Nine Reasons People Aren't Singing in Worship

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DaveBj said:
I’m just guessing here, but I suspect that the four-part choir editions of hymnals are somewhat more expensive than the one-line versions, and therefore parished aren’t likely to be buying 300 copies of them to put in the pews.
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Yep. We probably have a couple hundred choir copies of our hymnal but those in the pews don’t have parts.
 
pnewton said:
Does it? I know we have expanded choir edition for our parish which uses Gather Comprehensive, but the regular hymnal has very few parts. Does GIA have a traditional four part hymnal as well?
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yup, called the Choir edition. I bought them for my choir.
 
I have never seen a 4 part hymnal in the pews in a Catholic Church. I have never seen anything but a 4 part hymnal in a Protestant Church. I will certainly sing the bass line if I can discern it - or have it in front of me. Half the time all we get is lyrics - no music at all. That’s always special for a new, syncopated, latest and greatest piece of dreck. 48% of the time all we get is the melody in an impossibly high key for generally lousy hymns. The last 2% is a familiar piece worth singing.

Again, do the Lord’s work - burn all Gather Hymnals.
 
johnnykins said:
I have never seen a 4 part hymnal in the pews in a Catholic Church. I** have never seen anything but a 4 part hymnal in a Protestant Church**. I will certainly sing the bass line if I can discern it - or have it in front of me. Half the time all we get is lyrics - no music at all. That’s always special for a new, syncopated, latest and greatest piece of dreck. 48% of the time all we get is the melody in an impossibly high key for generally lousy hymns. The last 2% is a familiar piece worth singing.

Again, do the Lord’s work - burn all Gather Hymnals.
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Have you been to a Protestant Church lately? It seems they’ve all given up on singing hymns and now just sing choruses, repetitive songs with simple melodies. There’s an interesting book from a Protestant perspective called* Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns: How Pop Culture Re-Wrote the Hymnal.* It is a good read and shows that this isn’t just a Catholic problem.

Maybe mainline Protestant Churches still sing hymns in their early morning “Traditional Services”.
 
johnnykins said:
I have never seen a 4 part hymnal in the pews in a Catholic Church. I have never seen anything but a 4 part hymnal in a Protestant Church. I will certainly sing the bass line if I can discern it - or have it in front of me. Half the time all we get is lyrics - no music at all. That’s always special for a new, syncopated, latest and greatest piece of dreck. 48% of the time all we get is the melody in an impossibly high key for generally lousy hymns. The last 2% is a familiar piece worth singing.

Again, do the Lord’s work - burn all Gather Hymnals.
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So…the hymns such as Immaculate Mary, Tantum Ergo, Adorote Devote, Pange Lingua, Come Holy Ghost in the Gather hymnal are offensive to you?
Gather is called “comprehensive” because it is. It has a good mix of every type of piece.
Ye Sons and Daughters, People Look East, all the major carols, The King of Glory, Make me a Channel of Your Peace, I could go on and on.
Really, your posts are very uncharitable. There is MUCH good music in Gather.
 
Corki said:
blog.ncbaptist.org/renewingworship/2014/06/11/nine-reasons-people-arent-singing-in-worship/

This is a Baptist music leaders’ blog but has some really good points that echo sentiments often expressed here at CAF

In spite of the barely concealed anti-Catholic jab, does he have a point?
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Coming back to this post…

The reasons people don’t sing at Catholic Masses extend beyond the Catholic Church herself.

Our society in general does not value communal singing. With the exception of after-hours clubs, singing has all but disappeared from schools.

If the Church values communal singing then the Church needs to put her time and money into changing the culture of the world around her.
 
pianistclare said:
So…the hymns such as Immaculate Mary, Tantum Ergo, Adorote Devote, Pange Lingua, Come Holy Ghost in the Gather hymnal are offensive to you?
Gather is called “comprehensive” because it is. It has a good mix of every type of piece.
Ye Sons and Daughters, People Look East, all the major carols, The King of Glory, Make me a Channel of Your Peace, I could go on and on.
Really, your posts are very uncharitable. There is MUCH good music in Gather.
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Nonsense - Gather is among the worst purveyors of modern dreck out there.

BTW I’ve long been a fan of Colbert’s “The King of Glory”…it just highlights what too many take as good music.
youtube.com/watch?v=oASYa-Wkroc

At least no one has brought up “On Eagles Wings.” As I mentioned to a friend, if that is played at my funeral you will know I’d somehow really ticked off my kids. 😃
 
johnnykins said:
BTW I’ve long been a fan of Colbert’s “The King of Glory”…it just highlights what too many take as good music.
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I take it is good music. You may have different opinions and tastes. Criticizing tastes in music is an exercise in futility *and *vanity.
 
Cat said:
As a church pianist/organist, I agree with every point in the list.

I would add, for all Christians: (10) The generations in the United States who attended school in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, have not been taught to sing correctly or read music, and have instead received most of their exposure to music through listening to pop music. This has resulted in several generations that are physically incapable of singing hymns or any serious song with others because of the lack of education and training.

In addition, for Catholics, I would add (11) Some Catholics long to return to pre-Reformation and pre-Vatican II Mass music, which was done by the choir and the organ, and didn’t include “hymns.” These Catholics have the idea that congregational singing of hymns is inappropriate for the Holy Mass and is a “Protestant corruption” of the Mass. These Catholics are reticent about singing congregational hymns, especially any hymns written after 1900 or hymns in the vernacular.
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As a chorister (member of a church choir), I will agree with you on these points and also add the following corollary: not only do many Catholics wish to return to pre-Vatican II Mass music, there are other Catholics who think the only thing worth singing was written after the Second Vatican Council.

Many Catholics of the Latin rite have an adverse reaction to chant, although quite strangely, it is what will allow the Church to have singing when there is no instrumentalist (I happen to like organ accompanied, high quality, hymns myself in the Roman church), other than harmonized a capella hymns (our now former DoM used to use bare organ accompaniment after Holy Communion on Holy Thursday, with choir singing the hymn SATB and congregation singing). The other alternative is to have a low Mass (no singing at all). And yes, there is vernacular plainchant available.

In contrast, some of the newer songs which are composed today are made in such a way that if you have no instruments (namely something which makes a heavy beat), then you won’t be able to sing them at all.
 
Corki said:
blog.ncbaptist.org/renewingworship/2014/06/11/nine-reasons-people-arent-singing-in-worship/

This is a Baptist music leaders’ blog but has some really good points that echo sentiments often expressed here at CAF

In spite of the barely concealed anti-Catholic jab, does he have a point?
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While this is not the “Non-Catholic Religions” forum, since this was brought up in the blog, I do have this to say about the “pre-Reformation mess”. By alluding to it, the above mentioned Protestant and Baptist is actually conceding that there was a Church before the Reformation. Many Protestants don’t even make it that far, or try to spin something up. Kuddos.
 
TimothyH said:
What problem described in the article is largely an Evangelical construct and their own problem.
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Nah, this article definitely applies to Catholic liturgical settings.

I usually attend mass between 3 parishes - the cathedral downtown, my parents’ parish, and the parish my Gf and I like to drive to for Sunday evening mass when possible.

There is a gigantic variety in music and signing styles at each parish.

No one sings at the cathedral, and the hymns chosen there are very complex and very British.

My parents’ parish is suburban and tries to get people to sing hymns and settings that were penned by the choir director. These are done in ridiculously high keys and thus no one sings.

The third parish tries to get people in the singing by using hymns everyone knows, usually somewhat more traditional stuff released before 1978.
 
christofirst said:
Today we remember St. Cecelia, a patroness of music, so I pray she intercedes for us.

Now, when I examine why I resist singing at Mass (and I often do), I see nothing virtuous. I see rebelliousness. I want the Mass to be shorter. I don’t feel we need that extra verse. I don’t like this particular song.

I also see what seems to be a kind of elitism. At daily Mass (no music), when the priest decides to sing some part of the Mass that prompts a sung response from us, I willingly participate. But on Sunday, when the song leader invites me to join in song, I become a little kid again: “You’re not the boss of me! I don’t have to do what you say!”

Ridiculous, when I think about it. So I make a conscious effort to sing, even when I don’t feel like it.
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And, I echo your sentiments. I sense elitism and showy-ness with pompous hymns that have to be sung from 1st to 10th stanza.

I sense rebelliousness when the choir directors make everyone try to learn some new setting every few months before mass begins.
 
I want to add a number 10. 😃

The songs don’t have anything to do with the Mass of the day.

On the feast of Christ the King, we had only one song even remotely related. But on the First Sunday of Advent we has 2 Christ the King songs. 🤷 We have Marian feasts with no hymns about Mary. IMHO, the music should be part of the whole and link to the readings, the prayers and the liturgical season. [The other extreme, of course, is overkill regarding a theme. One Advent, every song, for four weeks, was to the tune of “O Come, O Come Emanuel” - even the Kyrie and the Agnus Dei. :(]
 
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