Is it okay to not sing the hymns during Mass?

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I prefer to listen to the cantor sing, but I do love singing Glory to God in the Highest 🙂
 
stephraim said:
Sing the Ordinary: that belongs to the people. Let the choir sing the Propers. If there’s a hymn after the Propers (or, sadly, in lieu of it) it’s your choice to sing or not.
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bingo, but you dont even need to sing the ordinary if you don’t want

but if you are going to sing at all deffinately sing the ordinary
 
familyof4 said:
😛 I bet the people behind me wish I wouldn’t sing, but I love some of the hymns, and enjoy singing along. Singing the hymns isn’t mandatory, but it is nice when everyone sings, lousy voices or not! It’s part of the unity we strive for.

Of course, if it’s two octaves out of my range (a common complaint), I don’t bother. That’s just subjecting my fellow parishioners to cruel and unusual punishment!
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ummmmmm if it’s two octaves out of your range, transpose it down two octaves
 
FatHead said:
ummmmmm if it’s two octaves out of your range, transpose it down two octaves
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😛 Just not going to happen. I have a terrible ear, and just end up singing atonally, and it’s painful for me to hear. Has to be excruciating for those around me. I’ll just sing louder on the next hymn in my range!
 
I don’t think it’s wrong. I love to sing and I do it professionally. It’s my main way of prayer no matter what kind of music it is (secular or sacred/religious). That said, there have been Sundays when I wasn’t cantoring that I just wanted to sit and listen to the choir or to just look at the music and words while the congregation sang. Sometimes, listening deeply and intently is much more powerful and prayerful for me than it would be if I were singing along.
 
Well, given that hymns are alien to Mass anyway, it would be more expected for the congregation to just listen while the choir sings the Propers, not hymns.

Therefore, it is all right to not sing at Mass and just listen.
 
Before Vatican ll the only singing was at a high mass. The choir sang, but they weren’t on display like a show next to the altar. And it was beautiful catholic music.

The rest of the Sunday masses were low masses and had no singing. They were quiet, reverant, holy and beautiful. You could actually pray and communicate with God and pay attention to what was going on during the Mass. There were no waving of the arms in the air, no talking during mass and no hand holding. No free for all hug fest called the ‘kiss of peace’. The churches were full.

I miss those days.

Now the closest you can come to the peace of those masses is daily mass. I feel at most Sunday masses like I am at a hippy hootenanny or a protestant sing-a-long to be endured in order to receive Our Lord. The protestants always had lots of singing because that and the sermon is all they had.

So, as long as you are trying, despite the distractions, to participate by following the mass you need not sing. And you can always sing in your heart. But no, singing isn’t ‘required’ to assist at mass. For the past at least 1000 years, people were not required to sing in order to be considered ‘participating’ and they managed to know and love the faith without that. So if you don’t or can’t sing, you are not alone in the history of the church.
 
byers said:
Before Vatican ll the only singing was at a high mass. The choir sang, but they weren’t on display like a show next to the altar. And it was beautiful catholic music.

The rest of the Sunday masses were low masses and had no singing. They were quiet, reverant, holy and beautiful. You could actually pray and communicate with God and pay attention to what was going on during the Mass. There were no waving of the arms in the air, no talking during mass and no hand holding. No free for all hug fest called the ‘kiss of peace’. The churches were full.

I miss those days.

Now the closest you can come to the peace of those masses is daily mass. I feel at most Sunday masses like I am at a hippy hootenanny or a protestant sing-a-long to be endured in order to receive Our Lord. The protestants always had lots of singing because that and the sermon is all they had.

So, as long as you are trying, despite the distractions, to participate by following the mass you need not sing. And you can always sing in your heart. But no, singing isn’t ‘required’ to assist at mass. For the past at least 1000 years, people were not required to sing in order to be considered ‘participating’ and they managed to know and love the faith without that. So if you don’t or can’t sing, you are not alone in the history of the church.
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Amen.
 
I am with: Bob Aliano, AC Claire and byers. There used to be a quiet, early, Sunday morning Mass (my favourite). With fewer Sunday Masses, there followed a quiet Saturday vigil Mass. Now there is neither and I find the enforced and unlovely hymn-singing excruciating. It is not praying - other than praying for the hymn to end as soon as possible.
 
NewsTheMan said:
Depends. If you’re not singing because you can’t find the hymn or something, it’s okay. If you’re not singing just because you don’t want to sing, or whatever, then I would say it’s not okay (though I don’t think it’s sinful of course).

At Mass I sing along to all the songs despite their utterly poor theological content and often Protestant happy clappy type lyrics. I do it because I don’t want to seem holier than thou, and I don’t want to seem uninterested, and I don’t want to look as if I’m special. Furthermore, if I don’t sing I have no right to complain about the music!

Sing! Sing to the Lord! It’s a beautiful thing to do.
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As a convert, I still miss the beautiful hymns. Every once in a while we’ll sing one I remember from my Protestant days. After 3 years I’m actually learning some of the lyrics to the Catholic ones and now I believe we are changing the music as well with the new translation?
 
Miriam1947 said:
As a convert, I still miss the beautiful hymns. Every once in a while we’ll sing one I remember from my Protestant days. After 3 years I’m actually learning some of the lyrics to the Catholic ones and now I believe we are changing the music as well with the new translation?
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No, just the Mass parts will change. Most of the hymns will stay the same.
 
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