So the other day I went to a mass at St. Francis Catholic Church in Madison, Mississippi. Having not been to mass in a while, I was elated as the priest ascended the central podium of a wide, circular meeting-tent style church and announced that the introductory hymn would be number such and such, Holy, Holy, Holy. Having grown up a Protestant, this was one of many more popular classic hymns with which I am thoroughly familiar, so I was thrilled as I found the hymn in the book and stood to sing. Then, around the first time we finished the chorus I noticed that something was wrong. Looking up and carefully observing the crowd I quickly found the problem.
Almost all of the men in the church were silent.
"What," I thought to myself, "this is only one of the best hymns ever! Why would anyone not sing to this? How could these ingrates be so ungrateful as to not sing one of the most kick-ass songs of worship written in the last 200 years?" The answer came to me by the next song we sang, an all too familiar problem with church music.
It's just too damn high.
At St. Francis, the worship leader was a small, stout older lady with a beautiful, calming soprano voice. Her vocals, accompanied by a wonderful flute and the obligatory piano, provided the basis for the worship setting, and I'm sure that she meant well. However, most men (if I remember my science correctly) are either basses or baritones naturally, which means their comfortable range (in my experience and the experience of my fellows) ranges from approximately a low G to a high B, give or take a not or two. Of course there are a large number of men who are tenors, but even these, when they are not trained, can have a hard time rising above a solid D or E. Meanwhile, worship music (of catholic and protestant varieties) tends to be written for tenor and soprano high voices, meaning that the high points of melodies will hang out comfortable around D and E, often rising as far as high F and high G for melodic effect.
Only serving to exacerbate the problem, whether you're singing hymns or Chris Tomlin choruses, the melodies of the songs are meant to be belted out and sung in a full voice. For persons like myself who are basses or baritones (again, the majority of men) this is more than difficult, it's uncomfortable. I've spent several years of my life in choirs and voice lessons, and even for me it is hard to sing a nice D or E at a volume and tone appropriate to a worship setting. I can only imagine how bad it must be for my fellows who aren't as well versed in the vocal arts.
The eventual result of this focus on high melody is that, as is the case in most churches I have attended, most men simply don't sing in church. At times when the congregation is supposed to be lifting their collective voice in collaborative praise, at least half of the congregation is more or less unintentionally excluded because the music simply does not fit their vocal range.
What's always frustrating to me, as a performer, is that this problem is by no means necessary. First of all, there's the ever-present option of simply dropping the key of worship songs so that they fit in a more comfortable range. This is not always doable for everyone, either for technical reasons pertaining to the musicians in a worship team or because some songs are written in such a way that dropping the key would make the ladies generally unable to participate.
However, churches throughout the 19th and early 20th century made a regular habit of actually having their congregations sing in 4 part harmony. Having performed in many choirs, I recognize that this is difficult to achieve, but I think that this solution is under-utilized in the modern church. 4-part singing can provide a wonderful allusion to the different functions of different pieces of the body of Christ, and it is furthermore simply more comfortable.
Still, I acknowledge that in some congregations, forcing or offering 4 part congregational singing is either impractical or simply not doable.
Nonetheless, it is certainly at least one of several important issues facing the church that men, who make up normally half the population of a community and who, in many churches, are the sole proprietors of the ordained ministry, are generally not singing. We must all find a way to alleviate this problem. Perhaps this means that we don't sing Chris Tomlin choruses, or that our gloria will be a much more simple (dare I say maybe even boring) melody, but in the end it is more acceptable to do different music or less exciting music than it is to essentially exclude half of a congregation from participation in musical worship.
Almost all of the men in the church were silent.
"What," I thought to myself, "this is only one of the best hymns ever! Why would anyone not sing to this? How could these ingrates be so ungrateful as to not sing one of the most kick-ass songs of worship written in the last 200 years?" The answer came to me by the next song we sang, an all too familiar problem with church music.
It's just too damn high.
At St. Francis, the worship leader was a small, stout older lady with a beautiful, calming soprano voice. Her vocals, accompanied by a wonderful flute and the obligatory piano, provided the basis for the worship setting, and I'm sure that she meant well. However, most men (if I remember my science correctly) are either basses or baritones naturally, which means their comfortable range (in my experience and the experience of my fellows) ranges from approximately a low G to a high B, give or take a not or two. Of course there are a large number of men who are tenors, but even these, when they are not trained, can have a hard time rising above a solid D or E. Meanwhile, worship music (of catholic and protestant varieties) tends to be written for tenor and soprano high voices, meaning that the high points of melodies will hang out comfortable around D and E, often rising as far as high F and high G for melodic effect.
Only serving to exacerbate the problem, whether you're singing hymns or Chris Tomlin choruses, the melodies of the songs are meant to be belted out and sung in a full voice. For persons like myself who are basses or baritones (again, the majority of men) this is more than difficult, it's uncomfortable. I've spent several years of my life in choirs and voice lessons, and even for me it is hard to sing a nice D or E at a volume and tone appropriate to a worship setting. I can only imagine how bad it must be for my fellows who aren't as well versed in the vocal arts.
The eventual result of this focus on high melody is that, as is the case in most churches I have attended, most men simply don't sing in church. At times when the congregation is supposed to be lifting their collective voice in collaborative praise, at least half of the congregation is more or less unintentionally excluded because the music simply does not fit their vocal range.
What's always frustrating to me, as a performer, is that this problem is by no means necessary. First of all, there's the ever-present option of simply dropping the key of worship songs so that they fit in a more comfortable range. This is not always doable for everyone, either for technical reasons pertaining to the musicians in a worship team or because some songs are written in such a way that dropping the key would make the ladies generally unable to participate.
However, churches throughout the 19th and early 20th century made a regular habit of actually having their congregations sing in 4 part harmony. Having performed in many choirs, I recognize that this is difficult to achieve, but I think that this solution is under-utilized in the modern church. 4-part singing can provide a wonderful allusion to the different functions of different pieces of the body of Christ, and it is furthermore simply more comfortable.
Still, I acknowledge that in some congregations, forcing or offering 4 part congregational singing is either impractical or simply not doable.
Nonetheless, it is certainly at least one of several important issues facing the church that men, who make up normally half the population of a community and who, in many churches, are the sole proprietors of the ordained ministry, are generally not singing. We must all find a way to alleviate this problem. Perhaps this means that we don't sing Chris Tomlin choruses, or that our gloria will be a much more simple (dare I say maybe even boring) melody, but in the end it is more acceptable to do different music or less exciting music than it is to essentially exclude half of a congregation from participation in musical worship.
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