Feminine liturgical music

[puzzleannie]

most contemporary songs are certainly pitched too high even for me (I was a soprano when I could sing). I either have to squeak or bark unnaturally low. I never have this problems with traditional hymns which seem to be pitched at a natural singing range for most people.

 

[FickleFreckled]

puzzleannie,
Boy, howdy, that’s the truth. I try to find a harmony in my range and try not to sing loud enough to make the pew-mates nuts.

 

[samovila]

I’m disappointed… Because of the subject line I opened this thread hoping to find some good suggestions on feminine liturgical music.

 

[Gizmo79]

I forgot to add that I loathe “On Eagles Wings.” One of the worst liturgical pieces I’ve ever heard. Everybody seems to love it and nobody can sing it. But everybody tries.

Amen brother!! In my 14 years as a choir director/organist I have met probably 3 people that can sing that song well. The range is so big on it that even transposing doesn’t help.

I will make one general comment though. I once was at mass for a priest who was moving to another parish after 10 years. His last words before the closing prayer were “remember, it is the message that is important, not the messanger.” I thought that was an amazing point to make. I think of this often when hearing various opinions from the congregation about my choice of music for the week. It’s a given for me that 50% prefer the traditional music and 50% perfer the contemporary, so I will never please 100% of the people at any given time. But, one person in particular hates Here I Am, Lord, and calls it fluff. So I broke down the song. The verses focus on who God is and what He does (eg. I the Lord of see and sky…My hand will save) and they end with Him calling his servants. The refrain is focused on our response to Gods call and what we will do to live out His word.

My point (after a long winded comment) is simple - before hating on a song, reflect on the words. If the tune is all that bothers you the song can’t be all that bad.

 

[ArthurQArch]

I don’t see the link between fluffy emotionalism with no real substance and feminism. Perhaps modern church music has been created to match most sermons.

You have a point there about the sermons.

 

[Cat]

most contemporary songs are certainly pitched too high even for me (I was a soprano when I could sing). I either have to squeak or bark unnaturally low. I never have this problems with traditional hymns which seem to be pitched at a natural singing range for most people.

Interesting.

A few years ago, I did a self-study. I put a dozen contemporary Catholic hymns (some of the ones posters have mentioned in this thread) and a dozen traditional Catholic hymns (the popular ones, e.g. Holy God We Praise Thy Name; Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, etc.) side by side and studied vocal ranges.

My conclusions were surprising even to me.

The traditional hymns, for the most part, have higher notes and a broader range than the contemporary hymns. And the contemporary hymns tended to have less of a range, with lower notes.

Obviously, the key signature would make a difference, but often, both contemporary and traditional hymns in the same keys yielded the same results–the contemporary hymns gad less high notes than the traditional.

I’m not fibbing here. Like I said, I was surprised myself. I fully expected that the contemporary hymns were higher, but they weren’t.

This is how I see it–the hymnals should be published with four-part harmony so that those who read music can read the parts, and those who cannot read music can get inspired to learn to read music so they can do the same. Then everyone can sing in the range appropriate for their voice.

 

[samovila]

This is how I see it–the hymnals should be published with four-part harmony so that those who read music can read the parts, and those who cannot read music can get inspired to learn to read music so they can do the same. Then everyone can sing in the range appropriate for their voice.

I totally agree! Those who can read music would benefit from this and those who can’t read musical generally wouldn’t concern themselves with what is written there to begin with.

 

[FickleFreckled]

Gizmo,
I don’t hate On Eagles Wings because of the message; I take lyrics apart, too. It’s the music itself. It just grates on me. It sounds ok when it’s sung by a big choir, harmony and lots of instrumentation, but not every parish has that. It’s one of those songs that really loses something in the translation. It can’t be “dummed down” or simplified without sounding completely disjointed and almost patched together.

(Does anybody remember this early post-Vatican II song that started “Zum-gali, gali, gali, Zum gali-gali…let us work with right good will…” That’s all I remember, thankfully. It’s sort of like “It’s a Small, Small World” I remembered it last night for some bizarre reason and it won’t go away.)

 

[turtle18]

I forgot to add that I loathe “On Eagles Wings.” One of the worst liturgical pieces I’ve ever heard. Everybody seems to love it and nobody can sing it. But everybody tries.

That’s kind of odd…do you mean it is bad music? It is very hard to sing.

But the actual context of the song is quite beautiful…because it is based on Psalm 91 & actually is a very poetic foreshadowing of Christ’s incarnation. However, I would be willing to concede that about 90% of the congregation wouldn’t grasp that.

 

[turtle18]

This is how I see it–the hymnals should be published with four-part harmony so that those who read music can read the parts, and those who cannot read music can get inspired to learn to read music so they can do the same. Then everyone can sing in the range appropriate for their voice.

Cat, you are funny! You are assuming that a lot of parishes have hymnals. Our parish gives us a “program” every Sunday with the lyrics to the songs we are singing. No melody or anything–I guess we are just supposed to be mind readers and know how the song goes. Or else they really only want the Choir to sing.

 

[turtle18]

Gizmo,
I don’t hate On Eagles Wings because of the message; I take lyrics apart, too. It’s the music itself. It just grates on me. It sounds ok when it’s sung by a big choir, harmony and lots of instrumentation, but not every parish has that. It’s one of those songs that really loses something in the translation. It can’t be “dummed down” or simplified without sounding completely disjointed and almost patched together.

(Does anybody remember this early post-Vatican II song that started “Zum-gali, gali, gali, Zum gali-gali…let us work with right good will…” That’s all I remember, thankfully. It’s sort of like “It’s a Small, Small World” I remembered it last night for some bizarre reason and it won’t go away.)

Sorry FickleFreckled–I made my last post without reading on further to read your next post.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Oh no, NOT Zum-galli galli. . .Thankfully all I remember is: Pioneers must work all day, from dawn till the day is done, from dawn till the day is done, there is work for everyone. . .zum-galli-galli-galli, Zum-galli-galli. . Blech.

By any chance were you in elementary school in Philly in the 1960s? That’s where I got this pounded into my brain along with “A Capital ship”.

Anybody else remember. . .
A capital ship for an ocean trip was the Walloping Window Blind,
No wind that blew dismayed her crew or troubled the captain’s mind (ind-ind)
The man at the wheel was made to feel contempt for the wildest blow(oh-oh)
Though it often appeared when the gale had cleared that he’d been in his bunk below.

Then blow ye winds heigh ho (heigh ho)
A rovin’ I will go, (will go)
I’ll sail no more on England’s shore so let the music play (ay-ay)
I’m off on the morning train (good bye), I’ll cross the raging main (the main),
I’m off to my love with a boxing glove ten thousand miles away.

I know MORE verses too.

 

[FickleFreckled]

turtle 18, read the post right before yours. I explained. I do get it; I’m a musician and have been a liturgical musician. I just hate On Eagles Wings.

Tantum Ergo,
No, Texas. 6th or 7th grade.

I don’t recall the one you posted, but I remember one called “The Lonely Grenadier.”

Gizmo79, I’m not a brother. I’m a sister.

 

[Sarabande]

Gizmo,
I don’t hate On Eagles Wings because of the message; I take lyrics apart, too. It’s the music itself. It just grates on me. It sounds ok when it’s sung by a big choir, harmony and lots of instrumentation, but not every parish has that. It’s one of those songs that really loses something in the translation. It can’t be “dummed down” or simplified without sounding completely disjointed and almost patched together.

I would agree about “On Eagles Wings”. The words are beautiful, but the music is just… As a classically trained professional singer (who also happens to be a musician. haha! geeky musician joke), I would say that the reason why this song is difficult to sing for an untrained singer is mainly because of how it jumps all over the place. It takes the voice from the normal vocal range of an untrained singer to then immediately jumping to the “chestier” part of the voice in the very low registers. It doesn’t stay within one tessitura. There are too many wide intervals for an untrained voice to navigate through without totally messing it up. I’ve never heard anyone, besides a trained singer, sing it well. I often have to sing it for funerals. What’s worse is hearing a cantor who really cheeses it up. It totally ruins the message.

 

[Sarabande]

Does anyone remember:

“Wood” snap fingers “hath” snap fingers “hope”? We had to do that one a lot in school.

 

[FickleFreckled]

That’s IT!!! CHEESY!! That’s exactly the right word for how On Eagles Wings sounds as usually played at Mass. Thanks, Sarabande!

This is an old song that’s working it’s way into Catholic churches more frequently and I love it: “What Wondrous Love.” I think it’s early American, but might be English. Anyone know the history?

 

[Cat]

Cat, you are funny! You are assuming that a lot of parishes have hymnals. Our parish gives us a “program” every Sunday with the lyrics to the songs we are singing. No melody or anything–I guess we are just supposed to be mind readers and know how the song goes. Or else they really only want the Choir to sing.

I really dislike it when churches provide lyrics with no words. I am an absolutely dismal ear singer.

During the last decade that we were evangelical Protestant, many of the churches abandoned hymnals and used overheads instead–words, no music. Again, I’m such a poor ear singer (as many others are, too), that this was very frustrating for me.

It’s especially difficult with many of the contemporary hymns which have poorly defined melodies. (BTW, one of the reasons I love the Haugen and Haas songs is that they DO have very lovely melodies, very singable.)

I think if nothing else, music should be provided for the sake of the CHILDREN. When my children were small, I would hold the hymnal and run my finger along–not the words, but the NOTES. The kids learned that if a note was higher on the staff, it was higher in the voice, and vice versa. This made it easier for them to learn to read music when their school teachers taught them.

 

[mariyka]

This is how I see it–the hymnals should be published with four-part harmony so that those who read music can read the parts, and those who cannot read music can get inspired to learn to read music so they can do the same. Then everyone can sing in the range appropriate for their voice.

Yes, yes, yes!!! I would love to harmonize and I can read music, but there are only words in the “hymnal”. Many of the hymns are beautiful, but so few sing. According to my husband, the nuns told him he didn’t have a singing voice. He has fine voice, but he refuses to sing because he’s so self-conscious. Is this common?

 

[benedictgal]

Yes, yes, yes!!! I would love to harmonize and I can read music, but there are only words in the “hymnal”. Many of the hymns are beautiful, but so few sing. According to my husband, the nuns told him he didn’t have a singing voice. He has fine voice, but he refuses to sing because he’s so self-conscious. Is this common?

I do not read music, so I rely on the organ to help me out. However, when I have had to cantor in a pinch, I manage to get together with the organist and he gives me a pitch that I can sing. It actually works out rather well. Luckily, when I have had to sing, I default to the Traditional hymns which, contrary to what some might think, are fairly easy to sing. The organist just has to go down one pitch for me. Oddly enough, when he goes down that one pitch, it makes it singable for just about everybody.

 

[Matrix_Refugee]

I know some Italian guys who come off as being the most macho tough fellas ever, but who aren’t afraid to cry real tears when they’re hearing or singing an especially emotionally moving song. I also know women (myself included) who gag on sappy lyrics and tunes and snark about them (“Lord I Lift Your Name on High” Puh-leeze… ). But you know… with all the dark things in this world, I think we all need something light and fluffy to help us get through the dark times and keep a border around it.