Early mass to miss the music?

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On Sundays I go to 8:00 AM Mass because I want to avoid the Music they have at 10:00 AM and 11:00 Mass.

Do you have any thoughts on avoiding music?
 
Hmmm, I wonder if my parish does it that way…I usually go to late Mass but early might be worth it!
 
Does the 8 am Mass have no music at all, or just a different style of music more in keeping with your tastes? I think there should be some kind of music at Sunday Mass if at all possible. I also know of people who choose the Mass with the least music so they can be in and out in 35 minutes each week, which is probably not the best motive.

My practice is to time my arrival at Mass so that I get there just after they tell everyone to greet your neighbor, but before the opening song begins. I miss out on some quiet prayer time before Mass, but then again the church isn’t really that quiet before Mass anyway. If that’s ok, then it should also be fine to go to the early Mass to miss the music.
 
Is the music bad at your parish? I LOVE the music at our parish. It’s traditional but not ponderous and it’s very uplifting. If you are just avoiding bad music well maybe that makes sense. Although maybe with a few hints they would improve it?

Lisa N
 
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On Sundays I go to 8:00 AM Mass because I want to avoid the Music they have at 10:00 AM and 11:00 Mass.

Do you have any thoughts on avoiding music?
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Though I love music, I sometimes have done this…the music at the 10 & 11 is guitar and I’m not always in the mood for that kind of music…
Maybe I’m just geeting old and cranky. I’m not a morning person…so quiet is nice especially in my worship.
Hope this helps,
Annunciata:)
 
Some have asked me about the Sunday music.

At 8:00 AM there is no, zero, nada and none, no music.

At 10 and 11:00 they have organ, a 25 member choir , and they project songs up high on a wall for the layity to sing. Those songs are stuff you never heard before. I think the choir director choses them, the stuff he choses sounds Protestant to me. If I wanted Protestant…I’d go to the Baptist Church. I dont want them.
 
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On Sundays I go to 8:00 AM Mass because I want to avoid the Music they have at 10:00 AM and 11:00 Mass.

Do you have any thoughts on avoiding music?
Click to expand...
Our 10am Mass is supposed to be traditional organ music. Someone tried turning it into a folk Mass w/ guitars and drums. That didn’t last long. Hubby and I jokingly called it the ‘Wayne’s World Mass’ because the young guys playing guitars remined us of Wayne and Garth on SNL. —KCT
 
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Exporter:
Some have asked me about the Sunday music.

At 8:00 AM there is no, zero, nada and none, no music.

At 10 and 11:00 they have organ, a 25 member choir , and they project songs up high on a wall for the layity to sing. Those songs are stuff you never heard before. I think the choir director choses them, the stuff he choses sounds Protestant to me. If I wanted Protestant…I’d go to the Baptist Church. I dont want them.
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Whew, sounds a bit like overkill to me, depending on how large the space is. Would you like NO music or just different music? Maybe if the latter, is there a committee or staff in charge of music who would accept suggestions?

I know just what you mean about being in a Protestant church. I was a Methodist for a number of years and although they do have some great hymns, the reality is that many of them have about eight verses, a huge range and they are very difficult to sing. There is nothing less conducive to worship than feeling like you are WORKING instead of worshipping.

As I said our parish has just the right touch with respect to music. The songs are rather short, based mostly on psalms, traditional but upbeat in tempo. I feel bad for you as I think music adds inspiration to mass. But bad music is not going be very inspirational.

Lisa N
 
I’ve avoided certain Mass times because of the music. When I was at Notre Dame, I rarely went to the late morning Mass at the Basilica because it was the folk music Mass and I hate folk music at Mass. At my old parish in Illinois I tried to avoid any Mass that the children’s choir was at. Children’s choirs can be nice, but this one was not. The director didn’t even bother to teach the children to sing remotely on key or in unison. It can be done with children the age they were, but it wasn’t. The resulting noise was just awful, like fingernails on a chalkboard.
 
I think its a good idea, if it suits you. My parish has a Sunday evening Mass which is a “folk” Mass. If you’ve never tried to say the Sanctus to carrachis and bongos you haven’t missed anything.
 
It’s great that a parish gives people the option of a Mass with no music.

A Mass with a full choir singing in Latin and a master organist putting the pipe organ through its paces would be my first choice.

My second choice would be a Mass with no music.
 
You couldn’t get away with it at our parish. I’ve been playing organ for the 8:00 Sunday Mass for about15 years. 😃 I fully support anyone’s right to go to a no-music Mass for whatever reason they want, whether they don’t enjoy the music, are embarrassed about singing (yes, even in a Catholic church 🙂 ) or just prefer the shorter Mass.

At the 8 am I usually play more “traditional” music such as “Praise to the Lord” which works well because I also play 4 pm on Saturday at a church which is historic and I’m asked to play that kind of stuff, so I only have to pick out one set of music per week. (I love playing the hymns, but loathe picking them out.)

I know what people mean about trying to sing with a choir. We have a choir although I don’t hear it often, but the few times I’ve been they’ve sung stuff that I didn’t know, and sometimes it wasn’t even in the book. I ended up being a spectator. A couple times I’ve played accompaniment for the choir which is fun for me, but that still doesn’t help the congregation.

Choirs need to figure out whether they are trying to lead a congregation or conduct a concert. If they are leading people, then use songs we know. If they are having a concert to our exclusion, then they ought to be good enough to make us want to listen to them and not just wish it was over. :whistle:

Alan
 
I’m glad I’m not the only one that doesn’t especially like when the choir sings! I’d rather go to the early Masses because the music is more traditional and the choir doesn’t sing as much. Once I went to the Life Teen Mass on Sunday afternoon. They sang a bunch of praise and worship songs, it reminded me of a “non-denominational” group I went to a couple times in college. I didn’t like that at all. While I don’t mind that kind of music, in church I’d rather have the traditional hymns. Occasionally I listen to praise and worship songs on my way to Mass to “get me in the mood,” but that’s it.
 
some things never change, my dad used to hustle us to 8:00, the low Mass, because the choir Mass (high Mass) was at 10 and took a lot longer. Also because we were cranky without breakfast and the sooner we went the better (I think he wanted his coffee).
 
Our parish has a 6am (!) Sunday Mass, which is sans music. However, a lot of the people who attend (regularly, even) aren’t registered parishioners (though very generous in donations), but people who are unavoidably scheduled to work starting at 7 or 7:30 am.

I think it’s more of a motivation issue–are the people motivated by a desire to “just get that out of the way” (which wouldn’t be good–but that’s their issue, not others’) or “make it to Mass even though I must [fill in justifiable obligation–emergency response workers, medical staff working that day, on-call dr who wants to make sure he gets to Mass w/o having to leave early, etc.]” So, I think it is a good thing that a shorter Mass (without music) is available on Sunday, though it might be misused (“I want to get out of there quick so I can make it to the golf course”), just like the Sat. pm Mass (which does have music).
 
Use to do that myself. Much prefer a spoken Mass to the insensitive and inappropriate music played my renegade musicians. However, the diocese has pressured the parishes to have a music Mass at every Sunday service 😦 So now I go the least obnoxious one.
 
Would if I could. Nothing turns me off more than the Barry-Manilow-does-Rod-McEwan stuff that passes all too often for liturgical music these days.

I can, most all the time, get through the Vigil and first Sunday Mass without grinding my teeth, but stay away from the final two.

What really bugs me is the way we, the congregation, are supposed to render some vapid ditty while a very important part of the Mass, the Offertory, takes place. Couldn’t the priest wait, I always wondered, until the “singing” is over, and then present the bread and wine? It’s as if we are to busy ourselves with something suited to our diminished capacities while he does something really important.

The singing of the parts of the Mass --Gloria, Lord’s Prayer, Lamb of God, etc. – I rather like, IF the music is decent.

Satirist Tom Leher once observed that the trouble with most folk music is that it was written by the people. Much of the liturgical music around today is similarly vapid and dumbed down. :banghead:

Blessings,

Gerry
 
Gerry Hunter:
Satirist Tom Leher once observed that the trouble with most folk music is that it was written by the people. Much of the liturgical music around today is similarly vapid and dumbed down. :banghead:
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If it’s the same Tom Lehrer I know, he offered his own song right around Vatican II to help make the music more exciting – the Vatican Rag.

First you get down on your knees,
Fiddle with your rosaries,
Bow your head with great respect, and …
… Genuflect, genuflect, genuflect…

Alan
 
I mostly don’t like the singing at mass because they crucify the songs. It’s painful to listen to, and they drag it out endlessly. One of the reasons I like being Catholic is mass is only about an hour long. When I do accidently go to a mass with a ridiculous amount of music I book out at communion, which I know is wrong, but dude sitting for 1.5 hours with poor singing, is just torture.
 
Our earliest Sunday morning Mass has no music whatsoever, and heaven help anyone who tries to introduce it. It’s not so much that they want a shorter Mass; they just want a quiet Mass. Nothing wrong with having one Mass like that.
 
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