Several years ago,my husband and I were in Michigan, and stopped for Mass in a town that I don’t remember the name of (sorry). I saw something really cool.
The music during Mass was fairly typical–the usual Gather-type hymns and at least one “traditional” hymn.
After the Mass had ended and all the people were leaving, I noticed a group of people of all ages gathering around the piano. We stuck around to see what was happening (mainly because we noticed during Mass that the pianist was very talented).
After most of the people had left the nave, the pianist started playing various hymns, songs, contemporary songs (mainly Protestant pieces written in the 1970s and 80s, but also some of the more modern ones written in the last ten years), gospel pieces (Gaither, etc.), and traditional/ancient.
The people gathered around sang their hearts out! No wimpy voices there! They weren’t trained singers–this wasn’t a practice session. We asked, and they said they’re just there to praise and worship God.
They were there for about a half hour, and then they all left.
I liked that a lot, and I wish that we could do that in my parish. There are two of us who feel very comfortable playing contemporary music (I’m one of them, in spite of my gray hair!), and I used to play at our house while our girls were growing up, and we would all gather around and sing. So I would love to do it again with Christian brothers and sisters. I’ve thought about advertising a “hymn sing-along” in my home; I have an organ and piano, and we have several guitars, dulcimers, and other instruments. Not sure if anyone would come, but I think a lot of Christians (Protestant and Catholic) are tired of repetitive praise and worship songs and would love to dig into the old hymnals and sing some songs with “meat.”
