A few days ago, Al Kimel had a post on the phenomenon he named the "Ubiquitous Song Leader"

The Sunday Mass needs a cantor. I agree. But it’s a minor role—or at least should be. She should not be the focus of our attention. She should not be standing in front of the congregation at the lectern. She should not be waving her hands around directing congregational singing. She should not be singing into a microphone (though I concede this may be the lesser of evils in the absence of a choir or particularly bad acoustics; but even then she should step away from the microphone during the hymns and service music). Her proper location is the choir.

In the past nine months I have had the privilege of worshipping in many different Catholic parishes. It has been a great blessing participating in the liturgy as a layman. With only a couple of exceptions, the Ubiquitous Song Leader has been a dominant, oppressive presence in the liturgy. Even in those congregations with good choirs, she who cannot be ignored assumes center stage. Not only does she cantillate the psalm from the lectern, but she also leads the congregation in the singing of the hymns and liturgical texts, drowning out choir and congregation! There is only THE VOICE. I love to make a joyful noise, but I am finding it impossible to sing the hymns when a single amplified voice fills up the acoustical space. THE VOICE overpowers everything.

Much discussion follows – which is what always happens when blogs bring up church music. Always.

Al’s right, but I think the origins and motivation of the Catholic Cantor Placement deserves more analysis. It’s not going away any time soon – in fact, the determination of music groups to be placed in the front, along with their cantor, doesn’t show any signs of slowing down – most church renovations/new construction feature that front position, which is just really too bad. I’ve been to a couple of Masses this past year in which there was, indeed a cantor, but he (in both cases, different parishes) was in the rear, in the choir loft. Very nice, and no one in the congregation seemed to mind.

What’s missing from the discussion, however, is a frank appraisal of the rationale behind this. What contemporary Catholic music groups and cantors are attempting to emulate, it seems to me, isn’t the classical Protestant structure in which the choir was, indeed, in front, but the more relaxed, mostly evangelical praise-band-group model. And why are they seeking to imitate it? Because it seems, in their eyes, to work.

I watched a few minutes of Joel Osteen’s program tonight, live from Reliant Arena down there in Houston.  It’s a unique animal, of course, but it’s just what goes on across America, on a very grand scale. There was the huge choir arrayed on both sides of the stage, and for fifteen minutes or so, a woman stood center stage, dressed in the most amazing outfit that featured what sort of looked like a quilted Victorian topcoat with a purple lining and ruffled sleeves. I’m sure the choir made its noise, but the focus was on the woman (whom I presume was this person), her voice dominated on air, and I’m sure in the arena as well, and her presence filled the big screens.

But that didn’t stop the congregation.

Different service. Different expectations. Different (very important) tradition of congregational singing. But I’m saying that this is what Catholic music directors see, this is what they think they want to and can duplicate.

All the comments at Pontificator’s are good, but I’d draw your attention particularly to #141 and #151. The latter gives an excellent historical overview of Catholics and music (from a fellow who’s in the process of converting and has a blog about it) and #141 makes a point I’ve made many times before, but he does it better. I decided a few years ago, in a flash of insight, that the problem with music and Catholic liturgies was, simply, the hymn. We shouldn’t have them, except maybe at  the beginning and the end. The Mass is to be prayed, and the singing should be consistent with that sense of the whole Mass as a single prayer to the Father through Christ, therefore the best way to preserve that sense of a unified prayer was to chant the whole thing, not alternate words, music, more words and more music in a different style. This is not innovative, I know. I admit it. But back to comment #141:

Devoted Catholics DO SING when they are consistently asked to sing the liturgy itself. That they are being distracted in the U.S. with hymn wars about whether Haugen or Isaac Watts or Father Faber should be preferred is to ignore the real issue. Our people at Holy Comforter go to receive holy communion with same words our Lord prayed on their lips — the psalms of David. This is what the rite envisages, not even the most superior hymns sung in the best of taste.

Discovered also through that blog post: this blog: ",,,musings of some snarky madman music ministers"