… Of the choices presented by this question, only one is clearly not in the spirit of the Gospels: weak music marked by worldly commercialism. To have no music at Mass is far better.
There is much to be said these days in favor of leaving it out. The Catholic world has always placed a value on silence and the ability to meditate so that one may “have ears to hear.” It is often said that the Mass is prayer. And yet today there are many souls, aware of beauty in the arts, who are distracted from prayer and alienated by what they understand to be weak or inappropriate music at Mass.
They can no longer trust that choir Mass will be a haven for them — because the borders have been blurred and they will likely be disturbed at choir Mass, too.
We ought to remember that, in a Mass with no musicians, there is still musicality. When the priest intones any part of the Mass, music is present. Moreover, poetry itself has music in it, and to the extent that the liturgy is poetic or even quasi-poetic, it possesses a sublime music of language — poetry.
With no music at Mass, the parish takes on two virtues — poverty and humility.
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I find that I often like much better a daily Mass at a some parishes where the Sunday liturgy is your typical modern fare. That I can often pray at these Masses where at the same parish on Sunday it is a totally different story. So I would agree that unfortunately often no music is better than the music selected.
21 comments
We shouldn’t have to choose between bad music and no music. Seek and work for GOOD music, and as I USED to sing at Mass, “Teach Your Children!”
So glad you asked. But you’re a smart guy, and I’m a busy mom/ grad student/ music director, so I’ll only do a little of your homework for you. Guaranteed good reads if you take the time.
Start with Sacrosanctam Conciliam, the main Vat. II document on liturgy. Chapter VI Sacred Music, para. 112, 2nd sentence.
Or go to http://adoremus.org/SacrosanctumConcilium.html#anchor15181935
but how can you get through Mass without singing “this time…”????
I confess to organising a women’s conference in 2002 where I deliberately had no music at the Mass. I love quiet, and thought dignified reflection would be a good thing. God bless the poor celebrant (then-Bishop Sean O’Malley). When he realised there was no singing, he started tunes himself — stuff most people knew. We warbled along to keep him company, all the poorer for no instruments to back up the sad display, and it looked like a disaster. While the whole day was a roaring success, that was the low point, and I realised that modern-America needs tunes to keep them … on task (?)
yes, as a former drumming Pentecostal, i was astounded at how my first Byzantine Divine Liturgy..only vocals,- and my first Gregorian Chant, immediately drew me into pray and worship, without musical instrumentation, which for me now, is a distraction, and base..
http://ejvideo-place.blogspot.com
pax et bonum
I couldn’t agree more. I attend the 7 a.m. Sunday Mass in my parish. The only singing is the lector’s slightly off-key “Alleluia.” During Lent, of course, this is replaced by Owen Alstott’s “Barney”-esque setting of “Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory.” There a number of other, borderline abuses that can distract me here (like a curate who thinks he’s at open mike night at a comedy club), but at least I’m not singing “Gather Us In”!
“Gather us In” … groan ….
I, too, prefer silence to the rock-&-roll youth masses or folk masses. Why are people so afraid of silence?
Blessed silence.
Why are people afraid of silence?
Because it reminds them of Masses with felt banners back in the seventies, I’d say.
I don’t know much about it, because I was pretty little. But I remember that back in the early seventies, we often had no music at Mass because we had very little in the way of organists or musicians in our large and reasonably prosperous suburban parish. If somebody got sick, no music.
Sometimes it worked fine, but often it was pretty dismal. It also tended to encourage coughing, not to mention bored and wailing babies. It was also a bit trying to us kids, because we had to be absolutely silent at all times, with NO breaks for lung movement and lusty song.
(Moms didn’t believe back then in amenities like coloring books, toys, or food. If we needed those, we had to stay in the nursery or at home, like a _little_ kid. We hadn’t had First Communion yet, so we didn’t have our prayerbooks yet. We were allowed to read the Missalette or look at our latest holy card from out in the vestibule. But sometimes Mom’d decide we weren’t paying enough attention to Mass or the homily and make us put _that_ down, too. So musicless Masses were indeed trying for us as seventies preschoolers.)
Mostly, though, I think priests like to be warned if there isn’t going to be music. I think that, ideally, parishioners like knowing this in advance, too.
St.Pius X ordered that the public be silent and prohibited them from singing.
So the excuse that gregorian is hard(it is) does not matter because the public can just shut up.
The Choir can respond and sing.
For now, I like these “silent”masses because I try to recieve Communion twice, and I hate these horrible and stupid songs people sing, and I really hate hearing terrible sermons twice.
Now when with these people http://www.heralds.ca or .us,
No problem. Been doing gregorian and polyphonic for years.
For me, silence at Mass is much more conducive to prayer than attempting to fill every moment with questionable “music.” Some of us older folks might remember (with a cringe) the ever-popular “This Little Light of Mine” from the 70’s.
I wish I could get myself and my children up and ready to go for 7:30 Mass, as they have no music. I manage it every once in awhile, but it really throws them off for the rest of the day.
I also prefer silence to the performances staged for us most of the time. Last year, however, we went to the 7:30 Mass on Easter and they had no music, no singing, nada. On Easter!!!!!! No Gloria sung on Easter!!! This was just plain wrong. I left Mass wondering if anyone else knew He had risen!
My mom is 90 and she said that she does NOT want ANY music at her funeral Mass.
How sad and yet, I find, how very typical. Everyone complains about how bad things are but nobody is willing to try to do something to fix it… Nor is anyone willing to help support those who are trying to do something about it. Music is an extremely powerful tool. It touches us in a much deeper way than mere words alone. Music can alter your moods and can also help you remember difficult concepts more easily. A sung Mass is far better than one without Music. The Mass is meant to be sung.
How many of the laity take the initiative to learn any music on their own? Get some CD’s and listen to them at home. In my experience, most liturgists are only doing what they think the people want. They tend to judge the music they choose by how many people in the congregation will sing along. Thus, the simple stuff gets chosen over and over again. Help them out!
Also, try to support those who are producing good Catholic praise music! It’s not for the Mass, but go to their concerts and buy their CD’s. They are trying to help you build a culture of holiness in their home and no one will support their endeavors.
Take the initiative!
While the thought is great, “taking the initiative” so often involves confronting a priest and fellow parishioners who wish to entertain the parish. They could care less about the theological meaning of the songs they choose, much less about whether or not they being faithful to the Church’s teachings regardng the liturgy.
When the rare occasion occurs and an orthodox song is sung, I raise the volume of my not-so-in-tune voice to show my appreciate. I also recommend thanking the choir for including it. The fact that many people know the traditional songs is also a plus. Stick-to-what-we-know could be a reason for choirs to sing more faithful songs.
According to Musicam Sacram, there are certain parts of the Mass that should be sung in preference to others. Certain parts of the Mass should NOT be sung if others aren’t.
The parts demanded in singing as a prerequisite to anything else are:
the entrance rites (NOT the procession),
the Gospel acclamations,
the prayer over the offerings,
the preface and Sanctus,
the final doxology,
the Lord’s Prayer,
the Pax Domini,
the prayer after Communion, and
the dismissals.
How many parishes sing pretty much EVERYTHING else before these? For some reason, the hierarchy of music in the liturgy is reversed! Also, notice that in the above list, almost everything is sung by the priest or deacon!
The second list of music contains mostly choir music, and it isn’t until the list of third importance that we get into primarily congregational singing.
Music is integral to the liturgy.
Evidence?
Music is indeed integral to the Sacred Liturgy where the ‘missa in cantu’ is concerned.
Every Catholic with gripe power needs to be familiar with Sacrosanctam Conciliam, Musicam Sacram, and St. Pius X’s Motu Proprio of 1903, which is the forerunner for principles of authentic Sacred Music and the reform explicitly intended by Vat. II. Other good reads are JPII’s Chirograph of 2003 and the recent Apostolic Exortation.
Evidence of my first statement is too abundant in Church documents to cite. I encourage everyone who loves the Mass to digest the above documents- the Adoremus site is great for downloads.
You will be surprised and shocked at how little of what these documents rightly call for is lived out here in the U.S. The answer is not to exclude music, but to use it in the way the Church is asking us.
I say all this knowing how dismal the music scene is. My husband and I are both (professional) classical musicians and find lazy, 70’s folk-dominated, theologically bland music a premature sort of purgatory.
But I encourage everyone not to give up! Between faithful Catholics who insist on authentic renewal and well-trained musicians who humbly put their ability at the service of the the Church, our heritage of Sacred Music can be restored and fittingly continued in the present age.
Pray hard and join a good choir where you can. Ask for Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony at your parish.
And kudos to the person who pointed out the 1st degree of music as mentioned in Musicam Sacram! 🙂
Evidence is “too abundant” to cite?
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