High notes, low notes...

http://musicasacra.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=554&page=1#Item
On the MusicaSacra discussion boards, an email from a non-musician in the pews has instigated a lively conversation.
I feel for the woman, I think many songs are written in absurd ranges for congregational singing, I think many "composers" who manage to get their stuff into mainstream hymnals and disposables are utterly ignorant of what makes a melody singable in terms not just of range, but of the approach to high notes, the size, frequency and direction of jumps (not to mention where they fall within the scale, making it easy or otherwise, for the ear to "pick them out",) bad prosody, unnecessary alterations in repeated phrases...
And the fact is modern pop music is diminishing the average persons ability to "hear" pitch, and to imagine his own voice reproducing that pitch, and the fact that music is almost entirely a consumable commodity rather than something the average person produces makes it less and less likely that he will improve in this respect.
And yes, hymnal used to be written with the expectation that people would sing in four parts, so only true sopranos had to be able to reach the "high notes" in a melody.
And I wonder if anyone has done any studies, the average American is taller, larger, etc. every generation... as the average body part become larger, is it not likely that this has an effect on the average vocal range?
Is there a possibility that our voices are on average becoming lower? more contraltos, fewer sopranos, the already rare tenor becoming rarer?
I would be interested to know if anyone has done such a study.
But finally, despite my sympathy, I have to tell this funny story -- at my parish we sing the Taize Jesus Remember Me at every funeral. Every single one.
It has a range of a minor sixth, that's it. The high note is an a flat.
When we sang it, (and I promise you, I am too lazy and too sleepy to transpose except under duress...,) unusually, during weekend Masses, Holy Week, Father wanted to know why it was in such a high key, and complained that he found it difficult to sing, (which made a nice change frome his usual, "it's too slow.")

Okay, I admit i did not find it funny at the time....