaction or to visit family and I go to mass I spend the whole time wishing I weren’t there because the music is so bad. My wife commented last time were visiting home how much of a struggle it would be to attend mass every Sunday at our hometown parish just because of the music and I agree. It’s really too bad to see this happen because there is so much good music that can be performed that enhances the sacred nature of the mass, and then there is the music like that at my home parish that aside from being bad by itself is not made any better by the lack of musicality of those performing it (but I will give it to them that they are trying, but they really need to study or practise more often). It really saddens me because while I am a classical musician and have sung for mass many times, I don’t go to mass for the music and I don’t even mind some of the popularish music that is done, but when the music is so distracting and poorly composed it’s just worthless…so for me I guess I would say that bad music is destroying my mass experience at some parishes but I don’t know about the Church itself. (And to be clear my in my home town there is only one parish it’s not like one can parish hop to find a mass with good or at least decent music).

 

[Victorious]

…If the music being played at Mass does not express what the people are feeling, then it’s dead, dry and meaningless. It doesn’t serve the purpose of what music is to be for…

This precisely misses the point of liturgical music. This makes liturgical music about us, and it’s not about us. It’s about God. Besides, merit does not lie in our feelings, but in our will. Feelings are much lower than we think on the totem pole of importance.

Besides, to the extent feelings do matter, I will never be persuaded that they are truly captured and faithfully expressed by “Gather Us In.”

 

[Prometheum_x]

A few scattered observations:

At one time, the organ was effectively banned from use in the liturgy due to its close association with the pagan religious practices of Roman society.

In the years leading up to the Council of Trent, liturgical music was in such poor shape that there was even a small suggestion that all music except for plainchant be banned from the liturgy. This view did not prevail, so polyphonic music such as that of Palestrina was allowed to flourish.

In Palestrina’s time, it was fairly common to borrow themes from other composers – even from secular madrigals. Palestrina also did this, even for some of his masses.

People complained about Bach’s playing, because it was too complicated.

More recently, certain composer’s settings of texts where prohibited from use in the liturgy, e.g., Schubert’s Ave Maria. It was deemed inappropriate.

The piano was also banned at the beginning of the 20th century, due to its close association with bars and other similar establishments. No longer banned.

Nearly all the popes of the 20th century have talked about the importance of the traditional plainchant of the Church. Pope John Paul II, writing on the 100th anniversary of Pope Pius X motu propio Tra le sollecitudini comments on the idea that gregorian chant is the supreme model of sacred music:

1. With regard to liturgical music compositions, I make my own the “general law” that Saint Pius X formulated in these terms: “A composition for Church is sacred and liturgical insofar as it approaches Gregorian melody in flow, in inspiration, and in flavor, and so much less is it worthy of the temple insomuch as it is recognized as departing from that supreme model”. Evidently, this does not mean copying Gregorian chant, but rather seeing to it that new compositions be pervaded by the same spirit that gave rise to and so molded that chant. Only an artist profoundly immersed in the sensus Ecclesiae may try to perceive and translate into melody the truth of the Mystery that is celebrated in the Liturgy. From this perspective, in the Letter to Artists I wrote: “How many sacred works have been composed through the centuries by people deeply imbued with the sense of the mystery! The faith of countless believers has been nourished by melodies flowing from the hearts of other believers, either introduced into the Liturgy or used as an aid to dignified worship. In song, faith is experienced as vibrant joy, love, and confident expectation of the saving intervention of God”.

There is nothing inherently inappropriate about any instrument – it is instead a question of a) to what degree are the compositions for that insturment pervaded by that aforementioned spirit? b) to what degree is it associated with a secular context? c) to what degree is the instrumentalist/vocalist “imbued with the sense of the mystery”?

Perhaps to some an electric guitar and drums calls to mind a grungy rock band, but that isn’t a necessary association. The electric guitar is an instrument of many different sounds – the only thing that stays roughly the same is its general appearance. Likewise with the drums: it matters very much how they are played.

My favorite music? Late Renaissance, such as Palestrina, Byrd, Victoria, Lassus, etc. At the same time, I am also the music director for my church’s LifeTeen program. I can’t use that music, in part because of a lack of personnel, and in part because most of these kids have grown up with very little exposure to the traditional music of the Church. This educational process takes time. In the meantime, I select music that to the best of my judgment is in accord with the spirit of the liturgy. I avoid like the plague the trite, both in music and text. When composing new music, such as for psalm responses, not only do I attempt to create compositions possessing that same spirit as Gregorian chant, but I will consult actual examples of chant and look for ways I can use some of the melodic ideas in ways that the teens will be able to comprehend.

 

[Faithful2]

A few scattered observations:

At one time, the organ was effectively banned from use in the liturgy …

… most of these kids have grown up with very little exposure to the traditional music of the Church. This educational process takes time. In the meantime, I select music that to the best of my judgment is in accord with the spirit of the liturgy…

I hope that everyone has the good sense to trust the Church to determine what is appropriate at any given historical time, rather than creating dissent and encouraging youth to be uncooperative with the guidance from Rome.

I don’t know how many of you have children, but how would you like it if your authority was challenged by your kids’ teachers at school – e.g. they told your kids that mealtime does not have to be at x o’clock, as your family does it? In fact, historically speaking, meals can occur at ANY time and furthermore, eating is not even necessary 3 times a day! The point of my silly example is that sometimes we listen to authority just for the sake of obedience and order, because without a leader, every group would be in chaos.

We subjugate our will to the good of the group. We don’t challenge why red lights are red and not purple, we don’t challenge the conventional units of measurement or uniform electrical outlets, and we don’t complain all the ways we have been prevented from exercising our freedom because our society celebrates birthdays with cakes and baloons rather than with steak and bicycles.

I hope that all Church and school personell --music ministers, teachers and parents, under the guidance of our priests, work hard together to educate the young people to have open minds and cooperative attitudes when attending Mass. We take children to concerts and performances and lectures which are above their heads, and we prepare and educate those children before the event, and discuss and explain the event afterwards. We do not ask the symphony conductor to “dumb down” the music because our class will be attending. Should we not be doing the same with the Mass?! Which is more important?!

God bless all who teach the young! May they have the courage to help our Church to grow in strength and understanding, and the determination to help teach our youth the significance of our Faith! Let us leave the Mass to those who are ordained – our Pope, Bishops and priests. We should not be telling them what to do or how to do it any more than we tell our brain surgeons what to do or how to do it

 

[Goldy]

Actually, this was an old hymn even before Cat Stevens recorded it. In an interview during the 70s, he said that people regularly came up to him and said, “I used to sing that in Sunday School!”

Oh yeah? Guess what Cat Stevens is doing these days…he’s a Muslim who experts say supports global Jihad. Not that there’s a connection with the song or anything. I just thought it was interesting that his name was brought up in this discussion.

 

[Prometheum_x]

We take children to concerts and performances and lectures which are above their heads, and we prepare and educate those children before the event, and discuss and explain the event afterwards. We do not ask the symphony conductor to “dumb down” the music because our class will be attending. Should we not be doing the same with the Mass?! Which is more important?!

Symphonies do not play music if they don’t think a sufficient portion of the audience will comprehend it or enjoy it – if they do on a consistent basis, they quickly become a symphony with no audience. It isn’t an issue of dumbing down the music; it’s that there are many different musical forms and styles, and what was readily accessible to an audience 200 years ago may not be to an audience of today, and vice versa.

It is fine to take children to events that are over their heads, provided that the education is in fact done before hand and afterwards. However, in regards to music in the liturgy these days, it is often like a symphony playing for a room full of children and there are no other teachers, parents, or any other adults present. That symphony is then constantly trying to balance its responsibility to perform excellent music with making sure that the children not only stay in their seats but also that they understand and enjoy the music.

 

[Faithful2]

Symphonies do not play music if they don’t think a sufficient portion of the audience will comprehend it or enjoy it – if they do on a consistent basis, they quickly become a symphony with no audience. It isn’t an issue of dumbing down the music; it’s that there are many different musical forms and styles, and what was readily accessible to an audience 200 years ago may not be to an audience of today, and vice versa.

It is fine to take children to events that are over their heads, provided that the education is in fact done before hand and afterwards. However, in regards to music in the liturgy these days, it is often like a symphony playing for a room full of children and there are no other teachers, parents, or any other adults present. That symphony is then constantly trying to balance its responsibility to perform excellent music with making sure that the children not only stay in their seats but also that they understand and enjoy the music.

I have the deepest respect for those who struggle with roomfuls of children and a shortage of teachers, parents and adults. :clapping: :clapping: I used to volunteer in classrooms.

However, I don’t believe that the chaos in the classroom has reached the level that (in Catholic schools) it’s not possible to keep children in their seats, NOR would the solution be changing the music if they did have trouble keeping the children in their seats.

I now attend daily Mass at a local parish where everything used to be more “diluted” and “cafeteria,” including the music. Now, the pastor, in response to the Bishop’s very pastoral and loving instruction, is bringing the children to Mass weekly and returning to much more orthodox Masses and music. I have not observed any difference in the abiity of the children to remain in their seats. If anything, they have an increased sense of reverence and improved ability to remain in their seats.

Incidentally, one piano (or organ) with some schoolchildren (or adults) is usually available at most parishes. It’s just a question of choosing the right reverent hymns out of the hymnal and teaching them to the group. One confident cantor can lead a whole congregation, and soon everybody knows the hymn. The pastor at this parish leads the hymns at daily Mass himself.

I think that some adults who want a more liberal or “modernized” agenda use the children as a rationalization, but they may be quite mistaken in doing so. As one “teenager” put recently put it in this forum, often it is the over-30’s who are pushing the alternate agenda.

This dialogue is good, we all need to examine where we are going with this and discuss it charitably. I have personally been on both sides of the fence, and with education, time and understanding, I am now really on board with what our Pope and Bishops are going for. They know what they are doing.

And, incidentally, the young people can tell, even without a great deal of instruction! They loved John Paul the Great , and now they love Benedict and Tantum Ergo .

.

 

[Victorious]

At one time, the organ was effectively banned from use in the liturgy due to its close association with the pagan religious practices of Roman society.

At least there was some deliberation about admitting organ music to the liturgy, which is more than we can say for rock music, which was just imposed.

 

[Prometheum_x]

Many of those things were deliberated in the past after people had already introduced them into the liturgical music. Also, those deliberations often took place over the course of many years, even generations. Now there are the beginnings of deliberations over the current musical landscape – I have full confidence that everything will be worked out adequately.

At the time of the Council of Trent when the role of music was being discussed, the development of those deliberations were influenced by those contemporary composers who worked to demonstrate that the new styles could be done in conformity with the spirit of the Liturgy. Those involved in music today can likewise play a part in the deliberations of today by doing their best to have their music conform with that spirit.

 

[FrDale_Peterka]

Hmmm. Got quiet there for a while!
I just got back from Msgr. Francis Kennedy’s funeral here in Cincinnati. The funeral Mass featured the best and the worst of Catholic funeral liturgy and music.
One of the songs was “Eye Has Not Seen” by Marty Haugen. An excellent piece. It got me thinking about what makes a good hymn. The use of scripture, esp. the psalms, as music texts has been a great improvement over the Sixties’ campfire-song hymns that often sounded like they were written by a committee. There is a certain dignity and quality in words that were composed two-thousand-plus years ago. (EHNS was inspired by St. Paul, I think.) Time has a way of purging the sentimental and the amateurish from our ecclesial playlists! Just think: another hundred years or so and “They’ll Know We Are Christians” will be gone gone gone.
After communion at the funeral, the soloist got up and sang Schubert’s Ave Maria. I will refrain from lengthy comment, but this song is out of place at funerals, weddings, May crownings, etc. especially when performed by a opera singer --which is always! It is very popular with people who… oh, never mind!
After the soloist, a priest got up and gave the best funeral eulogy I ever heard! The only problem was: we don’t do eulogies at Catholic funerals! They are not permitted --for one good reason: eulogies are about the deceased. Funerals are about the Lord, his resurrection, and his pledge. Fortunately this funeral had a homily too!
The bag pipes were there. It seems that everyone who has an Irish name gets bagpipes these days. Msgr. Kennedy’s bagpipes were two cuts above most: they were played outside the church as the body was carried to the hearse. And they did NOT play Amazing Grace!
Quis cantat bis orat.
Fr. Dale in Cincinnati

 

[Sarabande]

After communion at the funeral, the soloist got up and sang Schubert’s Ave Maria. I will refrain from lengthy comment, but this song is out of place at funerals, weddings, May crownings, etc. especially when performed by a opera singer --which is always! It is very popular with people who… oh, never mind! Fr. Dale in Cincinnati

Why is it out of place? Is it because of the original German and the translation of the German which isn’t the Hail Mary prayer although a prayer to Mary and because it was actually a piece of Lieder? Or is it because of the way the Latin was set to it or that people tend to not realize that you have to sing both “verses” in order to say the entire prayer? Most people think that it is only the first verse, but that is only the first half of the prayer.

There is actually another Hail Mary Latin setting to the Schubert which uses the actual prayer word for word for just one verse. Although, I love the Schubert setting, I sing it too much for weddings and funerals (although I prefer that to “Mother at Your Feet is Kneeling” or the saccharine, hoaky and poorly composed “Gentle Woman” - Thank goodness, I never have to sing that.) We used a Faure setting to the Ave Maria for our wedding which I find more appropriate since it was originally composed for mass as a devotion to Mary.

 

[Sarabande]

I’m finding that in our diocese the hippie generation is dying out or just leaving. At least in our city churches, I’m hearing more chant, plainsong, polyphony. The seminarians in our diocese seem to be getting turned onto our sacred music history as well and appear to appreciate the music that our choir puts out for the diocesan celebrations at the Cathedral. That apparently wasn’t the case in previous decades. I’m too young to remember, but this is what I’m told.

Some suburban parishes still have the hippie guitar masses, bongos and all, but I don’t attend them, so it doesn’t bother me.

Once a month in the Cathedral chapel, there used to be the “Youth” mass with guitars, etc. I put that in quotes because the performers were late middle-aged men and women left over from the 70s and 80s. They were pretty bad. I say this not only as a musician, but even if you weren’t a musician, you’d recognize that they were bad. When the new archbishop came, he did once mass with them. A week after, they were disbanded. We don’t know if the Archbishop disbanded them, but they no longer played there.

I know the music program has to be at a higher level in order to set an example to the rest of the diocese of what should be given to God. We do Palestrina, Tallis, Gregorian Chant, Mozart, Bach, etc. I’m actually doing the Pergolesi Stabat Mater for Good Friday. The choir is decent. It’s a volunteer choir who because of it’s music director, is able to perform this music well. It could be even better if the choir was a professional choir, but that’s another story. It does show, though, that this music is attainable by the everyday people, if led by a competant musician and music director. I wouldn’t attempt it if you have a music director who isn’t capable of it.

I also agree that the level of musicianship is low at most churches because they either use volunteers (most of whom aren’t musicians and mean well or wannabes) or pay very low salaries. Many excellent, extraordinary organists and other musicians take jobs at Protestant churches because they can’t live on Catholic church salaries. It’s a shame.

 

[barbfromtucson]

I know this will go ‘against the grain’, but I have to add my 2 cents. And I apologize for getting personal in this, but it’s the only way I can think of to really illustrate the point.

If it wasn’t for the ‘modern’ music, it would have taken longer for me to come back to the church.

I grew up in a conservative town and a conservative church–complete with organ and growing up with all the ‘classics’ I think the “latest” songs that we did were songs like “On Eagles Wings” and “Be Not Afraid”.

I come from an abusive childhood, both at home and at school. Music was my escape and I always had my headphones on listening to the radio/tapes. Because of what I went through, my faith in God was very weak.

It was by the grace of God that I never turned to alcohol/drugs, that I never attempted suicide, and went to college.

I went to Univ. of San Diego, which is a Catholic University. During O-week, I made some new friends and they were all Catholic. At that time, I went to Mass with them, only because I wanted to ‘hang out’ with them–I didn’t really care at the time for Mass itself.

If the choir consisted of older people and an organ playing all the ‘classics’, I would have ‘associated’ it with my childhood, and would only be there to be with friends. But the choir had students my age, guitars, drums, and piano, playing more ‘modern’ music, and I began to pay more attention not just to the words of the songs, but to Mass itself.

I’ve also learned to dis-associate what I experienced growing up to ‘church’ today and have grown a new appreciation not just for Mass, but for the classics, such as “Be Not Afraid” and “On Eagles Wings”

I live now in Tucson, AZ and go to the Newman Center, which serves the U of A campus. (I’m NOT a U of A student). This N.C., by the way is run by the Dominicans, and the friars there are from the Western Province–same one that Fr. Serpa is from).

While I’m not a singer (if you heard me sing–you’d know why), it appears to me that the N.C. here mixes the old and the new.

I also think the type of music is determined by the community that makes up that specific parish–if you go to a Newman Center or to a church that has a lot of younger people–they’re going to have the more ‘modern’ music. If you go to a Parish where most of the parishioners are senior citizens, you’re going to get more of the ‘traditional’ or ‘classic’ music.

Fortunately for most of us, we live in cities that have more than one Catholic church, so if you don’t like/agree with one, there’s another one a few more miles away that you might find more agreeable.

And as far as being ‘bad singers’, our N.C. choirs are all wonderful. If you want to be part of the choir, you have to try out and if you aren’t able to carry a tune or anything, you’re not accepted. And our choirs even combined to come out with a community CD.

The church I grew up in, on the other hand, were a bunch of older ladies who had lost their voices 10 years (at least prior). Since my mom was one of them, I couldn’t ‘comment’ but I overheard other parishioners refer to them as the 10:30 a.m croakers. Even so, they were volunteers who loved the church and, like other posters have said, you don’t come to church to be entertained. If your church has a ‘bad choir’, realize that one, you’ll never see them on “American Idol”, but two–they are singing with their heart, and YOU should be singing too.

God Bless,

Barbara

 

[Sarabande]

My favorite music? Late Renaissance, such as Palestrina, Byrd, Victoria, Lassus, etc. At the same time, I am also the music director for my church’s LifeTeen program. I can’t use that music, in part because of a lack of personnel, and in part because most of these kids have grown up with very little exposure to the traditional music of the Church. This educational process takes time. In the meantime, I select music that to the best of my judgment is in accord with the spirit of the liturgy. I avoid like the plague the trite, both in music and text. When composing new music, such as for psalm responses, not only do I attempt to create compositions possessing that same spirit as Gregorian chant, but I will consult actual examples of chant and look for ways I can use some of the melodic ideas in ways that the teens will be able to comprehend.

I agree, it does take time to educate the children on the traditional music of the Church. I’m glad you recognize that and have taken pains to do that with the kids. It can be done if the churches have more people like you running the music programs. I worked for a couple years teaching basic music theory at a Catholic school and also ran the children’s voice choir and handbell choir. The handbell choir was the most rewarding and the kids loved it. Although most of the music for mass was the stuff they and their parents were used to, I also threw in “older” music.

I don’t believe in dumbing anything down especially for children because I remember how I felt when things were dumbed down when I was a child. Where I worked, I was told the kids wouldn’t be able to learn the simple chants for the Sanctus, Mortem Tuam, Pater Noster and the Agnus Dei. I worked with them for two years and they learned it and loved it. Some of them came to my wedding and were heard by our guests singing along with the choir and those who did remember those chants.

I also ran a music club after school once a month. The purpose was to educate the kids on our vast and rich history of sacred music in a fun way since they were so used to just hearing Marty Haugen and the like. I started off with chant, de Machaut, Palestrina, etc. and worked my way up the chronological years until the end of the school year. We’d have team quizzes of the information that they learned during the hour and I’d have prizes for the team who go the most answers right. I’d also bring in recordings of music so that they’d be able to hear and recognize the music. There was a lot of zeal and fun and learning in that little club. I do miss that.