Thoughts on drums in mass?

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The timpani beginning O God Beyond All Praising is quite magnificent. The timpani is always used at ordinations
 
I agree. Obviously the issue others have pertains to the drum set, but they fail to differentiate between the two.

Again, I do prefer an organ and cantor or Schola Cantorum, but the use of drums and/or guitars was approved by, out of anyone, Archbishop Sample, for use in US dioceses. And if Archbishop Sample, who is adamantly traditional, can approve OCP publications, then I’m fairly certain that when used to supplement a well organized liturgy, these pieces do well at glorifying the lord.

It is important to separate personal preference from degrading the holiness of the sacrifice. Many people do prefer this type of music, and believe it to be just as holy as any other mass.
 
At my previous parish we had drums and they worked beautifully. They were played just right and when a “pepped up” hymn came along they added the right touch.
 
Usige said:
There are hymns by St Francis of Assisi, St Thomas Aquinas, Palestrina, Thomas Tallis, scores upon scores of plain chant and Gregorian chant.
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Not to mention the Tonus Pellegrinus to which the Hallel was sung in the first century, probably at the last supper, and which survived into the music of Holy Wek until Vatican 2.

By the way the Orthodox regard it as demeaning to the liturgy to use anything other than the human voice
 
I’ll start by saying that I listen to pop Christian music all the time in the car. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with it. However, I don’t believe drums belong at Mass. I have a few reasons for this. I understand opinions on church music are very, very strong and that people will disagree with me.

Liturgy is our participation in the public work of God. Since liturgy is by nature public, it has a different set of requirements than private devotions. Gestures such as prostration which may be perfectly fine for private devotions may be inappropriate in public liturgy because they would be disruptive. So too music that uses drums may be perfectly fine in private, but inappropriate in liturgy because it is public.
  1. The liturgy invites. It does not coerce. God never forces us to do anything. Drums do. St. Pope JPII wrote the Theology of the Body on the premise that we can know a lot about God’s will for us by the way he constructed our material being. Our hearts beat in a steady rhythm. If they don’t we’re considered ill. Drums often introduce tempi or syncopation with a power that can disrupt our natural rhythms. Are we worshiping the God who made our steady heartbeats, or our own musical preferences?
  2. Sound has a physical effect on our ears. The attack/decay pattern of a percussive instrument is the aural equivalent of being punched in the face. The liturgy is dramatic. It should not be a physically violent experience.
  3. But, maybe you’re talking about the relatively unobtrusive sound of a brush on a high-hat? The pitch-nature of most percussion (excluding melodic percussion such as a xylophone or piano) is a disorganized sound. You can hear this most clearly in a snare drum: the snares are strung inside the drum head simply to produce a buzz. The word “liturgy” means “order.” Why should we introduce a disorganized sound into our orderly worship of a God of order?
And for me, that’s the crux of it. Drums don’t serve the liturgy. They serve the music they’re supporting, sure. They may serve the devotional or emotional preferences of some or most people in the congregation. But they do not serve the liturgy itself; therefore, I don’t believe they belong there.

This is a broad statement. FWIW, I think there can be exceptions, but for me they would be limited to exceptional feasts. A gong at Tenebrae can be wonderful… but that’s an awfully big expense when a dropped Missal has an effect just as powerful.
 
It´s secular and used in other circumstances. Also, it´s very modern and traditionally, it has no place within the Mass.
 
Are you saying that cultures where drums are an integral part of their musical tradition have to employ a strictly eurocentric musical style in worship?
 
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Are you saying that cultures where drums are an integral part of their musical tradition have to employ a strictly eurocentric musical style in worship?
 
The United Methodist church where my civic group met for a time, had a band playing at their services. We could hear them practice. Pretty loud.
 
I’m not a fan of music at any kind of church service and never have been, even though I was once a song leader at the Protestant church I went to for many years. I will say that the drums in the first piece were fairly unobtrusive and in no way distracting. The second piece less so. But if I’m listening to drums I want to hear Carl Palmer leaving me breathless and awed. Mass, for me, is at best quiet and peaceful and drums don’t contribute to that. If there must be music the pieces I like are the hymns from centuries ago by Isaac Watts or Charles Wesley. Just my thoughts, which you did ask for. 😉
 
What an old fuddy duddy you are! (LOL) How about guitars, are they verbotten for you too? I remember when Vatican II came in and we started having what we called a “Folk Mass” with guitars and maybe a tambourine. The hymns were upbeat ones and the Mass seemed so different from the hour and a half “High Mass” with the opera singer. Us kids just loved it!
 
I don’t think anything could help Gather Us In…drums certainly don’t.
 
“Some” Kids. Not all. I may have enjoyed Black Sabbath and the Moody Blues and Aerosmith in concert and listening on the Walkman and all (or the trusty transistor), or hearing my sister’s Joan Baez and Bob Dylan’s recordings, but Mass? Ugh. Some hymns over the last 50 years have been pleasant. Some people play the guitar very well. Some people play the organ poorly, and some older hymns are treacly.

The Church moves slowly (often a good thing). If your local bishop is a fan of the St. Louis Jesuits and your local parish has had a folk group with tambourines since 1970, and you’re good with it, fine.

But if your bishop is a fan of Palestrina, and your local parish has a Schola, and you’ve had your organist and choir since 197 and you’re good with it. . . Equally fine.

And not a bit fuddy daddy.

LOL, it is amusing to me that the music of the 1970s is now considered as totally hip and cool for the Church in AD 2020, some 50 years later, whereas in 1970 itself, music that had been composed in 1920 (50 years earlier) would have been seen as just too ‘old fashioned’ to stomach.
 
If you want “AD 2020 church music” thats Bethal or Hillsong
 
Especially with drums I think the point is how likely is it to be done well for Mass, not can it be done well. From what I’ve experienced, it’s quite unlikely. And trying it out for a while isn’t a great idea, unless you don’t mind potential hurt feelings if you decide to nix the drums.
 
CelticWarlord said:
Mass, for me, is at best quiet and peaceful
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I agree, although for me it’s primarily because I find a vocalist just doesn’t have the voice for solo and certainly not with higher volume. There are, of course, many exceptions. Given what’s out there, unfortunately if I had to choose between no music and music as currently provided, I’d have to choose the former.
 
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Dolphin said:
What do you think?
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Without reading the other replies, and notwithstanding your videos, I don’t personally care for them. The emphasis is on personally because they are licit.

The parish where I came into the Church had an early Mass with more traditional music, in which I sang in the choir, and a later Mass with the drums and tambourines. I’m very much a you-do-your-thing-I’ll-do-mine kind of Catholic.
 
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