Since Pentecost, when we began our public Masses again at St James, those of you who have attended Mass at church have likely noticed some gradual adjustments in the ways Pierre and I have approached Pastoral Music at those “live” Masses. We have been making our Music Ministry decisions taking into account the facts as we know them, receiving information from voice Doctors, and advice from vocal specialists and professional music teaching organizations. We also consider guidance from Joe Balistreri, the Director of Music for our Archdiocese, who communicates to us Directors nearly every week.
To our great dismay, our parishes, including we at St. James, have not been able to use our beloved and dedicated vocal groups. This was, and is, true at all the parishes who are following minimum guidelines from our own Archdiocese and other Dioceses around the world. At the beginning of “re-entry”, there was hardly anything sung at all, anywhere. For those of us who love the sound of our Assemblies’ voice, as Pierre and I do, this felt not only strange but was really hard to accept. It felt like our Music Ministry had been upended because indeed, it had. We know it is hard for our people who love to sing, too. We hear it from you all the time. Our Music Director friends share the disappointment, and hear the same from their people, too.
For the first time in our combined 60+ years of leading congregations, Pierre and I had to find a way to encourage our people NOT to sing instead of the other way around. The basic issue is that singing dramatically increases the “aerosol” effect. Droplets are projected, then are suspended in the air, possibly transmitting the virus. Powerful blowers for heating and cooling can exacerbate the effect. Of course, we have always encouraged our singers to take precautions if they felt ill (that is...stay away from us!) But COVID, with its dramatic ability to be transmitted by asymptomatic individuals, and the fact that many of our music folks or their family members are in high-risk categories, make it crucial for us to be super cautious.
Unlike the recommended 6-foot safety distancing that is recommended under usual circumstances, current practice says that singers need AT LEAST a 10-foot circumference to be considered safe. This is compounded by the length of time singing groups may be in proximity to each other with practices or warmup time. So, sad to say, our “St James Choir”, my “New Harvest” group, and Kathleen Schafer and I, with our precious “Joyful Noise” kids simply won’t be able to be together safely for a while.
We sure have missed their voices, and yours. When we first got back to public Mass, right around Pentecost, we limited ourselves to singing nothing other than an Entrance Antiphon or a refrain or two (when Fr Ed led “This Is Jesus”, or “I Received the Living God”, for example), or the Communion Antiphon from the Roman Missal to set the tone. Pierre and I worked out what we hoped would be meaningful instrumental music to provide an atmosphere for live worship.
Weeks ago, with good guidance, we, and other parishes, expanded to include the usual Mass parts, like the “Holy, Holy”, the “Alleluia” and the Responsorial Psalm. More recently, since the numbers in our State were more encouraging, we felt that we could do some well-known songs and have everyone sing softly or, better still, just hum, feeling that the “aerosol effect” could still be minimized by using that approach.
For the foreseeable future, and taking into account any new developments, this most recent adjustment will be our approach.
More to come…...info about us, our music, or volunteers!!! Stay “tuned”.