THERE ARE REASONS FOR
POOR CHURCH MUSIC
Rare is the parish that’s free of complaints about music at Mass.
Whether it’s the screechy-voiced soprano in the choir, or the under-rehearsed guitar group, or the too-frequent repetitions of “Lead Me, Lord” — there’s usually something about which somebody has a gripe.
Unfortunately, the dissatisfaction is often justified.
Writing recently in the Catholic journal, Crisis, Professor Anthony Esolen of Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts voiced some of the most common musical complaints, focusing particularly on the “liturgical lassitude” (lack of energy or effort) which he maintains is evident in the selection of songs.
Having spent about four decades as a choir member and/or song leader, I can appreciate the good professor’s frustration. But my experience has given me an awareness that there are usually specific reasons why worship music falls short. I address them in an essay appearing in the November issue of the priestly journal, Homiletic & Pastoral Review…
https://www.hprweb.com/2018/11/complain-complain
Please take a few minutes to read my article, then come back and offer your thoughts on this topic, about which opinions can be very strong.
Use the Comments section below…
____________
Last December I reported on a survey taken at my parish in which members of the congregation expressed their preferences for songs, accompaniment, and other music concerns. The results were interesting, and perhaps indicative of attitudes among Catholics in general. If you’re curious, check it out at…
https://www.billkassel.com/singing-in-hope-and-triumph/
The article to which I refer in my H&PR essay is a piece exploring the ongoing controversy over classic vs. contemporary hymns and worship songs that appeared on the website Church Pop back in June of 2015. It covered a lot of ground, and stirred some controversy of its own. You can find it at…
https://churchpop.com/2015/06/25/post-vatican-folk-vs-reformist-retro-is-there-no-middle-ground/
Prof. Anthony Esolen says
Dear Mr. Kassel,
Thank you for sending along your gracious and temperate response. I don’t agree with you, though, that it must cost a lot of money to have good hymns. It doesn’t. The hymnals cost the money, and you need somebody to play the organ. That is about it. The hymns I have in mind come from the last sixteen centuries, and from places from Wales to Sweden to Russia to Greece to Spain and Italy, to America and her several revivals. The Hymnal 1940 is unequaled for sheer variety, for having hymns fit for every purpose for which a Mass might be said, every liturgical season, and every feature of the Scriptures. It is more genuinely Catholic than are Gather, the Worship editions, Glory and Praise, etc.
I ask for these things in a hymn:
1. It must work musically, to be sung by a congregation, not by soloists. That means that all songs with weird intervals and ties and syncopation are out (Eagle’s Wings).
2. It must be orthodox. Goodbye, “Gather Us In.”
3. It must work as POETRY. And here almost every single hymn written after 1965 fails badly. The authors seem never to have bothered to study what it was that earlier hymnodists were doing. I have studied the hymns pretty closely. There is nothing after 1965 that is even in the same category as is a hymn like The King of Love My Shepherd Is, with its re-casting of Psalm 23 in the light of the New Testament and the institution of the Eucharist. I’m not talking about quality merely but about genre.
I’ve just come back from a conference held by Missouri Synod Lutherans, and at the divine service I attended we sang six hymns — and I enjoyed the chance to sing, bass, at the top of my lungs, along with 200 other people, more than half of them men. The old hymns are not hard to learn. Three of them I had never sung before.
Bill Kassel says
Prof. Esolen,
I agree whole heartedly with your observations about what makes a hymn singable and liturgically appropriate. My own ongoing pet peeve is the poor poetic quality of modern songs — they rarely even rhyme, and when they do they tend to rhyme weakly, with structural imprecision and little musical logic.
The problem, however, is that so many of the great works from the past are ignored by contemporary Catholic publishers. How can we sing those songs if they don’t show up in the current hymnals and worship music systems?
Certainly, knowledgeable parish music directors or conscientious music committee members might research them for inclusion in privately published collections. But that takes us back to the limiting factors I noted in my article: “taste, habit, cost, and lack of awareness that there’s better stuff out there.”
Roger says
From: Facebook…
A Palestrina Mass with full choir, a folk Mass with guitars, a Neocatechumenate Mass, also with guitars, a Mass with Taize chants, a Latin plsinchant Mass, a charismatic Mass. I’ve been at all of them, and they all have their value and their place.
Cheryl says
Reading this blog makes me even more appreciative of our parish music director, Douglas Spangler.
Bruce says
From: H&PR…
Having struggled with this for many years, one thing I’ve learned more recently is the problem of ego. The worship leader who selects the song has certain ego-driven notions, just as the contemporary artist who wrote the song. So does the one leading or performing the music. So do those in the congregation who struggle with how enthusiastically to join in the singing, or who evaluate “this song (or music) isn’t meeting my expectations…”. Ego keeps us from the main point – Christ-centered worship.
A friend in an Orthodox church helped me to learn this — their worship order is predetermined — no one has the burden or the privilege of selecting and designing. They simply, obediently and joyfully participate. How liberating.
Boofie says
From: Facebook…
The music in California churches is amazing!!! As we have professional performers who volunteer in our communities!!
Cindy says
From: Facebook…
No one would dare complain about the music at my church. We are a very small parish. If it weren’t for the handful of semi-professional musicians and singers that have stepped forward to lead, there would be no music at all.
Most people would prefer to have a simple voice accompanied by light guitar chords than nothing at all. There’s nothing wrong with the simple and familiar to get everyone to sing. And yes, we are all over 50.
Christopher says
From: H&PR…
I worked my way through grad school as a musician in the early 70s. The Folkies who failed at real music somehow captured a captive customer in the USCCB — and the faithful have paid untold millions for this third-rate swill over the years — nobody ever asked us, we just pay and pay.
Parricide is the murder of a father. What is the murder of beauty? Well, they’re guilty, whatever you call it.
Let’s take a ten-year break from any compositions that require royalties. There are thousands of them. With the resulting savings, we can make nice hymnals and recruit real musicians who’d love to play beautiful music, and leave the banjo at home.
Yes, the banjo is a beautiful instrument — I’ve played it for over 50 years — but it belongs in Poe’s garage, where my bluegrass buddies gather every Thursday night since 1957. Not at Mass.
Enness says
From: H&PR…
Young Catholic adult and former pro musician here.
If churches are so strapped, who says there has to be a choir? One voice that’s conducive to undistracted worship seems better to me than 50 that aren’t. Who says there have to be hymnals? In many churches they are gathering dust anyway because there’s a unique printout every week, which can’t be too cheap.
But really, do a lot of people not know how the songs go (especially at Christmas)?
Bill Kassel says
Enness,
Purchased hymnals or subscription music services are required for use of songs that are under copyright protection. Strange as it may seem, congregational singing in church is considered (legally) a public performance for which royalties are due.
Also, I would advise against assuming that people know the words to a lot of hymns. Many times I have selected songs to use at Mass which I thought of as “classics,” familiar to everybody — only to discover how few people knew them.