Should we retun to Folk music at the Mass!

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Regarding with DignumEtJustum, it will come to pass when we continue to ‘see’ Mary working in the Church!
 
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It’s not a conspiracy. It’s business. Then again we could classify lots of business activity as a conspiracy.
 
That is stunning. I sang O Magnum Mysterium with my college choir but it was by Victoria. It’s also a lovely rendition. Check it out here. When singing in a choir, making music with other people, it’s impossible to deny the existence and majesty of God.
 
I’m a classicly trained guitarist. Last year, I saw a need at my parish and I met with the liturgist and the head priest and offered to fill that need. I’ve been leading the music for the 7:30am mass ever since. Linked is how I approach the hymns. You guys tell me if what I’m doing is appropriate:
 
The guitar is not my cup of tea, and I personally would find this piece distracting while trying to pray and meditate during Mass. Forgive me, but while your playing is excellent and I admire your art, I find the guitar too cold and too bland to appreciate. (In fact, the same applies to the piano, which I additionally find to be too mechanical-sounding. And after all: the best guitar music is really just an abbreviated form of what the piano attempts to accomplish. But I am a violinist, and so that will color my appreciation of music.)

But on the other hand, this comes a long way towards reverence, and your parish is very fortunate to have such tasteful music. And again: an excellent performance, bravo.
 
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If guitar must be heard in Mass, I couldn’t object to this compared to the guitar music in Mass I’m used to. Actually, accompanying the organ this would be wonderful.
 
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It is beautiful and appropriate, anyone telling you otherwise is completely ignoring the directives of the church in favor of older proclamations that are not doctrine.
 
I don’t approach it that much differently than an organist would, save for the inherent limitations I have in range. The 7:30 mass at my parish prefers things kind of subdued. What I do suits them.
 
Hi @kmaaj,

I found your playing to be very mellow while I was listening to it, so if you’re going for subdued at Mass, then I think that you’re on the right track. 🙂

It put me in a contemplative state of mind, where I was thinking of the hymn that you were playing, and what it meant.
 
The church I attend has beautiful Gregorian chant sung by a few women very reverently. It really has a way of lifting someone up to God.
I also appreciate the Benedictine of Mary, Queen of the Apostles. Their singing never fails to make me tear up.
 
Really? I’m actually thinking if joining them. They’re my top choice at the moment.
 
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misstherese said:
Really? I’m actually thinking if joining them. They’re my top choice at the moment.
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My Spiritual Director gave my a copy of one of their CDs for Christmas last year. He gets all his vestments made there too and they are gorgeous. If I am so blessed to be ordained as a Deacon in a few years I would love to have at least one dalmatic that is that beautiful. It seems everything they do exudes beauty and I can only attribute it to a deep love of God.

I will be praying for you as you discern if that is where God is calling you.
 
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Fuerza said:
I’m probably considered an extremist in this regard, but I think that the organ should be the only instrument permitted in the Mass (with possibly some reasonable exceptions for weddings and an occasional orchestral Mass).
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I don’t know. I’m thinking about small churches without an organ. A guitar can play lots of stuff besides folk and pop. There’s a centuries-long tradition of music either written for or transposed for the guitar.
 
Exactly. I had a talented conductor transpose Pachabel’s Cannon for our small band. There was an oboe, two guitars, a violin, and a viola. It was amazingly beautiful. Not a religious piece, but clear proof that the guitar can pull off great things in the hands of a good composer.
 
I think that churches without an organ should focus on the unaccompanied human voice. I like the organ, but it is not necessary for any of the chants of the ordinary or the propers. I’m not basing my opinions solely on tradition. I have yet to hear a hymn played on a guitar that sounded good.
 
Fuerza said:
I think that churches without an organ should focus on the unaccompanied human voice. I like the organ, but it is not necessary for any of the chants of the ordinary or the propers. I’m not basing my opinions solely on tradition. I have yet to hear a hymn played on a guitar that sounded good.
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I’ve heard lots. The piece posted above by kmaaj is lovely. And, in a non-classical tradition, check out the legendary fingerstyle guitarist John Fahey playing “In Christ There Is No East or West.” Beautiful. kmaaj, I think you’d like it. You can find it on YouTube.

And thinking more about this, what about churches outside of Europe and the US and the West in general? Should not African churches have music in traditions more familiar to African ears? And Indian Catholics, and Chinese Catholics, etc.
 
I was a huge Leo Kottke fan in my youth, and he was the first to motivate me to use my fingers as opposed to a pick. Of course, Leo had always pointed to Fahey as his main inspiration
 
So let’s try something a bit different…here, I took the melody for Tantum Ergo, played around with it in DAdgad tuning (it don’t get any more “folk” than that!!!), and I -shamelessly- let my (acoustic) Jimmy Page influence creep in, and I approached this timeless adoration hymn in an unapologetically folksy fashion. Have a listen, and tell me what you think:
 
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