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If "all singing should be corporate," then you just ruled out most of the polyphonic music from the great Renaissance composers. A congregation can NOT sing a complex Tallis or Byrd anthem. Period. I can't sing it without the music and plenty of rehearsal, and I've been in first quality church choirs since I was six.

But if the choir is where it should be (in the rear gallery or behind the roodscreen) and in a church with good acoustics, it is not a performance per se. You can't see the singers, and the sound seems to come from around and above you. No single voice stands out (except in the incipit to some anthems), and the ideal "English" sound is clear, pure, blended, and as far from individual emotionalism or exhibitionism as you can get.

Now, I happen to believe that any congregation can sing chant if you concentrate on a couple of the most popular tones to begin with and teach by repetition. We are proving that in our church since our new music director came in -- you can actually HEAR the congregation singing now, and it's sort of a domino effect, they're singing the hymns now too!

If "all singing should be corporate," then you just ruled out most of the polyphonic music from the great Renaissance composers. A congregation can NOT sing a complex Tallis or Byrd anthem.

AHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh! Get out of my mind! Oh, wait .... you posted first. AHHHHHHhhhhhhhh! I must get out of your mind!