Praise and Worship choruses during Mass

[MusicMan]

Learning the organ, as with any instrument, is a process that takes lots of time, even with good piano skills.

I started learning in high school. For the first six months, I could manage a pedal note at the end of a phrase. For the next, I could manage pedal notes at a cadence point. For the next, I could manage the first notes of the phrase and the cadence point.

By the end of high school, I could pedal hymns pretty well, catching enough of the pedal notes to be respectable. I could even manage some challenging Bach preludes. I was by no means a professional.

I didn’t get to play much during college, but I’ve got a full time gig now. I pedal almost every note in the hymns. I’m not going to be giving recitals any time soon, though.

To get to this point, however, I spent many, many mornings (at least 3 per week) practicing during the summers in high school. I was practicing upwards of 10 hours per week for four summers, whether I was on to play that weekend or not.

As I said before, it’s far easier for kids to learn a half-dozen chords and play a cheesy P&W tune that it is to have the discipline to learn the instrument and be able to play it half as well as I can, and while I’m not great, I am better than a lot of what’s out there these days too.

 

[benedictgal]

After Archbishop Rajih’s keynote address (I got to attend the Saturday morning session of the Gateway Liturgical Conference in St. Louis, MO–fyi, Archbishop Rajih is the Secretary to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, just right below Cardinal Arinze), I got to ask his Excellency a question about sacred music, or the lack thereof, with some concentration on Praise and Worship. He said that there were some concerns with this particular issue.

Furthermore, he told me that next year, the Holy See is going to release a document/directive on sacred music. He said that this should clear up a lot of matters, especially what I had asked him about.

He said that the chief problem lies in the fact that we do not take into acount that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a divine action. It is not centered around ourselves. It is centered around the actions of Christ. When the focus us on ourselves, then we have lost the the whole idea.

In his address, he said that “Wall Street” had pretty much taken over the sanctuary, with all of the gathering and the noise. In other words, we have to put the “sacred” back into the Mass.

 

[MusicMan]

Unfortunately, the Archbishop’s comments and the Vatican’s teaching on the Mass completely fly in the face of the American “Me First” mentality and is also an insult to the “Trophy Generation.”

In other words, fixing this is going to be a big mountain to climb.

 

[Sarabande]

You seem to be accepting my premise though, if you stick a piano player in front of an organ they can play, right?

No, not really. There is a difference between just playing the notes and then being able to actually play. Any person who can read music can play the notes.

Take this example. As a classically trained musician and singer, I have confidence that I can do music in my voice range and within that genre very well. But if for some reason, I was asked to sing the tenor line or a tenor solo, I might be able to read the notes and sing the solo either in the same octave as the tenor or an octave higher, it won’t be good or as good as a tenor would sing it. Or we can even use the example of different genres of singing. Give me a classical work to sing and I can do it well, but give me a blues or pop song - well it’s a different way of singing and in some regards requires techniques that I do not do or cannot do. Yes, I can read the notes and sing the notes, but that’s different from actually truly singing what’s on the paper. It would be same for a pop singer trying to sing a classical work. It’s as “hellacious” as me trying to sing one of their songs.

We’re not talking about incredibly complex pieces either relative to what they may be playing in their music lessons.

No, we’re not, I agree with you on that. But I’ve found that this kind of attitude in all aspects of music life, whether in church or secular performance, is dangerous. Sometimes the musicians get lacsidasical and lazy. Or the standards of the people who hire them or accept them as volunteers, set a low standard. I’ve worked with many musicians and I’ve known a couple of real organists who can play a Bach fugue like no other, but then just because “it’s only a hymn” and very simple will just present slop to the congregation. But most of the people don’t realize it’s the organist. They just think that the organ is a horrid instrument.

Cat set forward two problems 1) Lack of people capable of playing the organ 2) No young people learning the organ. The solution seems to be take the young people who can already play piano and have them start playing simple hymns on the organ, then you get young people capable of playing the organ. They will already be able to manage the main manual keyboard, albeit they may not have acquired the techniques most suitable for it, and most people I’ve seen start playing a new instrument are quite keen on expanding on what they know, so with time they will probably want to try adding other bits or finding out how to change the voice etc.

That’s a fine solution and has worked in the past. My friend who I mentioned in my previous post started learning the organ in grade school. He and his other classmates used to fight to have turns practicing on the organ after school at their parish. BUT he started playing the organ for mass AFTER he mastered the basics and the teacher felt that he was ready to do it. He wasn’t a professional and was still in grade school, but he had the skills to competently play the organ well for God and for the congregation. That is much, much different than plopping yourself down on the organ bench without any rudimentary training on playing the organ just because you have experience playing the piano. Any good pianist and organist can attest to that.

And then here’s the other problem… Depending on where you are in the country or the world, it can sometimes be hard to find a decent organist to teach organ well. A church first needs to have a good organist to show the congregation (and especially the children) that an organ can actually be a wonderful instrument to hear and to learn how to play. Otherwise, it will be a turnoff. Unless a child or an adult hears great organ playing whether with just a hymn or a piece by Couperin or Buxtehude, it would be difficult to convince a person that it’s worth learning to play.

I’m not saying it can’t be done. I tend to be an optimist in this realm and I guess I’m still young enough to not yet be jaded like my older friends and colleagues, so I believe it can, but with lots and lots of hard work and perseverance.

 

[tcraig]

I currently attend a parish where the EF is celebrated exclusively. It’s made up of pretty ordinary people, just like you’d see at any other parish. Our choir is made up of men and women; we do have an organist.

Our choir sings chant and other hymns. Incredible, beautiful sacred music. I know that we (occasionally) have a professional singer who joins in when he attends mass there, but the choir is basically amateurs who have decent voices.

They can sing this stuff because they *want *to, and they take the time to practice. I don’t think they’re doing anything that any other choir in any other parish couldn’t do. But if you have a parish which prefers to have a rock band and perform praise and worship music, then no argument in the world will convince anyone that Latin/chant/sacred hymnody can be done beautifully and well by average people.

As for singing Latin, I’d never spoken/sung Latin before in my life before I joined the Church(apart from the occasional phrase like Carpe diem, etc.) and I’ve learned several Latin hymns just by reading the words while they were sung. Every parish I’ve ever attended that had Adoration and Benediction has sung O salutaris Hostia and *Tantum ergo *in Latin (even the ridiculous rock-band parish by my home which I refuse to attend; it’s a mystery why they can sing classic Latin songs during this time but not during mass). And several masses I’ve been to where more contemporary music is played often sprinkle Latin phrases in, especially when singing the Lamb of God.

If you can sing the children’s song Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques, dormez vous? in French, then you can sing Latin hymns. I’ve heard young children sitting near me at mass singing the Credo in Latin. I’m sure the parents would disagree, but I don’t think I’m surrounded by budding rocket scientists. It’s just that exposure to Latin makes Latin familiar.

 

[Aramis]

Absolutely not.

it is not anything comparable to a flute player learning piccolo. It is a completely different instrument. Read the musicians on here that have stated as such.

This musician disagrees. (I was 3 classes shy of a BM in Vocal Performance.)

The basic keyboard skills are IDENTICAL for piano, organ, synthesizer, clavichord, and harpsichord. Anyone who can play any one of them to a credible standard (90BPM, melody and block chords) can do the same on any of them (except the clavichord, for reasons I’ll detail in a moment).

The addition of voicing options in the synth and organ are matters of technical performance, but are not going to inhibit the ability to translate notes on the page to fingers on the keys.

What differs is the specialty techniques for intermediate skill levels. For Organ, that is choice of voicing, multiple manual use, pedal use. For Piano, that is control over volume by pressure, and use of the sustain pedal and the voice pedal(s), if any. For Harpsichord, it’s learning the techniques for continuo and the limitations of the sustain on the instrument. For the Clavichord, it is learning where the left hand has to be to sound a chord, and realizing that the stupid thing only has 3 strings. For the synth, it’s learning basic voicing, and use of the controls.

Many persons who are extremely competent at basic skills never develop those intermediate skills; for those persons (many being persons who play other instruments as primary), any keyboard is a keyboard, and it will sound decent, tho not always great.

The advanced skills for the various instruments expand on and compliment the intermediate skills, and go far beyond. Few ever hit these levels without being professionals; many professionals make plenty of money never pushing to that same level of virtuosity.

What is useful (not needed, useful) is someone who can play the melody and block chords; for a pianist to do so on an organ is straightforward; many intuitively make the leap to one hand per manual. The pedal is nice, but not an essential skill, and it is just a matter of practice.

Heck, even the Accordion has a lot of skill crossover, if one doesn’t close one’s mind to it. The keyboard accordion is a full sized, 2-3 octave 1-hand keyboard.

(Yes, I can play all the above, but not to competence. With practice, I can get individual pieces to about 45-60 BPM… on Piano, Accordion, or Organ.)

As for those who reject “White People Hymns”, they have been poorly catechized, and are being indulged in racism. I’ve no problem with well written hymns in any language; I’ve sung hymns in 8 or 9 languages is various liturgies. (English, Spanish, Latin, French, Russian, Slavonic, Polish, Tagalog, Yupiq, Inupiaq.) And several other languages as part of non-liturgical perfomances (German, Greek, Samoan, Thai, Lao, Hmong).

The funny thing is: Those Thai, Lao, Samoan, Hmong, Yupiq, Inupiaq, and Tagalog hymns have all been nothing more than “Dead White Guy Hymns” in translation. Most of the English, as well.

 

[agapewolf]

The basic keyboard skills are IDENTICAL for piano, organ, synthesizer, clavichord, and harpsichord. Anyone who can play any one of them to a credible standard (90BPM, melody and block chords) can do the same on any of them (except the clavichord, for reasons I’ll detail in a moment).

.

They are absolutely not identical in any way. The only thing that crosses over is what notes correspond to what keys.

The skill of playing the piano vs the organ is completely different.

 

[michelle_p]

A piano player and an organ player are way different. Besides having two manuals you also have the foot or feet to contend with.

Even if you find someone who can play the organ well it doesn’t mean that they can play Catholic hymns the way they are supposed to sound with correct feeling or expression.

Back years ago a lot of churches had nuns playing the organ. The knew how it was supposed to sound. Not everyone who plays the organ today can do it the way it’s supposed to sound for mass.

We can’t insist on organ and chant if you don’t have someone to play the organ the right way for others to chant.

Not every parish is a cathedral. Lots of parishes are lil’ ol’ small town parishes with 200 or less people on Sunday. Expecting a cathedral like atmosphere is not a reasonable expectation.

And before somebody jumps on me saying that music is that important to the mass please remember that we are there praise and worship Christ through the mass. Music is secondary, not the objective.

 

[benedictgal]

A piano player and an organ player are way different. Besides having two manuals you also have the foot or feet to contend with.

Even if you find someone who can play the organ well it doesn’t mean that they can play Catholic hymns the way they are supposed to sound with correct feeling or expression.

Back years ago a lot of churches had nuns playing the organ. The knew how it was supposed to sound. Not everyone who plays the organ today can do it the way it’s supposed to sound for mass.

We can’t insist on organ and chant if you don’t have someone to play the organ the right way for others to chant.

Not every parish is a cathedral. Lots of parishes are lil’ ol’ small town parishes with 200 or less people on Sunday. Expecting a cathedral like atmosphere is not a reasonable expectation.

And before somebody jumps on me saying that music is that important to the mass please remember that we are there praise and worship Christ through the mass. Music is secondary, not the objective.

Actually, you don’t need the organ for chant. I caught the Papal Ash Wednesday Mass and the organ was pretty much silent. The choir chanted Attende Domine and other prayers with little to no organ accompanyment.

Now, the Mass is directed towards God the Father and we offer the Holy Sacrifice through Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit. Christ is the actor of this liturgy. Music is secondary, but, it has to be music that is befitting such a grand and glorious mystery. Praise and Woship may be fine for Protestant Ecclesial communities because they do not have the Holy Sacrifice. We do and thus our focus is different.

 

[Sarabande]

The basic keyboard skills are IDENTICAL for piano, organ, synthesizer, clavichord, and harpsichord. Anyone who can play any one of them to a credible standard (90BPM, melody and block chords) can do the same on any of them (except the clavichord, for reasons I’ll detail in a moment).

Of course just being able to play on a keyboard are pretty much the same, but as I said before there is a major difference between just being able to play the keys and actually being able to play a particular instrument well and competantly.

The addition of voicing options in the synth and organ are matters of technical performance, but are not going to inhibit the ability to translate notes on the page to fingers on the keys.

What differs is the specialty techniques for intermediate skill levels. For Organ, that is choice of voicing, multiple manual use, pedal use.

I disagree. I believe you need to have at least these skills if you are to play the organ well. These would be considered the required basic skills for an organist. A child or a teen learning to play organ can acquire and master them at a level that would be acceptable for mass. Having heard and worked with people who are not organists, but played the organ without these basic skills, the difference is great, even on a little, two-manual organ.

For Piano, that is control over volume by pressure, and use of the sustain pedal and the voice pedal(s), if any.

Ever heard an organist who never had any training on the piano play the piano? I have and have worked with those kinds as well. Great on the organ, but horrible on the piano. This is because even playing the keyboard part of the organ has a different approach to playing the piano. Most of these organists who do not play piano often or at all, will play each key separated from each other - even when they use the sustain pedal. Believe me, I’ve worked with these people - the beauty of being a freelance musician. Again, those basic skills for the piano would be required.

For Harpsichord, it’s learning the techniques for continuo and the limitations of the sustain on the instrument. For the Clavichord, it is learning where the left hand has to be to sound a chord, and realizing that the stupid thing only has 3 strings. For the synth, it’s learning basic voicing, and use of the controls.

These need to be the basics in playing these instruments. One can’t just plop oneself down and think they can play it.

Many persons who are extremely competent at basic skills never develop those intermediate skills;

Those are not intermediate skills, but actually basic skills required for playing each of those instruments.

for those persons (many being persons who play other instruments as primary), any keyboard is a keyboard, and it will sound decent, tho not always great.

I disagree. What you consider as Intermediate skills (which I consider basic skills) are what is needed for a keyboard to sound decent. Anything less than that sounds like you-know-what. And if we are to inspire people - especially children - to take up the organ, piano, etc. you’ve got to be able to give them at least that. Otherwise it will be a turnoff. (If anything, I think having people not being able to play those instruments with the basic skills required is a reason why some people turn to P&W music. In some instances it is played much better than what you get with a person trying to play the organ. And that is a MAJOR shame.)

MOST IMPORTANTLY, if we are to add to the mass with music prayer, I consider it an requirement to have and give at least that if not more should a person has more to give.

…What is useful (not needed, useful) is someone who can play the melody and block chords; for a pianist to do so on an organ is straightforward; many intuitively make the leap to one hand per manual. The pedal is nice, but not an essential skill, and it is just a matter of practice.

To play the organ using the pedal is an essential skill. My husband took organ lessons for a while. The perfectionist that he is, he didn’t continue because he didn’t think he could excel to the level that he knew he could attain due to the fact that he worked a full-time job and didn’t have the time to practice. We actually did a wedding together once because the main organist had to be in the Cathedral for a wedding at the same time. He had the basic skills as an organist to play competently and well. BUT had he not had those basic (which you consider Intermediate) skills, he would have never taken that job. The person who gave him the organ lessons was our friend who is one of the best in the city. One of the first things you learn in those lessons is how to use the pedals. THAT is a basic skill and is essential.

I don’t believe in having an attitude like that as it breeds laziness and low standards in playing sacred music. If we truly believe in giving the highest standard in sacred music, then those skills needed to either play the organ OR the piano are required. Anything less is just not acceptable - that is unless it is the absolute best one’s parish can achieve should they not have the money to give lessons in order for the musicians to have those skills.

 

[Aramis]

They are absolutely not identical in any way. The only thing that crosses over is what notes correspond to what keys.

The skill of playing the piano vs the organ is completely different.

Not at the basic level, which is translating note to fingerings. Clear your mind of preconceptions, and try it. The basic skills are notereading, translating note-reading to fingerings, and playing at speed. Those are identical across all keyboards. Moing the left to the lower manual isn’t that big a step.

Not just my opinion, either, but also enshrined in both the organ and piano texts I’ve used. Plus the Organists I’ve known and worked with.

It is a bigger jump in basic skills to go from trumpet to tuba. Or Guitar to Banjo. (I play 3 of those four, as well.)

 

[agapewolf]

Not at the basic level, which is translating note to fingerings. Clear your mind of preconceptions, and try it. The basic skills are notereading, translating note-reading to fingerings, and playing at speed. Those are identical across all keyboards. Moing the left to the lower manual isn’t that big a step.

Not just my opinion, either, but also enshrined in both the organ and piano texts I’ve used. Plus the Organists I’ve known and worked with.

It is a bigger jump in basic skills to go from trumpet to tuba. Or Guitar to Banjo. (I play 3 of those four, as well.)

Do not speak down to me. If you read my past posts, you will see that I HAVE PLAYED THE ORGAN.

It is NOT identical skills. At all. Organists do not have a sustain pedal. One has to keep a few fingers on the keys at all times and transfer them directly. The pianist plays completely differently. It is not just moving a manual down. That is a secondary concern.

The basic skills are NOT merely notereading. There are other basic organ playing skills that actually make the playing what it is.

 

[snhs]

No, not really. There is a difference between just playing the notes and then being able to actually play. Any person who can read music can play the notes.

Take this example. As a classically trained musician and singer, I have confidence that I can do music in my voice range and within that genre very well. But if for some reason, I was asked to sing the tenor line or a tenor solo, I might be able to read the notes and sing the solo either in the same octave as the tenor or an octave higher, it won’t be good or as good as a tenor would sing it. …Yes, I can read the notes and sing the notes, but that’s different from actually truly singing what’s on the paper. It would be same for a pop singer trying to sing a classical work. It’s as “hellacious” as me trying to sing one of their songs.

No, we’re not, I agree with you on that. But I’ve found that this kind of attitude in all aspects of music life, whether in church or secular performance, is dangerous. Sometimes the musicians get lacsidasical and lazy. Or the standards of the people who hire them or accept them as volunteers, set a low standard. I’ve worked with many musicians and I’ve known a couple of real organists who can play a Bach fugue like no other, but then just because “it’s only a hymn” and very simple will just present slop to the congregation. But most of the people don’t realize it’s the organist. They just think that the organ is a horrid instrument.

That’s a fine solution and has worked in the past. My friend who I mentioned in my previous post started learning the organ in grade school. He and his other classmates used to fight to have turns practicing on the organ after school at their parish. BUT he started playing the organ for mass AFTER he mastered the basics and the teacher felt that he was ready to do it. He wasn’t a professional and was still in grade school, but he had the skills to competently play the organ well for God and for the congregation. That is much, much different than plopping yourself down on the organ bench without any rudimentary training on playing the organ just because you have experience playing the piano. Any good pianist and organist can attest to that.

And then here’s the other problem… Depending on where you are in the country or the world, it can sometimes be hard to find a decent organist to teach organ well. …
I’m not saying it can’t be done. I tend to be an optimist in this realm and I guess I’m still young enough to not yet be jaded like my older friends and colleagues, so I believe it can, but with lots and lots of hard work and perseverance.

But the criteria for playing again comes in to it, a big part of playing any instrument is getting the right notes in the right place. If you can do that with the pieces at a reasonable tempo it seems you are playing it, even if you might not have the perfect technique with the organ or intonation on a piccolo for example.

I could pick out the notes on an organ because I’ve done enough theory and learnt a bit of keyboard at school, but the pace I could play the notes at wouldn’t be sufficient to play a hymn at a Mass, I could “play the notes” but I certainly couldn’t play the piece. It seems that there would be a significant difference between that kind of ‘playing’ and a pianist who has been playing a few years sitting down and playing a hymn on it.

It seems to be a matter of quality rather than not being able to play it full stop. I mean you could sing the tenor line (8va or otherwise) and you could sing a Jazz song, albeit not at a full blown Aretha Franklin level. Just as a pianist could play a hymn on the organ, even if without the various nuances someone with the proper training in playing the organ could bring to it.

You’re quite right. But the point I’m making is that if a congregation has 4 or 5 Masses on a Sunday it might be unrealistic for the one or two organists in a Parish to cover all of them. If however we look at how many people in a given Parish could ‘play’ the organ, insofar as playing is the right notes in the right place at a decent tempo on the main manual, then that pool expands significantly. To look at a point MusicMan made “For the first six months, I could manage a pedal note at the end of a phrase.”. He doesn’t explicitly state it but I’m guessing he means a pedal note in addition to playing the left and right hand on the main manual.

Is that the basics of playing the organ though? I mean where do we draw a line and say this is the standard? Do they have to be able to use multiple manuals before they can be said to play the organ, or must they have added foot pedals and changing stops? Or do they have to have a technique for organ that is well formed and distinct?

I’ll accept that that could be a problem, and bad habits can obviously creep in if they go it alone which become very difficult to rectify. But I think in the short term letting them play, either a simple hymn during Mass or after, is going to be of greater benefit than insisting upon some minimum standard before they can be said to play or be allowed to play the organ. One of the selling points of the organ is that it can be ‘played’ by a pianist without the prospect of years of hard work before they can approach a standard suitable to play anything in public.

They are absolutely not identical in any way. The only thing that crosses over is what notes correspond to what keys.

The skill of playing the piano vs the organ is completely different.

What you mean just like the flute and piccolo?

The ‘skill’ of playing the flute and the piccolo is completely different, that doesn’t mean that a flautist can’t pick up a piccolo and play it.

 

[tonia]

thank you music man. the way i see it, praise and worship is not a bad thing. the question we shuld ask ourselves is why ppl want to hear praise and worship during mass.

Yes the mass is a solemn service, but the sole purpose of the mass is communicating with God isnt it? Some ppl have the belief that when they sing hymns, they re more connected to God, while some believe that praise and worship song does it for them. like music man said, so long as they re theologically sound.

Personally, i enjoy both, depending on my mood. sometimes am at mass and i just want to hear hymns like '‘how great thou ar’'etc, and some times i just feel so spiritually lifted i want to to sing a praise song. what we should be particular about is if we feel in our hearts that these songs are ok with God.After all it is said that God loves music, but we re nt even sure what his favorite kind of music is. so who re we to judge or decide? Just do what u think is right.hymns or praise and worship.

 

[LegoGE1947]

I’m not sure what “praise and worship choruses” are.

Never heard of any of those songs.

Guess I am fortunate?

You’ve no idea HOW fortunate!

 

[benedictgal]

thank you music man. the way i see it, praise and worship is not a bad thing. the question we shuld ask ourselves is why ppl want to hear praise and worship during mass.

Yes the mass is a solemn service, but the sole purpose of the mass is communicating with God isnt it? Some ppl have the belief that when they sing hymns, they re more connected to God, while some believe that praise and worship song does it for them. like music man said, so long as they re theologically sound.

Personally, i enjoy both, depending on my mood. sometimes am at mass and i just want to hear hymns like '‘how great thou ar’'etc, and some times i just feel so spiritually lifted i want to to sing a praise song. what we should be particular about is if we feel in our hearts that these songs are ok with God.After all it is said that God loves music, but we re nt even sure what his favorite kind of music is. so who re we to judge or decide? Just do what u think is right.hymns or praise and worship.

There is one important factor to consider: The Mass has to be a pleasing sacrifice to God. From the folks advocating Praise and Worship, I haven’t seen any reference to the fact that the Mass is a sacrifice. Praise and Worship music works when the Sacrifice is not involved, hence in the Protestant ecclesial communities.

We, on the other hand, have the Holy Sacrifice. The veil between space and time is lifted and we are back in the Upper Room, at Calvary and at the tomb. Praise and Worship music is not compatible with this, especially the manner in which it is played.

In my prvevious post, I alluded to remarks made by Archbishop Malcolm Rajith, the Secretary to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. His words are very telling.

Rhythm, style and order belong to the art of celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This expresses the role of beauty. He lamented the fact that the word “sacrifice” is not used as often as it should be. He noted that sometimes we fall into horizontalism in the arts when we forget about the divine. When we make the liturgy “man-centered” then we have failed to have a proper understanding of ars celebrandi as it relates to active participation. This active participation is not confined to external participation. He said that in recent times (and this is the line of the conference) that “Wall Street moved into the sanctuary.”

This means that we have turned it into a gathering and a coming together that has little to no relationship to the divine mystery unfolding before us. This makes us forget that we are not the actors of the liturgy. The real actor in the liturgy is God, Himself.

That is what the Praise and Worship advocates do not take into consideration.

 

[twosweetgirls]

We, on the other hand, have the Holy Sacrifice. The veil between space and time is lifted and we are back in the Upper Room, at Calvary and at the tomb.

Doesn’t that very realization just blow you away? I’m sitting here in front of my computer, reading those two lines and pondering them, ingesting them, absorbing them! How very, very kind of God to give this to us.

 

[benedictgal]

Doesn’t that very realization just blow you away? I’m sitting here in front of my computer, reading those two lines and pondering them, ingesting them, absorbing them! How very, very kind of God to give this to us.

Yes, indeed. In fact, I hear that very often in the homilies that my parochial vicar preaches. It was especially brought home to me this past Saturday when I heard the Archbishop’s keynote address. He was very emphatic about the Mass being a sacrifice and he lamented how we don’t hear that word anymore.

As I noted in an earlier post, we need to have music that is compatible to the sacred mysteries unfolding before us. We have to be enveloped by these mysteries, not whipped into a frenzy by the music. When we forget that we are not the focus nor the actor in the liturgy then we have problems. God is the actor in all of this, not us. That is why we have to render to him an acceptable and pleasing sacrifice, not pleasing to us, but pleasing to Him. And, pleasing to Him is fidelity to the liturgy that Christ has given to His Church.

By the way, belated congratulations on your wedding!

 

[MusicMan]

I haven’t heard a person yet on CAF not express a love or appreciation for classical, traditional organ, chant, motets, etc. We all appear to worship in a diverse collection of parishes, ranging from large urban to small rural, liberal to conservative. Yet, we all value this music–music in line with the mind and desires of the Church.

Understanding why P&W music has crept in, and understanding why traditional music is creeping out, what can we do to fix this?

Do we encourage young piano players to play at Mass?

Do we encourage young piano players to learn organ?

Do we encourage chant in our parishes?

How proactive are we?

My predecessor at the Lutheran Church I serve as organist for was a high school student who could just handle the worship on piano. When she told her pastor of her college plans, the congregation begged that the pastor and the parish council do anything and everything to find someone who could play organ again, because they missed it.

They hired me. I can play. Not great, but it’s sufficient for their needs.

But, who replaces me when I’m old? Who replaces me in five years if something changes in my life where I can’t play for them?

Why didn’t they encourage and help their high school student to learn organ? Instead, they suffered through her on piano, glad to have someone playing the hymns, but frustrated because she was playing them on the piano.

The organist at our Methodist church is getting old too. Who’s going to replace her? I can’t. I already have two church gigs.

The Episcopal Church down the road is in the same boat.

We’re letting our churches get away with P&W music because it’s “easy.”

We’re not encouraging the investment.

We all need to be proactive.

 

[SAMitch89]

P&W music can be solmen too. Not all Contemporary Christian music is the upbeat rock stuff. My favorite P&W songs are the slower ones, like this one:

Agnus Dei- Michael W. Smith

I think that song could be appropriate at mass. Just because some songs make people want to sing louder and with more passion doesn’t make them innappropriate.