Nine Reasons People Aren't Singing in Worship

[Elizium23]

Can we at least agree that singing is morally neutral. There are times when singing lifts the soul to God in a wonderful way. There are songs that are conducive to singing and invite it.

There are also songs that by their nature are not conducive to singing, whether due to bad composition or some other reason. Some music is designed for meditative listening. There is nothing wrong with that. Listening does not have to be passive. Hearts and minds can be lifted to God in a very powerful way through active listening.

It is not for us to decide when to sing. When we are provided the tools necessary to support our congregational singing, whether that is a song sheet, a hymnal, or simply a familiar psalm that we have all memorized from our childhood, that is the command to sing!

 

[Denise1957]

Can we at least agree that singing is morally neutral. There are times when singing lifts the soul to God in a wonderful way. There are songs that are conducive to singing and invite it.

There are also songs that by their nature are not conducive to singing, whether due to bad composition or some other reason. Some music is designed for meditative listening. There is nothing wrong with that. Listening does not have to be passive. Hearts and minds can be lifted to God in a very powerful way through active listening.

I very much agree that hearts and minds can be lifted to God in a very powerful way through active listening. That’s one of the beautiful things about listening to Gregorian chant. It appeals more to the intellect than the emotions.

 

[Mintaka]

Elizium23 - I’m sure you feel like you’re being very good and positive, but there is no command to sing. Otherwise, mute people would all automatically be sinners, or unable to participate in Mass.

I’m a singer myself, to the point of obnoxiousness. But there is absolutely nothing that turns people off singing in church like being told that they are sinners unless they sing. You don’t get a joyful noise out of people by putting a gun to their heads, or by attempting to shame them.

Going back to earlier comments about Hispanic church music – There were plenty of pipe organs in Mexico and plenty of organ music at Mass – until the government came in and destroyed churches and organs before and during the Cristero War. And organists, too.

In fact, one of the Cristero War martyrs was Blessed José Luciano Ezequiel Huerta Gutiérrez, organist and classically trained tenor. Huerta responded to brutal interrogation by singing the refrain of the Himno de Cristo Rey - “O long live my Christ, O long live my King!” - until his voice was beaten out of him. The next morning, April 3, 1927, he was executed by firing squad along with his brother. His wife and children heard the shots.

Mexico has a long tradition of sacred music education in the classical Church tradition, including the first Nahuatl composers. Just like here, this music was made off-limits by people who didn’t properly understand Vatican II directives. The only music left was the festival music and carols usually played outside churches by mariachi bands and the like, and the new copyrighted music written in the 1960’s and later. Mexican Catholics in many places are trying to recover their sacred music heritage, but of course church music publishers are fighting this. You can’t charge as much money for a piece that’s been in the public domain since 1600, or 1700, or 1800.

Here’s a fairly old album review page that includes tons of info about Mexican and Latin American baroque music, vernacular villancico use at Vespers, etc.

 

[ProVobis]

Elizium23 - I’m sure you feel like you’re being very good and positive, but there is no command to sing. Otherwise, mute people would all automatically be sinners, or unable to participate in Mass.

I’m a singer myself, to the point of obnoxiousness. But there is absolutely nothing that turns people off singing in church like being told that they are sinners unless they sing. You don’t get a joyful noise out of people by putting a gun to their heads, or by attempting to shame them.

Going back to earlier comments about Hispanic church music – There were plenty of pipe organs in Mexico and plenty of organ music at Mass – until the government came in and destroyed churches and organs before and during the Cristero War. And organists, too.

In fact, one of the Cristero War martyrs was Blessed José Luciano Ezequiel Huerta Gutiérrez, organist and classically trained tenor. Huerta responded to brutal interrogation by singing the refrain of the Himno de Cristo Rey - “O long live my Christ, O long live my King!” - until his voice was beaten out of him. The next morning, April 3, 1927, he was executed by firing squad along with his brother. His wife and children heard the shots.

Mexico has a long tradition of sacred music education in the classical Church tradition, including the first Nahuatl composers. Just like here, this music was made off-limits by people who didn’t properly understand Vatican II directives. The only music left was the festival music and carols usually played outside churches by mariachi bands and the like, and the new copyrighted music written in the 1960’s and later. Mexican Catholics in many places are trying to recover their sacred music heritage, but of course church music publishers are fighting this. You can’t charge as much money for a piece that’s been in the public domain since 1600, or 1700, or 1800.

Here’s a fairly old album review page that includes tons of info about Mexican and Latin American baroque music, vernacular villancico use at Vespers, etc.

That explains quite a lot of things. Thanks for that.

 

[Musician]

As a former Protestant church music director, now a Catholic music director, the differences are vast.
(1) Protestants actually PAY their musicians…as a professional musician, I have been sadly dismayed by the salaries offered by parishes compared to Protestant churches. It’s totally ridiculous. How are we supposed to take care of OUR families? This is our work that we make a living at, and I clear maybe $500 a month (IF I’m lucky). And I know I am lucky to get that. That’s for all the masses, not just Sunday mornings. End of rant.
(2) Most Protestant churches, especially the nondenoms, tend to have a much more emotional basis for their music. It’s meant to move people to one emotion or another. If the praise band is singing a melodic, repeating phrase and people are waving their arms, it genuinely elicits a mass emotional response. I’m not saying that’s necessarily bad, but it can be emotional manipulation without much substance.
(3) I find many contemporary Catholic hymns/mass settings to be just awful. It seems sometimes as if we are trying to compose our own brand of praise-and-worship and the result is dismal. Not all, but most.
(4) The repertoire of Catholic music is vast, and rich. To any young Catholic musician my advice would be to look closely at the older stuff. Great music in there, and people are willing to learn it if you take them through it slowly and repeatedly, but without thrashing it to death. Mix up really good chant with some excellent traditional hymns of the season. Don’t do the same old songs every Sunday, but don’t constantly throw brand-new material at the congregation, either. I use a liturgical planner to keep track of what I do.
(5) People love to sing. Give them hymns that are singable and they’ll more than meet you halfway. My main Sunday morning congregation can really belt out the songs. If I teach the congregation a new song, I try to do it during Communion very softly. That is also the time I introduce P/W music as well, which my congregation likes. I limit P/W music to only after Communion.
I love being a musician, and specifically a Catholic musician. I wish I had more time for composition. It’s truly wonderful to serve as musician in the Holy Church, and I’m so glad I have that opportunity.

 

[Elizium23]

Elizium23 - I’m sure you feel like you’re being very good and positive, but there is no command to sing. Otherwise, mute people would all automatically be sinners, or unable to participate in Mass.

There is a command to genuflect, a command to kneel, and those in wheelchairs or otherwise lame are exempted because they have a physical difficulty. God does not expect the impossible. If that’s your logic for disproving me then consider yourself served.

 

[clem456]

Interesting thoughts:
blog.adw.org/2014/12/dont-forget-to-worship-god-a-call-to-better-liturgy-from-and-unlikely-source/

 

[wynd]

We once had a pastor who said the people were required to assist in the mass. He went on to say that singing was not optional, that it was assisting in the mass. After his first homily on that subject, the number of people singing went up quite a bit. Whether he was right, I have no idea, but it sure changed the masses at that church.

Can. 1248 §1. A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.

“Assist at” can also simply mean “attend.” I’m pretty sure this is the meaning of that canon.

 

[Brandon_Cal]

I apologize in advance if this has already been mentioned (I’m not about to read through 12 pages of a thread), but as a non-Catholic-frequent-Mass-goer I’ve observed three things that make singing very difficult for some, including yours truly:

1. The tendency of a parish to sing in an unbearably high vocal range,
2. The tendency of a parish to provide only lyrics without the musical scores,
3. If they actually provide scores, the tendency of a parish to provide them for only the melody.

My vocal tessitura is closest to that of a Bass-Baritone. If the parish is singing in a vocal range that only sopranos and children can reach, I’d rather keep quiet than screech. If no scores are provided and I don’t know the tune I’m certainly not going to ad lib it. If only melodic scores are provided I’ll usually sing for a verse or two, but after a while switching octaves over and over again just to keep in tune becomes tiresome. It would be really nice if Catholic hymnals (or even the printed scores on Mass programs) provided more than just the melody so that your average male could join in.

 

[DaveBj]

I apologize in advance if this has already been mentioned (I’m not about to read through 12 pages of a thread), but as a non-Catholic-frequent-Mass-goer I’ve observed three things that make singing very difficult for some, including yours truly:

1. The tendency of a parish to sing in an unbearably high vocal range,
2. The tendency of a parish to provide only lyrics without the musical scores,
3. If they actually provide scores, the tendency of a parish to provide them for only the melody.

My vocal tessitura is closest to that of a Bass-Baritone. If the parish is singing in a vocal range that only sopranos and children can reach, I’d rather keep quiet than screech. If no scores are provided and I don’t know the tune I’m certainly not going to ad lib it. If only melodic scores are provided I’ll usually sing for a verse or two, but after a while switching octaves over and over again just to keep in tune becomes tiresome. It would be really nice if Catholic hymnals (or even the printed scores on Mass programs) provided more than just the melody so that your average male could join in.

I’m with you. I grew up part-singing as a Protestant, and I’ve been improvising bass lines for the last 10 years.

Edit: I said “improvising,” but in many cases I’m just singing the bass lines that I learned years ago.

 

[Cat]

I apologize in advance if this has already been mentioned (I’m not about to read through 12 pages of a thread), but as a non-Catholic-frequent-Mass-goer I’ve observed three things that make singing very difficult for some, including yours truly:

1. The tendency of a parish to sing in an unbearably high vocal range,
2. The tendency of a parish to provide only lyrics without the musical scores,
3. If they actually provide scores, the tendency of a parish to provide them for only the melody.

My vocal tessitura is closest to that of a Bass-Baritone. If the parish is singing in a vocal range that only sopranos and children can reach, I’d rather keep quiet than screech. If no scores are provided and I don’t know the tune I’m certainly not going to ad lib it. If only melodic scores are provided I’ll usually sing for a verse or two, but after a while switching octaves over and over again just to keep in tune becomes tiresome. It would be really nice if Catholic hymnals (or even the printed scores on Mass programs) provided more than just the melody so that your average male could join in.

I disagree with you about the range.

When I first joined CAF, there were plenty of threads about the high range of the contemporary hymns vs. the traditional hymns.

So I did a study. I took ten of the contemporary hymns that seem to be sung most often in our parish, and ten of the traditional hymns that seem to be sung most often at our parish (we are fortunate that there is a nice mix).

I made a tally of the highest notes in the hymns (melody line).

Hands down–the traditional hymns contained more high notes in the melody than the contemporary hymns. No contest.

I think that perhaps the traditional hymns were written in such a way that the transitions were easier to sing. In other words, the old hymns were “simple” compared to the contemporary hymns. Better voice leading.

 

[DaveBj]

I agree that the “modern songs” are not pitched significantly higher than the “traditional hymns.” The thing is that the traditional hymns are usually in the same key as in the Protestant hymnals from which they were borrowed. In those hymnals they are arranged in four-part harmony, and the melody is carried by the sopranos (high female voices). Tenors (the high male voices) can also carry the melody, albeit an octave lower.

The thing is that most women are not comfortable in the high part of the soprano range, and most men are not comfortable in the high part of the tenor range, so if a song, be it modern or traditional, is high to begin with, those of us with lower voices are uncomfortable.

Because I improvise bass lines on the hymns, I don’t run into this problem, but the one piece I do have trouble with is the setting that we use for the Latin “Sanctus,” which we are using for Advent. THAT is HIGH!

 

[clem456]

I don’t think pitches are a serious problem. Confidence and desire are the problem. Just about any song in the hymnal has pitches that can be reached -IF- someone really wants to sing (not everyone does and that’s ok). We’ve seen this time and again in our choir, especially with men. A bass does not think he can reach the D above middle C but discovers that with some practice and especially confidence, it is not very difficult to do. Granted, some of the modern music is so obtuse that it’s difficult to want to sing it…

The question is, am I willing to express myself in front of a bunch of people?
Singing is not like playing the tympani. Singing bares the soul to others. You can’t hide yourself when you sing, you are by nature giving yourself up to others. You are broadcasting what you believe, standing up to be heard, literally. Proclaiming your faith. Singing is intimate. We have trouble with this. I myself have trouble with it. I find it difficult to sing loudly in the congregation, while in the choir we sing at the top of our lungs. In the choir I an surrounded by others doing the same thing. We are expected to lead, it’s our ministry. In the congregation, I feel naked and exposed.

Composers could do us all a real favor though, but composing melodies and rhythms that are intuitive and natural, and not contrived. Some do a great job. I think the tide has turned from what was produced in the 70’s and 80’s. We are singing a song for Christmas called “All is Well” by Michael W Smith I believe. It is new, it is beautiful, it is simple and can roll around in your heart all day. Music that is meant to be sung by a congregation should tap into something that people have in common. It shouldn’t express a composer’s peculiar quirkiness.

 

[Della]

The funny thing is–the songs that the older people claim were written for the young people are no more sung by them than good old regular hymns. Look around you on a Sunday morning. How many teens have a hymnal in their hands and are singing? Almost none. This is a parental/generational problem not a hymn/song problem. Our generation is the “me” generation and it shows in all aspects of life.

When I was a child, back in the dark ages, I was expected to participate by singing and following along in our prayer books as best as I could. We had no coloring books, no toys, no crackers to eat. We were there to worship God and woe betide us if we fidgeted or made faces or pulled on each other. We were instantly hauled out and punished on the spot. And no, it didn’t make us resent God and church. We learned that there were some things more important than us and that there are some things that deserve our reverence and attention. We sang even if we didn’t want to, but by doing so we learned to be actively involved at church, at school, at home when our parents told us to do something. We learned to obey and by learning that we learned how to concentrate on the things that deserve it, such as church, school work, being engaged in meaningful/useful activities. It all goes hand-in-hand.

The real problem is laxity–a laxity that the whole culture has embraced to its cost. The fix will take a long time, for once the “I can do whatever I want and you can’t tell me no” syndrome takes over a culture it is hard to get people to understand their obligations to God, community, country. and to each other.

 

[clem456]

The funny thing is–the songs that the older people claim were written for the young people are no more sung by them than good old regular hymns. Look around you on a Sunday morning. How many teens have a hymnal in their hands and are singing? Almost none. This is a parental/generational problem not a hymn/song problem. Our generation is the “me” generation and it shows in all aspects of life.
…

Yes.
I wish the light bulb would go on in parish offices around the country, and people would realize the face of change seems to be stuck in the Western European 70’s-80’s, and much of the music reflects it.

 

[DaveBj]

The funny thing is–the songs that the older people claim were written for the young people are no more sung by them than good old regular hymns. Look around you on a Sunday morning. How many teens have a hymnal in their hands and are singing? Almost none. This is a parental/generational problem not a hymn/song problem. Our generation is the “me” generation and it shows in all aspects of life.

When I was a child, back in the dark ages, I was expected to participate by singing and following along in our prayer books as best as I could. We had no coloring books, no toys, no crackers to eat. We were there to worship God and woe betide us if we fidgeted or made faces or pulled on each other. We were instantly hauled out and punished on the spot. And no, it didn’t make us resent God and church. We learned that there were some things more important than us and that there are some things that deserve our reverence and attention. We sang even if we didn’t want to, but by doing so we learned to be actively involved at church, at school, at home when our parents told us to do something. We learned to obey and by learning that we learned how to concentrate on the things that deserve it, such as church, school work, being engaged in meaningful/useful activities. It all goes hand-in-hand.

The real problem is laxity–a laxity that the whole culture has embraced to its cost. The fix will take a long time, for once the “I can do whatever I want and you can’t tell me no” syndrome takes over a culture it is hard to get people to understand their obligations to God, community, country. and to each other.

Well put, Della. Very well put.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

The funny thing is–the songs that the older people claim were written for the young people are no more sung by them than good old regular hymns. Look around you on a Sunday morning. How many teens have a hymnal in their hands and are singing? Almost none. This is a parental/generational problem not a hymn/song problem. Our generation is the “me” generation and it shows in all aspects of life.

When I was a child, back in the dark ages, I was expected to participate by singing and following along in our prayer books as best as I could. We had no coloring books, no toys, no crackers to eat. We were there to worship God and woe betide us if we fidgeted or made faces or pulled on each other. We were instantly hauled out and punished on the spot. And no, it didn’t make us resent God and church. We learned that there were some things more important than us and that there are some things that deserve our reverence and attention. We sang even if we didn’t want to, but by doing so we learned to be actively involved at church, at school, at home when our parents told us to do something. We learned to obey and by learning that we learned how to concentrate on the things that deserve it, such as church, school work, being engaged in meaningful/useful activities. It all goes hand-in-hand.

The real problem is laxity–a laxity that the whole culture has embraced to its cost. The fix will take a long time, for once the “I can do whatever I want and you can’t tell me no” syndrome takes over a culture it is hard to get people to understand their obligations to God, community, country. and to each other.

You have SO nailed this, Della.

 

[Cat]

The funny thing is–the songs that the older people claim were written for the young people are no more sung by them than good old regular hymns. Look around you on a Sunday morning. How many teens have a hymnal in their hands and are singing? Almost none. This is a parental/generational problem not a hymn/song problem. Our generation is the “me” generation and it shows in all aspects of life.

When I was a child, back in the dark ages, I was expected to participate by singing and following along in our prayer books as best as I could. We had no coloring books, no toys, no crackers to eat. We were there to worship God and woe betide us if we fidgeted or made faces or pulled on each other. We were instantly hauled out and punished on the spot. And no, it didn’t make us resent God and church. We learned that there were some things more important than us and that there are some things that deserve our reverence and attention. We sang even if we didn’t want to, but by doing so we learned to be actively involved at church, at school, at home when our parents told us to do something. We learned to obey and by learning that we learned how to concentrate on the things that deserve it, such as church, school work, being engaged in meaningful/useful activities. It all goes hand-in-hand.

The real problem is laxity–a laxity that the whole culture has embraced to its cost. The fix will take a long time, for once the “I can do whatever I want and you can’t tell me no” syndrome takes over a culture it is hard to get people to understand their obligations to God, community, country. and to each other.

This is really excellent. Thank you for posting. It really makes me think, and I hope others react the same way.

Those adults who choose not to sing and claim to be “actively listening” need to consider the effect that their example is having on children and teenagers, who see only a person who is choosing not to sing. Perhaps those who are deliberately choosing not to sing should be required to wear a sign that says, “Actively participating in Mass by listening instead of singing” so that the young ones will not get confused.

CAF has a really good blog up now by Michelle Arnold about this idea of “active participation through listening.” She doesn’t have good things to say about it.

The fact is, people, that I can pray, read the Scriptures, listen to good homilies (on CDs, etc.), adore the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament ALONE. I can even, in certain circumstances (illness) receive Holy Communion alone.

But I cannot sing in a congregation when I am alone. Oh, sure, I can put on a CD of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and sing along. But they aren’t there beside me, singing slightly off-key and nasal or softly and weakly or strong and mighty. They aren’t people that I know or kind of know.

**I can only sing in a congregation when there Is a congregation and they are singing. **

Duh.

There is NO secular activity that is comparable to singing in a congregation in church. The only thing that resembles it is singing the National Anthem at a sporting event, but that’s very different than singing songs of worship, praise, testimony (the dubious “I” songs that so many people on CAF don’t understand), etc.

It is a totally “church” activity, no matter what song/hymn you are singing. You will not do this activity in any other setting.

PLEASE sing!

 

[clem456]

…
Those adults who choose not to sing and claim to be “actively listening” need to consider the effect that their example is having on children and teenagers, who see only a person who is choosing not to sing. Perhaps those who are deliberately choosing not to sing should be required to wear a sign that says, “Actively participating in Mass by listening instead of singing” so that the young ones will not get confused.

CAF has a really good blog up now by Michelle Arnold about this idea of “active participation through listening.” She doesn’t have good things to say about it.

This is what Michelle Arnold says:

Passivity. In reaction to what can sometimes be an over-emphasis on communal participation in the Mass, some Catholics claim that “active participation” has been misunderstood. Rather than considering “active participation” to mean laity involved in speaking or singing the prayers of the liturgy, in union with the priest, we are told that “active participation” instead means to be silent and unite ourselves with the liturgy “in our hearts.” Sometimes this admonition is glazed with pious assurances that this is how the Virgin Mary prayed at the foot of the cross.

While there is certainly nothing wrong with praying silently at Mass, and while there is much to commend interior offerings of oneself in union with Christ on the cross, the fact is that the Church provides for the laity to do more during Mass. This is yet another facet of Catholic life that is not either/or but both/and. We can pray silently and give the congregational responses the Church asks us to give. We can offer ourselves in union with Christ on the cross, and serve at Mass as a lector or extraordinary minister of holy Communion.

I’m wondering where you find her saying bad things about active listening at Mass?

One is not a lesser Catholic or necessarily a bad example because one does not sing hymns. If one conveys to the kids that active participation is beneath them or not worth the effort, now you have bad example. It would be great if everyone sang at the top of their lungs. But not everyone participates that way. My father never once sang at Mass. Was he a bad example for us? Hardly. Was he participating? Yes.

Everyone at Mass is *invited to *immerse themselves in the Mass and participate. Participation simply takes different forms, and we need to accept the diverse spiritual dispositions and ways of expression, not cajole people into our own framework. Nothing drives people away like the expectation to do it like we do it. We have “Unity through diversity”.

We were told long ago by our choir director to not worry about whether the congregation is singing along with a particular hymn or not. And as I said earlier, some the hymns we do are not even in the book, they are not sing-alongs. Are we still praising God? Yes. Lori True’s Magnificat is another beautiful song we do that is not in the book. Everyone generally knows the verses from Scripture but the song is not in people’s hands. It’s a beautiful meditative piece. It’s thoughtful and prayerful.

Our ministry is to sing God’s praise and lead. The rest is the work of the Holy Spirit. If one person is expressing God’s grace, other’s can be led. The Spirit can spread like a fire and inspire a lot of people to sing along. It can also spread like a fire and bring people to silent thought and prayer. Neither is a lesser expression of faith. We are called to participate and give God our best.

 

[Elizium23]

One is not a lesser Catholic or necessarily a bad example because one does not sing hymns. If one conveys to the kids that active participation is beneath them or not worth the effort, now you have bad example. It would be great if everyone sang at the top of their lungs. But not everyone participates that way. My father never once sang at Mass. Was he a bad example for us? Hardly. Was he participating? Yes.

There is a fundamental difference between observing something going on and participating in it actively, and this is something the “silent participation” folks just do not understand.

I am a dancer. I go out every week to a dance studio and learn ballroom and Latin dance styles. The night begins with a beginning lesson, a small break for practice, and then an intermediate lesson, and then social dancing. I can promise you that if you paid your cover charge and sat at a table until 9pm, even if you “actively participated” in the lesson from your chair, you would be incapable of joining in the social dancing afterwards. And I’ll tell you why. Our instructor tells us about “muscle memory”. The whole body has memory capability, memory is not merely contained in the brain. The legs remember how to walk and are, to some degree, autonomous. The hands remember how to grasp. When dancing, your feet remember the steps while your arms are leading your partner. The only reason your feet remember the steps is because you have done them, over and over, you perform them without thinking. Every dance has a basic pattern of steps. This can be very simple, like a 2-step. It is rarely complicated. The waltz and rumba have the same box step. If you can do one, you can do the other. The timing is slightly different, but the pattern is the same. But there are some people who get frustrated and go sit down and they watch everyone learning, these are the people who will learn no more in that night. Sometimes I “learn” by watching but it is only when I see something I recognize and my muscles tell me that they’ve done this before and they’ll do it again, now that I have unlocked that memory.

The same goes for singing. Muscles are at work when we sing, and those muscles don’t work when we are silently listening. Not only the muscles, but we feel the words and sounds and pitches in our bones as the mouth produces them. That is how you hear yourself, through the bones, not through air, that is why we sound different to ourselves than on tape. So if I sit in a Mass and I listen to my neighbor singing, then I have not engaged my muscle memory and I have not engaged my bones to hear myself singing. I have robbed myself of a visceral experience. It is certain that I will not sing any better, because my muscles don’t know how. It is also very likely that the words and tune will not remain with me, because “in one ear and out the other”, as the old saying goes. We are exposed to so many words and sounds and feelings in the day, we have sensory overload. Our brain is busy throwing most of it away just to cope. So what do you think the brain will throw away first, something I merely listened to and “united my heart in silence” to? Or something that I attempted to mimic, flubbed a little on the first try, but we did it five times and I got better and better at copying the cantor, who sang so well?

It is regrettable that music is being dumbed-down. “Worship aids” are passed out with just the words, because “nobody reads music anymore” or “it is too hard to fit all the notation on the page” or “we don’t have copyright permission for the whole song” or “I don’t have the right software to transcribe the music I wrote”. This is robbing the people of the tools we need to sing properly. I read music. Put notation in front of me and play an organ, and I can sight-read through just about any choral piece, I can even sing a bass harmony if it’s written. So consider that, next time you purchase a words-only license, or a melody-notes-only hymnal, that when I come to visit your parish, I will be frustrated and dismayed that the proper tools are not provided for my own active and conscious participation. Even if you are playing good music, I will consider that the next time I select a parish to visit, and all things being equal, I will choose a parish that provides the proper hymnal or at least the proper tools - full musical notation - for my participation.