Instruments for Mass

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I don’t think it’s so much the instruments themselves as it is how they are played, and what they are playing.
Examples:

A local church used to have a trumpet player in the choir. Played fanfare/breaks during certain hymns, and this guy was GOOD! Very stirring and inspirational! Too bad they dumped the choir.

Went to a little (yes, Catholic) church while down south a few years ago, and their musicians were basically a bluegrass band, and they played more gospel stuff than traditional hymns. Wonderful… it looked and sounded like the entire congregation was singing along, and everyone had huge smiles on their faces!

Our church has a pretty bad organist, and one old tone-deaf woman who screeches out the music in a loud, off-key, cracked soprano that is truly painful to hear.

A local TV station has a Sunday “Mass for Shut-ins” that has a terrible duet of a guy on stand-up bass and a woman on guitar, sometimes joined by other talentless people on flute, piano, etc. I like to tune in for some laughs (in an Ed Wood horror film kind of way).

Finally, you could play “Lord of the Dance” on a kazoo and it would sound great, while not even the London Philharmonic could salvage anything from “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”!
 
There is litiguracal music written for guitar, drums, bass and even saxaphone.
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Sorry Meggie but in these times that is no proof of anything. There is also Liturgical music written for Mass and contained in “approved” hymnals that denies the Real Presence and sing that Sola Gracia is the only way to heaven.

I didn’t vote because the groupings of the choices didn’t work for me (I know, they only let you have a few). I like the organ. Lately the piano at the Masses I have attended has been badly played. I try not to hold that against the instument but it colors my opinion. 🙂 I used to go to a church with a harsichord that was great. Unfortunately most of the examples I can think of for wind and brass instruments were showpieces for kids. 😦

I think that there are some instruments that common sense would tell you are not “suitable for sacred use”. Electric guitars and snare drum sets come to mind. My kids go to a Catholic school that has Mass every few months. After the first Mass, my 10 year old came home saying that the Mass was awful. The music was a couple of electric guitars and a drum set. He hasn’t read VII documents and pretty much the only churches he has ever known have guitars. But he seemed instinctively to know that those instruments just weren’t right.
 
I voted for every single one of the options.

As someone else said, the key issue is how the instruments are being played and what music they are playing.

Certainly the official documents indicate that the pipe organ is to be given high esteem; however, if a particular culture used the pipe organ solely for secular purposes such that its use was exclusively associated with secular meanings, then I would say that in that culture the pipe organ should not be used at all, until that association can be broken.
 
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kmktexas:
Sorry Meggie but in these times that is no proof of anything. There is also Liturgical music written for Mass and contained in “approved” hymnals that sings … Sola Gracia is the only way to heaven.
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Sola Gracia (Grace Alone) *is *the only way into heaven.
Guitar, Drums, Tamborine, Maracas (and other instruments that don’t belong at Mass)
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Talk about a loaded question…

During ordinary, Christmas, and Easter time our 5 pm mass has two acoustic guitars, one electric guitar, one bass electric guitar, electric piano, muffled drum set, trumpet and clarinet, and many (5+) vocals.

It’s awe-inspiring.
 
Most of the parishes I’ve attended in the past few years have several Masses, and each one has its own style of music. One parish even had a “no music” Mass, because a certain segment of the people wanted it that way (this, in my opinion, is the greatest offense against liturgy - but then again, I’m a professional classical musician…).

If you don’t like the music at the “contemporary” Mass, don’t go to that Mass! If you don’t like the music at the “traditional” (organ & choir) Mass, don’t go to that Mass! Yes, the Church has given the organ a great recommend, but let’s please not start saying that we’re going against Church teaching if we disagree (as Chris-WA is implying). In spite of giving pride of place to Gregorian chant, and recommending the organ above all other instruments, the Church DOES clearly say that these are not the only acceptable choices. I have to come down on the side of quality - when done well, most styles of music and most instruments will add to the sense of worship.

Another thing that hasn’t been mentioned here is that sometimes the music is limited by the talent of the available musicians. Willingness to share time and talent is a valuable commodity that some parishes have trouble rustling up. So there’s a caveat to complaining: unless you’re prepared to volunteer YOURSELF, you might want to think twice! Yes, paid professionals might produce a better sound, but would they be giving from the heart, or would they just be in it for the paycheck? Not that I’m implying that church musicians should not be justly compensated - but what if you can’t get a Catholic pro musician to play for your Mass? I’ve worked with non-Catholic pro musicians in Catholic churches (my husband being the example that comes to mind), and they are not always good choices from a spiritual point of view (again, my husband comes to mind…😃 ).

Sorry for the long winded reply - but I get really tired of hearing complaints when so few people volunteer for music ministries…
 
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lacoloratura:
If you don’t like the music at the “contemporary” Mass, don’t go to that Mass! If you don’t like the music at the “traditional” (organ & choir) Mass, don’t go to that Mass! Yes, the Church has given the organ a great recommend, but let’s please not start saying that we’re going against Church teaching if we disagree (as Chris-WA is implying).
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Actually that commant was meant specifically for the person who thought Led Zepplin music sounds as holy as the organ, which is rediculous and something the church would never agree with.
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lacoloratura:
In spite of giving pride of place to Gregorian chant, and recommending the organ above all other instruments, the Church DOES clearly say that these are not the only acceptable choices. I have to come down on the side of quality - when done well, most styles of music and most instruments will add to the sense of worship.
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This is correct. All I’m saying is that many parishes outright reject the type of music the church gives pride of place to or recommends in favor of other music. I think they dismiss what the church recommends too easily. The result is often something that is not appropriate for the sacredness of the mass. Some parishes do it very well, on the other hand, and should be commended. Obviously parishes are limited by the available talent and and willingness of parishioners to contribute. I will say that I do not agree with paying musicians for their service in order to get higher quality music. I have been a religious ed teacher over the years, which requires preparation on my part ahead of time for each week, but I would never expect to be paid for it. It is simply part of my stewardship. Now if it’s a full-time job for the music director, they should be compensated, but if you have to have someone doing this full time in your average size parish, it might be time for the priest to get out there and recruit more help. If no one is willing to help, then perhaps the parish should just go without until people start contributing.

We don’t need pro musicians. It’s nice if one volunteers, but it’s definitely not required.
 
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Chris-WA:
Actually that commant was meant specifically for the person who thought Led Zepplin music sounds as holy as the organ, which is rediculous and something the church would never agree with.
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Your taking what I said out of context. I said that to me the organ is not specifically holy. And calling it the end all to church music is, to me, the same as calling Led Zepplin the end all to church music.
 
“SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM” (from Vatican II)
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**120. In the Latin Church the pipe organ is to be held in high esteem, for it is the traditional musical instrument which adds a wonderful splendor to the Church’s ceremonies and powerfully lifts up man’s mind to God and to higher things. **
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That means I’ll say organ!

**
 
Originally Posted by kmktexas
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Sorry Meggie but in these times that is no proof of anything. There is also Liturgical music written for Mass and contained in “approved” hymnals that sings … Sola Gracia is the only way to heaven.
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Sola Gracia (Grace Alone) is the only way into heaven.
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Sorry, I meant Solo Fide. :o
 
Pipe Organ. Not only does S.C. give it “pride of place” but no other instrument supports congregational singing the way it does. It really makes me want to sing along!
 
While heeding the words of Church documents is not a problem for me, I dare say that the use of pipe organs and Gregorian chant wouldn’t seem to be a matter of faith or morals. If that is the case, then it would not be completely unreasonable for someone to disagree about the inherent quality of pipe organs and Gregorian chant. Such things do change, as shown by fact that now pianos are allowed for use in the Liturgy though they were prohibited a century ago. These sorts of changes do not occur because the Church is wishy washy but because it recognizes that the context surrounding these things has changed.

I think that we are free to disagree with the proper authorities on whether organs are excellent (I don’t - I consider the organ to be a marvellous instrument) but what we are not free to do is to refuse to submit to the pastoral judgments of the Church leadership. Though I am a piano player, were the Church to again prohibit its use for the Liturgy, I would cease to use it even if I disagree with the reasons for the prohibition.
 
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Prometheum_x:
While heeding the words of Church documents is not a problem for me, I dare say that the use of pipe organs and Gregorian chant wouldn’t seem to be a matter of faith or morals. If that is the case, then it would not be completely unreasonable for someone to disagree about the inherent quality of pipe organs and Gregorian chant. Such things do change, as shown by fact that now pianos are allowed for use in the Liturgy though they were prohibited a century ago. These sorts of changes do not occur because the Church is wishy washy but because it recognizes that the context surrounding these things has changed.

I think that we are free to disagree with the proper authorities on whether organs are excellent (I don’t - I consider the organ to be a marvellous instrument) but what we are not free to do is to refuse to submit to the pastoral judgments of the Church leadership. Though I am a piano player, were the Church to again prohibit its use for the Liturgy, I would cease to use it even if I disagree with the reasons for the prohibition.
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Fair enough. And well said.
 
GO POLKA!!!
Just joking.
I’ve only ever heard
piano
organ
string assembly
guitars
trumpet
 
Definitely the organ; never hear enough of it. The clarinet accompanied with a flute. I’m biased since I play the clarinet and find it to be a wonderful instrument for my little self.😃
 
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mgy100:
GO POLKA!!!
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Would you believe that when I started my job as the music director of a parish several years ago, I actually found (while going through the left-behinds of my predecessor) an LP recording of a POLKA MASS??? :bigyikes: Of course, we didn’t have a record player, so I never got to hear it, but it certainly made me laugh - I always wanted to frame it for my office wall.
 
Genesis315 said:
“SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM” (from Vatican II)
That means I’ll say organ!
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You obviously never heard the organist at our Parish. What she does to a song can only be termed as Capital Murder. Yet, what is interesting is that the two individuals who utilize stringed instruments at the 11:30 am Mass twice a month play music which is meditative and not the normally considered bee-bop type of music.

Of course, the paid organist is Protestant by profession and has played a few songs prior to Mass from her theological background.

Thus, this brings us to the real question. Does the instrument really matter or is it a matter of spirituality?
 
I like Gregorian chant- if it’s done well (which is more difficult to do than music written in modern notation). I also like traditional hymns played on the organ (or piano, or classical guitar, if a no one can find a good organist) if they are played at a fast enough tempo, but the choir/cantor has to sing it like they mean what they are singing. I like it when the choir sings traditional sacred polyphony- once again, like they mean what they are singing. A chamber orchestra would be nice too.
 
I picked the first five choices. The only reason I did not choose the last one is that I do not believe drums are appropriate.

In my previous parish, we would often have instruments other than the usual organ, piano, and guitars.

In fact, we had a youth/teen group that included a flute, clarinet, violin, and cello. All of the instruments were played by teens and they were very accomplished musicians.

PF
 
I voted “piano & organ” only because there was no “organ only” option. I don’t like when the piano is used. I prefer just the organ.
 
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