Teenagers and Church Music

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Hi and welcome back everyone! šŸ™‚ šŸ™‚ šŸ™‚

I saw this article just before the forums went down and Iā€™ve been waiting to post it here. I want to see what you all think of it.

Teenagers and Church Music: What Do They Really Think?

ā€œWhat do teens think is the appropriate kind of music for a worship setting? An interview with a professor of music education who researched this question provides some interesting answers.ā€
 
Iā€™m 17 and I like Gregorian Chants and traditional music šŸ˜ƒ
 
Iā€™m 19 and like Gregorian chant and traditional music. Pipe organ too.

Oh, and in my humble opinion Gregorian chant s specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.
 
Im the same as the last two posters, Traditional Gregorian Plainchant for meā€¦

Modern music has no place in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, at all.
 
Might as well echo the statements of those above. Iā€™m 19 and I also prefer traditional liturgical music.

I am somewhat confused by the fact that many church leaders are striving to make the liturgy more contemporary when so many teenagers actually prefer traditional music.
 
sisoyflaco said:
Might as well echo the statements of those above. Iā€™m 19 and I also prefer traditional liturgical music.

I am somewhat confused by the fact that many church leaders are striving to make the liturgy more contemporary when so many teenagers actually prefer traditional music.
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You and me both. I am 24 and a revert, I always prefered: Gregorian Chant, Polyphany, and traditional hymns w/ the organ. Then when Lifeteen began at my parish the youth minister and the adults involved in the group insisted that this contemporary stuff is my cup of tea. It was very frustrating, yes Iā€™m young, and no, I donā€™t like contemporary music.
 
Well Iā€™m not a teenager, Iā€™m 25, but it wasnā€™t that long ago that I was and I prefer polyphony and gregorian chant. Life Teen sucks!
I thought that then and i think it now.

Cadence
 
At age 21, I can honestly say that Gregorian Chant is heaven on Earth. Contemporary Music does not bring one to such great heights.
 
This is awesomeā€¦so far the vote for Gregorian and traditional music has been unanimous! šŸ˜ƒ

Iā€™m 16, and I cringe every time I hear the contemporary, feel-good songs played at so many Masses. I love the traditional music!šŸ‘
 
This is a difficult issue to fairly discuss without taking into consideration the musical and liturgical abilities of the music director and the spirit of the parish; assuming that consideration has been taken to make sure that the music is written in a way that is sing-able for the assembly, is true to catholic teaching and coincides with the readings for the particular liturgy. The spirit of the community and the abilities of the music director need to be taken into consideration. I realize that the GIRM says that Gregorian Chant should hold a special place in the liturgy, and I REALLY enjoy listening to Gregorian Chant; however, the GIRM doesnā€™t exclude other musical expressions; in fact, it says that they are also acceptable. I consider myself very orthodox when it comes to the faith and moral teachings of the church; however when anyone says that Gregorian Chant is more ā€œholyā€ than others forms of music, I can not help but laugh. Again, while I think Gregorian Chant is beautiful, I can not say that it is more holy than other forms of music. To me, that is the same thing as saying God is a Yankee fan but hates the Red Sox; or blue is a very holy color but green is the color of the devil. I believe peoples impression of what music is appropriate for mass depends on personal taste and there experience. I have been to parishes where you have a classically trained musician trying to play/lead a contemporary song and it often sounds horribleā€¦you need to understand the style. The same can be true for a contemporary musician trying to play/sing Gregorian Chant with-out understanding the styleā€¦that can also sound horrible. The life experiences and spirit of the parish need to be taken into account when selecting music. In addition, the music director needs to understand the style of a piece of music before attempting to teach it to the parish musicians or assembly,

Pace Bene,
elmatt
 
It is kind of hard to judge the validity of the results without knowing what the musical samples were that the researcher used and the exact phrasing of her questions. It can also make a difference in the results if the choice of answers were presented in different ways. I imagine that for the people who only want to hear music that is at least 500 years old that this researcherā€™s findings sound like good ammunition for the same old argument.

I like some of what I consider ā€œcontemporaryā€ music in mass when the content is appropriate for the dayā€™s readings and the instrumentation is not jarring, but my definition of contemporary may be different from the researcherā€™s. I noted that she listed a loud rock style Petra song as contemporary, so given that as the sample I would reject ā€œcontemporaryā€ for any church worship along with the teens sampled.

All gospel music could be considered ā€œcontemporaryā€ depending on the definition used. Just like chant it began with religious roots and has never been used for any secular purpose. People can quote the GIRM and any other documents that they like to argue against it, but there is not a clear cut answer from the folks in charge or the music discussion would not keep happening. Unless we get some exact formula for how much of certain things we should use during each liturgical season or a definitive list of music and when to use it, then this will drag on until the end of times.My roots are not primarily European and within the Latin rite in the US there are many other folks in my same situation. I donā€™t think that everything has to come from Europe in the distant past to be appropriate for mass. As the population in the US parishes become more diverse all of us are going to be exposed to things that we may not have known growing up but which are not necessarily bad either.
 
elmatt said:
I realize that the GIRM says that Gregorian Chant should hold a special place in the liturgy, and I REALLY enjoy listening to Gregorian Chant; however, the GIRM doesnā€™t exclude other musical expressions; in fact, it says that they are also acceptable.
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At the same time, the GIRM doesnā€™t specifically exclude liturgical dance during the Mass, eitherā€¦
 
sisoyflaco said:
I am somewhat confused by the fact that many church leaders are striving to make the liturgy more contemporary when so many teenagers actually prefer traditional music.
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Thats because the driving force behind most of todayā€™s mess is a generation of adults who havnt grown up. Something happened in that generation that made them feel like they were always missing out, they never were satisfied and most of all fear getting old.
 
I believe, ideologically, that only gregorian chant, and maybe some sacred polyphony, should normally be used in a liturgical setting.

But honestly, I donā€™t *like *it best. I ā€œpoliticallyā€ think that it should be the music of worshipā€¦but the music that really inspires me most are old afro-american Spirituals, Gospel Music, andā€¦gaspā€¦classic Anglo-protestant english hymns.

Gregorian chant puts me to sleep. Though I do hate the sappy ā€œmodernā€ hymns and especially revile the ā€œcontemporaryā€ and ā€œlight rockā€ they even sometimes try to bring into some parishes (not mine:D)

Still. Though I donā€™t really ā€œenjoyā€ plainchant that muchā€¦I still think it should be the music of worship because I think it is best suited for worship (enjoyment really isnā€™t the pointā€¦itā€™s not a concert) and because itā€™s traditional.

I can have my spirituals and english hymns at prayer services or faith festivals outside of Liturgy. But official public worship should use the official public worship music!
 
I must also say that (especially after coming to this forum), I have come to looove Gregorian Chant. It has itā€™s own playlist devoted to it on my iPod šŸ˜› :D.
 
Cadence said:
Well Iā€™m not a teenager, Iā€™m 25, but it wasnā€™t that long ago that I was and I prefer polyphony and gregorian chant. Life Teen sucks!
I thought that then and i think it now.

Cadence
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:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
 
I am XV, and am in a plainchant choirā€¦I neednā€™t say more.
 
I just think itā€™s sad that there are many beautiful hymns that I learned growing up, and so many Catholics my age have never heard them before because the adults in charge didnā€™t think theyā€™d like that kind of musicā€¦
 
As a former teennager (I am 20) I must say that while I enjoy the loud, abnoxious yelling of punk rock, I get very unhappy if the music at Mass is anything less than chanting or soft, wonderful hymns. I went to a teen Mass a few times because of ill-scheduling, and the contemporary music did not do it for me. One of the lyrics to a song was, and I kid not: ā€˜I am waiting for you like a loverā€™ A lover? Is the Lord in lingere? Cā€™mon, this is Massā€¦Keep the soft rock for the prom please:D
 
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