2 Replies to “Survey Chart”

  1. As the former music director of the parish, and as one who continues to be organist in charge at one or two masses per week and all special holiday/feast day masses, my problem is lack of support from the pastor (who actually oversees two parishes) and his so-called new music director who is now appointed over "both" parishes (that is attempting to standardize the music sung at both sites–two very different parishes). This guy wants to discuss whether or not chant even deserves to be part of the music program and precisely who (me) will be responsible for training a choir, schola, cantors … to lead it. He wants to "centralize" and "standardize" all decisions about what music to perform as well as how–with organ or piano, etc. and is fanatic about not lessening the opportunity for the congregation to participate in ALL aspects of the musical program. All of this, I'm told, is in accord with the document "Sing to the Lord" of three years ago. On the plus side, many of the people in the parish hate this guy, and some have told me (including former choir members) they now only attend the Masses I play, even at the less-popular times. Unfortunately, I've been accused of "fixating" on the pro-Latin and English chant and the "traditionalist" side, and that my behavior is becoming divisive. All of this is starting to get interesting amid all the great things going on at your website.

  2. I wonder if the resistance to giving chant a chance in our liturgies might simply be the fact that the uninitiated are intimidated by the four-line, square-note neums. I suspect that if these same chants were made available in familiar five-line notation with the customary quarter and eighth notes we used to see in so many of the traditional hymnals, they might be perceived differently and more receptively, at least by some.

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