No one is singing!

[hilde_the_dog]

1. We are called to make a joyful NOISE - why do you care what others think of your voice God made it would He be happy to hear it? If the Holy Spirit can fix my prayers, I sure he can fix my singing and make it holy. I love to sing despite my lack of skill or talent.
2. How does that old St Augustine line go singing is prayer twice?
3. Priest must sing out loud, a sherherd must lead the sheep. He should also encourage them to sing louder if they are quiet.

Puzzleannie - please don’t encourage them to bring up the HaagenDaz argument (actually Hagen and Haus wrtitten songs, but I call that argument over modern music HaagenDaz, like the ice cream)

 

[TheMc]

The way to develop a musical ear in children is to guard their musical development from birth. Babies and tiny children should hear mainly MONOPHONIC music–one voice. This can be Mommy’s voice, Daddy’s voice, another relative’s voice. It can be a piano with ONE note melodies. It can be ONE guitar (no drums, no bass, no fiddle, etc.). It can be ONE violin–excellent instrument for little ones to hear!

Sounds like an excellent opportunity to pull out the chant CD, especially if the goal is to get them singing at Mass.

 

[TheMc]

1. We are called to make a joyful NOISE - why do you care what others think of your voice God made it would He be happy to hear it? If the Holy Spirit can fix my prayers, I sure he can fix my singing and make it holy. I love to sing despite my lack of skill or talent.

Where are we called to do this? Please show me.

1. How does that old St Augustine line go singing is prayer twice?

Here’s how it goes:
One who sings well prays twice.

1. Priest must sing out loud, a sherherd must lead the sheep. He should also encourage them to sing louder if they are quiet.

Again, why? Why is the ultimate goal to sing as loud as possible?

 

[benedictgal]

First I want to make some comments about the assertation that “the music is too high.”

Back when I first started getting involved with CAF, I came across this complaint often in music threads, and also heard it from parishioners in my home parish and other parishes where I play piano for Mass.

So I sat down and did a study.

I took ten “contemporary” Catholic hymns and ten “traditional” Catholic hymns out of the missallette.

Contemporary included hymns like “I Am The Bread of Life,” “Here I Am, Lord,” “Gather Us In,” etc.

Traditional included hymns like “Holy God We Praise Thy Name,” " Crown Him With Many Crowns," “Immaculate Mary,” etc.

What I discovered is that the TRADITIONAL hymns had more HIGH notes and phrases than the contemporary hymns.

Take a look for yourself next time you have a few minutes after Mass.

As for chant, from what I understand, the cantor can begin a chant in any key, so in theory, chant should be easier for many people to sing because it should be sung in a more “middle range.” This really places a burden on the cantor to begin any chant in a comfortable key. However, for many cantors who are trained musicians, the higher ranges are very comfortable for them, so I suspect that many parishioners will continue to have difficulty hitting the high notes even in chant. I’m thinking that a wise cantor will bring a pitch pipe along, and discreetly find their pitch before beginning any chant. It would be a kindness to the congregation.

Here is my take. The reason the music is too high is because most people in the U.S. have not been taught how to sing properly.

Yes, people need to learn how to sing properly.

Our parish keyboardist has been helping me. Since I have no accompaniment in my Dad’s parish, my friend works with me on helping me get a key that I can reach so that I can properly begin the hymn. There was one occasion when the Cathedral organist pitched in to help me. Knowing my vocal limitations, he plays the hymns a few keys lower so that I can lead the singing.

Contemporary songs are still not quite that good. Theological content notwithstanding, there are just too many melodies (Eagles Wings comes to mind) that simply don’t work. A lot of these were not meant, a I see it, for congregational singing. Chant is actually a lot easier than most people think. When I first looked at the SEP, I was overwhelmed, but, the video tutorial was simple enough for a non-music reader like me to pick up. I was even able to lower it a little to be able to sing it well.

 

[Cat]

Here is another take on why no one is singing.

In the U.S., corporate singing is no longer part of our popular culture.

As recently as 50 years ago, Americans used to sing together for recreation and pleasure.

E.g., many companies had a company song. IBM is an example of a company that has a company song. We saw a copy of the official company song a few weeks ago when we attended a hundredth birthday celebration for IBM in Chicago. My husband actually sang it with all the other new recruits when he first recruited with IBM.

But now NO ONE sings the IBM Company Song, just like no one in IBM wears a white shirt, suit, and tie anymore!

It’s no longer part of the culture.

Here’s another example. Many children’s games in the past involved singing together. The classic example is Ring Around the Rosy. But other examples abound especially in jump rope games and even in the rowdy playground games (e.g., Uncle John)…

However, nowadays you NEVER ever hear children singing together on the playground while they play games, unless you are in some kind of counter-cultural school where children are raised in an old-fashioned setting. (e.g., the Amish).

You will occasionally hear children playing while music from a CD player or radio is blaring in the background. Especially in African American culture, music is very important and children often play while music is playing in the background. But the children are not usually singing along, at least consciously. They might be humming along, or be-bopping along, but they aren’t singing with a full voice and matching the pitches (a lot of currently popular African American music doesn’t really have strong melodies).

Another example–men and women used to sing together while they worked at manual jobs. E.g., women would sing while they cooked. Men would sing while they did chores. But no one does that now. That would be really, really weird!

In fact, I was reprimanded at work a few months ago. I tend to sing and hum a lot, always softly, but audibly. I often say that I will never buy an iPod because I already have one–my own brain and tongue and vocal cords.

Well, apparently my supervisor finds my singing distracting, and I can see that. So I was told, No more singing or humming. (In case you’re wondering, she also doesn’t allow radios in the department, so now the people who have to have music to work listen to their iPods.)

But I can remember when we would all be singing along with the radio while working in the hospital lab. It was 30 years ago, but it happened. Now, if the entire lab started singing along together, it would be freaky. I don’t think it would ever happen.

One more example. I can remember when family get-togethers would feature a family “sing-along.” One reason I learned to play the piano was to be able to play for these. But if we were outside at a picnic, we would still sing.

That’s why so many families purchased pianos back at the turn of the century (19th Century into 20th Century). It wasn’t so that children could become the next Paderewski! The family parlor had a piano so that whenever there were guests, they could enjoy a sing-a-long after dinner!

Can you imagine what your dinner guests would do if you announced that “we will now have a sing-a-long!” I think that many of them would be shocked! (I also think that they would have a great time and beg to be invited back for more singing!)

The point is, corporate singing is something that we simply don’t do in the U.S. anymore.

And that’s why it seems “weird” to us, even in church, to sing along with other people. It’s just so counter-cultural to most Americans.

Now if you turned on the radio during the various parts of Mass where music is part of the liturgy, I think a lot of Americans would be perfectly comfortable with that, because that’s what they’re used to. Or just leave the radio on all the way through Mass–so many Americans have gotten used to the constant noise of background music, that they wouldn’t even notice it at Mass, even during the most sacred times in the Mass. It’s kind of sad, isn’t it?

I’m not sure what the answer is. I would love to see Americans re-capture the joy of singing together. I LOVE to sing with others, and so do my daughters. We still do a sing-a-long at Christmas in our family, and everyone seems to enjoy it. We are a singing family.

But most families aren’t singing families, they’re “spectator” families who listen to music, but don’t join in.

And that’s one of the reasons why no one is singing at Mass.

 

[ProVobis]

1. How does that old St Augustine line go singing is prayer twice?

Actually no.

wdtprs.com/blog/2006/06/who-sings-well-prays-twice-not/

 

[powerlinemom]

Whenever our choir does not sing and the parochial vicar chooses the music, he selects traditional hymns. Everyone sings. However, when the “praise and worship” choir sings, no one sings.

^^^ This!

We use the Breaking Bread hymnal at our parish and I hate it. I would consider myself a pretty accomplished musician - I’ve played one instrument or another for the past 25 years. Even I can’t follow along with some of the musical notation in those hymnals. But if they happen to pick one of the nice stodgy old hymns that plods along in 4/4 time in a decent key, there is a marked difference in the number of people who will actually sing.

I grew up in a Methodist church, where the singing is taken pretty seriously. Everyone always stood up and sang along for all the verses, and no one would dare try to walk out in the middle of the last hymn. But we rarely sang anything that was composed in the 20th century and people felt comfortable because they either knew the tune or could fake their way through without feeling foolish.

There are some Sundays that I think that we have hundreds of years of music to draw from, and this stuff is the best thing we can come up with??

 

[The_Old_Medic]

When I was a child, before i converted, one of the common sayings about Catholics was, “They are the people that don’t sing in church”.

Sadly, that is still true in all too many churches. Often far too much reliance is placed on a choir, and the people are not taught the songs, nor are they encouraged to sing. In my church, we teach the people new songs, and we STRONGLY encourage people to sing. One of our Priests could not carry a tune in 10 buckets (he is a truly dreadful singer), and he encourages those who believe they can’t sing to do it anyway.

As he says, “Nobody sings as badly as i do, and if I can try to make a ‘Joyful Noise Unto the Lord’, then there is no excuse for you not to”.

I have never seen a congregation that is actively encouraged to sing, that doesn’t.

 

[mamaslo]

I can get up to the C above middle C if I sing in my head voice, that’s about it. I’m most comfortable singing below middle C. And then those songs that jump an octave from say the D above middle C to the second D above middle C, forget about it. Not happening.

You would probably do amazing harmonies…and that would make the song even more heavenly.

 

[TheMc]

When I was a child, before i converted, one of the common sayings about Catholics was, “They are the people that don’t sing in church”.

Sadly, that is still true in all too many churches. Often far too much reliance is placed on a choir, and the people are not taught the songs, nor are they encouraged to sing. In my church, we teach the people new songs, and we STRONGLY encourage people to sing. One of our Priests could not carry a tune in 10 buckets (he is a truly dreadful singer), and he encourages those who believe they can’t sing to do it anyway.

As he says, “Nobody sings as badly as i do, and if I can try to make a ‘Joyful Noise Unto the Lord’, then there is no excuse for you not to”.

I have never seen a congregation that is actively encouraged to sing, that doesn’t.

I still haven’t gotten an answer:

What is so bad about the people not singing?

 

[johnnykins]

I still haven’t gotten an answer:

What is so bad about the people not singing?

To steal a line from that 60s antiwar song, War:
“Absolutely nothing. Say it again!”

 

[TheMc]

To steal a line from that 60s antiwar song, War:
“Absolutely nothing. Say it again!”

Ok.

What is so bad about the people not singing?

 

[Annabelle_Marie]

Ok.

What is so bad about the people not singing?

I think my NOT singing…is far more charitable to the people around me

 

[nickybr38]

I don’t know about your congregation but there are usually several reasons why I won’t sing a particular song.

1> It’s just too high for me to sing along. I’m no expert singer. If the choir leads at a high pitch I have no choice but to follow, and if the choir is going past my voice range I bow out and just listen.

2> The melody line is just too difficult. You know the ones, where the song kind of jumps all over the place with no real cohesive unity. I hate those songs and I can’t sing them unless I have the music in front of me AND the choir is following the music (which they often don’t, they kind of do their own renditions).

3> I’m not familiar with a song and I have the music but the choir is doing their own thing. See above comment. Really, I could sing along with most of the songs just using the music from the hymnal but the choir never really follows what’s in the hymnal!!! It’s frustrating for someone like me who CAN sing along to sheet music and yet can’t because the choir is vamping. This is especially frustrating for someone like me who’s new to the congregation because while others might be used to their rendition of the music, I’m not.

4> The choir is doing an awful job. I’m sorry, this is blunt, but if someone in the choir is off key, if the choir is struggling with tempo or if something is just going wrong I won’t sing along because it’s just too difficult to follow along when the choir is lost.

And finally 5> I won’t sing along if I’m not feeling well. I’ve been known to faint at Mass, so if I’m not feeling well I don’t sing along.

Now, number 5 probably isn’t why all of the congregation wasn’t making a joyful sound but the other points could be part of the reason.

And those are my thoughts on this issue.

 

[nickybr38]

I still haven’t gotten an answer:

What is so bad about the people not singing?

I do believe we are called to be active participants in the Mass. I would assume this means actively participating in the music as well.

On the one hand I understand why some people wouldn’t want to sing, but on the other hand if no one was singing except the choir can you imagine how quiet that would be? I don’t know, I love hearing all those voices raising up as one to praise our Lord. It moves me as much as unison prayers.

I remember the first time I sat in Mass and heard everyone say a prayer together, it sounded like a freaky brain washed army to me. It sent chills down my Protestant spine… years later when I heard it again I fell in love.

That said, one thing that has moved me in Protestant churches and moves me at Catholic Mass is when everyone joins together in song. I just think it’s lovely. Even those voices that may not sing well sound wonderful to me in that mess of voices.

 

[ProVobis]

I do believe we are called to be active participants in the Mass. I would assume this means actively participating in the music as well.

As long as I remember, we were always singing hymns like “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name,” “Immaculate Mary,” and “Come Holy Ghost” without any problems, even without instrumental accompaniment. Perhaps Cat has a point. Either that or we just don’t want to be told what to do.

 

[TheMc]

I do believe we are called to be active participants in the Mass. I would assume this means actively participating in the music as well.

We don’t need to sing to actively participate. This is one of the biggest myths of the council. It refers to an interior participation.

 

[PJM]

=Faithdancer;8163732]Looking around while our choir and band were leading the hymns yesterday at Mass, I was struck by how few people were singing! I like to sing, so it’s no problem for me, and I understand that some of the music can be tricky, but even where the customary hymns are given at the customary places, most people just stare straight ahead. Do they feel awkward? I mean, c’mon, lift a joyful voice unto the Lord! Nobody cares if you’re Andrea Bocelli or Sarah Brightman or not, and even the priests are up there singing along half the time. What gives?

When the music is chosen to HIGHLIGHT the choir and or band; folks will shut up.

If parishes desire fuller participation then the selection must either be known music scores [many like me can’t read music], or as in a parish I used to belong to the Music Director would introduce, and teach the new Music before the start of Mass.

Secondly: the support of the pastor is required. If he desires GREATER participation ASK for it. Allow one of the Hymns to showcase the choir; BUT nor all of them.

Sadly many priest do not consider this a priority. SINGING can be and should be “praying twice”

God Bless,
Pat

 

[benedictgal]

I do believe we are called to be active participants in the Mass. I would assume this means actively participating in the music as well.

On the one hand I understand why some people wouldn’t want to sing, but on the other hand if no one was singing except the choir can you imagine how quiet that would be? I don’t know, I love hearing all those voices raising up as one to praise our Lord. It moves me as much as unison prayers.

I remember the first time I sat in Mass and heard everyone say a prayer together, it sounded like a freaky brain washed army to me. It sent chills down my Protestant spine… years later when I heard it again I fell in love.

That said, one thing that has moved me in Protestant churches and moves me at Catholic Mass is when everyone joins together in song. I just think it’s lovely. Even those voices that may not sing well sound wonderful to me in that mess of voices.

While I can understand what you are saying, there is much more to participation than meets the eye, and, ear. Active participation means much more than external (vocal and posture). It also means internal participation. Someone who chooses not to sing (for a variety of reasons) still actively participates in the Mass if he so much as unites his mind, heart and soul in prayer while the singing is happening.

Perhaps Malcolm Cardinal Ranjinth best explains what “active participation” means. This quote, taken from his address at the Gateway Liturgical Conference (back when he was Secretary to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments) is certainly worth repeating:

The pope, in his book The Spirit of the Liturgy, defines actuosa participatio as a call to a total assimilation in the very action of Christ the High Priest. It is in no way a call to activism, a misunderstanding that spread widely in the aftermath of Sacrosanctum Concilium. Stated Cardinal Ratzinger: “what does it [active participation] mean…? Unfortunately the word was very quickly misunderstood to mean something external, entailing a need for general activity, as if as many people as possible, as often as possible, should be visibly engaged in action” (The Spirit of the Liturgy, 2000, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, p. 171).

We know that in many places this led to the amalgamation of the sanctuary with the assembly, the clericalization of the laity and the filling up of the sanctuary with the noisy and distracting presence of a large number of people. One could say that virtually Wall Street moved into the sanctuary. But was that really what the Council Fathers advocated? Cardinal Ratzinger does not think so. For him, “the real ‘action’ in the liturgy in which we are all supposed to participate is the action of God Himself. This is what is new and distinctive about Christian liturgy: God Himself acts and does what is essential” (ibid, p. 173).

This kind of participation in the very action of Christ, the High Priest, requires from us nothing less than an attitude of being totally absorbed in Him. Says the cardinal “the point is that, ultimately, the difference between the actio Christi and our own action is done away with. There is only one action, which is at the same time His and ours — ours because we have become ‘one body and one spirit ‘with Him” (ibid p. 174).

Active participation, thus, is not a giving way to any activism but an integral and total assimilation into the person of Christ who is truly the High Priest of that eternal and uninterrupted celebration of the heavenly liturgy.

The Council’s Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, too, as we know, spoke of this when it defined liturgy further as a foretaste of the “heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem towards which we journey as pilgrims, and in which Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle” (cf. Rev. 21:2; Col. 3:1; Heb. 8:2)-(SC 8).

Hence, everything we do should help us to achieve that and that alone is the true meaning of the “participatio”: a taking part in a bigger actio. Participatio itself is, I would say, in this sense, an ars [art] where we ourselves are not the artists; neither do we follow an art taught or handed down to us by others, but allow the Lord to be the artist through us, becoming part of what He does. As far as we are concerned, it is participatio in the order of “esse” — being. All that we do in liturgy makes us achieve that union with the eternal high priest, Christ and His sanctifying offering. The more we become part of the oratio of Christ, His eternal self-offering to God as the expiatory Sacrificial Lamb (Rev. 14:1-5), so much more would it be able to transform us into the Logos and make us experience the redeeming effects of such a transformation. Without that, as Cardinal Ratzinger wrote, we would radically misunderstand the “theo-drama” of the liturgy, lapsing into mere parody (cf. ibid p. 175).

I raised the issue of a lack of genuine sacred music after his address. He said that the CDWDS was concerned (and still is) about the issue.

 

[George_Stegmeir]

The problem in my parish is that we have 2 different organists, and both play for masses in Polish and English. The music is the same for all Polish masses, but neither organist follows the music shown in the English language missalette. They never use the same music for each English Mass, so the congregation cant follow them in the responses. In addition, during the service, they use banal, modern hymns that no one knows. When they play the old hymns that the congregation knows, we have a full response. To my knowlege, no one has complained to the pastor because the focus of the parish is the Polish immigrant community.