congregational singing

File:La Matanza Church, Chaco, Argentina (7296998772).jpg, Argentina, 1972]]

Congregational singing is the practice of the congregation participating in the music of a church, either in the form of hymns or a metrical Psalms or a free form Psalm or in the form of the office of the liturgy (for example Gregorian chants).{{CathEncy|wstitle=Congregational Singing}} It is contrasted with music being sung exclusively by a choir or cantor(s). Congregational singing was largely the invention of the Protestant Reformation. Before then, singing in churches, especially in larger urban churches, was largely left to professionals.{{Cite book |last=Pettegree |first=Andrew |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/61408995 |title=Reformation and the culture of persuasion |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-511-12596-8 |location=Cambridge, UK |pages=42, 47 |chapter=Militant in Song |oclc=61408995}} The reformers in Strasbourg, in particular, reduced the church service largely to a sermon bookended by congregational singing and prayers.