Are we required to sing?
  • David DeavyDavid Deavy
    Posts: 105
    tomjaw,

    While being a professional musician is very helpful, in my years in a parish choir, I would settle for a 50/50 mix in a MD of a professional musician and someone who has an love and passion for the liturgy, a rare combination I know.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,937
    The better question is: why aren't these people singing in church?


    An even better question is why aren't these people in church?
  • JesJes
    Posts: 576
    What is the age group of the class?
    I often find with kids that they think they are singing and certainly are absorbing the information but they sit there like stunned mullets with their mouths hanging open until I remind them that they have forgotten to sing by waving in their direction or walking towards them. Some kids just think so hard that they think they can hear themselves singing even though they aren't. It seems to be a slow processing but deep processing process?

    My advice is fashion a PVC telephone shape and get them to hold it next to their mouth and ear so that they can hear externally if they are singing. It seems to be particularly common in siblings of those with autism that haven't been diagnosed with autism and more common again in people under the age of 12.

    I'd also try get them to sit/stand in a circle and get them to sing the hymn one syllable/note each around the circle. The thing that is fascinating is the three year olds I have are better at this than 13 year olds and the younger boys are better at this than the younger girls and the older girls are better at it than the older boys. (Big generalisation because there are of course exceptions.)

    Australians have a very poor singing culture but I'm lucky to work in schools that promote choral music.
  • doneill
    Posts: 207
    On the other hand. Most schools and high schools and universities have flourishing choirs, orchestras, and bands. Many have music classes. Many youth are involved in musical ensembles of one sort or another. So, it's questionable whether the general populace is as musically illiterate as we sometimes think. This may be a handy excuse.


    I think that is true. But what percentage of the makeup of those choirs is Roman Catholic? Is it less than it should be? My observance, not based on any data, is that the public schools have been doing a better job than the Catholic schools of promoting choirs.

    Thanked by 2David Deavy M. Jackson Osborn
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,161
    The device jesearle descrbes is available as a finished product: http://www.hearfones.com/
  • ProfKwasniewskiProfKwasniewski
    Posts: 242
    Coming a bit late to this discussion:

    The Church says people should sing the chants that belong to them. I've written a full treatment of this here:

    http://www.onepeterfive.com/why-gregorian-chant-and-why-sung-by-the-people/
    http://www.onepeterfive.com/how-we-should-sing-and-why-people-dont-sing/

    On the other hand, it's obvious that the Church wants truly sacred music, and has spelled out what this should be, so if the music on offer is junk, no one should sing it at all.
    Thanked by 4CharlesW M. Jackson Osborn ClergetKubisz CHGiffen
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    Both of those articles are top notch and worth keeping in any music director's archives.
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,152
    Not singing in church is definitely a Catholic problem. Protestants seem to be able to do this easily. Somewhere, Catholics lost the culture of singing at Mass. It is an uphill battle to get people to sing at Mass, but I think it is a battle worth fighting.
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