Music is there to support the liturgy, not to overshadow it. I have found that too many youth masses in particular have turned into some sort of pseudo christian concert for those who either wouldn't or couldn't make it as a musician anywhere else.
The above quotation serves, as yet again, to illustrate the pervasive myopia of the self-righteous templars of "That which is known to all as SACRED MUSIC." I mean to say I could name the error of the reasoning above in two notes: "Mister Caruso." What part of "Why Catholics Can't Sing" did this commentor miss regarding the "grand stage of the high drama of the Mass and its, ahem, captive audience"? Now, at our parishes, we don't indulge with LifeTeen, but we have three ensembles of musicians and singers whose repertoire is culled basically with SLJ to the present stuff, primarily from OCP (including one group that uses "Spirit and Song" to augment what isn't in BB.) I have seen three young high school players (one soprano sax, two guitarists) who have since gone onto conservatories and colleges, received degrees in instrumental performance and one in composition at the Thornton School of USC under Morton Lauridsen, from our little pseudo musician poseurs out here in California's dust bowl. Maybe that doesn't happen down under elsewhere. But what likely happens elsewhere is the persistent and predictable reality that Mr./Ms. Caruso will make a grand appearance somewhere during the Divine Liturgy, particularly if the Bishop of Rome is presiding or in choir. And there is much rejoicing, cooing, fawning and laudatory accolades about how "This is real Catholic music! This is how it's supposed to be done!"
No comments:
Post a Comment