For as long as I can remember, the Church has told us that the one who sings “prays twice.” But is it any good?

That’s what the National Association of Pastoral Musicians would like to know:

The National Association of Pastoral Musicians is polling Catholics online, asking them to rate the quality of singing of their fellow Catholics in the pews.

The two big questions in the survey are “How would you rate the congregational singing in your own parish or worshipping community?” and “Based on your own experience of participating in the liturgy of other parishes and communities, how would you rate congregational singing generally in the United States?”

Survey participants are also asked to describe the setting of their parish, what kinds of music books are available for use in their parish, and whether they participate in their parish’s music ministry.

The survey is available at www.npm.org, the Web site of the pastoral musicians’ group, based in the Washington suburb of Silver Spring. The survey also was published in the association’s membership magazine, Pastoral Music. Voting continues through Nov. 30. The results will be published in early 2008.

The association has conducted similar surveys in each of the past two years. In 2005, it asked what song most affected the faith life of the respondent. Last year, the association surveyed Catholics on what factors encourage – and discourage – singing in church.

You can raise your voice, and vote, at this link.