Cranky Pedantry Alert in the Mailbag.

Hmmm. As a medievalist I think that Renaissance polyphony is packed with
cultural baggage - the adaptation of Gregorian chant to a very new mode of
music and of performance, leading directly to Baroque and the cult of the
virtuoso performer, and then the 18th and 19th century habit of having opera
soloists perform the musical parts of the Mass, and then the 19th century
liturgical reform spearheaded by Solemnes to restore chant, then the 20th
century liturgical reform to introduce congregational chant, and then the
deluge of the 70s. Oh, well. I like Palestrina, but he's just as baggaged
up as Marty Haugen, just in a different way!

I agree that the intrusion of popular tunes is the most tedious part of
contemporary liturgical music, but I'm not sure that it hasn't always gone
on. One of the things people always say about St. Ambrose was that he wrote
such 'singable' hymns!

My response sent today:

Ok - agree with me on this point:

There's a key difference between how secular characteristics infiltrated
music during the Renaissance and today.

During the renaissance, composers hid secular tunes inside of the polyphony.
The style remained intact while little tidbits of secular ditties were
quoted in the pieces. Today, we just drop the words "Christ" "God"
"Peace" and "Service" into any old secular tune and we have instant sacred
music.

Another key point from a musical standpoint, the sacred and secular styles
were separated by the modes they were written in: today's major key was the
secular mode of choice during the Renaissance, most sacred music was written
in a different mode a distrinction between the sacred style and secular
style.

Ok - time for more coffee. Enjoy your weekend.

Musical Definitions:

string quartet: a good violinist, a bad violinist, an ex-violinist, and someone who hates violinists, all getting together to complain about composers.

detaché: an indication that the trombones are to play with their slides removed.

glissando: a technique adopted by string players for difficult runs.

subito piano: indicates an opportunity for some obscure orchestra player to become a soloist.

risoluto: indicates to orchestras that they are to stubbornly maintain the correct tempo no matter what the conductor tries to do.

senza sordino: a term used to remind the player that he forgot to put his mute on a few measures back.

preparatory beat: a threat made to singers, i.e., sing, or else....

crescendo: a reminder to the performer that he has been playing too loudly.

conductor: a musician who is adept at following many people at the same time.

clef: something to jump from before the viola solo.

transposition: the act of moving the relative pitch of a piece of music that is too low for the basses to a point where it is too high for the sopranos.

vibrato: used by singers to hide the fact that they are on the wrong pitch.

half step: the pace used by a cellist when carrying his instrument.

coloratura soprano: a singer who has great trouble finding the proper note, but who has a wild time hunting for it.

chromatic scale: an instrument for weighing that indicates half-pounds.

bar line: a gathering of people, usually among which may be found a musician or two.

ad libitum: a premiere.

beat: what music students do to each other with their instruments. The down beat is performed on top of the head, while the up beat is struck under the chin.

cadence: when everybody hopes you're going to stop, but you don't.

diatonic: low-calorie Schweppes.

lamentoso: with handkerchiefs.

virtuoso: a musician with very high morals. (I know one)

music: a complex organizations of sounds that is set down by the composer, incorrectly interpreted by the conductor, who is ignored by the musicians, the result of which is ignored by the audience.

oboe: an ill wind that nobody blows good.

opera: when a guy gets stabbed in the back and instead of bleeding, he sings.

collective noun: a plague of conductors.

Question from Integrity:

Any tips, John, for those tone deaf parishioners like me who would love to be able to carry a tune at least half-respectably so we can join the song?

First, let me say that I think everyone should sing in Church. The idea regarding congregational singing is that our intent is what's important, not how well we actually sing. It strikes me that if more people around you were singing with gusto you wouldn't feel like your sticking out. Granted, it's tough to know you're not singing well and have everyone around you hear it.

From an actual singing standpoint, there's two kinds of "tone deafness" - one where a person is just not used to matching pitch, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. The other is real tone-deafness - never being about to match pitch. It could be that you just need a little practice, I would recommend getting some CDs you can try to sing along with and see how that work. Try it with whatever music you like and see how it goes. It could be you get better over time.

A reader asks:

What I want to know is, why does our local First Presbyterian Church have beautiful sacred music concerts, including their choir singing Mass, and the Catholic Church does not?

They have done a number of sacred music programs, open to the public. I find this so embarrassing! I am glad they are doing it, but I am ashamed that even our Cathedral does not present this classic music.

Quick answer: 1st, some Catholic musicians don't think concerts are appropriate in church. Sounds weird, but I know many liturgists/organists who keep their own choirs away from "performing" even if they have a concert series at their cathedral that has outside folks come in. Some parishes are so hung up on performing that they go nuts if you mention doing a Mozart Stabat Mater during Lent or a Finzi Magnficat during Advent.

The flip side is, many parishes would love to do concerts, but it's all they can do to get Sunday's music together, let alone do a concert of some tough music that would require extra rehearsal, extra bodies, an advertising budget, etc.

Another point (since I am bullet-point man tonight) - lots of concert music is largely inappropriate for Mass. Nearly all the classical Mass settings are not considered to be appropriate for today's Catholic liturgy because they preclude the active participation of the congregation. Here's some fellas that wrote some sacred music you won't hear in a liturgy in the USA: Mahler. Brahms. Samuel Barber (I'm thinking of his Agnus Dei.)

And I guess that's why it's a good idea to have concerts in churches with a good acoustic - because we can experience the beauty of God's creation outside of the public prayer of the Church.

-=- Singing and Speaking -=-

The first thing a choir needs to know is that you can't sing the way you talk. I say this to my choir at almost every rehearsal. Vowels need to get rounded out so our twangs go away. Noise in the voice needs to be turned to the purest sound possible. A good demonstration of this is the word "love." Most Americans actually pronounce this "luhv" - I always make my choir drop their jaws and sing "LAAAAV" - it replaces a speech vowel with a singing vowel.

That's all for tonite.

Quick tidbit for today:

If your choir does any singing in Latin, it should always sound like Latin.

For instance: Alleluia is a common latin word that is often mangled by Americans. It's not A-LAY-LOO-YUH. Say it like you're from Georgia and you'll get the drift.

It's always A-LEH-LOO-YA.