Musical Instruments in Mass

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I said already that I associated it with a specific style and so I thought it would be virtuosic, but I see now that that’s not always the case.
 
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VanitasVanitatum said:
I said already that I associated it with a specific style and so I thought it would be virtuosic, but I see now that that’s not always the case.
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Oh, sorry. For some reason my brain skipped that part of your answer. I’m not as good at multi-tasking as I used to be.
 
babochka said:
My left-handed, fiddle-playing son tells me that this statement is incorrect. He says that nstruments are all right-handed and lefties just have to learn to make awkward adjustments, thereby increasing their skill level.
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I, the amateur violinist, second this statement. With a violin/fiddle, in particular, the bowing is done with the right hand and fingering is done with the left. There is no reversing it for left handed violinists/fiddlers.
 
Fauken said:
My left-handed, fiddle-playing son tells me that this statement is incorrect. He says that nstruments are all right-handed and lefties just have to learn to make awkward adjustments, thereby increasing their skill level.
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You could have a violin made correctly in the opposite configuration. The Bass bar and sound post would be re-positioned and bridge cut to make it work. Minimally, that would be the equivalent of how they do the LH guitars.

But it is my experience that Violin makers are more traditional purists than guitar makers and would probably never entertain the idea unless you begged them and paid them a lot…
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JButky said:
You could have a violin made correctly in the opposite configuration. The Bass bar and sound post would be re-positioned and bridge cut to make it work. Minimally, that would be the equivalent of how they do the LH guitars.

But it is my experience that Violin makers are more traditional purists than guitar makers and would probably never entertain the idea unles
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I didn’t say it couldn’t be done, I said it isn’t done.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
Personally, I find pianos and guitars in church to be jarring,
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I’m with you. I have a serious aversion to guitars in general, thanks to 4 older siblings who never stopped playing them when living at home. And the piano has a poor connotation for me as well. The church I attended for over two decades had only piano accompaniment and the primary player had only one touch on the keys; heavy. She pounded out those hymns as though they were being played for people several blocks away. Couple that with hymns that were weak and less than uplifting and I grew to hate the song service.
 
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So according to some of the arguments presented in this thread, the Chinese and Japanese dare not use their cultural instruments in Mass. They must only use the organ.

People would have melt downs seeing what Catholics in Africa use for instruments.

Jim
 
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CRV said:
You say despise, I said dislike. There’s a big difference between them.
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I agree, and in my original longer post, I was speaking to snarflemike, who did use the word “despise.”

I had my “despised instrument” in quotes, but I was not quoting you. My apologies for the confusing! When we are not talking in circle face to face, it gets hard to keep track of everytone!
 
Thank you for being gracious. I agree, sometimes it does get confusing as to whom a comment is directed, or from whom a quote is taken.
 
Beryllos said:
I would love to hear a well-played accordion at Mass. Proponents of the organ point to its alleged similarity to the human voice, and I think the accordion, with the right technique, could be similar to the voice.
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Yes, we have an accordionist in our American Guild of Organists local chapter. She is a champion accordionist in her own country, and can play a lot of pieces other than polkas! It’s amazing what a well-played accordion can sound like playing a classical piece!
 
Everyone, for over a decade I have chaired a youth music competition in our city that is open to a dozen counties in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin.

Due to my work with competition, I have gotten to know a lot of music teachers at all levels, from moms teaching their own children to church musicians who teach children from their churches to college professors who only accept gifted students. I know teachers who use Suzuki teaching methods, and teachers who despise Suzuki. I know teachers who are in jazz and rock bands, and teachers who are concert pianists and are have an agency who books their tours.

Friends on CAF, based on what these teachers are telling me, I think those of us in the Midwest should prepare for a drought of musicians in our parishes and also in your Protestant churches.

The competition has about half the participants it had just ten years ago, and all the teachers tell me that they have students who start out eager to learn, but quit after only a year or so because “it’s just too hard.”

Their parents aren’t willing to allow their child to suffer a little and struggle with the hard stuff, and also, the parents are happy to keep the money that they are spending on music lessons, and happy not to have to drive the child to the lessons and then sit outside the studio waiting for the lesson to be over.

So get ready for lots more a capella Masses, which will thrill all of you who like simple chant in Masses!

I have to say that I hope this situation changes, but I have little hope that children will start getting interested in practicing and playing. Even if they do get interested, I’m not sure that their fingers will be able to unbend from texting and playing video games. :roll_eyes:
 
I’ve heard of “Lifeteen” but has anyone ever made a “Death Metal” setting for the Ordinary Form Mass? Am I going to have to be the one to do it?
 
I have been known to hit a high H# when poked.

More seriously, as was pointed out, it’s not the instrument per say, but rather who is preforming that instrument.
 
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