Tuesday, January 16, 2007

What Makes People Sing?

An interesting survey was conducted by the NPM.org website, and the results are reported here. The survey asked people in the pews what factors influence whether they sing during Mass. People said they like a familiar melody that is easy to sing--no surprise--while musicians in leadership believed that people need good accompaniment and--again, no surprise--strong leadership. It is hardly news that leaders overestimate their own worth but this survey is instructive simply because it illustrates that gap that separates people from song leaders.

There are many factors that were not considered, such as the underlying assumption that the masses of people do (or should) go to Church in order to belt out a familiar hymn rather than have time for prayer and quiet contemplation. There is also the problem that the survey was taken online at the NPM website, which has an Alexa rank of 1.15 million (that's, well, rather low). In contrast, NLM has a rank of 223,786, which is so much higher that it puts it in a completely difference class of traffic.

In any case, interesting:


WHAT HELPS YOU TO SING THE LITURGY?
 

% of Those Involved in Music Ministry (1,541)


Leadership of Oragan or Instruments

66.4


Meaningful Text

65.6


Leadership of Cantor or Director

60.9


Linked to Liturgy of the Day or Season

59.6


Enthusiasm of the Congregation

58.7


Leadership of Choir

47.3


Familiar Melody

46.7


Easy to Sing

43.5


Church Building That Makes Singing a Pleasure

35.0


Leadership of Priest Celebrant

32.9


Traditional Song

30.7


Contemporary Song

25.6


Something I Can Sing by Heart

23.9


Other

22.0


 

WHAT HELPS YOU TO SING THE LITURGY?

% of Those Not Involved in Music Ministry (808)


Familiar Melody

52.2


Easy to Sing

51.4


Traditional Song

47.9


Enthusiasm of the Congregation

47.0


Meaningful Text

46.8


Leadership of Cantor or Director

44.7


Linked to Liturgy of the Day or Season

42.2


Leadership of Organ or Instruments

39.9


Other

33.4


Leadership of Choir

29.6


Something I Can Sing by Heart

26.2


Contemporary Song

25.7


Leadership of Priest Celebrant

20.4


Church Building That Makes Singing a Pleasure

18.7


 

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