Catholic Music: It’s Time to Stop Making Stuff Up

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What is restraining and constraining the musician’s range of play in this model? Only their own subjective view of what’s right and what works. In practice, this is no restraint at all. In the same way that unstructured worship gatherings from evangelicals are open-ended and reflect nothing more than the desires of the worship leaders, the musicians dominating Catholic Mass today pretty much do what they want to do.
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“I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” St. Paul
 
I would love to sing Gregorian chant, but I don’t think the rest of the choir would go along with it. Not sure about the congregation overall.
 
Prior to converting I had always admired the patrimony of the Catholic Church. It was beautiful and had a continuity with the past. In looking to convert I learned that it had been largely abandoned in the Liturgy. I wondered if it had been taken over by hippies. The modern Catholic Church had given up on Chesterton’s idea of the democracy of the dead. I determined it was still the one true Church and hope and pray this is just a phase.
 
Is this a widespread problem? It seems every church I’ve been to for the past 50 years uses the Gather hymnal.

I’m sorry, but the article seems too much op-ed and not enough problem solving. He doesn’t cite evidence that music directors are spending only 5 minutes to decide what music to play, and I’m not sure what his solution is.

I’ve heard older Catholics grumble that there’s too much singing and music as it is, that there’s no reason to sing the Responsorial Psalm, for example, because all it does is drag out the Mass.
 
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Thank you.
Music director here. Those of us that are valued for our theological and musical training have no such problems.
I am qualified to lead and teach chant to a parish, No pastor has wanted it. Full stop. They feel it is mostly inaccessible to young families and even the elderly who do not read music. It has no “repeating refrain” that folks can sing along with when it comes around, and for most pastors, they want their congregation singing out, together, strong. SOmetimes that means the old 4 line hymns, sometimes more recent hymns, but still CATHOLIC hymns.

People have preferences for listening, but SINGING is a different matter.
I know chant can be done simply, and most often is, frankly. BUt done terribly, there is nothing worse.
Before anyone starts bashing hymnals, remember that the music for SALE to parishes has all be signed off on and approved for use, and found to be without error by various Bishops.

The things that people bring in as “innovations” or things they heard on the radio can be easily squelched by a vigilant pastor.

And if one would like to start up chant at a daily Mass, that would be the place to start. People would give it a shot.
When you try to bring it in as “here’s our NEW method” you’ll lose parishioners. I’ve seen it happen. One person cannot dictate unless he is the pastor.

We conform to the liturgy, it does not conform to us.
 
pianistclare said:
It has no “repeating refrain” that folks can sing along with when it comes around, and for most pastors, they want their congregation singing out, together, strong.
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Our Gloria has recently been done in a tune that has a refrain. If I understand this isn’t proper. Anyway, I’ve noticed Catholics do love refrains. It reminds me more of pop music. I’d much prefer the old four part hymns without refrains. But Catholics don’t seem to do harmony.
 
pianistclare said:
vigilant pastor
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This right here.

No one does anything in the liturgy without the explicit or tacit approval of the pastor. Failing to stop problematic elements in the liturgy, whatever they may be, begins and ends with the pastor.

Music directors cannot “do whatever they please” and if they do, the ultimate accountability lies squarely with the pastor.
 
on_the_hill said:
I’m sorry, but the article seems too much op-ed and not enough problem solving.
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That’s exactly my own impression.

Look, I would love for there to be a massive return to Gregorian Chant, and I find much of the music I hear in parishes to be absolutely hideous and grey. But until there is a top-down movement from the Bishops, we are not going to see a widespread return to traditional Catholic music…, —and I don’t believe there ever will be such a movement from our shepherds. Neither do I say they are right or wrong.

So these sorts of articles, in my view, do nothing but preach to the choir (ha!) and foment frustration.
 
Ok…what I have to say is.

All music is “made up”. Furthermore, back before things like copy machines and reliable ways of conveying knowledge every time a piece was moved from one church to another it took upon many changes. Most of the preserved Gregorian Chant we have is good solely because it was curated at some of the best and most well-funded and well-trained parishes.

It is likely that centuries ago those beloved pieces were far more mangled by small out-of-the way congregations than anything we have today.
 
pianistclare said:
remember that the music for SALE to parishes has all be signed off on and approved for use, and found to be without error by various Bishops.
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I know that’s true, but it still makes me cringe when we sing a hymn I’ve known since childhood and I find that OCP has changed the words to eliminate all the masculine pronouns referencing God.
 
So don’t sing it that way. GIA does it too.
Don’t fret. Sing what you know. 😉
 
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Well, I’m in the choir, so if I start singing something different from everyone else, I’m going to get called on it.
 
Then your choir director should consider the effects of such changes. I am a Director and I very much respect and respond to my singers opinions on our work. It’s a collaborative effort.
 
Gregorian chant and polyphony is alive and well. Just because you don’t see it in your local parish doesn’t mean it’s dead.
 
twf said:
Gregorian chant and polyphony is alive and well. Just because you don’t see it in your local parish doesn’t mean it’s dead.
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Exactly.

And just because newer music was “signed off” doesn’t make it good nor appropriate theologically. We need to stop being sheep and demand more of our leaders.

I’m blessed with a fully Traditional Latin Mass parish in my city. As a trained classical musician and liturgist, it took no thought whatsoever to make the decision to join there. What a joy to sing great music and to play great classical flute pieces by Bach, Telemann, Quantz and other classical composers with the accompaniment of our very fine Music Director and organist. And all for the glory of God and for a congregation that understands and knows that this is what our church through the ages meant for us to have and protect as our birthright.

Deo gratias.
 
Musical preferences are fine, but don’t let your preference detract for the source and summit of our faith!

Luke 10:41b-42

…Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful.
 
So true about the bishops - - we need them to lead. One priest here and there is not enough. Pastors are always subject to the whims of the most vocal Baby-boomers / ex-hippies in their parish.
Does anyone know how it went for Bishop Doerfler who actually tried to have a change in his Michigan diocese?
 
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This is a question I have wondered about myself.

Especially after going through the changes to the English version of the Mass in 2012. I mean, after being so careful to revise the words to make them more accurate to the original Latin, etc., why then go and change some of the words significantly when putting them to song? For example, the Gloria, the Preface Acclamation (Holy, Holy, Holy …), the mystery of faith, the Our Father, etc. When these are sung instead of recited, the words are changed, or re-ordered, or repeated, or omitted, so that they fit the beat of the music or have the correct number of syllables. It kind of defeats the point of being so meticulous about the new translation in the first place.
 
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