Hi everyone,

I started a job as a full-time music director at a parish about 3 months ago, and am looking for advice, others' experiences, etc. In short, I am transitioning the parish from the usual OCP fare to traditional hymnody and sung simple propers. The parish actually does sing for music that they know, and while some people have been very resistant to change there are others who have really appreciated it. I'm trying to change the musical culture in such a way that people can get used to it and the new hymns can eventually become the familiar hymns, and I'm hoping not to lose the culture of congregational singing here that's honestly just really rare in the area. We have the crotchety people who are threatening to leave because of the Latin and incense and tradition, but I think the normal parishioner here just wants to know what's happening and if you go slowly and explain things as you go along, they'll probably amble along with you.

The pastor is relatively new (just under 2 years at this point, I think) and has already been moving towards restoring the liturgy, and set out to hire a new music director as sort of a next phase in renewing parish life. He believes--as I'm sure we all do--that music is a crucial and powerful tool in sanctifying the liturgy and the people. He had been pushing for using the Source & Summit hymnal and the chanted propers for over a year with the last music director, who ended up retiring after 38 years for health reasons. I'm very lucky that the pastor is supportive, and the staff have been as well.

The parish has been solidly OCP drivel for decades. The musicians were up in the front next to the sanctuary, and there were drums at 4 of the 6 weekend Masses. There used to be "choirs" of a sort, but they were essentially unison backup singers to the music director who played piano and sang, and by the time I arrived it was just hired cantors plus piano or guitar, drums, and electric bass at most of the Masses. The 8am Mass does have a volunteer choir run by a 90-year-old volunteer director who is pretty spry and who generally has a mix of more traditional music and the usual OCP stuff: one time I came for a rehearsal and they were working on Palestrina's O Bone Jesu, another Sunday they were singing Panis Angelicus, but also Hosea, and this weekend they're singing Be Not Afraid and Servant Song. Honestly I have way bigger fish to fry so while I'm increasing oversight, I'm mostly leaving them alone.

I began right before Lent and moved all of the musicians out of the sanctuary and into the choir loft (which had mostly been overflow seating) by around the 5th Sunday of Lent. I've decreased the number of Masses that the band plays at, and we have a pretty adequate interim organist playing at most of the Masses now while I cantor as much as humanly possible. I'm trying to integrate myself into parish life where I can, singing for things like May crownings and leading the music for the youth ministry's Living Stations, etc., so I'm a little less of just the hateful new person who's destroying everything. I'm also looking into planning some catechetical sessions to talk about what the Church has said about music and how we're trying to align with that. We've had some complaints, but I've also been stopped by plenty of people who have commented on the beauty of the music or on how reverent it is and how happy they are about the changes.

The fact remains though, that people are used to what they're used to and even if they think the music is beautiful, they don't really sing along with music they don't know. Active participation isn't just a singalong, but it's still a good thing I would like to continue to foster. I think it's much harder to get people to sing with a cantor than it is a choir--I'm lobbying for funding for section leaders, and right now I have a handful of volunteers who come to sing in the loft (like, one or two per Mass at most, so it's really more vibes and morale than anything else--which still matters, of course), but I'd also like to hear what else people have done that has worked. How have you created familiarity with new (very old) hymns--do you repeat a hymn or hymn tune over and over? If you sing the propers and aim for congregational singing there, what do you use? What other kinds of tactics have worked for you?

Thanks for reading! I'm sure there have been plenty of similar discussions in the past, but I do find the search function on the sidebar a little less than helpful most of the time, so feel free to link to previous threads too!