Tambourine At Mass?

  • Thread starter Thread starter BlyssfulDreamer
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
B

BlyssfulDreamer

Guest
I usually attend the Saturday Vigil Mass at my parish and now I know why. For some reason, there is alot of difference between Sunday morning Mass and the music of Saturday evening. I cannot understand why this would be the case.

The entrance hymn this morning really jolted me…by the sounds of a shaking tambourine.:eek: The rest of the music was about as bad…from strumming guitars…to awful “renditions” of “Lamb Of God” that no one could keep up with.

I guess I wonder what is happening to the beautiful organ, piano music of yesteryear. Surely, I am not the only one who feels out of place with this music. I may be in the minority…maybe it is just my personal preference…but…:confused: is it worse other places?

:heart:Blyss
 
You’re in good company, actually, and it’s not just Catholic churches, but also protestant ones that are going comtemporary. 😦 There’s several threads that pop up like that from time to time.
 
We have a lot of spanish masses, and some bi-lingual masses at our parish. I’ve never been to a spanish mass, but at a bi-lingual mass the sanctus bells were replaced with some kind of stick-rubbing-on-washboard sort of sound. Never heard it before or since. I’m assuming it wasn’t an accident.
 
Unfortunately there is really not much one can do except speak to the pastor and hope he is willing to listen and can actually do something about the music. Some pastors have surprisingly little influence over what goes on in their parish.

But I definately feel your pain. I had a huge smoking pile of Haagen/Haas/Schutte dumped on me today…:mad:
 
Some churches are adding other instuments such as bells, percussion, even trumpets…I prefer just the organ.
 
There’s only one Mass here that has tamborines and I avoid it at all cost. There’s just something about percussion at Mass that gets me all upset.
 
Tambourine at Mass - rarely ever necessary

I do like a trumpet for special occasions and definitely violin and cello for Easter or Christmas. The organ is the premier instrument of the church we agree. But some of the most moving songs I’ve ever heard were simple tunes picked quietly on guitar with beautiful 3 and 4 parts (not barber shop) but more polyphonic type ballads.
 
It all boils down to a matter of taste.

Heck, the Psalms say to praise the Lord with stringed instruments and timbrels, a form of a cymbal.

At one Mass, we have a organist with a choir. The problem is, the organist can’t sing in the normal tuning of A440. She has to turn the organ up one step. As a result, the majority of the males in the congregation can’t sing the hymns.

So, organ music isn’t always so good either.

Jim
 
ricmat said:
We have a lot of spanish masses, and some bi-lingual masses at our parish. I’ve never been to a spanish mass, but at a bi-lingual mass the sanctus bells were replaced with some kind of stick-rubbing-on-washboard sort of sound. Never heard it before or since. I’m assuming it wasn’t an accident.
Click to expand...
That wasn’t on Holy Thursday was it? (traditionally, wooden clappers are used instead of Sanctus bells on Holy Thursday- that is a legitimate custom).
 
BlyssfulDreamer said:
I guess I wonder what is happening to the beautiful organ, piano music of yesteryear. Surely, I am not the only one who feels out of place with this music. I may be in the minority…maybe it is just my personal preference…but…:confused: is it worse other places?
Click to expand...
I don’t like this kind of music either, but not everybody feels the same way. I’m sorry- some people just can’t get into Holy God we Praise Thy Name. People need to be firmly grounded in their Catholic faith, but there is nothing wrong with being more charismatic. I would rather them be a more charismatic Catholic, than to leave the Church, or not have any enthusiasm for the faith. I would rather hear enthusiastic praise and worship music at Mass than hear traditional hymns done too slowly and without expression.
 
Oh no. I just bet after someone from my parish reads this we will have it too now.😦

I may as well be a Protestant.:mad:
 
JimR-OCDS said:
At one Mass, we have a organist with a choir. The problem is, the organist can’t sing in the normal tuning of A440. She has to turn the organ up one step. As a result, the majority of the males in the congregation can’t sing the hymns.
Click to expand...
There are notes that all 4 voice categories can sing (from about the Bb below middle C to the D an octave and a third above it). It shouldn’t be difficult to transpose the music into a key that all the notes fit within everybody’s range. I can’t think of any hymns that are too high (then again I can sing pretty high- I’m a tenor), but I know a good number of them that are too low…and they are all post-1965 hymns. It would be nice if composers of church music would stick to normal voice ranges, and realize that not everyone is a professional singer- and those who are may not be able to sing the part they are writing for (at least not without being loud and sounding like they are showing off).
 
Tambourines have their weak points. The head is notoriously prone to rupture when pressure is applied with a pair of scissors or an ice pick, and the jingles do not perform well when liquid epoxy is introduced between them. Also, if an x-acto saw is repeatedly drawn across the back side of a guitar’s neck, just above the body, a fascinating folding phenomenon may occur with excessively-enthusiastic strumming. Just some simple scientific observations.
 
In March of 1967, Pope Paul VI issued the Instruction Musicam Sacram (Sacred Music), which addressed this issue, as well as others. Paragraph 63 is quoted below:

"In permitting and using musical instruments, the culture and traditions of individual peoples must be taken into account. However, those instruments which are, by common opinion and use, suitable for secular music only, are to be altogether prohibited from every liturgical celebration and from popular devotions.

Any musical instrument permitted in divine worship should be used in such a way that it meets the needs of the liturgical celebration, and is in the interests both of the beauty of worship and the edification of the faithful."

Hope that helps.
 
m134e5 said:
That wasn’t on Holy Thursday was it? (traditionally, wooden clappers are used instead of Sanctus bells on Holy Thursday- that is a legitimate custom).
Click to expand...
Actually, it WAS on Holy Thursday. Thanks for pointing that out. I’d never heard the clappers before.
 
Almost very mass at my parish has a tamborine exept the 8:00 am mass. I hate it, I know it is against the rules so to speak but so are alot of things done at mass in this feel good era we live in. As for it being a matter of taste. Find me a majority of a parish where people prefer it. It is an abnoxious sixties instrament and is one of the reasons I don’t participate in the singing at mass. (the other being “contemarary Christian songs” that are played tha are usually not Catholic.
 
ltbpoe43 said:
Tambourine at Mass - rarely ever necessary

I do like a trumpet for special occasions and definitely violin and cello for Easter or Christmas. The organ is the premier instrument of the church we agree. But some of the most moving songs I’ve ever heard were simple tunes picked quietly on guitar with beautiful 3 and 4 parts (not barber shop) but more polyphonic type ballads.
Click to expand...
Dear ltbpoe43,

Might I respectively suggest that the music, for that matter, the entire celebration of the Mass, is not for us to be entertained. It is for the Thanksgiving and Adoration of GOD.

All my life I loved folk music and guitar music, just not in church.

God Bless

Matt
 
maciejk60 said:
Dear ltbpoe43,

Might I respectively suggest that the music, for that matter, the entire celebration of the Mass, is not for us to be entertained. It is for the Thanksgiving and Adoration of GOD.

All my life I loved folk music and guitar music, just not in church.

God Bless

Matt
Click to expand...
I like some rap, country, heavy metal and even a little polka. and some of these songs can praise God so should they be at Mass. You see, a tamborine and the music it brings with it envoke a pain in my head such as a electric guitar and an incomprihensible primordial scream would for you. Everyone has thier own tastes so maybe the Church should be uniform and consistent, ya know like the Church claims to be. While music is a matter of taste and we can praise God with all kinds. A reverence and historical Tradition should be held at Mass so that we may not get caught up in some Fad that a few people may enjoy… Lets not have the priest say peace out yo or the processional to disco out. Lets have some respect for ancient timeless music that adds to the mass and is practiced uniformly.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top