In many of the places where we have attended Mass in suburban America, the music at Mass ranges from the sublime to the insipid, and from the beautiful to the appalling. (I'm not singling out any particular parish, but am commenting generally on what we've experienced over many years -since my childhood in the 1960's- at a number of different parishes in different dioceses.)
We don't want the music to distract us from Mass, nor to turn us into sour complainers, but too frequently we find the music really is intrusive or unseemly. And often it doesn't seem to be the skill or the dedication of the musicians that is lacking, but rather the choice of music that is the problem. Why? I don't know. I don't assume they think we're too stupid or shallow to appreciate anything better, but I really don't know.
Am I alone in this observation? Or perhaps do you too unavoidably observe some of these same patterns when you attend Mass?
Only infrequently do you sing any hymn written more than about 35 years ago, even though Christian music is known to have existed before 1970 ...so I'm told.
Classic traditional hymns, notable for their doctrinal content or musical beauty, are rarely used, as if they might be worn out and rendered extinct.
Hymns in Latin are sung about as often as hymns in Swahili.
Latin responses are not, shall we say, the preferred option, although the Church heartily encourages their use.
Rather than using the beautiful responsorial psalms provided in the missal, overused, saccharine tunes are employed.
The organ is avoided, or else plays second fiddle to the piano, guitar, tambourine, and drums.
Rather than sing any of a number of splendid, reverent "Alleluia!" settings before the Gospel, you are assaulted again and again with that raucous, reggae Halleluiah From Hell: "HAlle, HAlle, HAlle-LOOO-OOOO-YUH!". (Cue the tambourine and drums!) You call upon the mountains to fall on you -not much hope for that here in Illinois- and pray that this ordeal will (surely) abbreviate your visit in Purgatory.
On Pentecost or the Easter Vigil rather than sing (or read) the magnificent sequence of the day, such as, "Veni, Sancte Spiritus", the hymn either is omitted entirely or replaced with a pedestrian, low protein substitute.
During Communion, only on rare occasions are any of the great, classic Eucharistic hymns sung. -Yes, you guessed it... it's Table of Plenty, one more time!
Every attempt is made to pack two hymns into Communion time, in order to avoid any dangerous intervals of prayerful silence. The second hymn is frequently a solo performance.
Mass concludes with a Christian 'pop' song and a round of applause for the performers, which seems to trigger the general pandemonium that immediately erupts within the building.
What is mysterious to me is how many of these symptoms persist even in some parishes where you can find very orthodox, reverent, committed priests who generously pour out their lives for the good of the Church.
But it shouldn't really be necessary for Catholics to remain silent when over a long period of time they witness a pattern of illness take root in the liturgical life of their Church. The musical treasures of the Church are priceless, and form an enormous legacy capable of enriching the Church of today and tomorrow. But these works of art serve little purpose if they are not brought out of the closet and used to adorn the liturgy for the glory of God and the good of His people.
Years after most of today's contemporary hymns have been forgotten, having failed time's test of greatness, the musical pearls of enduring value will remain. Is it too much to ask that we remember that the Church's 2000 year history has bequeathed to us a splendid inheritance of such pearls? It's miserly not to use them for their intended purpose.
Invited to the resplendent banquet of the Lord's Table, we've been content for too long to stuff our faces with jelly beans and Coke while our souls starve for beauty. Let's ask our priests and musicians to please, pass the meat and potatos, the wine and milk and cheese, the bread and fruit and vegetables. Maybe later a little dessert and coffee would be nice. But no, thanks... no more jelly beans for me just now.
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