By Theresia Titus
Speaking at the Australian Catholic Youth Conference in Perth last year, was Genevieve Bryant. The Melbourne singer, songwriter and music ministry enthusiast-talked and gave a brief a workshop on the importance of music in liturgy and appreciation for the music of the Catholic Church.
“Music is such a powerful tool; as musicians, but also like people who are part of the experience, sometimes we often walk away and quickly think that the music we heard is not good,” Ms Bryant said.
“I found that good music can be found in a variety of forms and genres. However, not all good music is suitable for the liturgy of Mass.”
Ms Bryant reminded the pilgrims that the Catholic Church music “comes from a beautiful place and tradition”.
She also explained how they can best appreciate any Catholic music, both traditional and contemporary to best decide whether a particular piece of music is suitable to be performed during the Mass when they are given the responsibility to.
“I just briefly want to touch on the three factors that are so important to [think about,” Ms Bryant said.
“Number one: ‘is the music liturgical? Does the style of the music reflect the nature of that part of Mass?’ and number two: we have to think of the people: will this piece of music allow the congregation to participate fully, actively and consciously?
“Number three: is this musically and technically good? Can we pull it off? We need to make sure that we’re choosing music that we can do and it’s at the right level for us,” she explained.
Ms Bryant told the pilgrims that her “real love” for the traditional music of the Catholic Church grew when she was studying at Australian Catholic University and singing for the St Patrick’s Cathedral Choir every Sunday.
“I would walk out in my robes, with my stack of hymnals, one was the Gregorian chants. We would be in practice before Mass…singing Gregorian chants,” she said.
“To experience it [by] not just by listening but [also] being a part of it, I just develop a real love for [the traditional music of the Church].
“It’s hard not being moved when you’re singing and hearing the beautiful music and harmonies,” she continued.
Ms Bryant said she was also a part of a worship band, where she had the chance to sing on Saturday nights,
no Gregorian chants and hymns but contemporary
Catholic music.
“We could see that there’s a huge variety happening and I am proud of that. It’s something unique in the Catholic Church,” she said.
Addressing her concerns on the lack of connection between the schools and parishes, she challenged the pilgrims to start communicating with their teachers and really think about how they can share their gifts and talents with the school community in music ministry, as well as connecting with the parishes.
“This is where we have a problem: there are things happening in school and there are things happening in parishes but we’re not doing things together,” Ms Bryant said.
“ This is where we have a problem: there are things happening in school and there are things happening in parishes, but we’re not doing things together. ”
“I want to challenge those who are involved in the parish to start the conversation: how can we connect with our local schools-can we get the talented staff involved at Masses?
“Start [working on] those little connections, it may make one big connection that is something incredible,” she continued.
Ms Bryant also emphasised that the lack of connections also exist in “our wider dioceses”, hence there is a need to reach out, let people know” on the things happening from one parish to another, and get involved.
“It’s only by reaching out that I got to the place where I am today, by networking and communicating with people and say, ‘Hey I don’t know what it is yet but I know I want to do something, I want to help and I want to be a part of it’, and that’s honestly how I got here today,” she said.
“Start putting yourself out there even if you feel like
you’re not good enough, start working on yourself and start making those connections. That’s my challenge to you guys.”
From pages 20 to 21 of Issue 23: 2019 Australian Catholic Youth Festival: ‘Rebuild of Church’ of The Record Magazine