Gee, it sure is nice to have this chance to "vent" about the perils of singing in the choir. I joined the choir 15 years ago as an undercover spy from the Parish Council, trying to get the choir directors to do what we want them to do - encourage the congregation to sing. I'm still not sure if I've made any progress, and I think I lost some ground during my 6-week vacation that ended last week.
I came home from choir practice hopping mad last night. We have two good Catholic hymnals, with enough copies for everybody in the congregation, Instead of learning songs from the hymnals, the choir director keeps passing out illegal photocopies of arrangements that are beyond the capabilities of our choir. Most of the music she chooses comes from evangelical sources. I have nothing against evangelicals and I like a lot of their music, but it usually doesn't quite fit into the Roman Catholic idiom. "Worthy Is the Lamb That Was Slain" and "Power in the Blood" just don't cut the mustard in a Catholic church, even if the songs are kind of catchy.
I'm tempted to ask the pastor to ban photocopies and require the choirs to use music that comes from Catholic publishers or that is approved by the pastor. We always seem to get choir directors who have no idea at all that the music is supposed to be for worship - they usually seem to want to put on a show.
Grrr.
There! Now I feel better, and I can go back to being Mr. Nice Guy.
-Joe Offer-