• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Bigger Fish to Fry

Richard J. Clark · June 19, 2015

HE HEIGHT OF WEDDING season is upon us. Many church musicians find much to complain about with regard to weddings. These complaints range from overly demanding couples who have not been to mass in years, to fielding requests for secular music. Some of these gripes may be understandable, legitimate, and make our jobs highly stressful.

But today I propose a change of perspective and attitude. Why? Because we’ve got bigger fish to fry.

Many of us work for years to cultivate and promote professional standards. Weddings often frustrate these designs. But within these challenges also lie opportunity. And here’s the thing: the opportunity may or may not be very gratifying to the musician.

One more newsflash: It’s not our wedding. The organist does not confer the sacrament upon the couple—they do. The couple has bigger fish to fry than to make sure our exquisite taste rules their day.

HE FIRST THING TO RECOGNIZE IS THIS: a lot of music couples request, appropriate or not, has deep personal significance to them. Additionally, they have not spent years learning an instrument and studying Church documents.

However, if the piece in question is by Coldplay (a common request) we have a clear-cut problem to address. The smartest thing to do is to acknowledge that this piece may be important to them. The worst thing to do is to ridicule or dismiss their feelings about it. Now you’ve lost them and not just for now, but possibly from the Church entirely.

Respectfully acknowledge their request and you can now begin to address the musical problems of pulling it off on the pipe organ for the processional, no less the theological problem. Do it nicely. Sempre! You have perhaps only one shot at keeping an open dialogue so that they may be receptive to your alternative suggestions.

ERE’S THE BIG PICTURE AND BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY: Weddings, with all of their challenges offer an important chance to evangelize. Have they insisted upon a setting of “Wherever You Go” that is not to your liking? So what. Take the opportunity to make small talk about the text from the book of Ruth and the Song of Songs (in some cases) and the profound spiritual significance. The book of Ruth evokes great emotion. Even those who rarely go to mass appreciate knowing that you care enough about their music and their wedding.

Is a setting of Psalm 118 too cheesy? My heart bleeds for you. Talk about how this is the same responsorial used on Easter Sunday. The connection of the holiest day of the year to their wedding may plant a mustard seed in their hearts to come back to mass.

Folks, we have bigger fish to fry. Be a jerk and they definitely won’t come back. Behave as though you care (and you should) and they will remember you twenty years from now. More importantly, they will remember that those in the Church were welcoming and caring. We need that today more than ever. When they come back, they may have opportunity to hear more reverent and prayerful music. This in turn may help in ways you may never know.


SOME OTHER ADJUSTMENTS OF PERSPECTIVE:

HAVING TROUBLE GETTING THROUGH SEVEN OR EIGHT masses on a weekend and must play Canon in D for the tenth time this month? I may be quite grateful. It’s less stress for me. My fifteen–month old woke us up twice in the middle of the night. I have a lot to prepare for Sunday’s mass and the choir. It’s 83 degrees in the choir loft. I have bigger fish to fry than be personally disappointed by the choice of music.

Did I mention I have tuition to pay for my older two children? Weddings pay. I have bigger fish to fry.

How is the quality of the sacred music at mass on Sunday? Are my choirs engaged, growing, and learning? Is the congregation able to sing and pray with the music we provide on Sunday? Children, families, are touched by our work. So are young men and women who may be getting married someday. We have bigger fish to fry.

Furthermore, how is my relationship with God, my wife, my family, my boss, and my colleagues? If I’m not right with them, I’m going to have difficulty doing my job well. These are very big fish to fry.

Finally, God calls us to be fishers of women and men. That’s the most important catch of all.

Here is the best series of articles on practical advice for weddings by Andrew Motyka. It is also entertaining reading!

Here are some Free Musical Scores For Catholic Weddings.

Here’s the coolest wedding I’ve ever been a part of (aside from my own, of course…)

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Catholic Wedding Nuptial Mass Music Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    26 January 2023 • FEEDBACK
    “Jeff, I wanted to personally thank you for your spiritual witness at the Symposium & often blogs that you write too. Praying that prayer in the mornings My God, my Father and my all (by Cardinal Merry Del Val), mentioning saints’ stories of Brébeuf, Jogues, John Vianney, monks who fought in WWII, their hard work in spite of terrible conditions, their relentless zeal for the faith, their genuine love for the laypeople they served, etc. Overall though—more than anything concrete I can point to that you did or said—it was your demeanor at the Symposium. I could tell you really absolutely love and believe the Catholic Faith. You don’t get that everywhere, even in Church circles. And your humility is what then makes that shine even brighter. It is super inspiring! God is working through you probably way more than you know.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Symposium Draft Schedule Released!
    Those who head over to the Symposium Website will notice the tentative schedule for 2023 has been released. This is all very exciting! Very soon, we will begin accepting applications, so please make sure you have subscribed to our mailing list. If you are subscribed, that means you'll hear announcements before anyone else. (It’s incredibly easy to subscribe to our mailing list; just scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.)
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Good Friday Polyphony by L. Senfl
    The editor of the Sacred Music Magazine recently made available to the public this splendid article by our own Charles Weaver. It includes an edition of polyphony for the GOOD FRIDAY “Reproaches.” Renaissance composers often set the various offices of Holy Week; e.g. readers will probably be familiar with the beautiful TENEBRAE setting by Father Tomás Luis de Victoria (d. 1611). From what I can tell, Ludwig Senfl (d. 1543) was originally a Catholic priest, but eventually was seduced by Luther and ended up abandoning the sacred priesthood.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“And thus, when we renounce for Thee | Its restless aims and fears, | The tender mem’ries of the past, | The hopes of coming years, | Poor is our sacrifice, whose eyes | Are lighted from above; | We offer what we cannot keep, | What we have ceased to love.”

— Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman

Recent Posts

  • 26 January 2023 • FEEDBACK
  • Symposium Draft Schedule Released!
  • What is the Tonic Accent?
  • Good Friday Polyphony by L. Senfl
  • PDF Download • 1909 “Modern Notation” Gradual (Extremely Rare) — 712 Pages

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.