[NYer]

Michael W. Drwiega writes from Wilmette, Illinois.

[NYer]

Ping!

[wastedyears]

Mass music - anything made for radio

Music for mass - music made to be played at church

[afraidfortherepublic]

The tune and the lyrics of Morning has Broken and its use as a hymn in the Catholic Church predates Cat Stevens. This author is displaying his ignorance.

[vladimir998]

This summer, while on vacation, I attended a parish I have never been to before.

The priest in confession was what you would expect a priest to be: pastoral, caring, etc. The music at Mass, however, was terrible. The entrance hymn was Amazing Grace. Okay, a Protestant hymn, but not bad. What was weird was that it was played to the melody of “The House of the Rising Sun”.

Yes, except for the words, it sounded just like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C86oH5RwyJg

[murron]

I live right outside of New Orleans, and our football team, the Saints, are having a very good year. Because of this, a lot of Catholic Churches feel it is OK to play When the Saints Go Marching In. I realize this was a gospel song before we ever had a Saints football franchise, but because it is so associated with football nowadays, I cringe everytime it’s played. And, of course, the congregation has to clap and semi-dance when it’s being played.

[BlueDragon]

Sacred Harp Singers At Liberty Church youtube link, but also from Cold Mountain soundtrack.

And am I born to die?
To lay this body down?
And as my trembling spirit fly
Into a world unknown

A land of deeper shade
Unpierced by human thought
The dreary region of the dead
Where all things are forgot

Soon as from earth I go
What will become of me?
Eternal happiness or woe
Must then my fortune be

Waked by the trumpet's sound
I from my grave shall rise
And see the Judge with glory crowned
And see the flaming skies

Among more available there from same soundtrack; Jack White Wayfaring Stranger traditional/Appalachia, perhaps not exactly "Church" or worship music, but IMHO
better than Emmylou's version, better fiddle.

Here's one sort-of spooky one, same soundtrack, another Tim Eriksen arrangement, more great traditional fiddle & mandolin --->I Wish my baby was born

You may not like any of the above, being as you are a yankee and all ...but others stumbling upon this thread may like them. [;^')

[sojourner]

Music, after all, is largely subjective.

This is total myth and is especially prevalent in the Church. Any piece of music itself has objective value, whether it be of high or low quality and whether you like the music or not.

[Desdemona]

I very much agree with this writer. If you hear something sung or played at church that doesn't fit - SAY SOMETHING. At least he recognized it. There are a number of "music directors" out there who are less than enthusiastic about sticking to the readings or theme of the day and they need to be kept in check. Even the overzealous volunteers who overdo descants in microphones. You see it everywhere.

So, did anybody else sing "Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending" this morning? Great hymn.

[ctdonath2]

What of the psalms? God himself has given us words of lyrical worship, yet we insist on making up and using our own.

[AnAmericanMother]

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. The author has made a couple of real howlers, and he's conflating quite different issues here -- which does nothing but confuse things.

Nobody (Catholic or Protestant) sings Schiller's words to “An die Freude” in church (maybe the Unitarians do, but I have my doubts as to whether that's "church"). There are a separate set of words set to the tune for use in worship, written by a Presbyterian, Henry Van Dyke, around 1900. The first line is "Joyful, joyful we adore thee" and there is nothing theologically objectionable that I can find on a short read over.

“Morning Has Broken” (its actual name is "Morning Song for the First Day of Spring") was written by a devout Anglican lady named Eleanor Farjeon back in the early 1900s. It is set to a well known (o.k., it's well known to me) Scottish folk tune that goes back who knows how far. If it's objectionable purely because Cat Stevens sang it, we're gonna have to get rid of the National Anthem because Roseanne Barr butchered it . . . this is just a silly objection to a very unobjectionable hymn.

Rejection of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” seems justifiable for a Catholic setting because of its close association with Luther (in fact it's sometimes called the Lutheran Anthem), but that's a completely different issue from pop music versus liturgical music, or theological problems with the lyrics. These are issues that the author never really comes to grips with -- the very worst offenders are not Top 40 or jazz tunes transferred to church, but the homegrown horrors produced by Haugen, Haas, and the St. Louis Jebbies.

In other words, the writer completely confused 3 or 4 different issues and doesn't address any of them adequately. And he gets his facts screamingly wrong.

Color me profoundly UNimpressed.

[SuziQ]

Good for you for speaking up! I’ve been on the receiving end of some of that criticism in my time. I’m still doing penance for singing “Blowin in the Wind” and “Teach Your Children Well”, at folk Masses, when I was in college in the early 70’s ;o)

[mountainbunny]

It bothers me more than I can say when people think the Word of God and gathering together to glorify and worship aren't enough and they feel they need to be "entertained" in church.

No puppets. No mimes. No secular music. No liturgical dance. None of the idiocy that passes for entertainment in place of humble worship.

I'm Roman Catholic. If the Transubstantiation isn't enough to hold your attention, I'm not sure what to tell you.

[Salvation]

Tears came to my eyes this morning as our youth choir (all new members) sang some songs in Latin and then in English. It was so beautiful.

Our young people are showing themselves to be much more conservative than our usual music director. It was beautiful. All live music and no guitars. Real Music!

God bless them — I told the priest “That’s what a Mass is supposed to sound like.”

(Not the pre-recorded OCP junk that the older music director uses.)

PS. Ask your bishops to dump the “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.” junk. It was written by OCP — the other mysteries of faith are prayers to Christ.

[markomalley]

That notion, however, exploded in the next instant when I thought of another song I’d heard at Mass, “Ode to Joy.” With music composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, a German living in an era when there was no German nation over which to be patriotic, the ode gets its lyrics from another German, Friedrich Schiller, whose sentiments were neither Christian-specific nor dedicated to any particular country.

Yup. Whenever I hear the tune, no matter the lyrics, I always think of the real lyrics that go with it:

Joy, beautiful spark of gods
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter drunk with fire,
Heavenly one, your sanctuary!
Your magic binds again
What custom strictly divided.
Beggars become Princes' brothers,
Where your gentle wing rests.

&tc.

Now I'm sorry, but I just have this little thing about the appropriateness of Schiller's words being publicly uttered in a Mass (a symphony hall...absolutely...but a Mass???). Call me a curmudgeon if you must...

People can complain about a playing a Cat Stevens cover, but that is nothing aside of this...