Why Do We Sing?
Have you ever tried to convey to someone the sense of an incredibly moving song, but you couldn't quite remember the tune, so you just recited the lyrics? Did it sound like you were saying: Kerplonk kerplonk, kerplonk kerplonk kerplonk; Plonk kerplonk kerplonk, kerplonk kerplonk. and then you had to make apologies for how rhymey-wimey it sounded, and it was much better when you heard it? Yeah, that's why we sing. Song adds an entirely new dimension to the sense of what we are saying. If text is a line, and a spoken phrase is a picture, music turns it to a sculpture. Properly matched to its subject, it deepens our understanding of what is being said far beyond the mere words. When we get to dealing with the Divine, though - well, nothing I can say on the subject hasn't been said better by someone else first. Here is Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, from his marvellous book, The Spirit of the Liturgy (which you should own, no matter who you are): " When man comes into ...