Missing music in mass

[Phemie]

That is weird. What’s the point of that?

A recognition that many people don’t read music? A money saving endeavor?

I remember as a kid being surprised that the Protestant hymn book my mom had contained music because nobody I knew read music and everyone I knew who played or sang learned everything by ear, Mom included.

 

[Sarabande]

A recognition that many people don’t read music? A money saving endeavor?

I remember as a kid being surprised that the Protestant hymn book my mom had contained music because nobody I knew read music and everyone I knew who played or sang learned everything by ear, Mom included.

I remember when I couldn’t read music as a young child. I had a very good ear and was able to play music on the piano by ear as well as sing by ear very easily. Seeing just the words in a hymnal (which was rare where I grew up. Most of the hymns in the hymnal had the notation for the melody line) or on a piece of paper if I was at school, for instance, was simple for me to pick up after hearing it played through or sung for me the first time. As I got older and began taking piano much more seriously, my best piano teacher realized that I was fooling my previous teachers. I used to always ask them to play a new piece for me, then I’d take it home remembered how it was played and then completely mimic it. He forced me to read and wouldn’t play anything for me. Then I pursued classical voice, which is what I do now as my vocation/career in both church work and secular work, and my first voice teacher who was an incredible musician, made sure that I became a good musician, so I worked very hard to sight-sing the notes better. What helped was joining choirs as an alto because singing soprano without reading was so easy. So although I still have a good ear, it is really disconcerting for me to not have the music to look at. That’s the musician in me. lol!

When I think back to when I couldn’t read music, I realize that most people, especially in Catholic parishes, probably don’t see much value of having the musical notation in front of them. I can see how in a parish that is trying to save money, they would just purchase hymnals with no musical notation.

 

[Sarabande]

That’s exactly it. My husband was raised Catholic, and his reply is always “I’ve heard it a million times, so I don’t need the notes.”

I’m wondering if this isn’t a little nudge from God to perhaps join the choir and try to use my talent more than I am. I struggle with “jumping in” and getting involved in this fairly new parish.

It might be. Try it out and see what happens.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

I don’t read music per se, but if I see the melody on the page, I can figure out where the notes belong and where they don’t…It helps me, as a non-musician, remember what the tune is. And some of the songs we sing are more common, and a few are uncommon. I prefer the parish with hymnals.

 

[johnnykins]

A few years back I attended the 5:30 Pm Sunday Mass at a neighboring Church - a big wealthy Church. All the hymns were printed on a sheet - lyrics only. All the songs were unfamiliar. As it turned out, all the songs were syncopated - the irregular rhythms not easy to follow.

The priest, right before the procession, exhorted everyone to “sing out loud!” Naturally not a word was sung by the Congregation or the priest - no one could follow it.

At my present parish with excellent music, an order of worship is made each Sunday - and despite that at least once a month what is sung has nothing to do with what is printed…Go figure. And, this from a program with wonderful music.

It’s disheartening too often.