OST SUNDAYS I DON’T SING THE propers. I just turn up at Mass, pick three or four hymns and hope someone will join in. It’s not ideal and I am hopeful that it will not be this way forever.
Everyone is too busy to put in the time to make a choir right now.
I am too busy to make it happen.
So, when I hear about all the work other choirs are putting in, I am all the more in awe at how much work goes in to bringing people together and having them work in harmony.
Have a read of 9 reasons to keep the church choir alive by a church musician from a United Methodist church in Texas. Even without the authority of Church documents to recommend traditional music, he makes a good case for maintaining a strong church choir.
Sure one person can pick hymns, but it’s the singing together part that needs work.
It reminds me of this psalm:
Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity.
Like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron, Which ran down to the skirt of his garment:
as the dew of Hermon, which descendeth upon mount Sion. For there the Lord hath commandeth blessing, and life for evermore. – Psalm 132/133
Hopefully our choirs, no matter how humble, can be a sign of that unity which is so important to our identity as Christians.
