The Ministry of Music
In
order to guarantee the ministry of music for the service
of the assembly, the liturgy relies principally on the choir,
the cantor, the organist, and the choir director.
The
Choir
Few
arts have evolved so prodigiously since Vatican II as liturgical
music. Painting, sculpture, architecture have hardly changed
since the Council. Music, however, has undergone a true
tidal wave! Publishers, who fifteen years ago were looking
for success in business by printing Latin Masses for four
mixed voices, and many O Salutrises and tantum
Ergos, have had to reduce the pulp the majority of
their polyphonic productions. In choir lofts or sacristy
cupboards are the corpses of Liber Usualis (the
collection of Gregorian chant): a true Latin cemetery which
will be cleared when someone collects old paper to be recycled.
The
choir, which formerly practiced for months to prepare a
polyphonic Gloria or a Sancta, sees its
existence threatened by the guitarist who while showered
has just composed a Holy, Holy which will be performed
later that day at the mike.
This
situation can be disheartening for the choirs which, though
not understanding the present evolution, have the impression
that the bread is being taken from their mouth. However,
it is actually exciting for those who believe that never
have they had such good fortune, that never have they had
so much to do. Those who think thus think exactly as the
Church. In fact, the Instruction on Music in the Liturgy
of March 5, 1967, affirms:
Its
role [that of the choir] had become something of yet greater
importance and weight by reason of the norms of the Council
concerning the liturgical renewal.
Clearly,
the evolution put in motion by the Council is going in the
direction of a greater importance of the choir. It is necessary
to be attentive to this evolution. What is this evolution?
1. From the Choir to the Congregation
Formerly the choir enjoyed a specific status.
While it was the most active part of the congregation, still
it was situated apart from the assembly. Sometimes, too,
professional singers were hired. they had nothing to do
with the celebration. the were paid to sing mournful music
at funerals and joyful music at weddings. So, on the same
morning they could sing laughing notes for the bride and
groom and weeping notes for the dead. This calls to mind
the mourners of the Gospel who were paid to cry or the singers
and dancers who were paid to enliven the festivity. the
choir;s predicament was created by the fact that it remained
far from the assembly, in the choir loft. Singers were not
even required to be Christians but simply good professionals
in the art. i have know some excellent ones. an some were
very good Christians, But they were no more engaged in the
liturgical service than the mason who had built the walls,
the professional who had created the stained-glass windows,
or the organ builder who had constructed the organ.
Such was not, thank God, the
usual situation of most parish choirs, But the idea that
the choir reserved for itself the ministry of singing was
universally acknowledged. An in the majority of High Masses,
the choir loft and the organ monopolized the music and the
singing.
Today this privileged status
has disappeared. the choir should no longer be situated
apart from the assembly but with it, in the midst of it.
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal, article 63,
affirms:
Among the faithful [inter
fideles], the schola of the singers or the choir exercises
its proper liturgical function [suum liturgicum munus].
In order to show clearly that
its ministry is "among the faithful," the choir
is invited to descend from the choir loft and to place itself
with the community:
The place of the choral society
and that of the organ will be arranged in such a way that
one sees clearly that those who exercise the functions
of singers and of organist are a part of the assembly.
Thus, what counts for the choir
director, the organist, and the singers if first and all
their membership in the assembly, the quality of their Christian
lives, and their dignity as "co-celebrants."
Take great care then with the
accuracy of your melodies, but even more with the accuracy
of your lives. Give splendor to the beauty of your chords,
but even more to the beauty of your soul! Prepare with greatest
care your Divine Office, but prepare even more, each day,
to meet the Lord Jesus. May beauty be your path toward God!
In order to have beautiful music, God has all the choirs
of angels. But in order to be loved, he needs only our hearts.
It is the song of our love which is the most beautiful song.
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