Sister Act and Whoopi massacre sacred music

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puzzleannie

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In the background the Swan Lake I was listening to (prerecorded on TIVO) has gone off, and reverted to a station that is playing Sister Act, the scene where Whoopi tries to jazz up the choir. First the sisters sang a lovely rendition of Hail Holy Queen with beautiful harmony, but no, Whoopi’s character had to ramp it up to a lounge act. I remember being disappointed with every aspect of this movie, except the outstanding performance by Maggie Smith as the mother superior, the first time I saw it, but the wretchedness of the modern music style they adopted, and its contrast to the beauty of what they rejected, is even more grating now. any comments?
 
Sister Act is one of my guilty pleasures.

Ever since The Sound of Music, I have LOVED anything with nuns and music! Even Whoopie…even Whoopie.
 
Sister Act 2 was way better and much funnier than the original Sister Act in my opinion. I thought that they were funny (as outlandish as it is to have a showgirl impersonating a nun :eek: )

Eamon
 
I don’t know, I kind of like their rendition of Hail, Holy Queen. But I still prefer the traditional style at mass. I see that they basically set Hail, Holy Queen to Glory and Praise.
 
I think what lures me to this movie is that Whoopi’s character took what she knew and used it to make wonderful things happen. She took popular songs of the times and made them have Christian meaning. Take the song I Love Him. Listen to the words. I love Him, I love Him, and where He goes, I’ll follow, I’ll follow, I will follow Him, Follow Him where ever He may go. There isn’t an ocean to deep, a mountain so high that could keep, keep me away.

Yes it may have been a tad over the top and a little up beat for a mass, but it was a movie.
 
Music doesn’t have to be slow and dirgy to be reverant. Listen to any contemporary Christian and you will find some Traditional hymns with a new tune (Who am I by Point of Grace comes to mind - it has an awesome chunk of Amazing Grace in it). Changing the tune doesn’t take away from the desire to worship and praise.

My high school choir sang a medly from Sister Act (way back in the 90’s :)) and it was well recieved. I went to a public school and nothing of a religious nature would have been allowed - this song was allowed because it was in a popular movie. I consider that God working to let himself be heard.
 
As a rock-ribbed fan of Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony, that Salve Regina is not to my musical taste, and certainly, I personally would reject it for a liturgical setting. Nevertheless, I prompted the music director of my daughter’s Episcopal school to include it in the middle school spring concert the year the movie came out. It was terrific! It taught the kids to sing the traditional melody of “Hail, Holy Queen” and it gave them a chance to get a little “out there” in an otherwise traditional concert. A good time was had by all.

I was a little nonplussed, however, when the Bishop of Perth, Austrialia celebrated Mass at the school a few weeks later, and the students sang this piece in chapel. I am told the Bishop was overall a good sport, although he nearly fainted.
 
I, too, liked their rendition of Hail, Holy Queen. Back in the early 90’s (I think) the musical group 2nd Chapter of Acts came out with 2 CDs called Hymns and Hymns II. On these CDs, they took traditional hymns and added a modern, yet very reverent touch to them. If you haven’t heard them, I highly recommend them for listening.
 
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puzzleannie:
…the wretchedness of the modern music style they adopted, and its contrast to the beauty of what they rejected, is even more grating now. any comments?
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I agree.

There are two major problems: First, a lot of people can’t distinguish between “new” and “improved.” They think they’re the same thing, and so the newest thing for them is automatically the best.

Second, Hollywood has put out quite a few movies with a similar theme- that people who like classical music are unhappy, bored, and boring. And all of their problems are solved when they discover modern music. (This also ties in with the “high morals versus low morals” theme. People with high standards are portrayed as uptight and miserable, and the key to finding happiness lies in abandoning one’s morals and acting like trash)

Plus, it seems as if some people have an aversion to beauty, especially of the acoustic sort.
 
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JoeMike:
(This also ties in with the “high morals versus low morals” theme. People with high standards are portrayed as uptight and miserable, and the key to finding happiness lies in abandoning one’s morals and acting like trash)
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This reminds me of that movie, Pleasantville. It showed a place where life was old fashioned and perfect, and black and white. Two kids from modern times showed up, and introduced modern sinfulness, which, in turn, brought color and true happiness to Pleasantville. What a message to teach our youth! :eek:
 
It’s just a movie. :o Besides, I liked that movie when I was a little kid. In fact, the other day I was singing “Nothing you can say can take me away from my God…” Even the Pope in the movie liked the music!
 
I really liked Sister Act.

Now, in Mass, I can’t hear “Hail, Holy Queen” without thinking of the movie. My mom will look at me and whisper “Whoopi”, everytime.
 
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JoeMike:
There are two major problems: First, a lot of people can’t distinguish between “new” and “improved.” They think they’re the same thing, and so the newest thing for them is automatically the best.
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You forgot a third major problem: those who confuse “personal taste” with “objective reality,” thereby leading them to belittle and condemn others about what is merely a matter of opinion rather than a matter of fact.

😉

– Mark L. Chance.
 
wow…I liked it…everytime we sing it in church my sister and I always end up singing Woopies version when we get in the car
 
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mlchance:
You forgot a third major problem: those who confuse “personal taste” with “objective reality,” thereby leading them to belittle and condemn others about what is merely a matter of opinion rather than a matter of fact.

😉

– Mark L. Chance.
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No, I didn’t forget it. I omitted it because it’s totally irrelevant.

I haven’t noticed anyone belittling or condemning anyone else in this thread. If you have, please point it out.
 
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JoeMike:
No, I didn’t forget it. I omitted it because it’s totally irrelevant.

I haven’t noticed anyone belittling or condemning anyone else in this thread. If you have, please point it out.
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Here’s what you said:

“Plus, it seems as if some people have an aversion to beauty, especially of the acoustic sort.”

You said it within the context of complaining about this particular version of the “Salve Regina.” You seem to imply that if people don’t like the song as it was written and attempt to do what Whoopi did in the film, they have “an aversion to beauty.” You also seem to imply that there is an objective standard of beauty to which everyone should subscribe. I would probably agree with you (I don’t think much good happened in music after Handel and Bach died), but then I hope someone would point out that taste is subjective, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, unless of course we’re talking “truth is beauty,” which argument would even then render the song beautiful, as it lauds the Theotokos.

If it gets a young person interested in Jesus, Mary, and the Church, I say it’s fine. I’ll probably be going to the 6:30 AM Mass,
where there’s no music at all, but hey, I’m already convinced! Salve Regina!
 
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JKirkLVNV:
Here’s what you said:

“Plus, it seems as if some people have an aversion to beauty, especially of the acoustic sort.”
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I was thinking of my sister-in-law. She can’t stand classical music, and loves heavy metal, especially at ear-splitting volumes. I asked her once about it, and we had a very long talk.

The upshot was this: She agreed that what I called “acoustic beauty” is beautiful, but all the same, she hates it. And she also agreed that her preferred musical genre is ugly.

In a world of almost 7 billion people, she can’t be the only one who feels that way.

And I still fail to see where this is belittling or condemning anyone.

(EtA: Just a reminder- I’m not saying that Whoopi’s version is bad, or that it has anything to do with heavy metal. I’m saying that some people shy away from classical harmonics. And some people always choose something that sounds newer, over something else that sounds older, mostly because our media have taught us that “newer” means “better.”)
 
Whoopi and Sister Act were not the first to introduce parodies of sacred music. See if you can find any reference to PDQ Bach’s Missa Hilarious SN02 (I don’t know how to do the chemical symbols but it means Nitrous Oxide - Laughing Gas). Amazon might have it.
 
I have no problem with upbeat, fast tempo, modern instruments, innovative arrangements in music used in Church. I have a huge problem with ugly melodies, theologically unsound lyrics and badly performed vocal and instrumental music. The scene I referred to contrasted a beautifully sung traditional hymn with the same words sung in an extraordinarily ugly melody with a beat totally unsuitable to the words. Lyrics and music are supposed to complement each other. The performance of the second section was shrieking and unharmonic as opposed to the 4-part harmony of the first version.

Using secular lyrics in a sacred setting is nothing new, we had a rookie priest do the same thing when I was in high school. That does not make it reverent, appropriate or musically appealing.

I will add that the final scene where Whoopi, still in nun’s habit is cornered by the enemies who have been trying to kill her, and meets them with a message of forgiveness and compassion, is beautifully done and is a skilled performance by a very good actor. She is probably not responsible for the plot line that assumes everything old is necessarily outdated and irrelevant and may be replaced with something new just for the sake of novelty.
 
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