While I was growing up the really small Catholic church I went to didn’t have any music. I loved it. It was straight and to the point. Then they got themselves a small choir. From then on everything needed to be sung.
Every church I have gone to has gotten progressively worse. The one I just left song a few songs and sang the responsorial psalm, that’s it. They mostly had one woman in the front with a guitar who sang most of the songs. I could deal with that.
The one I’m at now? They sing everything. I hate it. Not enough for me to look for another church but enough for me to complain to my wife every time.
I’m Catholic too, and I love to sing, so I can’t empathize with you at all. “Singing is like praying twice,” as they say. What do you mean by “they sing everything”? You mean like the Holy Holy and Glory to God? In addition to the hymns?
Every church I’ve ever been to has been big on music as a part of worship so I think it would feel weird for me to attend a church that didn’t sing.
Also, I feel like having everyone sing together can give a very powerful feeling of unity of purpose and faith that I think would be missing in a church that didn’t do it.
I like singing at church (Lutheran) BUT the songs go on too long now.
The pastor we had when I was growing up, we’d sing 1 or 2 verses and be done. But the pastor who’s been there since I was 12 or so, he’s a really great singer and wants us to sing every verse to every song. Zzzzzzzzzz…
When I was a practicing Catholic, I loved singing and hated the fact that no one else in church ever sang. Then I moved to a parish where there was a large contingent of Caribbean islanders among the congregation and they all sang, and loudly too – my people!
I don’t go to church anymore or even believe in God, but I’ve been considering joining a local group that does shape note singing/Sacred Harp, because I miss singing hymns that much.
I’m a Lutheran, and I do agree that when I am confronted with a hymn that has 15 stanzas I shudder a bit. HOWEVER. I do enjoy the singing, especially the old, familiar hymns.
I recently visited a dear friend of mine who was fading away in a local nursing home. I visited her often and she enjoyed it so much when I would read to her some of the hymns and the liturgies that she had known all her life. We sang some of those same hymns at her funeral.
The music in our churches can be so meaningful in so many ways.
Nope, I’m the total opposite of the OP. The singing is my favorite part. I’m not a big fan of “contemporary” praise music, but I love hymns, melodic liturgy and even chant. I couldn’t stand going to a church service with no music. That would be horrible!
Back in the days when I was forced to attend church, I hated the singing. We went to a nondenominational Christian church and the music was just so cheesy and bad. And then it would get stuck in my head! AUGH! Awful, awful stuff. I would have paid good money for a church with no singing.
I should probably mention that I go to a large church in Nashville, where a great number of our musicians and choir members actually get paid to make music during the week. So they’re really good.
When I still attended church on a regular basis, I loved the music. Of course, I was usually part of it, in the choir or serving as cantor. I occasionally get paid to perform church music when an organist is out or for funerals (both vocals and as an organist). I’m fine with both liturgical music and hymns but don’t care for contemporary praise.
I grew up a Catholic in rural northern New England. And let me tell you something I learned from years of experience: rural northern New England Catholics can’t sing. We just sort of drone in unison. If there was a handful of people with singing talent among us they got lost in the crowd.
It just occurred to me that I should have said something about my denomination in my first post. I was raised Baptist and am now a nondenominational Protestant. My previous comments apply to all churches I’ve attended services at, regardless of denomination.
On the rare occasions my family drags me to church, the singing is the only part I enjoy. There’s usually a cheesy modern song or two, but the older hymns can be lovely. “Jesus Paid it All”, which used to open Dr. Magee’s “Through the Bible” on AM radio in the 80’s when I was a kid, is one of my favorites.
I’m not a churchgoer, but I used to be on a very regular basis. I LOVED the singing (I also love to sing and was really involved in the church choir.) Whenever I hear church hymns I get nostalgic.
Lutheran. I like the music. Or perhaps I should say I like most of the music.
Old traditional stuff - yes please. Modern stuff - yes. What I don’t like is the cheesy “contemporary” tripe. As our pastor remarked when I suggested using some music that has been written in the last ten years “Lutherans have been doing contemporary music the same way for thirty years, and we aren’t about to change.”
My mom says “when you sing in church, to God it sounds as good as you meant it.” Given my whole family’s inability to carry a tune in a bucket, and our tendency to bellow it out at the pitch of our lungs anyway, let’s hope she is right.
