The Training of a Church Musician

[E.E.N.S]

I posted an article from Sacred Music (Fall of 1990) on my blog. It’s worth the read.

Here is a snippet from the article:

Never before has the opportunity been greater for prospective church musicians in this country. Times are affluent, when compared to previous decades; the conciliar documents have declared the position of sacred music to be “pars integrans in liturgia,” giving it a security never before enjoyed; a freedom for composing and performing has been assured by the council; the official position of the Church has never before given such encouragement to sacred music. But why has so little of value developed since the council, and, in fact, why has church music declined and even decayed in the last quarter century?

 

[chotock]

Thank goodness for the Adoremus hymnal, wish we used it in my parish. At least our new music and liturgy director has been passing over h&h crud for some more orthodox pieces.

I am also a little perplexed why we are not seeing more incredible pieces of music coming out. More results of horizontal worship and love me tender mularky I suppose.

 

[E.E.N.S]

Thank goodness for the Adoremus hymnal, wish we used it in my parish. At least our new music and liturgy director has been passing over h&h crud for some more orthodox pieces.

I am also a little perplexed why we are not seeing more incredible pieces of music coming out. More results of horizontal worship and love me tender mularky I suppose.

I know, I am confused as to why the Church is so widely ignored as well.

I don’t think it’s to blame on the horizontal aspect of the Mass, as the Mass is both horizontal and vertical, but I think the loss of the sense of the vertical alltogether plays a significant role.

 

[jbuck919]

As a thoroughly trained church musician who played his first Mass in 1969 when I was 15 and who has had to make most of his (moonlighting) career with other denominations for the sake of preserving sanity, I will offer what thoughts I can. This will be limited to the situation of the Catholic Church in the United States.

The basic problem is, and has always been, even prior to Vatican II, lack of aesthetic standards and entrenched bad taste. Scraping the bottom of the barrel partly for financial reasons and pandering to the lowest common denominator. Pillorying those who try to raise standards. Cynical acquiescense to a sense (whether justified or not) that more attendance would be lost by doing things better than by doing things worse. Indifference among the ordained leadership because aesthetics in worship is not a priority in the first place (in plain English, they can’t be bothered).

Er, sorry, that’s the end of my thoughts.

 

[genealogist]

jbuck,Thanks for the insights. I have heard it said that worship is you entertaining God not the other way around. If this is what we offer God as entertainment, eek we are all going to hell! Music a Mass is abysmal!!

If you can’t do it righ then offer Mass away from the cathedrals without ANY music. I am so tired of the Resposorial Psalms and dreadful cantors. Don’t these poor people have friends and spouses who want to spare their loved ones from embarrassment and the rest of us from their poor vocal abilities?

My wife’s Protestant congregation treats worship as the pinnacle of the week. It is sad their beliefs are off in so many areas but why can’t we who have the truth offer better liturgies and catechesis?

 

[Strummer]

This great fear I sense from many for anything that remotely smells of “horizontal” is the cause for much of the ills of our music liturgy. What they fail to see is that the Mass is a form of communication from God to us and from us to God and (here’s the horizontal part) among ourselves as well ("…and I ask…you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord, Our God"). Effective communication for human beings is sadly neglected as being too “theatrical” (“The Mass is NOT a performance!”). But it IS communication and is more effective when it employs some of the tools of theater in order to better engage the listener. This also means that we must not be too jarring in our “innovation” as to take the congregation out of their “worship space”. Ministry through musical liturgy is a balancing act requiring the musician’s art and creativity but also his/her humility to understand that the music serves a higher goal than one’s own muse.

 

[Marysann]

Thank you jbuck919 for so eloquently stating my views. I began my church music career in 1958 so I have been at this for quite a while. When I was younger and worked as a professional church musician, I had many jobs in Protestant churches, attending Mass each Sunday as well. I sometimes felt that my greatest cross in life was to have to go to Mass after having sung in a beautiful service in the Episcopal Church. Of course, we had the real presence, but you wouldn’t have know it but what was going on at some Masses. I do think that things are begining to turn around, and I am glad that I am going to live long enough to see it. We need to encourage our pastors to spend the necessary money on the parish music program so that good Catholic organists and singers will not have to find employment in Protestant churches. Good organists and singers have studied and practiced for years and should be paid for their labors. Do we ask for volunteers to fix the leaking church roof or put in the wiring of the new addition to the church? Of course not, because those jobs have to be done right! We will have beautiful music that honors God and inspires the congregation when we are willing to spend money on it.