Liturgy and Music: March 2005 Archives
A gentleman wrote me this evening with a plea for help. I was flattered that he would ask my advice, but I assured him that any answer I gave him would be highly subjective and blissfully untouched by practical experience. So I turn it over to you folks to help this man, who we will call the "On-Deck Director." Read his message, which was edited to protect his identity:
I will try to be concise. Our parish has had different types of music at each Mass for as long as I can remember. The [morning] group is the aging folkies (not that there's anything wrong with that). The [evening] group is the rockin' teenagers. The [mid-morning] group, of which I am a member, is the "some semblance of tradition and absence of triteness" choir.
We've been using the Collegeville hymnal for quite a few years now. We also sing various pieces of sacred music at the Offertory each week. For a long time, we were pretty good – about 30 members, sang things like "Ave Verum Corpus" and Handel and other sacred music written before 1960. Over time, however, we have lost more than half of our members due to death, sickness, old age, moving out of town, and leaving for a different parish (a huge can of worms I will not open at this juncture). We now have a group of 6-10 women, and we do our best each week. We have an AMAZING organist. We can't get more choir members to save our lives. No man wants to join what he perceives to be a women's choir. So, there is the background sketch.
Well, apparently, our pastor of a little over a year has been telling various people that the music at our Mass is a disaster. We sing hymns unfamiliar to the congregation (i.e., not "Here I Am, Lord," every single Sunday). The organ isn't loud enough. The singers aren't miked. The organ should be incredibly loud, and the singers should be miked, because this will make the congregation sing, since they won't have to worry about anyone hearing them. And we need to sing different music.
I fear it is about to be legislated that 1. our director will be fired and 2. we will have to sing from the Gather hymnal. If our director quits, and our pastor even decides it's a worthy expenditure to fill the vacancy, I'll most likely be the new director. What on earth do I do?
How do I start to educate myself about liturgical music? What's a good "compromise hymnal?" Simple, sacred music that the congregation might not know, but can learn. What's Taize? How do I learn chant? What's shape-singing? Help! What would your "five steps to learning enough about the liturgy and sacred music to save our Mass from guitars and pablum" be?
I enjoy your blog...
Blessings,
On-Deck Director
"As an expression of your penitence, I want you to undertake a pilgrimage: it will be arduous and sometimes unpleasant, but the sufferings we bear willingly are a source of great graces also."
