Psalms, and music in general, have had a huge impact on my faith life. Starting from a young age, I often listened to Christian music, attended Mass regularly, sang along with the songs (because they say singing is praying twice:), and getting involved in the ministry. Having played instruments for 15 years, I have been able to be more insightful to how music can give so much meaning to words that initially don’t make much sense to us. Often times, when singing the psalms during Mass, I have a realization or connection that all of a sudden comes to me, and I suddenly know why the psalm was chosen to go with the particular Scripture readings for the day. The psalms are often some of the more catchier tunes that are short and easy to get stuck in my head, so I will end up singing them all throughout the day. Additionally, I thought the idea of interpretation and the use of music to convey a particular meaning was very interesting. It got me thinking about some of the Gregorian chant that I have heard videos of, and I got to thinking about how far our “music” has come. I attended an Eastern Orthodox Church one weekend and was very surprised to find that a lot of their songs are just chants. There were only a few pieces that had maybe a few notes or chords on piano, which I found very different from my typical Mass. Because I have had music in my life since a very young age, I have learned how much work goes into creating expression and emotion in what is initially words typed on a page. Starting as a poem, it’s interesting to see just how one line can turn into what seems like a struggle to get through by notation and rhythm selected. I also find it very interesting to see how each Church may adapt its own “style” to their psalms that they sing. Often at my church, our piano player will write a different tune to go with the words of the psalm, or sometimes they use the same tune for two different psalms. I find it very interesting to compare and contrast music between churches. It has allowed me to reflect on my personal preferences with music involved in the Mass.
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