Do you think it is likely that the reasons why the drums, bass, and guitar sound out of tune is because the people playing them aren’t skilled? In certain evangelical Protestant churches, especially the megachurches, these instruments are used and they are quite nice to hear–because the people playing them are professional musicians, or at the least, very talented amateurs.
ANY instrument, including the pipe organ, sounds distorted when it is badly played. After the last few months at our parish, I can testify to that! There are times I wish the family that donated the million dollar pipe organ would come forward and say, “LOCK THE ORGAN NOW, please!”
Another very good possibility as to why the various instruments sound “distorted” is that there is no sound tech to modulate the sound. Growing up in the Conference Baptist churches, I always saw a “sound man,” even way back in the early 1960s! We had a sound booth, and the various microphones and instruments (piano and organ, and the occasional violin or trumpet) were hooked up, and the sound man modulated everything so that everyone could hear and nothing sounded too loud or “distorted.”
My husband was the “sound man” in his childhood church.
I’ve NEVER seen a sound man in any Catholic parish I’ve visited. I’ve seen incredibly ancient and inadequate sound systems–most of us have better sound systems on our home stereos!–and an usher will occasionally crank the volume up or turn it down. He usually doesn’t know what any of the other buttons are. But I’ve never seen anyone run the sound throughout the Mass. It would be very helpful, IMO. It’s often difficult for someone who plays an electronic instrument (including the keyboards that are present in so many Catholic parishes instead of pianos or organs) to know how loud or soft they are–that’s another thing I haven’t seen–headphones for the instrumentalists.
I know, some of you are cringing in horror, because you believe that these modern things are devilish. Well, they’re not. They help people to HEAR, and the Bible says that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. In the TLM, it didn’t matter if the people could hear. But in the OF, it matters very much. That’s the whole point of the OF–the active participation of the people in the work of the Mass. If we can’t hear, we may as well go back to the TLM, or at least some of the practices (priest with his back to the peope) that were done in the TLM.
One more comment about drums and guitars–I think that all too often, Catholic buildings were not designed to accomodate this kind of music, so yes, it sounds distorted. Perhaps for this reason, rock music is not an appropriate style for many Catholic churches, unless it is light rock played solely on a piano and perhaps an acoustic guitar.
At the risk of sounding like a temptress luring people away from the True Church, I would suggest that Catholic music directors visit local Protestant churches and observe how they do their music–the physical set-up, the building itself, the balance, the sound system, and the age and talent level of the musicians, how the song leader or praise group “leads” the congregation, and level of participation by the congregation. Yes, you’ll find a lot of “geezer praise groups!” Some of these are very good, others…
. But in these visits, you’ll learn things that may help you if want to incorporate any contemporary music into the Mass. You don’t have to listen to the Protestant teachings and become all disillusioned by Catholicism! If it’s THAT easy for you to lose your Catholic faith, I’d say your Catholic faith is in trouble! Just go to study the music. TV doesn’t count.
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At my parish people have been asking why we don’t add drums or bass or anything else other than guitars and the piano. And I simply say it’s not permitted and they get bothered and say it will help people come more to church and I tell them I’d rather have people who are serious about church and love simple sung music than distorted music and people coming because the music sounds good.