Does it matter if we all sing? As far as I know this was never expected to be a requirement of Mass until relatively recently and it really doesn’t seem to be catching on. In fact the rush to get people to sing seems to have accomplished nothing but the radical debasement of the Church’s musical tradition.
It’s OK just to listen to music. Some of us have nerves. Some of us suck at singing. Etc.
**To begin with, always remember that the early Christian martyrs SANG together as they marched into the arena to meet their hideous death.
What did they know that we modern Christians apparently don’t get? **
I don’t think the “radical debasement of the Church’s musical tradition” occurred because Christians sing together. There’s a lot more to the story. I think the martyrs would not have sung if it were something “bad.”
If you truly can’t sing, or it hurts you to sing, that’s fine. I understand.
But for the rest–yes, it matters. For most of us, corporate singing occurs only in a church setting.
The only other time I can think of when people (not a choir) sing with each other is at a ball game during the National Anthem, and in case you haven’t been to a ball game recently, most people don’t sing along with the National Anthem, either. (Of course, supposedly the etiquette is that you’re NOT supposed to sing if a soloist is singing, which makes sense because many soloists try the Mariah Carey thing when they sing the Star Spangled Banner and this is really difficult to sing along with. You ARE supposed to sing the National Anthem when there is an instrumental–hence, people sang it at the Olympics whenever an American won Gold.)
Corporate singing is a way of bonding together with fellow Christians. So is prayer, listening to a homily, and of course, receiving Holy Communion. But singing is different than these other activities.
Singing is hard work. In each congregational hymn, the congregation has the opportunity to present an “offering of praise” to the Lord and a message of encouragement and courage to each other. This offering is not easy to offer–it’s like a choir number, only unrehearsed, and so the congregation has to work hard to make sure that they are singing their best, pronouncing the words, opening their mouths, maintaining a good singing posture, etc.
I maintain that there are very few acts in this life that bring as much sheer joy as singing with fellow Christians. Sex is the only other thing I can think of that is so wondrous and beautiful. Singing is kind of like sex, in that we have to trust each other to do it.
If you read the Little House books, you will see many examples of times when singing was the response to events both happy and sad. When Christians stop singing together, they often stop doing anything together.
Rmember that when you don’t sing, you deprive other Christians of the opportunity to be part of corporate singing. We can’t get this anywhere else. It’s not something we can do at home, because we don’t usually have a crowd of several hundred people and a nice piano or organ or guitar. We certainly can’t sing corporately at work. Yes, we can join a choir, but that’s REHEARSED corporate singing. The spontaneous singing of a joyful and thankful congregation is very different than singing a choir anthem that has been rehearsed for several weeks.
Have to go to work now.
Certainly not! 
