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Author Topic: I don't like singing/ 'tacky' church music?  (Read 5770 times)

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Offline Matthew

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Re: I don't like singing/ 'tacky' church music?
« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2024, 11:39:28 AM »
Regarding the "schmaltzy boomer music" I could probably post some samples or scans if I had time.

But just because a song is in English doesn't mean it's crap. We don't sing any crap at our chapel.

We do the 4-song during Low Mass but we only do English outside of Mass -- that is, the Processional and Recessional.
The Offertory and Communion hymns are always Latin, and again, never gαy or schmaltzy.

We have to get clever sometimes, like singing "Veni Veni Emmanuel" for the Offertory, so we never sing "O Come Emmanuel" at our chapel -- too many other important Advent hymns which DON'T have a Latin version.

At our old SSPX chapel they didn't seem to have a prohibition on English hymns during Mass. There were some Communion hymns we never sing now for that reason -- they sure aren't suitable for processional/recessional -- so we never use them.

Offline Ladislaus

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Re: I don't like singing/ 'tacky' church music?
« Reply #11 on: January 06, 2024, 11:52:48 AM »
But just because a song is in English doesn't mean it's crap. We don't sing any crap at our chapel.

I get it.  I didn't say there was anything inherently wrong with it or that they're objectively crap, but, hey, de gustibus non disputandum.  I'm so tuned in to Gregorian chant that for me that's the only proper Liturgical music.  If you recall, there was a big debate about whether the Church would even admit early Palestrina-like polyphony.  And, of course, these songs are not Liturgical ... just saying I don't like them. ;)

I also don't like singing the songs, so I get where OP's sensibilities come from.  I had no problem singing chant ... was in the so-called "St. Pius X" schola at STAS, which was the "top" schola there at the time, unfortunately directed by Urrutigoity.  I did absolutely despise one time where we had to sing an arrangement of Handel's Messiah at Easter time (the Hallelujah Chorus) where I got stuck singing what should have been the soprano parts, since I have a tenor voice, but with a partial falsetto.  In retrospect, Urrutigoity probably enjoyed it, trying to make men sing like young boys.  I was almost disgusted having to do that, and given who was behind it, Urrutigoity, almost feel somehow violated. :laugh1:

When I was staying with Father Ringrose in the mid-1990s, I started a Gregorian schola there, which was all men and a capella, and we sounded pretty good ... except for the one time where we rather botched Easter Sunday (because we hadn't had time to practice ALL of Holy Week, so we kindof had to "wing" Easter Sunday, and messed up a few parts.  Holy Thursday - Easter Vigil went great though, where Solemnes might have been proud.


Offline ElwinRansom1970

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Re: I don't like singing/ 'tacky' church music?
« Reply #12 on: January 06, 2024, 12:13:04 PM »
But just because a song is in English doesn't mean it's crap. We don't sing any crap at our chapel.
Anglican religious songs are far superior to the post-V2 Catholic repertoire in English -- and, unlike music of Presbyterian or Methodist origin, the Anglican music usually have nothing objectionable in the lyrics. I have a copy of the Anglican hymnal "Hymns Ancient and Modern". It is very good with many pieces suitable for Catholic use.

Offline Ladislaus

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Re: I don't like singing/ 'tacky' church music?
« Reply #13 on: January 06, 2024, 12:14:11 PM »
Anglican religious songs are far superior to the post-V2 Catholic repertoire in English -- and, unlike music of Presbyterian or Methodist origin, the Anglican music usually have nothing objectionable in the lyrics. I have a copy of the Anglican hymnal "Hymns Ancient and Modern". It is very good with many pieces suitable for Catholic use.

I prefer "Glory and Praise Volume 3" :laugh1:



I recall how my brothers an I acquired a very hard-to-find copy of "Volume 4" that very few people knew existed, and it contained the Carey Landry favorite "Giant Love Ball" among other hits.

At one point at STAS, Marshall Roberts was playing the organ and mentioned that he might play something from "Glory and Praise," and I told him (tongue-in-cheek) that I'd go over there and drag him off his seat / bench by his surplice during Mass if he tried it, letting him know that I was intimately familiar with their contents (Vols 1 - 3) and would know.

Re: I don't like singing/ 'tacky' church music?
« Reply #14 on: January 06, 2024, 12:28:10 PM »
You combine singing during Low Mass with the Dialogue Mass and it becomes impossible to attend a silent mass, on which you can actually concentrate and meditate.

I do like Gregorian Chant and some hymns, but they are distracting, especially the hymns.

How beautiful it must have been to live in a Carthusian monastery. Can you imagine the silence? One could say that silence is the sound of God.