Music during Liturgy

[SouthernSister]

I’d like your (name removed by moderator)ut in discerning something, please.

Our parish hired a choir director about two years ago, who has done a great job of getting our small choir singing beautifully together. The problem my family is experiencing is that she constantly changes the songs that require a response from the congregation. The situation has become so distracting that at Midnight Mass this past weekend, I had to actually read the words to the Glory To God because the music the director chose was so unfamiliar that I couldn’t figure out when to sing the words and lost my place.

In addition, at three Masses during Advent, Father had to tell the people when to kneel because we were so distracted by the music that we didn’t know it was time for the Consecration!

In talking with a few friends about it, it’s my understanding that the Priest has already been approached about the issue and doesn’t see a concern. For my family, it has become a constant source of discussion after Mass because the music has been so bad recently.

Are their guidelines for Liturgical music? I’m starting to feel like we’re bugs involved in an experiment. I’d appreciate your suggestions on how to handle this situation.

SouthernSister

 

[VociMike]

This does sound like a problem. It’s very frustrating to be at a loss in the middle of Mass.

Here’s a quote from the Vatican II document “Sacrosantum Concilium”, on sacred music: “…bishops and other pastors of souls must be at pains to ensure that, whenever the sacred action is to be celebrated with song, the whole body of the faithful may be able to contribute that active participation which is rightly theirs…”

In your case it sounds as though the whole body of the faithful is not being allowed to contribute as they should.

 

[tiny_smommy]

Thank you for saying something. I still find myself going to Roman masses and I was raised Roman Catholic and I have no idea what is going on anymore! The music is out of control! That is my biggest complaint: when they change the music so dramatically that we can’t even pray the Our Father because of some ridiculous melody the choir has come up with! I want to sing out “Holy, Holy, Holy,” but I can’t because I have no idea what’s going on. And that’s exactly right: it’s almost impossible to tell when we are supposed to stand and kneel! And playing music during the communion prayer should be considered sacrilige. It’s a time of quiet, prayerful reflection, and I shouldn’t be distracted by crappy elevator music in the background!

My sisters recently moved, and they can’t find a mass that isn’t like the one you described. They are going to go Byzantine like I did for similar reasons. They get so irritated with the non-traditional music. It doesn’t even convey the same “feel” that the mass of our childhood did. It’s like a concert and not a memorial of the sacrifice of Christ. It’s too Protestant, in feel and in meaning. My mother tries to make excuses for it. She says things like, “well, the liturgy and the music are separate.” No! It didn’t used to be and it shouldn’t be! The liturgy was ALL music, in the loosest sense of the term, prior to Vatican II. It was all sung, and the Byzantines and Orthodox still sing/chant the liturgy. It should be composed like a work of art - something beautiful, worthy of worship of the Lord. There’s a reason why musical instruments were banned in the Church and still are in the Eastern Churches. Because it leads to abuses like these. The heretics had musical instruments in their liturgies.

 

[MusicMan]

There’s nothing wrong with changing Mass settings. Lots of parishes do it seasonally. Bigger parishes (who can afford a liturgist) will actually mandate the same setting be used at each Mass to maintain consistency and ease of singing.

If you change to a new setting week after week, the congregation is NEVER going to learn any of the settings. It’s one thing to have a group of settings that they know and change them around, but it’s totally different to just change without notice.

Your choir director should do a few things:

1.) Pick out two new settings she wants to use in this calendar year. One for Lent/Easter and one for next Advent/Christmas. The settings should be reverent, orthodox, and written with the ease of amatuer singing in mind.

2.) At all of the Masses the Sunday before Lent or Advent starts, the Choir Director and Choir should TEACH the new setting to the Congregation. Then they should sing it at those Masses. “This is the Mass setting we’ll be using this upcoming season.”

3.) During Ordinary time, the choir should use a more familiar setting of the Mass.

By next Christmas, your congregation will have three settings that they know well, and then she can start rotating based on a more “Feast/Solemnity-Specific” way – if that is her goal.

I’m so sick of singing the Mass of Creation that I may go take my own advice now and pick out a new setting for Lent.

Best wishes!