Drums At Mass, YIKES!

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eucharisteo said:
I appreciate the evidence of “Praise Worship”, something I loved and even miss. However, for true worship this is not the type of music that honors God in His splendor. This is a feel good song that has its place, just not in the Mass or Divine Liturgy. The Protestant faith we came out of is the Church of Christ [claim to be the one true church founded by Christ and that all others are apostate, including those claiming to be non-denomination]. However our last 6 months was searching for truth and God in a non-denominational bible church that accepted apostate beliefs like rapture and that baptism was not necessary for salvation, thus calling whoever inspired the bible a liar. I miss the music, but not the lack of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and a better realization about what’s actually happening in the mass. If protestants knew what we really believe and are taught they’d think we are all out of our minds.
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Thank you for being kind with your words. I am not a Baptist. I’ve attended a non-denominational church for years and years (and being in the Navy, services were wherever you could find them… even on the bow of a ship). But of course, I digress. Is not God the author of music? The author of all majesty, splender, beauty and joy? Do you honestly think that He looks down upon us when we worship His majesty with music that is surely borne in the mind of someone who loves Jesus? Did not God create the heavens and earth, offer healing and aid to the poor and order to the universe. Above all did he not shed His blood for our salvation? Is there something unholy about a harpsichord, the lute and the harp?

I completely accept your views on tradition and honor your intentions. I just can’t see how honoring The King of Kings with music to voice our adoration as something that could possibly be seen as bad.

I do NOT think we should turn our great santuaries into night clubs, but as a place to worship the Risen Savior… oh yes, music is a must for me.

Still, I do respect your opinion and appreciate that you haven’t been a mean-spirited as a few others have been.

Blessings to you.
 
ForeverGrace said:
Thank you for being kind with your words. I am not a Baptist. I’ve attended a non-denominational church for years and years (and being in the Navy, services were wherever you could find them… even on the bow of a ship). But of course, I digress. Is not God the author of music? The author of all majesty, splender, beauty and joy? Do you honestly think that He looks down upon us when we worship His majesty with music that is surely borne in the mind of someone who loves Jesus? Did not God create the heavens and earth, offer healing and aid to the poor and order to the universe. Above all did he not shed His blood for our salvation? Is there something unholy about a harpsichord, the lute and the harp?

I completely accept your views on tradition and honor your intentions. I just can’t see how honoring The King of Kings with music to voice our adoration as something that could possibly be seen as bad.

I do NOT think we should turn our great santuaries into night clubs, but as a place to worship the Risen Savior… oh yes, music is a must for me.

Still, I do respect your opinion and appreciate that you haven’t been a mean-spirited as a few others have been.

Blessings to you.
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I believe God looks down upon all of our praises, but loves us so much he raises us above our woundedness. God loves all Christians and all forms of worship that honor him. But using that form of praise worship in the Mass would be like yodaling the Star Spangle Banner. It would be very strange. Here’s another analog I’m making off the cuff, it would be like playing acid rock music at a coronation of a king and queen. It just doesn’t fit the occasion. I listen to the same music in my car, sing some it, love it. But the Mass is like a coronation of the one true King, Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Lamb of God who was slain for our sinfulness. Worthy is the lamb. I get the music and we, as Catholics participate in similar praise worship…just not in Mass, unless someone is allowing it, which happens. We sing several Protestant songs during mass. I love them too. I believe music should be extremely dignified for “proper worship”. I’d say an evangelical worship service is to the mass/divine liturgy as a school dance [casual jeans] is to a ball [formal tuxedo]. I believe you may not understand what I’m trying to describe, without insulting. I am trying to be charitable. one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen or experienced in my life is a properly dignified Mass.
 
Tra le Sollecitudini
Instruction on Sacred Music
Pope Pius X

Motu Proprio promulgated on November 22, 1903
  1. The employment of the piano is forbidden in church, as is also that of noisy or frivolous instruments such as drums, cymbals, bells and the like.
I guess Pope Pius X wouldn’t be making too many friends if he was around today.

adoremus.org/MotuProprio.html
 
JTJohnson;:
Tra le Sollecitudini
Instruction on Sacred Music
Pope Pius X

Motu Proprio promulgated on November 22, 1903
  1. The employment of the piano is forbidden in church, as is also that of noisy or frivolous instruments such as drums, cymbals, bells and the like.
I guess Pope Pius X wouldn’t be making too many friends if he was around today.

adoremus.org/MotuProprio.html
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.

That quote is music to my ears 😃
 
I am a leader of a guitar group in my parish. I started it after a long absence in our Parish. I have a Rock background and that’s really the limit of my musical abilities. i also don’t know much about what is permitted and not permitted in church.

We have an earthy, folk sound (people bring up Oh Brother Where Art Thou). We arrange our harmonies very carefully. What we have done, however, is that we don’t play any of the “contemporary Christian” songs. We play the old songs in a new way. We have incorporated acoustic steel and nylon string soloing. We don’t use percussion in the regularly scheduled masses except for the occasional tambourine and a conga. The only Mass in which we would use a full drum kit is if we were playing at a specifically advertised youth mass.

I was originally concerned that our sound (the rock singer singing church songs) would not go over well with the older people in my Parish. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I’ve had people of every age tell me how great the music is and how welcome it is to have a guitar group back. I’ve even had people (senior citizens as well) who have told me that the music has brought spouses back to the church.

I was formerly in a band where we played the contemporary Christian songs at regulary scheduled masses. I played the drums on a full drum kit. I limited it to brushes and rim shots. I didn’t go heavy on the snare or especially the bass. By about the Offertory, after looking at the faces in the congregation I stopped playing and just did opening counts and my vocal harmonies. I’m not a great drummer but I can keep a beat. I believed that while there were people who enjoyed it, there were so many that didn’t that it wasn’t appropriate. I don’t want to invoke a negative response that gets in the way.

Well anyway, after all that blathering, my position is that during regularly scheduled masses, a full drum kit is inappropriate and I won’t allow it in the group (and boy do I get push back from some of the musicians!).

The best thing to do, if you don’t have another mass to attend, is to tell the Pastor very politely that you find the drumming offensive and ask if there is anything that can be done about it.

As a postscript, I have been to a few different Parishes and I believe there is a lack of discernment about volunteers who cantor, lector,and play music. Just because someone wants to volunteer to do something doesn’t mean the Pastor should let them. Lector’s who can’t annunciate, Cantors who sound like they’re groaning, and bad drummers are a distraction from Mass.

Its too important.
 
Saint_wannabe said:
I thought that this would be the correct Forum to bring this subject up. I don’t ever remember drums being part of the traditional Mass, and I don’t understand why this idea is being incorporated. I grew up in a Parish that had the traditional organ music with the occasional choir present, and then sadly, I was away from the church for many years. I now attend a different church that is in the community that I live in now, and it has a guitar Mass. I have grown accustomed to the guitar Mass, but now drums are being incorporated and I can’t stand it. First of all, we have a drummer that apparently has no sense of rhythm and couldn’t keep a beat if his/her life depended on it. Second of all, when I hear drums, I feel like I’m in a nightclub and not at Mass. I cringe every time I hear drums being played at Mass and I feel like it is very disrespectful. Am I the only one who feels this way? Am I just being too sensitive? I brought this up to one of our singer/music directors, and she thinks the drums are wonderful. She seems to think that this is a good way to get the youth of our Parish excited about the Mass. I have gotten used to the guitar Mass, but I don’t want anything to do with drums at Mass, and I can’t see myself ever getting used to it. Has anyone grown up with this sort of thing in their Parish? How do you all feel about this? What is the Vatican’s stance on this? I know that drums play an important part in music, but do we really need them at Mass? Are we trying to compete with the mega churches out there? and if so, why? I don’t come to church so I can be entertained, I come so I can be close to Jesus in the Eucharist, and to give God thanks and praise. I’m starting to get a bit (more than a bit) long winded here, so I’ll just leave this open for comments before I start babbling & ranting some more.
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~soft smiles~ Hello…i am new here…a reborn “born again” Catholic…~loL~
i journeyed through MANY churches and faiths before i came back home…and the ones that kept me the longest were the churches with awesome sound systems and music…i loved the Praise and Worship in those churches…and to tell the truth…the Praise and Worship in Catholic Churches is quite boring to me…(at least the ones i’ve been to)…i agree with the woman who said that this could lead the youth back into the church…as a youth…i was bored with my church…i believe if we could offer more Praise and Worship that the “evangelical” Christians offer…the teenagers would be more apt to stay…
then again…on that note…i’m sure a Praise and Worship could also be on another other day or night…offered to the youth of the Church…
hmmmmmm…maybe the Catholic Church could offer a “Youth Mass” at their Church…and a separate Mass for the “traditionalists”…i call them “old timers”…~lol~
Soooo…as i write this…knowing that the holiness of the Catholic Church is what is actually drawing me…i think i may be agreeing with you…i’ve never heard drums in Mass…maybe it would rub me the wrong way as well…and a bad drummer would just KILL me!!! ~lol~
either way…i loooove the Praise and Worship and i just wish some Catholics would put a little pep in their step at Church!!! 😉
 
ShannonRae said:
~soft smiles~ Hello…i am new here…a reborn “born again” Catholic…~loL~
i journeyed through MANY churches and faiths before i came back home…and the ones that kept me the longest were the churches with awesome sound systems and music…i loved the Praise and Worship in those churches…and to tell the truth…the Praise and Worship in Catholic Churches is quite boring to me…(at least the ones i’ve been to)…i agree with the woman who said that this could lead the youth back into the church…as a youth…i was bored with my church…i believe if we could offer more Praise and Worship that the “evangelical” Christians offer…the teenagers would be more apt to stay…
then again…on that note…i’m sure a Praise and Worship could also be on another other day or night…offered to the youth of the Church…
hmmmmmm…maybe the Catholic Church could offer a “Youth Mass” at their Church…and a separate Mass for the “traditionalists”…i call them “old timers”…~lol~
Soooo…as i write this…knowing that the holiness of the Catholic Church is what is actually drawing me…i think i may be agreeing with you…i’ve never heard drums in Mass…maybe it would rub me the wrong way as well…and a bad drummer would just KILL me!!! ~lol~
either way…i loooove the Praise and Worship and i just wish some Catholics would put a little pep in their step at Church!!! 😉
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Welcome Home :D.

I used to be part of the Charismatic Renewal and I beleive Praise and Worship has a place in the church.

This is just my opinion but when it comes to the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass - it is ALL about God and therefore I think a reverent hush is best…maybe stick some Gregorian Chant in and some Organ music at the end. I am an old-timer (well 32!) and I love Latin and Incense and communion rails and Great Gothic Churches - does anyone really like those modern round churches? really!!!

When it comes to prayer groups however bring out the guitars and drums…just don’t make me clap during the Gloria at Mass:o!
 
John_of_Woking said:
This is just my opinion but when it comes to the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass - it is ALL about God and therefore I think a reverent hush is best…maybe stick some Gregorian Chant in and some Organ music at the end. I am an old-timer (well 32!) and I love Latin and Incense and communion rails and Great Gothic Churches - does anyone really like those modern round churches? really!!!

When it comes to prayer groups however bring out the guitars and drums…just don’t make me clap during the Gloria at Mass:o!
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I agree. The music should serve to aid in the reverential spirit of the parishioners. There was no soundtrack playing while Jesus died on the cross. So, an instrument such as the drums to me, are very inappropriate for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In non-Mass settings however, play what you will to glorify God.
 
John_of_Woking said:
Welcome Home :D.

I used to be part of the Charismatic Renewal and I beleive Praise and Worship has a place in the church.

This is just my opinion but when it comes to the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass - it is ALL about God and therefore I think a reverent hush is best…maybe stick some Gregorian Chant in and some Organ music at the end. I am an old-timer (well 32!) and I love Latin and Incense and communion rails and Great Gothic Churches - does anyone really like those modern round churches? really!!!

When it comes to prayer groups however bring out the guitars and drums…just don’t make me clap during the Gloria at Mass:o!
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~loL~ very well said!!! i looooove the old Churches…we don’t have too many where i live…but i feel so “out of place” in the new modern churches…for one thing, they are not as beautiful…i think with these “modern” Churches…we may be trying to be “politically correct” but that’s just my opinion!!
😃
 
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