If you ever get discouraged...
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    About the pace of change in your parish...may I suggest a visit to Saginaw MI?

    I went to Mass there this morning while visiting my daughter. I won't name the church to protect the innocent.

    However...I feel SO much better about our music program now.

    The tambourine...well that just about covers it doesn't it? Although I could also talk about the man with the gray pony tail playing the guitar. But I'll spare you.
    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • gregpgregp
    Posts: 632
    Singing for an EF Mass, we are spared lots of distractions, but I had to visit a nearby parish this morning to look at the acoustics in preparation for a funeral we are singing this Wednesday. It all came back with a vengeance - the priest asking for applause for all the groups that put the "Passion Play" together, his insistence that the earliest Christians were illiterate, and that this was how they usually learned about the Faith, and finally, that a perfectly good choir loft is being used as overflow seating, while the musicians stand up front, right next to the ambo. I constantly remind myself to avoid making one of these visits a near occasion of sin by remembering that I was in that position five years ago: no knowledge of what Propers are, no knowledge of the Graduale Romanum, a vague understanding of chant, but that's about all.

    My point is this: as crazy as things sometimes get (and I'm not making any excuses whatsoever), these people are on our side. They are not the enemy. As we enter Holy Week, we need to pray for each other and demonstrate, by our example, what sacred music is.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Chris Allen
  • PurpleSquirrelPurpleSquirrel
    Posts: 165
    "no knowledge of what Propers are, no knowledge of the Graduale Romanum, a vague understanding of chant, but that's about all."

    Hey, that sounds like me!

    Um, please define "EF Mass".

    Hmm, someone actually suggested a tambourine for next year's march around the Church. We also use a tambourine after the third reading at the Easter Vigil, for the Exodus Psalm. And our priest has actually requested we play the tambo more often, as that is what they use in his home parish.... in Africa.



  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    EF= Extraordinary Form (ie, the old latin Mass)
    Thanked by 1PurpleSquirrel
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Ordinarily I really hate when we descend into bitterness and attacking others. But yes, a visit to Saginaw will always make one feel better about one's own situation. And not just in church music.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,515
    I've never been to Saginaw, but I've been to Paris. Great organists. Congregational music is abysmal, 20 years behind us.

    And anyways, for me, this kind of comparison isn't the most helpful aid against discouragement. My question is always, "Is this program better than it would be if I weren't involved?" And if the answer is yes, that's enough, because there's no such thing as really satisfactory accomplishment. We're in a business where the sky is quite literally the limit. We're supposed to be singing with the angels.
    Thanked by 5Gavin Allan D irishtenor Claire H CHGiffen
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    gregp...I assure you I spent the entire Mass praying for a spirit of charity and also for the musicians who I believe to be entirely sincere in their desire to serve the parish.

    Gavin, I don't think I was attacking anyone. I simply pointed out that Saginaw is a great place to gain perspective on how far we have come in advancing sacred music in many areas. When one is in the trenches (so to speak), it's easy to become discouraged about how slowly things progress. Going to Mass this morning was like visiting my childhood. The only thing missing was the liturgical dancing. Maybe I sound bitter, but I'm actually grateful for the experience, quite refreshed and ready to return to my own parish and keep fighting the good fight.
    Thanked by 1irishtenor
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,094
    Hey, my people come from near the Saginaw area (Bay Port, Sebewaing, etc.) Lots of good singing Lutherans and Mennonites, not so many Catholics. There are lots of appalling things happening in the hinterlands, as they always have, and seeing them reminds us to count our blessings. Good music and liturgy is scaleable; all it takes is a pastor with some guts and a bishop who will back him up.
  • PaixGioiaAmorPaixGioiaAmor
    Posts: 1,473
    Sometimes it's amazing where these things come from.

    I regularly check out worship aids and bulletins with music on them that are online; they provide a great insight into what is being done in some cathedrals and parishes, usually ones with good music programs. One of the ones I regularly read is from the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. It's all in french of course, but sometimes they list motets in latin or organ pieces. I understand enough to get a gist for what their liturgy looks like. This past weekend, the Passion was printed in the worship aid and divided up with congregational refrains breaking it up. You would think that in in Archdiocessan Cathedral of one of the biggest cities in the world, a liturgist would be employed by the Cathedral or the Archdiocese who would know better.

    That's not meant to be any slam on Oliver Latry; as we all know, sometimes the musician is the decider on these things ...
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,200
    Trust me, at Notre Dame de Paris, the musician is NOT the decider of these things.
    Thanked by 1marajoy
  • PaixGioiaAmorPaixGioiaAmor
    Posts: 1,473
    Oops, that's what I meant to write - sometimes the musician is NOT the decider ...
    Thanked by 1marajoy
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