Sound volume excessive at parish

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Hello! At my parish there is an emerging problem with a new choir director who is making much use of amplified voices and very loud organ playing. He appears to have the approval of the pastor who praises him for his efforts in the parish. Can anyone suggest a process by which I may pursue having the volume turned down? I don’t want to ruffle too many feathers as I am hoping to be found to have a vocation, and am already active in the parish and would prefer not to be ‘demobilized’ as a complainer. But the noise level is truly excessive. I wore earplugs today. My mother was holding her head. I am concerned.
 
What I would suggest is just talking to the pastor. Approach him at a good time and say something to the effect of “I enjoy the choir and the organ playing, but I think the loudness of it is a little excessive.” Ask if he can ask the choir director to lower the volume. Just be polite and see what the priest can do about it.

matt
 
You may also try sitting in different parts of the church. Many sound systems have spots that are deader than others.
 
I forgot to also mention that if you find the volume to be excessive I’m sure there are others so why not ask the priest.

matt
 
Has anyone actually encountered this problem and dispatched it successfully? The pastor is fond of the music group, and so many people are oblivious to hearing loss issues that they don’t necessarily recognize excessive volume when they are exposed to it. I think it is extraordinarily rude to amplify voices in a small space, pound on the organ in a little church, and so forth, but what does one actually do to put a halt to it? At some point I will say something to the pastor but I expect zero response. I am on the wrong side of the “participation” balance equation, or something. Reverence is so limited nowadays that the true cost of obtuse music is unperceived by most. Isn’t it inherently baptist or something to have lots of pounding noise in a church service?
 
Yes. I had someone make the complaint to me several years ago. I had a few people planted in the Mass to check sound levels and they were indeed too high. I turned a few items down to find a better balance and have not had a complaint since. Perioically I will have someone listen for me to check sound level.

It is hard for the person a the microphone to know when he is too loud. The priest likewise will not be aware.
 
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FrmrTrad:
Hello! At my parish there is an emerging problem with a new choir director who is making much use of amplified voices and very loud organ playing. He appears to have the approval of the pastor who praises him for his efforts in the parish. Can anyone suggest a process by which I may pursue having the volume turned down? I don’t want to ruffle too many feathers as I am hoping to be found to have a vocation, and am already active in the parish and would prefer not to be ‘demobilized’ as a complainer. But the noise level is truly excessive. I wore earplugs today. My mother was holding her head. I am concerned.
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I agree that you just have to nicely tell the pastor that the volume is too much. A pastor here likes to have his microphone turned up much more than any of the others and on top of that he feels the need to yell at the top of his lungs during the homily. The problem is no one can understand him when he does that.
 
Pump up the volume, pump up the volume, pump up the volume, MASS! MASS!
 
Some music directors, unfortunately, don’t know how to play any way other than LOUD. And they probably think that if they play loud the congregation will sing loudly. I’ve also encountered the types who seem to be in love with amplicfication of voice (when, properly done is an acoustically sound building, ought to need little if any amplification).

As a practical matter, all I could suggest is bring the matter up to the music director and/or pastor. Kindly and calmly explain your own situation about how it has not just been some tedious frustration point, but a very real painful experience. Hopefully, they will care and understand enough to be responsive. As others have noted, it is quite likely that others are experiencing the same thing.
 
I have only encountered this once. That was at the 7:00 PM Sunday mass at the parish I was attending until this past Sunday.

Being a person with extremely sensitive hearing (both audio level and frequency range), I have learned to tune out bothersome noise.

If IO were you, I would see if there is any other parishoners that feel the same way you do. If more than one are having a problem with the sound level, the pastor may be more open to rectifying the problem.

PF
 
In A small country Parish, Outside of the city I live in. The Pastor has installed television sets. They are mounted on the wall, where the stations of the Cross used to be. Near the Altar Is A large screen, Every Mass is videotaped, and played Live simultaneously, on all these screens. It is A cacauphonal horror. I do not understand the reasoning behind this, as this is A small church. even tiny by urban standards.
 
This is what I’m getting at: there seems to be no good way to contain one of these situations. It appears that they fester despite common sense. Talking calmly to the pastor and music director is on my list of things to do, but it’s rather like talking calmly to the teenager with the loud car radio blasting: he likes his radio, and he knows you can’t make him turn it down. The pastor likes the ‘warm bodies’ singing in the choir, and the choir director knows his is the only such game in town, and that the ‘audience’ is captive. A directive to use a civilized volume would mean a defeat. It’s definitely not the ‘better part’ by any means! The parish could save a lot of money by getting rid of the choir director; it’s too bad this doesn’t occur to them. An amateur could play a few helpful strains on the organ at Mass. Do we really need a professional who probably wishes he were at St. Patrick’s Cathedral?

Anyway, there are apparently, then, no concrete directives that can be cited, no easy-to-follow steps to deal with sound terrorists of the New Order? Just tender a polite opinion and hold your ears waiting for better days?
 
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chicago:
Pump up the volume, pump up the volume, pump up the volume, MASS! MASS!
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What’s this, a communion antiphon? To be sung with especial enthusiasm by the ladies who arrive in leotards or low-cut tops?
 
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