Remember a few months ago I mentioned my parish was going to conduct a survey about the music program? Well, it's happened. I haven't tallied the scores for our morning Mass yet, but the comments are telling.
Some folks are complimentary and appreciate what we do. Some folks just circled the numbers and dropped it in the basket.
Some folks decided it was time to express their frustrations with life via our music survey.
If that sounds harsh, try this:
"The music at this Mass is very dreary. It should be happier like the music at the later Mass."
"Dreary" is not a word I would use to classify any of our repertiore.
"Dreary" is a highly subjective term.
It was also raining that day.
Those things aside, what is "dreary" music? Is chant dreary? Anything in a minor key that doesn't end on a Picardy third? Anything that doesn't have sharps in the key?
Most of the music we do clearly isn't thrilling. It's not going to get your heart racing, make you want to eat red meat or invade a communist country.
But don't mistake prayerful for dreay. Chant is prayerful, not dreary. Some of the motets we do aren't exciting or moving. What they are is devoid of most emotional expression we associated with our 21st century lives. It lacks all the emotional baggage of our pop music. So for some, dreary is down-right delightful.
More on the survey as I have time...
You know, I've thought about doing a survey like this at my church, but am frankly apprehensive about the results. The parishioners are so passive that the ones that actually like the music will not be heard over those who want Haugen-Haas-n-Schutte for every Mass.
Last year I received a long, detailed letter from a parishioner complaining primarily that the music was too loud and suggesting ways to fix the problem -- one of which was to move the organ console, which wouldn't help, of course.
And anyway, most people have such uninformed opinions about what the music should be that they don't know any better than to ask for Haugen and Haas.
I think many have informed opinions about the current state of the liturgy and its music. They do not show up, and if they are present, they do not participate.
You are not going to attract people by such tactics as writing a banal, new set of words to "Stairway to Heaven." During Communion time, it was rather peculiar.
Many of the most silent people in church are ones who accept whatever the Church gives them. If you want more participation, I saw that in parishes that revived the older traditional ones. There seemed to be less silent people in the churches after that.
Some of the more "with it" parish have what I call the music Nazi up front, directing us when to sing and how. At one parish, the music Nazi held up Mass until the congregation rehearsed the "song" beforehand. I do not remember too many people singing it during the Mass.
In any case, the people who are most attached to more traditional choices tend to be the least likely to speak up. That is a problem.
Some interesting points here in the posts above.
We will have around a 5%-10% response rate in total, though this survey will be in the pews for 2 weeks and available to anyone who shows up and completes it.
The does show me some folks are ambivalent about the music.
One nice thing we seem to have is people who like the traditional music are speaking up.