That's Not How You Sing It!

[SMHW]

Our parish sings the Sabat Mater the same way he does

I’ve never hear it sung incorrectly. (Well, at least not that particular line.)

 

[Sunbreak]

I can’t say that the congregation without an organ will be consistent in how they change the notes from what is written. I do notice, however, because I can read music somewhat. I think it’s true that most Catholics have had no music training. When I was in parochial school, though, we had a nun home room teacher who thought every class we had with her was a music class, so we did learn timing, etc. And yes, for those of us who can read music, we aren’t looking for errors - they are just glaringly obvious to us when they happen. It’s like the common error that people make when singing the Star Spangled Banner - many people still bleat out like sheep and sing “oh say does that star spangled baa aa ner yet wave” when it’s supposed to be sung “oh say does that star spangled ban ner er yet wave”. Same thing.

 

[ProVobis]

It’s like the common error that people make when singing the Star Spangled Banner - many people still bleat out like sheep and sing “oh say does that star spangled baa aa ner yet wave” when it’s supposed to be sung “oh say does that star spangled ban ner er yet wave”. Same thing.

Is that really an error, though? Or just a morphing of a very commonly used old song, which hardly anyone pays attention to what they’re singing anyway?

Even in the Latin Mass people are confused as to whether to sing “De-ey-ey-ey-oh gratias” or “Deo grah-ah-ah-ah-ah-tias.”

 

[Sarabande]

I’m no musician by any means but I can sight read. I’ve noticed something in many parishes. It happens without fail whenever there’s singing without a choir or organ. Instead of hymns ending with “quarter note, quarter note, half note” as the notes indicate people sing it like it’s “dotted quarter note, eighth note, half note.”

For example:
“Close to Je-sus to the last____” becomes “Close to Je-sus to__ the last____.”

Why? I try to sing it correctly louder hoping that people will catch on but then people look at me like I’m the crazy one. It’s so widespread that I think I may be the one in the wrong. How did this get started and how did it infect every parish? Anybody else notice this?

As others have mentioned, it is most likely because they can’t read music and are singing how they remember (or think they remember) the hymn goes. It’s perfectly natural that would happen especially if there is no organist or cantor to keep them in line so-to-speak. A couple of my voice students are grown, mature adults who can’t read music, but just want to learn how to sing better for mass. Even when they have heard a hymn a thousand times with the right rhythms at mass, they will still sing the rhythms wrong when they don’t have accompaniment beneath of them. I have to really get it into their heads so that when they don’t have accompaniment or me there to support them, they will know the rhythm correctly.

Another reason they may not be singing the rhythms correctly is because when they originally learned the hymn (most likely by rote) they learned it “wrong” or differently from the rhythm published in the current hymnal. For instance, some older hymnals have dotted rhythms in “How Great Thou Art” for ‘my savior God to Thee’. The newer hymnals published that part with just even 8th notes rather than the dotted 8th to 16th notes. Those who remember it the old way will still sing it that way even though the organist plays it as written from the newer hymnal.

 

[Sarabande]

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The 1994 Breaking Bread that I dug out of my closet has the sixteenth notes. I’ve only ever seen NALR/New Dawn/OCP versions.

If there are any versions that use other rhythms they probably ad-hoc or limited permission. I know that my current choir director has an arrangement of Be Not Afraid he composed in the early 1980s which he has permission to use for his choirs. (And he definitely has sixteen notes.)

I have a very old “Glory & Praise” hymnal from 1984 and it has the 16th notes as well. That said, we never sang it as written. All of the 16ths were sang as 8th notes. The way it was published was too confusing and difficult for people who have no musical training to pick up. I’m assuming that is why you rarely ever hear it sung as it is written in the hymnals.

Whenever I’m cantoring at a parish I don’t typically sing for and we’re doing a hymn that has various ways of singing the rhythms, I will ask the organist or instrumentalist how the parish typically sings the piece… as written or with different rhythms or measure cuts(such as the extra measure in “Here I Am, Lord”).

 

[The_Curt_Jester]

This isn’t just a problem with the congregation, but also one I encounter with a choir. When I first came to my current post I often heard members of the choir says something along the lines of, “That’s not how we sing it.” Well, they learned it wrong. I had to spend some time altering how they sang certain things, get the timing better, and so on. The thing is that people often learn to sing by hearing someone who plays the organ but isn’t an organist. Notes might be off, tempo is off, and so on.

So there is something that can be done with the choir. As for the congregation, there’s not a lot that can be done except hope that, in time, they will follow the choir.

Occasionally I will do some edits to music, but not too often.

 

[SMHW]

As others have mentioned, it is most likely because they can’t read music and are singing how they remember (or think they remember) the hymn goes. It’s perfectly natural that would happen especially if there is no organist or cantor to keep them in line so-to-speak. A couple of my voice students are grown, mature adults who can’t read music, but just want to learn how to sing better for mass. Even when they have heard a hymn a thousand times with the right rhythms at mass, they will still sing the rhythms wrong when they don’t have accompaniment beneath of them. I have to really get it into their heads so that when they don’t have accompaniment or me there to support them, they will know the rhythm correctly.

Some people just naturally seem to have a built in sense of rhythm. (Those are the ones who seem to remember every nuance of a song they haven’t heard/sung/played for 20 years.) Other people, not so much. Both types of people benefit from practice but some will continue to have difficulty even when being conducted and accompanied.

Another reason they may not be singing the rhythms correctly is because when they originally learned the hymn (most likely by rote) they learned it “wrong” or differently from the rhythm published in the current hymnal. For instance, some older hymnals have dotted rhythms in “How Great Thou Art” for ‘my savior God to Thee’. The newer hymnals published that part with just even 8th notes rather than the dotted 8th to 16th notes. Those who remember it the old way will still sing it that way even though the organist plays it as written from the newer hymnal.

We tend to associate hymns with today’s common melodies. But some of those melodies existed long before anyone thought to write down any musical notation for them. And once written down the arrangers add their own artistic flourishes, whether for voice or other instruments. It’s hard to say what is “correct” for a melody that belongs to everybody and yet nobody.

 

[Sarabande]

We tend to associate hymns with today’s common melodies. But some of those melodies existed long before anyone thought to write down any musical notation for them. And once written down the arrangers add their own artistic flourishes, whether for voice or other instruments. It’s hard to say what is “correct” for a melody that belongs to everybody and yet nobody.

Yes, I agree. It’s why I put “wrong” in quotes. It might be “wrong” in regards to the music we have in the hymnal, but it isn’t “wrong”, especially for those older melodies which have had various different rhythms associated with it.

I have a lot of folk songs composers set as art songs and the rhythms are sometimes different from what people are used to. And even though I read music, my brain will go on automatic and won’t follow the rhythm as written.