In regards to the actual article, although I don’t really agree with the author, I did see in the comments that the author clarified his stance on the music a little more. He admitted that most of the music in the G&P was not great, but believed that there were a few “gems” within the muck. He was referring to someone’s comment as the baby being thrown out with the bathwater and he agreed that there was a lot more bathwater than baby. Further clarification in what he was trying to suggest is in his quote of the comments section:
It’s a truth of the human condition that you can’t legislate quality. More basically, you can’t force people to do well. You can urge, intimidate, cajole, threaten, and inspire. I think the Roman approach recognizes this.
The institutional church can make some inroads in omitting the bad. But mediocrity is pretty well entrenched from top to bottom.
My sense is that the bulk of the G&P repertoire as usually presented in parishes, is mediocre. Not unlike chant or most any other form of music. Occasionally, one will find a parish or religious community with brilliant music. That’s more often because the pastor is committed, a skilled person or people are engaged, and the people support the operation. Mozart (and others) wrote brilliant music not because the Church told him to do so, but because interior inspiration was aided by patrons and circumstances.
The bold was mine. These things are key. In the past, many of the brilliant and very gifted composers had patrons to support them within the Church and outside. They didn’t have to rely on publishing houses to say “Yay” or “Nay” if they didn’t think the music was going to sell or pander to the general public. The Church or the private patron commissioning these works only expected the best from these composers and artists of all other genres. Although some of these composers might have created music that others of that time and subsequent generations may debate whether or not it was appropriate for mass, there is rarely a debate as to whether the music was brilliantly composed. And if they didn’t produce compositions worthy of their brilliance, genius or best talents, they’d be laughed out of town.
As I read more about it and look into musical compositions from various centuries, I believe it is obvious that poorly written music or music written in bad taste did not just begin with Vatican II. It has been around for many centuries, except that the Church at different points in history had an easier time of controlling the infiltration and over time was able to get rid of much of the muck that we don’t hear today when listening to the best of our sacred musical heritage. When you look at the compositions and listen to a really horrible time of organ music literature (really sentimental fluff) it’s no wonder many people of our grandparents’ and parents’ generation, then subsequently my generation were turned off to the organ, which led to less people taking up the instrument. If we didn’t have the brilliant genius of an organist (he’d blush if he knew I called him that) at our cathedral, I probably wouldn’t have thought much about the organ and would have never known the beautiful repertoire from past and present composers.
I see where the author is trying to say that making the G&P got rid of more of the junk from that chaotic time of music liturgy and that it was trying to rein in the youth and younger adults from straying too far. But I believe the need to pander to that generation is over. They are older now and they are now in the Church for the long haul whether or not the music was inspiring to them and have grown from that point in their lives. My parents, although they used to like “Prayer of St. Francis” and some of the other folksy type of music of their time, they have actually admitted to me that they can’t stand that music any longer for mass and find it superficial and offensive. I asked them what changed. For them it was the novelty of the music and a product of their time. They needed something lighter and feel-good. Not that they didn’t like chant and other music from various periods. But now, they see, appreciate and love even more that music. My father was so inspired and spiritually touched by the music of our cathedral choir last Sunday, in which they take advantage of the best of the musical heritage from the past and present (no G&P hymnals at our parish), he really can’t see ever going to that state of his youth.
This can probably be said about some of the newer pop-like and P&W music we hear today for some people of my generation and the younger generation. Although, I can’t stand it and will never agree that it is appropriate for mass, perhaps for some of these people they need to get through that state of sacred music before transcending deeper. But that deeper state can’t be achieved unless they receive proper leadership and education. My parents had that education and leadership in the past - plus they had a daughter who is a classically trained musician to help them along. So they were able to harken to it. Many people of my generation don’t have that.
The director of our Schola in college used to call us (the ‘folk’ group) the “Hum and Strum.” Course, he was just jealous because our masses were better attended.