Is there anyone that actually likes the guitar at Mass?

[Light_Seeker]

You said that so much better than I did my long post. (Sorry, I’m always too verbose!!! ) I totally agree with you. It would also be interesting to hear an accomplished lute player for a mass some time. The Beauty of it!

And I totally agree with yours! We posted seconds apart, otherwise I would have commented.

Like yourself, I was a trained professional. Key word is was, otherwise I would volunteer in a nanosecond to assist our music director. But I haven’t played in 20 or 30 years, so I know my musicianship would be nothing better than the kumbayah

Around Easter this year our parish had the privilege of the Chrism Mass being celebrated with our ArchBishop, who brought along the Diocese Choir & several musicians. Our music director accompanied them, a truly gifted organist/pianist. Violins, cellos, pianos & organs, flute & oboe, along with a professional grade choir!

The mass was truly beautiful. But the music moved me to tears.

 

[childofmary1143]

I think I’m about as conservative as they come, with one exception. I HATE organ music. I actually like Masses with no music or where they have guitars, pianos & other instruments.

Organ music reminds me of funerals. And there is usually only a sorprano screeching along with the organist. If you are going to play the organ, I think you need a full fledged choir, with all three octaves to accompany it.

I guess I would like to ask you how organ music can remind you of funerals. Usually organ is played at most Sunday Masses, which would GREATLY outnumber any amount of Funeral Masses.

I personally don’t mind acoustic guitars but I absolutely detest electric guitars and drums. One parish I used to go to had 3 electric guitar, a bass guitar, bongo drums, full set of drums and the organist playing on an electric keyboard COULD NOT BE HEARD at all due to the loudness of the other musical instruments.

 

[wanner47]

I love the guitar at Mass. I’m always reminded of the story of “Silent Night,” and how the reason it was written was because the organ had broken and the priest needed a simple song he could play in his guitar for Midnight Mass.

 

[Jane_K]

I think I’m about as conservative as they come, with one exception. I HATE organ music. I actually like Masses with no music or where they have guitars, pianos & other instruments.

Organ music reminds me of funerals. And there is usually only a sorprano screeching along with the organist. If you are going to play the organ, I think you need a full fledged choir, with all three octaves to accompany it.

Well, I can see from the other responses that I will be in a minority on this! My answer to your question is that, in general, the people who seem to really like guitar music at Mass are the ones playing it.
I grew up with folk music and love it–but not at Church. I think the essence of the problem for most folks is two-fold. First, “folk” music is being played on the organ and most of what passes for folk music now is, musically, pretty poor in quality to start with. The second reason is connected to the first: good, traditional Church music (polyphony, Gregorian chant, etc.) is so “out of vogue” that most of us who suggest that it would be good to use are reviled in rather un-Christian fashion. I would guess that its poor use, rather than its use in general, is why you dislike the organ. But give me an organ anytime to drown out whatever screeching soprano (besides me at times) there happens to be! It also makes following an unfamiliar tune easier.
Pax Domini!

 

[quiet52]

I guess I would like to ask you how organ music can remind you of funerals. Usually organ is played at most Sunday Masses, which would GREATLY outnumber any amount of Funeral Masses.

I personally don’t mind acoustic guitars but I absolutely detest electric guitars and drums. One parish I used to go to had 3 electric guitar, a bass guitar, bongo drums, full set of drums and the organist playing on an electric keyboard COULD NOT BE HEARD at all due to the loudness of the other musical instruments.

I don’t know that organs are “usually” used – I guess it depends on whether there’s an organ, and an organist willing & able to play it. I truly don’t mind any instrument, if the music doesn’t overwhelm the singing or distract from worship. In my parish, however, when the organ is played, it frequently drowns out the voices and thus is a distraction to me. When we sing, the instruments should help us to sing, and facilitate worship in a humble way – not take center stage.

I’ve heard so many people who hold any instrument used in worship, other than the organ, in disdain – who truly believe organ music is superior. But in how many areas of the world are organs not even part of the culture … or even practical or affordable? And in scripture we read several references to musical instruments in general and about several instruments specifically used to praise God … trumpets (mentioned over 100 times), harps (mentioned over 50 times), sistrums (cornets), flutes, dulcimers and tabrets (though I don’t know what dulcimers and tabrets are), tambourines (timbrels) pipes, lyres, cymbals, psalteries (like a guitar), ram’s horns, trumpets, viols, and others. I can’t remember offhand which NT verse(s) which tell us musical instruments are played even in heaven.

How many Christmas cards do we see with angels heralding the Savior’s birth with trumpets? The gospel of Luke might not specifically mention trumpets, but tradition seems to hold that trumpets were used by the heavenly hosts to help proclaim Jesus’ birth.

Here’s an interesting verse – in 1 Chronicles, when King David, nearing death, gathered Israel’s leaders and instructed them to build the temple under the next king, Solomon:
*“Of these, twenty-four thousand were to direct the service of the house of the Lord, six thousand were to be officials and judges, four thousand were to be gatekeepers, and four thousand were to praise the Lord with the instruments which David had devised for praise” (verses 4-5). * Wow – 4,000.

 

[BobP123]

It’s really a shame so many dislike the organ. Wasn’t it Vatican II that tried to hold it in high esteem? Now you can find the best organs and organists mostly in the Protestant churches.

Hey, I like Peter, Paul, and Mary type stuff too, but not in Church while I’m trying to pray, please!

 

[ncjohn]

I’m not personally excited by “folk” type guitar music at Mass, though I have no problem with people whose preference leans that way as long as the songs are reverent.

Our parish has two classicly-trained guitarists, and their renditions of the music are beautiful to behold. They do also use a keyboard, and when used it is also beautifully done.

I enjoy the organ for the older hymns that are more suited to the organ, but most of the contemporary music is not well-suited to organ, and writing of music for organ doesn’t much seem to be happening. When parishes then choose to totally ignore the older hymns though, I think there is a great loss.

So, yes, I enjoy well-done guitar music at Mass, and that can even include electric guitar if the Mass is aimed at a group more likely to hear God from that direction. I don’t like if it is the exclusive insrument used at a parish though.

Peace,

 

[davy39]

I can tolerate guitars, which a lot of the time are severly out of tune, but my first love is well-played organ music. I would love to learn to play one, but I’m too old to start. At our parish, and a neighboring parish, the organists are excellant, but at St. Marys in another part of the county it sound like a cross between the Munsters and the Addams family. Not very enjoyable, but if I comment to my wife about the playing she says “Can you do any better?” Of course, the answer is no. She likes guitar music.

 

[tom.wineman]

What difference does it make when the " music" is from an Oregon Catholic Press song book

 

[Ruthmary]

I loved the organ when I was growing up and have wondered why people don’t like it. Reading the posts here have helped me realize that having an accomplished organist does make a difference and that in my childhood we always had sisters playing who devoted their lives to music. I took piano lessons from a couple of those sisters. (I’m one of those who wish they hadn’t quit). One more reason to lament the loss of the large congregations of sisters in parishes which we used to have. I was so used to large convents of 30 or so sisters in the parishes where I was, and I realize now that I didn’t appreciate them.:crying: I do hope that some day our parishes will once again be blessed with these dedicated women. But then that’s getting off onto another subject to which a whole thread should be devoted.

The long and the short of it is that I’m sure that if congregations were to hear the organ played devotionally by someone who could play well that it would make a comeback. I do hope so. I miss it.

Bless you all,
Ruth

 

[Nagoda]

My dad plays guitar in the choir at our church (my mom is choir director) and i think the guitar is great at mass. organ if done well, works, but most of the time i just hear what sounds like really depressing funeral dirges.

I also play steel guitar (lap steel) and on christmas and easter mass i get to “slide in” literally with my folks and play along. you have no idea how good blues licks sound during joy to the world as the recessional hymn

both my priest and the congregation have enjoyed my playing both times and people from the congregation have come up and thanked me afterwards

im just glad to be making music for god

in short, guitar just makes mass better in my opinion

 

[pprimeau1976]

I think that the guitarists in Church should be classical guitarists.

If guitarists could play like Christopher Parkening, I would love it. But, if many insist on playing like Pete Seger, they leave much to be desired.

 

[Sarabande]

The long and the short of it is that I’m sure that if congregations were to hear the organ played devotionally by someone who could play well that it would make a comeback.

I fully agree with you on that. When we have visitors from other parts of the country/diocese come to our cathedral, many are amazed at how beautiful and inspiring the sounds of the organ is. Although our organist is very humble and doesn’t like it when people applaud after his postlude at the end of the mass (applause breaks the end of the prayer), it happens almost every week. I think it has to do with the fact that many of those people come from parishes where they either never hear the organ, have a toaster organ, or have a poorly trained organist, so when they hear a real pipe organ handled with the utmost musicianship and ability, they are caught off-guard and are in total awe and need to do something to show their appreciation. Perhaps some people may not believe me with this, but I see it happen almost weekly and our congregation is mostly visitors from many areas which can fill up the cathedral fairly well. I watch their faces and they are in sheer awe and joy. The children, especially, love the sound of that organ.

So, yes, I totally agree that it really depends on the musicianship and the organ itself - as it does with any other instrument or musician.

 

[cecilia97]

I think I’m about as conservative as they come, with one exception. I HATE organ music. I actually like Masses with no music or where they have guitars, pianos & other instruments.

Organ music reminds me of funerals. And there is usually only a sorprano screeching along with the organist. If you are going to play the organ, I think you need a full fledged choir, with all three octaves to accompany it.

I’m up for just about any kind of music at Mass. And I’ll say this…a mariachi Mass is a WHOLE different kind of religious experience!

 

[Aramis]

My preference is for Organ or Guitar. Two very different styles, but both quite pleasant to my ear.

I don’t mind the addition of small string and brass sections to a large choir, especially for the big feasts, but it’s not something that is done well consistently without professionals.

I think the old prohibition on the Piano-forte (now commonly called the Piano) should be returned… I hate that instrument, for both its intrusive and percussive sound, and the common practice of pianists to play louder just because the space is large, and make it hard to pray before and after the mass.

Actually, my prime preference is for a capella una voce unison. (no instruments, and no harmony.)

 

[He_Man]

Well-played guitar I can stand. Drums have to go though. I feel like I am either on the set of Hee Haw or filming a Ratt video, and can’t even hear myself praying.

Again, talent level goes a long way, but I cannot stand when the folk groups at certain masses use Mass as an opporunity to try out their new ditty, and expect applause or adulation afterwards, as though it was a mini-concert.

I didn’t come for them, I came for Jesus.

 

[maryj]

I confess I really am not that fond of the organ.

Actually I think the organ sounds quite magnificent in old stone, brick, or plaster churches. But I live in California where such churches are a rarity.

I’m always reading here in the forums of people lamenting the removal of high altars, communion rails, and choir lofts. Where do people live that the churches are old enough to have ever had such features in the first place? Do most people here actually attend Mass in pre-Vatican II buildings?

And it is a beauty. Opened in 1937, it is a concecrated church, named the Blessed Sacrament. We also have a smaller church which also has a choir loft, an organ and dates in the early 20’s. We are in the process of finishing the new school that is attached to the old school, which is attached to the church. Our organists and cantors are truly blessed by God to have such amazing talents. We’ve got hundreds of catholic churches just like this in minnesota, we’re very lucky.

 

[Cat]

Aramis, could you please post the link to the document in which the Catholic Church banned the piano?

While I was recovering from my surgery this spring and summer, I read several histories of Catholic Church music, most of which were written before Vatican II. I don’t recall reading about the ban on piano.

Thanks.

 

[CarolAnnSFO]

I like the guitar, but absolutely loathe the strummed, so-called “folk” music that is sometimes played in church (not my church, thankfully).

Some songs sound beautiful with the piano, and every now and then I hear a song that I think would sound great with a cello and a harp.

My favorite, however, is the pipe organ. I may be biased, as I sing in the traditional choir. For Masses at Christmas or Easter, we may also have a brass section, flute, and timpani. At the Masses where the childrens’ choirs join us, we may have the childrens’ handbell choir (hand chimes, actually).

I’m always reading here in the forums of people lamenting the removal of high altars, communion rails, and choir lofts. Where do people live that the churches are old enough to have ever had such features in the first place? Do most people here actually attend Mass in pre-Vatican II buildings?

In this part of the country, we live in the city – in the neighborhoods that the more upwardly-mobile people moved away from a long time ago. My church building is over 100 years old, and very beautiful (and the parish is very active, with people of all ages).

 

[Light_Seeker]

Aramis, could you please post the link to the document in which the Catholic Church banned the piano?

I wondered about this also after Aramis posted … so I searched.

The Tra le Sollecitudini (Instruction on Sacred Music) :

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.

Thanks Aramis !