There’s Mass Music, and There’s Music for Mass

NC Register ^ | November 29, 2009 | MICHAEL W. DRWIEGA

[NYer]

Ask your bishops to dump the “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.” junk. It was written by OCP — the other mysteries of faith are prayers to Christ.

We have a different, chanted format.

We remember your death, we proclaim your resurrection, we await your coming.

Then we remember our sins and pray ...

Have mercy on us Almighty Father, have mercy on us!

It is then time to thank God for His blessings in our life ...

We praise you, we adore you, we worship you ... hear us O Lord!

Then the congregation stands while the priest drops to his knees behind the altar, hands elevated as he calls down the Holy Spirit - an'een mory'o - hear us O Lord - and may Your Holy Spirit overshadow our offerings. He then kisses the altar before standing up and we chant ..

Kyrie Eleison! Kyrie Eleison! Kyrie Eleison!

[AnAmericanMother]

Yeah, I'd just finished driving for 10 hours and was feeling a bit cranky.

But, seriously, if you're going to write an article complaining about hymns -- then pick up a couple of books (or even go on line! you can research hymns at Oremus.com or the CyberHymnal: authors (with biographies), composers, the works) and make sure you've got your facts straight.

[AnAmericanMother]

Amen on the “Christ has died” thingy. Our Parochial Vicar chants the “Mysterium Fidei”, and we respond appropriately and in Latin. That’s not in the little Latin Mass handouts the ushers distribute, though . . . have to change it I guess. Maybe eventually we’ll have a full Extraordinary Form once a month . . . .

[AnAmericanMother]

I'm with you ONE HUNDRED percent re the 'happy praise music' a/k/a schlock getting in the way of any serious meditation or prayer. Music shouldn't be loud, inappropriate, tacky, or distracting.

But good, reverent, meditative music performed in a sensitive manner is an aid to prayer for many people.

Some folks just don't like music at all, and for them there is the early Mass. Other folks find that music is helpful to their worship, and inspiring. For them there is the 11:30 High Mass. It's great that the parish has something for each.

[AnAmericanMother]

I've been singing Sacred Harp for years! It's great stuff -- it's like being carried along on an enormous tidal wave of sound. Not for everybody, I guess, but I love it.

One of my cousins actually edited the OSH - Hugh McGraw out in Bremen GA.

There is an absolutely wonderful DVD out on the history and practice of the Sacred Harp - they even have a website.

Awake My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp

Lots of fun stuff on the website, including lots of audio tracks and a trailer for the movie. The primary singers for the movie are a bit more polished than your average SH singers, but they are an actual SH group and they've retained the vigor and force of the old style singers.

I love one comment in the film -- one of the guys they interviewed said somebody asked him, "Do you want to sound like a bunch of uneducated Southerners?" and he said, "Well . . . YEAH!"

[AnAmericanMother]

Yeah, I've sung tenor in a pinch. Fortunately, we now have a dynamite tenor -- who has an amazing voice for such a young person -- and he has an excellent new man in support. So thankfully I'm not needed over there, because singing tenor is bad for the female voice (my grandmother, who was a professional, really hurt her voice that way subbing in the church choir).

We're hurting for altos because our staff alto went back to school. I'm the most experienced alto at the moment (I'm an amateur but I've sung in good choirs since the age of 6), some of our altos are almost inaudible and some of them are very audible but inaccurate, so it's a bit dicey right now. I'm glad to have the support of a good accurate male alto. And the sound is really "English" - it sort of made our deacon go "Huh?" when we sang the Byrd "Ave Verum" because the altos really pop out at a couple of points and he recognized that Something Was Up. Glad he noticed!

You know the parody of "Immortal, Invisible"? "Immoral, impossible, God only knows/ How tenors, sopranos, basses, and altos/ Who show up on Sunday are never the same/ As those who on Thursday to choir practice came."

Learn it. Love it. Live it. < g >

[AnAmericanMother]

Just fyi -- SH singers don't use "do-re-mi" - they use "Fa-So-La". The scale is "Fa-So-La-Fa-So-La-Mi-Fa".

Sometimes SH singing is called "Fa-So-La Singing".

And it is really an education to try to sing the NAMES of the notes instead of the WORDS! You have to shift gears inside your head. I'm still not very good at it!

[AnAmericanMother]

I'm so sorry your church has bad acoustics (you can tell I'm reading backwards up the thread, can't you?)

It's not limited to the 1960's prayer barn architects, though. The Episcopal Cathedral in Atlanta is notorious for having the worst acoustics in the city, and it was built on a traditional plan, with a very large budget. But they messed up the proportions, and the nave just SWALLOWS the sound, whether sung or spoken. All sorts of acoustic engineers have been consulted to try to improve it, but nothing much seems to help.

But for some reason, when it's empty, it's great for recording the organ if you set up the mikes in the transept crossing, front and center. Which is good because it has a knockout organ -- one of the last of the Aeolian Skinners, a big traditional sounding American pipe organ. We helped our director record one of his original organ compositions over there (our organ is pitiful - but we're getting a new one in the latest renovation. Thank heavens!)

[netmilsmom]

>>But we don’t want to repeat the mistakes that were made around the time of VCII, and rush in a bunch of unfamiliar stuff on people.<<

It depends on what finds “unfamiliar”.
To some, “The King of Glory” is familiar.

What we need to do is correct. There is a change to the GIRM coming and it’s coming quickly. We need to teach the reason and the reason is that it is correct. The innovations that went on in our parishes were wrong.

I think it’s wonderful that you have a Holy Mass without music for those who do not want it. That’s how it should be. If one wants the choir, it’s there. If one wants the silence, it’s there. The pity comes when one finds no reverence in a Catholic parish. We travel a lot and find more innovations than reverence. Where the organ sits silent as the choir and piano play. That’s great for the Non-Catholics who need praise and community for their services. We have The Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ right there. Everything else is secondary.

[AnAmericanMother]

We're anxiously awaiting the new translation. It's far from perfect (hey, I was raised on Cranmer's marvelous Prayer Book, so my standards are probably not very realistic) but it is an enormous step in the right direction.

But I have to disagree with you that music is somehow not proper in the presence of Our Lord. You set up a false dichotomy, that on the one hand one has "real Catholics" who don't need anything but the Real Presence, and on the other hand "Non Catholics" who need their "praise and community". That is wrong, and insulting to the generations of Catholics for whom properly presented, reverent, appropriate music is the best offering they can bring to Our Lord.

Do try to live and let live. Some 'real Catholics' consider good music an important part of the Mass. 'Real Catholics' like Mr. Palestrina, Mr. Byrd, Mr. Victoria, etc. etc.

[HungarianGypsy]

Great response! Especially since my post was tongue in cheek. :) I actually had only seen your post and not the whole thread before posting. On the same note, it bothers me when everyone claps.

[markomalley]

That notion, however, exploded in the next instant when I thought of another song I’d heard at Mass, “Ode to Joy.” With music composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, a German living in an era when there was no German nation over which to be patriotic, the ode gets its lyrics from another German, Friedrich Schiller, whose sentiments were neither Christian-specific nor dedicated to any particular country.

Yup. Whenever I hear the tune, no matter the lyrics, I always think of the real lyrics that go with it:

Joy, beautiful spark of gods
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter drunk with fire,
Heavenly one, your sanctuary!
Your magic binds again
What custom strictly divided.
Beggars become Princes' brothers,
Where your gentle wing rests.

&tc.

Now I'm sorry, but I just have this little thing about the appropriateness of Schiller's words being publicly uttered in a Mass (a symphony hall...absolutely...but a Mass???). Call me a curmudgeon if you must...

People can complain about a playing a Cat Stevens cover, but that is nothing aside of this...

[ArrogantBustard]

What was weird was that it [Amazing Grace] was played to the melody of “The House of the Rising Sun”.

I have only heard that setting in the context of prison ministry, wherein it makes a certain amount of sense.

[netmilsmom]

Are you saying that the Holy Mass is NOT about the Real Presence of Our Lord? That a Holy Mass is about what the humans bring? (And actually I never used “Real Catholics” that you put into quotes nor did I say that music isn’t proper).

Tell it to the soldiers who attended Holy Mass on the hood of a jeep, or our sister parish in Africa who attend Holy Mass under a tree. Is it about the music or the Real Presence of Our Lord?

Seriously, your background is music and it is very important to you. To those of us who have a very light music background or none (which is the majority of us), it’s not important. If ANY Catholic feels that music is needed for a proper Holy Mass or anything a human (other than the Priest) brings is important, that person’s focus is incorrect. Nothing a human brings beats the gift Our Lord is giving us.

[netmilsmom]

Yikes!
Clapping makes me cringe too!

[marshmallow]

Is it about the music or the Real Presence of Our Lord?

What do you mean ........"or"?

Are there not angel choirs in heaven?

If ANY Catholic feels that music is needed for a proper Holy Mass or anything a human (other than the Priest) brings is important, that person’s focus is incorrect. Nothing a human brings beats the gift Our Lord is giving us.

"Beats"? What a strange word to use.

The music is not for us is it?

The Blessed Sacrament is God's gift to us.

Hymns are our humble songs of gratitude and praise in return. They're not meant to take the place of the Eucharist. They give voice to our heartfelt love.

We don't focus on the music.

We focus on the Eucharist and as a result of that focus we respond with hymns of praise and thanksgiving.

Surely some confusion.

[netmilsmom]

>>The music is not for us is it? <<

You tell me.
In many parishes, there is no humility to it.

[SuziQ]

Some folks just don't like music at all, and for them there is the early Mass. Other folks find that music is helpful to their worship, and inspiring. For them there is the 11:30 High Mass. It's great that the parish has something for each.

Agreed! Our 7:30 Mass crowd wants to get in and get out, with a minimum of distraction. We had an elderly priest for a while who I called "Shotgun Leo". He could say the 7:30 Mass in 25 minutes, which included his brief comments on the scripture according to the New York Times. Those folks loved it, and they are the cradle Catholics who raised several kids each and sent them through the Parish School!

There is a 4:30 Sat. Mass with a minimum of music led by a Cantor, who mostly just introduces the music, and encourages the congretation to sing, which they do very little of. The 9am Sunday Mass used to be the Folk Mass, but I don't know what they do now. It's the one which families are encouraged to attend, and at the end of the Gospel, the younger kids leave and attend religion classes, returning just before the Consecration. It's extremely distracting to me, especially since we no longer have young kids.

SirKit and I are both in the 11am Mass choir, which we love. If we have a new congregational hymn, we'll sing it and after a couple of weeks using it, the congregation picks it up, because the director takes care to find music that is beautiful, but not too difficult for them to sing. I've noticed a remarkable change in the singing habits of the Parish over the last 15 years, since we got our new organist, and even more since we got the new director for the 11am choir. She does a good job teaching us HOW to sing, especially in elocution so that when we sing, the congregation can understand the words. We have improved considerably over the last few years, and many have remarked on it.

The 5:30 Sunday Mass is the 'rock and roll' Mass, and I don't like the music, because it does seem more like 'performance' music than congregational music. The girls always try to do the warbling Beyonce thing, and it's annoying and distracting. Our daughter Clare calls this "Jesus is my boyfriend" music, and prefers the 11am Mass music, when she's home from college.

So it's great to have choices, and though the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass should be sufficient, it's not always that way, so we need to meet people where they are. By doing this, they will continue to enjoy being there, and have the opportunity to grow in Grace.