I read it, and thanks for posting. I'm new here, so wasn't going to comment, but since you (sort of) asked... (For the record, I liked it.)

"During my early days of seminary, however, it was becoming apparent that not all hymns were created equally. The older ones had some depth to them, the newer ones didn’t always have that same gravitas."

Yes, but if it took seminary study to realize this fact, imagine the position of the average person in the pew, who has never had a course in theology and whose religious ed classes might have consisted of coloring pictures and discussing teen-interest stories. How many times has the priest in your parish actually made any sort of comment, during a homily, about the theology inherent in anything that was sung during the mass? How many people in the pew even consider the fact that there is theology in those hymns, songs, whatever? I don't know the answers to these questions, of course. They're just questions.

(For the record, I grew up in a musical family and heard Brubeck's fabulous song before ever hearing "Sing of the Lord's Goodness". I remember hearing the latter for the first time and thinking 'huh?'. It felt like maybe next a waiter would drop by and offer me a martini.)

"Not everyone has the same vision and not everyone is comfortable with change.

There is fall-out from any change. Look at how many people fell away from the Church after the Liturgical Changes of the 60’s and 70’s. Remember the example of Jesus in John 6 – some walked away. But remember also that there are plenty of places where the status quo is offered – we shouldn’t be afraid of doing great things just because everyone else has settled for something else."

Definitely words to take to heart. It is easy to forget these things when some parishioner is in your face about Latin, or chant, or whatever. (One said to me once: "If I wanted the middle ages I'd go back in time", which is an odd thing to say on a number of levels, but I got the gist of his view.)

"People are very often comfortable with mediocrity and uncomfortable with challenges to this mediocrity."

This statement is probably true, but I find it a more dangerous thought on which to focus my attention. Spiritual (or musical) pride gets us nowhere. (I'm not accusing anybody -- except myself -- of anything.)

Much of the advice I found helpful and hit home. This bit especially:

"Go slowly! Inch towards the ideal. We are 50 years into a disaster..."

In some ways, it is easy to dig in one's heels and stand on principle. It can feel 'right', 'just', etc. And, often, it buys us nothing much more than that. I am a firm believer in the notion that in the end truth and beauty can win. I believe in people that way. But you can't hit them over the head with it and except immediate 'capitulation'. (What I hope for is eager participation, not capitulation.)

"...for people who are raised on Dan Schutte and Marty Haugen, you can’t expect them to immediately fall in love with Tallis, Victoria and Palestrina much less a straight up Gradual or Introit in melismatic chant."

The suggestion that a bit of melismatic chant is harder for people to embrace than Tallis & co. does not seem to be true in my parish. (I doubt that many people in our parish even make much of a distinction between the two.)


We've been very fortunate in my parish to be able to introduce a good bit of traditional chant (typically from cantors -- that is currently my role), along with some fine choral singing. Our current struggle is to get the congregation to participate in chant. Yes, it happens slowly. I just hope that it happens...

We sing quite a few traditional hymns as well. I don't have a problem with that. Fortunately, no Brubeck (r.i.p.).

Keep in mind that it isn't always music that causes problems

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Traditionally-minded music directors ought to write that backwards on their foreheads with a Sharpie so they can wake up to it in the bathroom mirror every morning. Most of the time, traditionalists are their own worst enemy.

IIRC, Sands may have actually, in writing, contacted Brubeck while he was alive, and asked permission to do this "paean" to T5. Brubeck, a convert RC, obviously gave a green light. I cannot remember whether Walker or Inwood relayed that to me anecdotally, or it was in an article in a galaxy far away long ago.