While I’ve never been to one personally, I’ve know people who had. And if the priest would just cancel Divine Liturgy because the people there present won’t or can’t sing, they’ll never have another Divine Liturgy again. The cases I speak of are ethnic parishes who can’t attract people from other ethnic background, and their numbers are dwindling due to an aging population.
What most Orthodox parishes do (and Eastern Catholic parishes as well) is try to stick with a standard tone for hymns so people get can familiar and follow along. But in my EO parish that is mostly converts and people who are very active in church, not everyone sings all the time. I can hear a few extra voices in some hymns. I won’t speculate for what their reasons are, maybe they are singing in a very low voice that I cannot tell apart from the choir, or they are busy keeping the kids in line, or whatever. We have a choir who does the heavy lifting for the singing.yes i am Roman Catholic.
what i find odd in church is how few people actually join in the singing. i love to sing - sadly i know i sound awful but i still love to sing in church. sometimes i feel a little uncomfortable when surrounded by others who do not participate in the singing. i wish i had people to go with me.
It is hard to get people to sing congregationally for some reason, even when they all know the melody and words by heart.
I hope that at least the “Lord have mercy” and “Amen” are done by all. I think the Amen is done by all, but not the “Lord have mercy”. I know I can only join in half the time because the other half I’m trying to control a 3-year-old with unlimited energy.
Which is interesting to me, because in Catholicism it seems to be the rule, while the exception is the reverent high mass, which I fine to be a shame. I love how reverent the high Catholic Mass can be, just like the Divine Liturgy, anything less just doesn’t feel the same.
I know what you mean. When I was EC we’d do recited Liturgy sometimes and it completely throws me off. I am blessed to be in a parish today which has a lot of active and committed members. And they’re blessed that they don’t have to resort to me singing the responses, because that will make recited Liturgies better sounding than my singing voiceWhich is interesting to me, because in Catholicism it seems to be the rule, while the exception is the reverent high mass, which I fine to be a shame. I love how reverent the high Catholic Mass can be, just like the Divine Liturgy, anything less just doesn’t feel the same.
You need to find a Ruthenian parish. We’re known for our congregational singing.
Sometimes I wonder if having a very good choir discourages people from singing, maybe because they feel they cannot keep up with the quality of singing.You need to find a Ruthenian parish. We’re known for our congregational singing.
I wonder this too. My old Parish didn’t have much of a choir. It had one, but it was very informal. The people who led it had some experience with music, but no one else really did. Yet everyone sang. Now I’m at a parish with an excellent choir, several classically trained conductors, etc. and often all the singing seems to come from their corner, and nowhere else.