If you want to hear some beautiful singing, come to St Francis of Assisi in the Ozarks of Arkansas. Our parish sings joyfully to the Lord at every Mass, and I mean six days a week. Music accompaniment on Sat. vigil and Sunday only, but the people all sing out. There are approximately 160 families here, and in the summer we have lots of vacationers who join us. Our parish priest is from Nigeria, loves to sing and coaches us before each Mass during the week. Since Father can harmonize so beautifully, we all sing out, whether there are 25 people in attendance or the church is packed full. I used to be in a parish of approx. 7,000 and never heard as much participation as we have here. Most of us are retirees or close to it. The 'Amen" and the āAlleluiaā make me feel very close to heaven.
This has been my experience, for the most part, with small groups. Of course, it might be that, for the most part, small parishes do not have the resources to have dedicated musicians and just get by with what they can, so you have more singing of tried-and-true hymns and settingsā¦ At the parish where I sometimes attend daily Mass, they always have a recessional hymn. They alternate through about 5 of them: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, How Great Thou Art, Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above (For Marian Feasts), and a couple of others. Everybody knows them, they have simple melodies, and most everybody sings. Usually somebody will announce the hymn from the pews and start, but there really isnāt any āleaderā. There are usually about 70 people.
In my own (Byzantine) parish, most everybody sings, and it isnāt just 4 hymns. We pretty much sing the liturgy from beginning to end. It is simple chant and everybody knows the typical melodies; most of us pick up on the atypical ones pretty quickly once our priest begins them for us. Occasionally, we have hymns that are just for special feasts and we struggle through a bit. The troparia, which are specific to the feast (sort of like the collect), can occasionally be difficult, but the 3 or 4 who sing well carry us through the tough parts and sooner or later, everybody is on solid footing again. Nobody considers not singing to be an alternative. We are not especially talented or well-trained. Must of us grew up with the music education in the 80s and 90s that Cat has referred to. It is just that singing is part of the culture. It is how the liturgy is done. At the moment we have no cantor, but even when we do, the people sing. This isnāt true of all Eastern Catholic traditions, though. The Ruthenians have a particular tradition of congregational singing/chanting. Other traditions have typically relied on a choir or cantor to make the responses and do the singing. I think it is very much a matter of culture and expectation.
An interesting story, though. Our last cantor changed the melody of one of the hymns that we sing every Sunday (Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us). It was a legitimate option, but it was different from what this parish had used for many years. We went along with it and learned the new tone. Some us us might have complained.
Some of us complained a lot.
We did that for a year or two. As soon as he stopped being our cantor, the entire parish spontaneously reverted to the previous tone.
People like familiarity.
