Posted on 11/02/2007 2:40:04 PM PDT by maryz
I'm having some problems with music in Catholic America. Part of it is my problem. I spent fifteen years in the Anglican Church with the New English Hymnal--which is probably the finest hymnbook ever published in the English language. Musically and liturgically it was the best that traditional Anglicanism had to offer.
Catholic music in England--well we won't even go there. Apart from a few islands of decent church music the Catholic church in England was a wasteland.
I am discovering that in the USA it is not much better. My problem is that I am actually unfamiliar with most of the music in American Catholic Churches because I have lived abroad for so long.
However, what I do experience is not encouraging. Who on earth is writing these hymns, publishing these hymns and choosing to buy, prepare and perform these hymns? Doesn't anybody know what a hymn is for?
Surely a hymn is first, and foremost part of our worship. That means the words are words that we use to address our praise, adoration and worship of God. So much of the stuff I come across isn't that at all. Instead it is sentimental language in which God talks to us to reassure us, make us feel better and comfort or inspire us. So..."Be not afraid...for I am always with you...Come follow me.. etc" This may be a pleasant enough devotional song to remind us of God's promises, and there may be times when it is appropriate to sing such songs, but Mass is not one of those times. We're not really at Mass to sing God's comforting words to ourselves. We're there to worship Him.
Another problem are hymns that simply put Scripture verses to music. "I am the bread of life...he who comes to me shall not hunger...etc" Again, the music may be pleasant and the words of Scripture are undeniably wonderful and true, but it simply isn't a hymn. The words are the words of Jesus about himself. They are not words of praise, worship and adoration addressed to God.
The second problem with much of the contemporary music is that it originates from solo artists or has been written for a choir to perform. If the words are praise and worship words, they don't translate well for congregational singing. An example of this is the well known prayer of St Francis, "Make me a channel of your peace." It was originally written as a solo performance piece, and as such it is nice enough, but try to get a congregation to sing it and it goes all over the place with its croon like phrasing and difficult wording. A good hymn has music that has a good steady, predictable rhythm so everyone can join in.
The final problem is that too many hymn writers seem to have little understanding of either Scripture, the symbols and types of the faith or the theology of the faith. The great old hymns that have stood the test of time were written from the authors' deep immersion in the great themes of Scripture, the great stories of the Old Testament and the great theological concepts that inspire and instruct us as we sing. The newer stuff tends to be dumbed down, sentimental and weak.
So what's a poor old convert priest like me to do? One experiences some pressure to 'give them what they like.' My inclination is to 'give them what they need.' In other words, to select hymns on the correct criteria and not bother whether they are 'new' or 'old'. I'm sure there are some worthy modern hymns just as there are some awful old hymns. Then we have to educate those in our charge to understand what a hymn is for and what makes a good hymn--and it's not just the ones we happen to like.
Finally, it seems to me that the underlying problem with the contemporary hymns is an almost universal lack of understanding in the modern American Catholic Church about what Mass is in the first place. If it is a gathering of friendly Christian people around the table of fellowship in order to get strength and encouragement from one another as we all think about Jesus, why then the contemporary hymns fit the bill very nicely, but then, so would quite a few snippets of music I can think of like--"My favorite things" from The Sound of Music.
However, if the Mass is meant to take us to the threshold of heaven; if it is meant to be a glimpse of glory and a participation in the worship of the spheres of heaven itself, why then the sentimental, sweet and comforting songs just won't do. They wont' do not because they are bad or untrue, but because they are not good and true enough. Worship that takes us to the threshold of glory needs to be, well...glorious.
But, it can be protested, not all parishes can manage to have a grand organ, a paid organist and a fine choir. True, and that's why the church recommends Gregorian Chant. With a little effort and just a little expense a small group of singers can learn Gregorian Chant which beatifies the liturgy simply and give is the transcendental glory that our worship deserves, and to tell you the truth, once you develop a taste for Gregorian chant--it's pretty comforting too.
“Join the club — we meet at the bar.” hahah. naw, but, truly it is poor. This too shall pass, surely. With our Latin Masses just instituted EVERY Sunday, as of last month, we have the most beautiful, heavenly choir and organ, and chants. Y’all come, it’s quite beautiful.
I can only go to the early, NO-music mass. Until the Latin Masses were instituted, of course. The ditties, for me, are agony.
Sometimes ear plugs and a rosary are the best alternative.
Hopefully future generations will have the fine, prayerful chants and other music that we had fifty years ago.
This thread is ridiculous. Flat out ridiculous. You’re bitching about hymns that say ‘Follow Me’ or ‘I will comfort you”? For real?
What’s a hymn for?
I don’t think this will turn into a Catholic - Protestant fight. The problem is the same on both sides of the river.
Amen!
Worked for me.
You want Hymns?
http://tinyurl.com/2qzdom (only a little heresy here!)
And my all time favorite, though not from the Mass, as I remember it anyway:
There's an entire volume of service music, which includes both chant tones and modern settings for the Ordinary. It's close enough so that the settings could be used for a Catholic service, too.
I would have to break my hundred-year rule in the case of some of the new hymn tunes in the Hymnal. Just one example is the new setting of "There's a Wideness in God's Mercy" No. 469 - text written by Frederick W. Faber, the English Catholic convert. I don't like the old tune, "Beecher", it's too square and clunky, but the new tune (which you can't find on the net because it's still under copyright), "St. Helena" by Calvin Hampton, is a perfect fit to the meter and the sense of the words. It's in 6/8 time and it rocks like the sea.
On the other hand, SOME of the new hymns are rotten in tune (usually because they're trying to include some ethnic music, e.g. Hispanic stuff which is too pop) or in text ("Earth and All Stars" is just as silly and ridiculous as any modern liberal trying to be all relevant could be). They have messed with the text of some hymns trying to bring them up to date, thank the Lord it's not "inclusive language" but you can always just sing the original words. You can't expect every number to be a hit, I suppose . . . .
But just stick your head into the bookstore of any large Episcopalian church or (especially) cathedral if you have one handy. You'll also be surprised at the lovely rosaries, icons, and other art they have on hand. They may be heretics, but artistically they are always in good taste, and many Episcopalians are just not-quite-Catholics. (We're probably going to see more of them swimming the Tiber as the ECUSA implodes. Better drop by that bookstore soon. . . )
You must not have heard “Be Not Afraid”. Aside from its doubtful place in hymnody, it’s a pop abomination.
I have no idea what melody you’ve heard it sung to but yes, I’ve heard it and I have no problem with it at all.
The melody is inappropriate for a Catholic hymn, as HH BXVI has pointed out, because it contains the emotional 'hooks' of a pop tune. It's also just not 'serious' enough musically for a hymn. For a song, o.k. if you like that style, but not a hymn.
But the words are a problem also, first because they don't serve the proper purpose of a hymn. Again, not all Christian songs are hymns. Second because they turn the focus away from God and towards the "I". Look at how many times the text contains the words "I" and "me". I know it's supposed to be God speaking, but when it's sung the congregation is singing. That's just backwards.
It's kind of frightening when you look at the productions specifically from OCP and the St. Louis Jesuits, and notice how many of the hymns are all about "I, me, me, mine."
Whatever the popular music idiom of the time happens to be -- whether Roman pagan songs, Italian opera, or Marty Haugen -- starts creeping into the hymns sung in church. After awhile the church says, "Enough! This is getting disrespectful!" and tosses them out and tries again.
The “I’s” in that are about God and that you can trust him. There is nothing even remotely pop about that song. I just called my 13 year old daughter down here and asked her if she remembered the song. She is not overly religious nor even remotely perfect. She was nervous to sing it outloud so she took my cell phone and recorded herself singing it. She remembered it. She would kill me if she knew I was telling you this but I need to. She didn’t remember it because it sounded like Christina Aguillera but because it meant something. It isn’t all about your preception. It’s a beautiful song.
Whether or not somebody likes it isn't really the issue. The music is objectively "pop" because of the structure - specifically: the chord progression (I could play it in my head, it's so typical), the syncopation of the first line of the verse, the steady climb upward in thirds, and then the resolution through a 7th to the tonic. That style (and specifically the cadences on "be not afraid" and "come follow me") is pop, not hymn. If you listen for it, you'll hear it in everything from Perry Como to an advertising jingle. But it ought not to be used during the Mass.
And as for the "I"s being about God, I noted that. Of course objectively that's obvious, but when you're singing it, it confuses the first person (the singer) with the Person who should be being praised. It's backwards.
We’ll get it right when the priest and the people face the same direction in a posture of jointly offering this unbloody sacrifice of Christ to the Father: in Christ, through Christ and with Christ. Until that happens...It’s all about US!
I think the "bitching" is not just about what these hymns say, but also about the fact the they have replaced other, more traditional hymns. The older hymns also say "follow me" but in different words and in a richer, more reverent and majestic manner.
He’s preaching to the choir here. :-)
Some of the modern Catholic hymns are sappy social justice
guitar-strumming feelgoodism. They are from (Oregon OCP???).
The hynmals need to keep the old time hymns that are better grounded both musically and spiritually. And it wouldnt hurt to import Anglican hymns as part of that.
Wasn't there some concern about this during the Council of Trent?
A spurious story has Palastrina's Missa Papae Marcelli (written well before the Council) saving the day for polyphony music in the Church. Many of the bishops were concerned that this new style of chant was too beautiful for the Mass - that it would detract from worship.
I vote more Palastrina for the Latin Rite!
“I would have to break my hundred-year rule in the case of some of the new hymn tunes in the Hymnal. Just one example is the new setting of “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy” No. 469 - text written by Frederick W. Faber, the English Catholic convert.”
In the 1982(which is what we use)?
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