Music at Mass

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I said any music is fine with me, traditional or modern, but I will add a caveat - it has to be appropriate. Some modern choices are not appropriate, imho.
 
I said any music but I have to add - as long as it is not sung in a folk style with the melody obscured by screeching.
 
OK, I voted for Gregorian Chant and Traditional, but I would be satisfied with a balance. The way I see it, there are five types of Liturgical Music:
  1. Gregorian Chant, the official music of our church. Easy to sing but hard to teach and learn. Sounds funny when not sung in Latin (and to my ear sounds funny if it isn’t men singing)
  2. “Classical Liturgical Music” like Palestrina’s polyphonies and mass settings by serious classical composers. Nice every once in a while for a “special” Mass, but not well suited for every Sunday participation
  3. Traditional- like Adoremus Hymnal. Latin and English hymnody mostly from 18th, 19th, early 20th century and the best German and French hymns in translation. Familiar to most Catholics, Most is easy to sing. It isn’t always easy to match the hymn to the day’s readings. Its funny OCP and Gather lovers always talk about how the parish “loves” the music, but in my experience, a higher percent of the congregants in parishes with Adoremus are singing at Mass.
  4. “Folk” music, what I call Folk Music is traditional, some of them even from Protestant tradition (but with lyrics vetted doctrinally if there is a Nihil Obstat) music from England/and US from 19th or 20th Century, music from West Indies or South Africa Mexico or Navajo Nation, or elsewhere in the world. From Amazing Grace to Pan de Vida. Most of it is familiar, and most is easy to sing.
  5. Haagen-Haas- Post Vatican II US sacred music. Haugen, Haas, Joncas, etc. Most is very pretty, the same way the music in a shampoo ad on TV is pretty. Although most is very bland, it is also hard to sing, some of it is impossible to sing (for us ordinary folks in the pews not the choir-if they come to practice). But it is familiar AND it is usually VERY EASY to match these songs to the readings of the day. For all our complaints, most of it is pretty scriptural in my opinion.
    So I really wish our parish had a balance of 1,3,4,5, or even 3,4,5. Instead we get about 70% Haagen Haas, 10% or less Folk, and 20% Traditional.
 
I’m not really sure how to vote because I’m sort’ve in the middle. I don’t really like the sound of Latin that much, so I’d PREFER not to sing in Latin ducks under rock now. However, since Gregorian chant and Latin is the official music and language of the Church, it should be used. But actually, I wouldn’t have problem with music just being traditional English hymns.
 
All music is fine. If you listen to most parishes, the tone does change during the year so it often goes from more modern to traditional depending on the season.
 
no one sang Gregorian chant in our area, so we started a schola…

www.brazoschant.org

It’s not too hard to do, as long as you have some musical talent and the devotion to sacred music.
 
I said any, but really I mean PLEASE BOTH.

I LOVE the Latin stuff, in moderation. Gregorian Chant is beautiful.

So is a lot of the contemporary music, and I have found that a lot of people have an easier time participating and picking up the tune or contemporary things than the Latin Chants.

Balance is the key. Balance.

And of course appropriatness.

Pax Christi,
Esther
 
Gregorian chant…all the way. 🙂

If you can’t have Gregorian chant then traditional hymns will go (hopefully with an Organ).
 
I say Gregorian Chant.

It is the Church’s music and She is proud of it. According to Bishop Sheen.
 
I am aware of our profound musical heritage as Catholics. We need to sing hymns as Catholics. So much of our musical heritage got chunked out in 1969.
 
I see I’m the only one who prefers a quiet low mass to a solemn high mass 😛
 
It would be good to use our vast sacred music library from Gregorian chant and music from all of the centuries up to today. The music composition and the text must be equal or close to equality. If the music does not match the beauty of a perfect or appropriate text, it isn’t good enough for me in my personal devotion to God. I believe in striving for perfection even if we’ll never reach it. But I’m not the type who can be content with the status quo if I know that more can be done. If their best is already achieved, then that’s fine, though.

I have nothing against “modern” sacred music, when it is composed well and equal to the genius of the best of our heritage throughout the centuries. There is music out there today which is equal to that. Unfortunately, because it is music of the “now”, we are getting a full-blown bombardment of garbage along with the gems. So, time will tell what will truly stay in the garbage and what will continue on in our sacred music heritage.

There is also good, “modern” music written in secular forms. It’s fine outside of mass, but many are not appropriate for during mass IMO. For centuries there was always secular and popular music in the forms of the time, but was not used for mass. (I collected a bunch of cds which recorded “pop” music from various times and the styles are different from what you would have heard during mass. When something of that sort made it’s way into mass, it was thrown out or severely critiqued to make sure that it was in all ways appropriate. Or genius composers were able to take a popular melody and tone it down so that it lost the secular stylized aspects of the original. It became “higher” in style, not in a condescending way, but the composer was able to lift it closer to the angels by way of his/her abilities. So, there may be some modern religious/sacred music taken from a secular form that could stand the test of time if the composer is talented enough to do what others before him/her has done.
 
NewUlm1976_2000 said:
All music is fine. If you listen to most parishes, the tone does change during the year so it often goes from more modern to traditional depending on the season.
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All music is not fine. Have you not read what the Holy Father said in Sacramentum Caritatis? He writes the following:
Liturgical song
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  1. In the ars celebrandi, liturgical song has a pre-eminent place. (126) Saint Augustine rightly says in a famous sermon that “the new man sings a new song. Singing is an expression of joy and, if we consider the matter, an expression of love” (127). The People of God assembled for the liturgy sings the praises of God. In the course of her two-thousand-year history, the Church has created, and still creates, music and songs which represent a rich patrimony of faith and love. This heritage must not be lost. ***Certainly as far as the liturgy is concerned, we cannot say that one song is as good as another. Generic improvisation or the introduction of musical genres which fail to respect the meaning of the liturgy should be avoided. As an element of the liturgy, song should be well integrated into the overall celebration (128). Consequently everything – texts, music, execution – ought to correspond to the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, the structure of the rite and the liturgical seasons (129). ***Finally, while respecting various styles and different and highly praiseworthy traditions, I desire, in accordance with the request advanced by the Synod Fathers, that Gregorian chant be suitably esteemed and employed (130) as the chant proper to the Roman liturgy (131).
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The Holy Father has made it crystal clear what liturgical music should be like. Making blanket statements such as the one you made only add to the confusion. I have asked you this in previous threads, but, as you did not respond, I pose the question once more. Have you read any of the Holy Father’s writings (inclusive of his pre-papal books on the liturgy)? He is very direct in this matter. What he has written as Cardinal Ratzinger is now slowly coming ot pass as Pope Benedict XVI.

Please do not take this as disrespectful; however, in many threads (on similar subjects), you make several blanket statements that often prove confusing. I mean you no harm, but, the question remains: have you read the documents?
 
I voted for the first, only because it is the closest to what I think. I do not agree with the word “any” though. My preference is for older hymns.
 
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