An excellent article regarding the place of chant with the new Roman Missal: The Musical Transition to the New Missal. A snippet:
What happens to a large community of people who are barely getting by as it is and then are asked to change toward something that is arguably more difficult? They throw themselves at the mercy of the institutions promoting the familiar. This is pretty much what has happened in a large number of parishes, as the old-line publishers who have learned ways to flatter amateurs with settings that get them through the day are thriving once again.
It’s possibly true that ICEL, the USCCB, and Vox Clara all overestimated the capacity of average Catholic musicians to adapt and sing what strikes experience liturgical musicians are ridiculously easy chanted settings of the Mass text. Even so, it could be the case that even this material is too difficult for their current abilities - or, at least, this is what many singers believe.
What about sending teachers out to parishes to get them going? Many of us have done workshops and worked with singers. We’ve made youtubes that have received as many as 7,000 views. We’ve produced editions in four-line staves and modern notes. But all our efforts combined are dwarfed by the influence of the large publishers, who have lobbied hard at every Office of Worship in this country (“you should have one Mass setting for the entire diocese and it should be the one we sell”), done non-stop seminars all over the country, and promoted proprietary music at every stop.
There are teachers among us...
15 years ago
"dwarfed by the influence of the large publishers, who have lobbied hard at every Office of Worship in this country (“you should have one Mass setting for the entire diocese and it should be the one we sell”), done non-stop seminars all over the country, and promoted proprietary music at every stop."
ReplyDeleteThe next line should be "Assisted by useful idiots in the form of diocesan church musicians who just don't want their favored form (jazz bar/praise and worship/country, etc.) be supplanted." This is the reality of the situation on the ground.
Chant, especially in the simplified forms that have been put forward, are NOT more difficult than the show tune styled ordinaries that are pushed (Mass of Creation, Mass of Light, etc.). In fact, the simplified chant settings are much more singable and easier to learn especially if the the musicians make the effort to learn them. They need to step up and do what Holy Mother Church asks of them. They should offer it up to the Lord and obey.
I agree that Chant is not more difficult than what passes for liturgical music in many parishes, including our own.
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