The Power of Music

[EmmaSowl]

But I wish that at least once a year, parishes could offer a “Music Camp” for a couple of of hours to teach adults the rudiments of singing

I like this idea, with reservations.

First, the like:

Almost anyone can learn what could be called pigeon-music (like pigeon-English, like the pigeon-Spanish I know). In fact, I barely know more than pigeon-music. Although I’ve sung all my life (and played two instruments badly for awhile and now not at all), I could never sight-sing a brand new song by myself.

But I know when the notes are going up or down and how long to hold them. And when my husband asked me to teach him that much, it only took 10 minutes.

Now the reservations:

I find parish programs to be overblown, bureaucratic, and scheduled only for those who work 9-5, M-F. That is an increasingly dwindling group of workers in our 24-hour world.

But I sure wouldn’t mind a 5-10 minute instruction before each Mass - as long as it was timed to give at least 5 minutes of silence before the Mass began.

 

[PetraG]

But I sure wouldn’t mind a 5-10 minute instruction before each Mass - as long as it was timed to give at least 5 minutes of silence before the Mass began.

I once went to a parish with a music leader who did this before our 8:30 Mass. He told us, “I’m teaching you, we only have a few minutes, and then you’re going to have to lead those who come for the 8:35 Mass…”
His point was that since the music was printed in the hymnal what he needed was at least a few in the crowd who would sing it with confidence. Those who weren’t there would usually be willing to join in, given the combination of the printed music and some people around them who could carry the tune.

 

[OraLabora]

Vatican II called for an edition of simpler chants intended to be learned and sung by all Catholics, even in “smaller churches”

It exists. It is called the Graduale Simplex. I have a copy. The antiphons are similar to the Divine Office férial antiphons, and the psalm verses on the simple tone.

There are also simple settings for the Kyriale in the Graduale Romanum. Kyrie from Mass XVI, Sanctus and Agnus from Mass XVIII, and Gloria from Mass XV are within easy reach for inexperienced choristers and also the faithful in the pews.

 

[EmmaSowl]

especially when it’s coming from the 1917 Code of Canon Law

I don’t know a thing about the 1917 Code of Canon Law. I only want the newest GIRM to be obeyed.

I meet traditionalist Catholics in RL all over the place, and they are quite visible and not being shunned or anything else.

Because I lector and emergency cantor, I am somewhat visible to the average person who attends the Mission Mass I usually go to. Everyone in the pews (correction: folding chairs) is extremely nice to me. Some quietly whisper agreement with my position. But the people in the pews have no authority to do anything other than request obedience from superiors - a frightening enterprise which few have the stomach for (especially if they are obedient to hierarchy!).

Sorry, I don’t buy into this victim mentality.

One can only be a victim if he is at the mercy of someone with the power to victimize. People in the pews do not have that power. Paid authorities do.

I did not use the word victim. I said shunned. Here is how I’ve been shunned:

When I went to my first pastor (a wonderful man!) because my psychiatrist told me I needed to leave the parish for my mental health, I spent the meeting crying so much that the poor priest probably only caught half of what I was saying. But he understood that having the deacon’s wife share the homily at Midnight Mass was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. He did not offer to research whether or not such a thing was permitted - he just let me go. I guess that was easier.

When, a year after the new GIRM came out, I went to my second pastor at my second parish and quietly asked if there were plans in place to begin to implement the new rubrics, he stood up and screamed that I was a Pharisee and accused me of calling him stupid. I walked home in tears.

After months of prayer, I tried again at my third parish. It took multiple attempts to get a meeting. I would’ve given up if it weren’t for a Vietnamese associate pastor who comforted me in the struggle. I mention his nationality because I have found that non-American-born priests value obedience more than American-born priests do. When I finally met with the pastor, he pushed my off to the Director of Liturgy (as if the DL were his boss!).

The DL refuses to respond to me. Even when the annual appeals for the fiesta talent show are promoted in multiple bulletins, the DL refuses to respond to my requests to participate.

If that is not shunning, please explain to me what is.

I now believe that there will be no liturgical obedience in my diocese if obedience depends on authority figures. That is why I come to this site - to help convince the faithful to be brave and to assure them that they are not being disobedient to authority when they are requesting that authorities be obedient.

If I’m not mistaken, Pope Francis has called for the lowly to raise their voices to those in power and admonished the powerful for not listening to the lowly.

 

[EmmaSowl]

His point was that since the music was printed in the hymnal what he needed was at least a few in the crowd who would sing it with confidence. Those who weren’t there would usually be willing to join in, given the combination of the printed music and some people around them who could carry the tune.

Yes! It only takes a few in the pews to help the rest!

 

[snarflemike]

Yes. The Graduale Simplex seems to have been a failed experiment. I don’t think I’ve ever run into anybody using it. But the chants in Jubilate Deo seem quite alive and well, in chant terms.

 

[Peeps]

Beauty is very important in evangelization and in the transmission of the faith. Many saints have equated beauty with God and seen that as the better way to approach God (st Maximus the confessor for example). There is something to beauty and the work it takes to make something beautiful. We may be satisfied with what is ugly, but if we looked deeper we could make it beautiful and it would be a better act of worship. As Dimitri Karamazov said, beauty is what God and the devil do battle over, and their battleground is the heart of man.

But beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.

E.g., I think the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright is beautiful, while my husband doesn’t agree at all.

E.g., I think the flat prairies of Illinois are ethereally beautiful, while many people find them ugly and featureless.

E.g, I think that the most beautiful women in the world are very dark African women in traditional African clothing, while my husband thinks that redheads with peach-color skin are the most beautiful. (I am neither of these types of women, in case you’re wondering! Gray-blonde and pale skinned.)

Music is the same way. I know that a lot of Catholics and other traditionalist find Gregorian chant sublime. I think it’s very hard to listen to (I’m being gentle in my words because of the association with Gregorian chant with Pope Gregory and the Church) because it meanders and doesn’t have a regular rhythm or melody.

To me, the most beautiful Christian music are the traditional hymns like Holy Holy Holy and also the more modern hymns like “How Great Thou Art.”

 

[Peeps]

EmmaSowl, I certainly agree with you that anyone, including a music director of a parish, should work hard and truly EARN whatever salary they are given. The behavior that you describe would not warrant an $80,000/yr salary.

 

[PetraG]

But beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.

E.g., I think the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright is beautiful, while my husband doesn’t agree at all.

E.g., I think the flat prairies of Illinois are ethereally beautiful, while many people find them ugly and featureless.

E.g, I think that the most beautiful women in the world are very dark African women in traditional African clothing, while my husband thinks that redheads with peach-color skin are the most beautiful. (I am neither of these types of women, in case you’re wondering! Gray-blonde and pale skinned.)

Music is the same way. I know that a lot of Catholics and other traditionalist find Gregorian chant sublime. I think it’s very hard to listen to (I’m being gentle in my words because of the association with Gregorian chant with Pope Gregory and the Church) because it meanders and doesn’t have a regular rhythm or melody.

Well, yes and no. For instance, while you and your husband have differences about what is good architecture, it isn’t hard to imagine that there are instances you can both agree are not good architecture. Someone with a background in engineering could give even more examples of what constitutes bad architecture, because it is architecture that is not structurally sound. Someone with very affectionate feelings for a singer who cannot carry a tune in a bucket might think the sound is beautiful, but that doesn’t mean it qualifies as beautiful singing.

Yes, it is hard to come up with hard-and-fast rules such that no one could produce something acceptable (or even extraordinary) that “breaks the rules.” That doesn’t mean it is useless to try to have any rules.

 

[Peeps]

Yes, it is hard to come up with hard-and-fast rules such that no one could produce something acceptable (or even extraordinary) that “breaks the rules.” That doesn’t mean it is useless to try to have any rules.

It’s especially hard to label music as “beautiful” or “not beautiful.”

I happen to think that much of what is called “Country Music” is some of the most beautiful music ever written–beautiful melodies, complex and thought-provoking lyrics, and sung well by good artists. But many people think it’s all twang and noise.

It’s all subjective. I’ve heard people on CAF say that “Gather Us In” sounds like Gordon Lightfoot’s “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” I had never heard of this song before seeing that comment over and over again on CAF, so I listened to it. And I loved it! And I love “Gather Us In.” I love sea chanties and think they are so beautiful–I think of the ocean and the beauty of boats and ships flying over the water.

As for chant–it could possibly be beautiful if the singer sings it well, on pitch, with a good tone and plenty of support. But if the singer is off pitch, sings in a “camp song” tone, and gasps for air throughout–it’s not beautiful anymore.

 

[PetraG]

It’s especially hard to label music as “beautiful” or “not beautiful.”

I love sea chanties and think they are so beautiful–I think of the ocean and the beauty of boats and ships flying over the water.

Not all music that is good is music that is appropriate for worship, though; at least, that is the teaching of the Church.

 

[Peeps]

Not all music that is good is music that is appropriate for worship, though; at least, that is the teaching of the Church.

And the Church has included “Gather Us In” in the approved Catholic hymnals for 50+ years now. So it’s obviously on the “appropriate for worship” list, in spite of the gagging reaction that so many CAF posters seem to have.

I personally am so thankful that Holy Mother Church recognizes that there is more beautiful and appropriate music than just Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony (a style which very few cultures in the world appreciate and are able to sing).

 

[snarflemike]

And the Church has included “Gather Us In” in the approved Catholic hymnals for 50+ years now.

Where is this list of “approved Catholic hymnals”?

 

[snarflemike]

It’s all subjective.

2500 years of western thought strongly disagrees.

 

[PetraG]

And the Church has included “Gather Us In” in the approved Catholic hymnals for 50+ years now. So it’s obviously on the “appropriate for worship” list, in spite of the gagging reaction that so many CAF posters seem to have.

I personally am so thankful that Holy Mother Church recognizes that there is more beautiful and appropriate music than just Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony (a style which very few cultures in the world appreciate and are able to sing).

Not every fashion in liturgical music has withstood the test of time. Some of the guidelines the Church has developed were in response to excesses in polyphony itself, after all, which in some instances had gotten so ornate that the sacred text being sung was no longer intelligible.

Sometimes experimentation works and sometimes it doesn’t. This is the nature of experimentation. The Church has been very clear that popularity alone is a poor standard for sacred music.

 

[snarflemike]

I hope it is unnecessary to point out that the Church doesn’t say only Gregorian Chant or polyphony. However, she does call Chant the “supreme model” and “permanent standard” by which to evaluate all her sacred music, and she does single out “especially polyphony” when discussing other forms of allowable sacred music. And to say that these forms cannot be appreciated or sung by most cultures is just silly and dismissive. Would you like me to link to some excellent chant and polyphony sung by a Japanese group (and surely Japanese culture is just about as removed from European culture as can be imagined)?

 

[Babaganoush]

To a certain extent beauty is the eye of the beholder but that is simply because it has to be observed by someone. But there are limits on that. You may disagree with your husband on what is beautiful, but there is overlap. And there are things that virtually everyone agrees are beautiful, and conversely there things that virtually everyone thinks is ugly.

Also to a certain extant, our ideas of beauty are determined by our shortcomings. Our weaknesses will affect how we view beauty.

 

[Peeps]

I hope it is unnecessary to point out that the Church doesn’t say only Gregorian Chant or polyphony. However, she does call Chant the “supreme model” and “permanent standard” by which to evaluate all her sacred music, and she does single out “especially polyphony” when discussing other forms of allowable sacred music. And to say that these forms cannot be appreciated or sung by most cultures is just silly and dismissive. Would you like me to link to some excellent chant and polyphony sung by a Japanese group (and surely Japanese culture is just about as removed from European culture as can be imagined)?

Does your OF parish regularly feature Gregorian chant and polyphony during their Masses?

 

[JButky]

Also to a certain extant, our ideas of beauty are determined by our shortcomings. Our weaknesses will affect how we view beauty.

Does this imply that our strengths do not affect how we view beauty? Can you even define beauty rationally? Can you even do that without using a subjective criteria?

 

[snarflemike]

Does your OF parish regularly feature Gregorian chant and polyphony during their Masses?

Hmm, lots of ways to answer this.

1. Since I’m not the pastor, what exactly is the relevance of the question?
2. Our pastor has actually encouraged the formation of a schola, which currently does one Mass a month, full chant. Further, we do get a bit of chant at the Sunday choir Mass, and I’m told also at daily Masses. So the trajectory is in the upward direction.
3. I might rephrase the question as follows: “Does your OF parish seek to implement the liturgical music teachings of Vatican II, or are they (50+ years later) still ignorant of those teachings, or are they in active dissent against those teachings?”

BTW, more than half of our schola members are in their 20s and 30s. Our main Sunday choir is mostly people 60 and older.