# Catholic guitar masses...



## Guest

Originally Posted by MarkW 
"On an only slightly related topic: Back when the Catholic Church was attempting to be trendy and relevant, guitar masses used to drive me crazy."

I didn't want my reply to MarkW to languish in the backwoods of the original thread so I thought that I would use it as a New Thread topic... It seems that it might actually be a pretty good idea to explore... (Truth be told - I'm lying - this really is more about not wanting my reply to languish in the backwoods of the original thread)...

This is where Nudge and a Wink (I'm thinking about starting to refer to myself in the third person - let me know what you think...) chimes in with his reply...

I'm fairly certain that you probably would have found them far more sonically enjoyable and spiritually uplifting if they had been played by Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, or Jimmy Page... well, maybe not Jimmy Page - read further for why....

They used to play at Holy Rosary Cathedral on Richards Street here in Vancouver when they were in town as a way to centre themselves from the craziness of life on the road... Something to do with "mindfulness"...

It was pretty cool seeing them... Clapton always played everything straight - no frills, no extended solos, no guitar "effects" like distortion, wah wah pedals, etc... the performance only ran off the tracks and crashed when he began to sing along to his own accompaniment... That was absolutely dreadful... Think of a really bad Muddy Waters imitation singing "I Am the Bread of Life" in this sort of horrible raspy croak and you've pretty much nailed it...

Jeff Beck always and I mean always started out playing everything note perfect - straight no frills - but within like 30 seconds he would start "bending" every single note he played as a way to "sustain" the note waaaaaayyyyy past the point at which it should have been sustained until he had completely bent them out of all recognizable shape... Eventually everything he played and I do mean everything he played sounded like "Train Kept A-Rollin" which was pretty cool at first but quickly grew tiresome...

Everything and once again I do mean everything that Jimmy Page played sounded like "Stairway to Heaven"... The Pastor would announce the next hymn as "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken" and Page would launch into a feedback-drenched version of "Stairway to Heaven"... 

Then the pastor would announce that the next hymn is "At That First Eucharist" and again Page would launch into yet another feedback-drenched version of "Stairway to Heaven"... 

When it was time for the third and final hymn which was usually "The Church of Christ in Every Age" guess what would happen... yep... yet another feedback-drenched version of "Stairway to Heaven"... 

This entire scenario repeated itself three separate times... After the third time the Pastor told him that the Pope himself had called and requested that all Catholic churches "but especially Holy Rosary Cathedral" should spend more time in quiet contemplation and less time spent listening to shredding guitar solos... He bought it (Page is not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer if you catch my drift) and hasn't been back since... Whew! - Thank God - literally and figuratively...


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## Animal the Drummer

There's a time and a place for guitar Masses. I'm Catholic, when I was a student they were our staple fare at the University Chaplaincy and they fitted the congregation (which wasn't totally made up of students, but we were obv.in the majority) and the surroundings very well. Half a century later, though, in a large parish church with a far more varied and generally older congregation, they come across as twee and not at all conducive to worship, IMHO of course. Fortunately we only get them when the organist is away, for which much thanks. (Not that he's an ideal incumbent either, with his love for chromaticising everything and turning good strong hymns into chintzy Victorian parlour ballads, but that's another discussion.)


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## regenmusic

Vinyl collecting hipsters are loving this music now. It's some of the best music produced in the last fifty years, IMHO.





St Elphege Folk Group [UK] - a_1. Sabbath Prayer.

I'll try to post more. Type in "xian folk" for more of it on YouTube.

Here is a variation on it:





The Seraphims [USA] - a_2. The Consciousness of Happening.


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## regenmusic

Cardinal Newman School - Wedding Song (Mary and Miriam) (1977)


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## Nate Miller

unfortunately, when it comes to Church, "guitar player" can mean just about anything.

I'm a trained professional classical guitarist, so our parish music director is pretty lucky. I have played actual Masses on guitar before, but not that often. I've played the Mass of Creation and the Cabrini Mass. (for the benefit of the heathen, those are official Mass settings in the Church)

this last Christmas, I accompanied the congregation on "Silent Night" in the key of Bb. I asked our organist how many guitar players he knew that were comfortable in the key of Bb without a capo, and he looked at me said "only one". As much jazz as I've played, I've probably spent half my life in the key of Bb.

but I hate strumming cowboy guitars and electric guitar or anything that sounds like rock and roll in Church.

classical guitar playing liturgical music in the proper liturgical style I like, but folk strumming or electric guitar shredding is the devil's handiwork


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## IamTim

Nate Miller said:


> unfortunately, when it comes to Church, "guitar player" can mean just about anything.
> 
> I'm a trained professional classical guitarist, so our parish music director is pretty lucky. I have played actual Masses on guitar before, but not that often. I've played the Mass of Creation and the Cabrini Mass. (for the benefit of the heathen, those are official Mass settings in the Church)


Speaking as a heathen I can appreciate the explanation. Speaking as an ex-mediocre Classical Guitar player, I would like to hear that. Spent some time in a Catholic Church about 15 years ago, I was engaged to a catholic for a bit, but I never heard guitar in church. And I was rather grateful for that since I kept thinking the last thing I want to hear is some guy up there with an electric and an amp playing in church.... I played the electric back then too.... but, even though I was fumbling with the classical guitar at the time, I never even thought of it being used in a church prior to reading this.


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## Nate Miller

IamTim said:


> Speaking as a heathen I can appreciate the explanation. Speaking as an ex-mediocre Classical Guitar player, I would like to hear that. Spent some time in a Catholic Church about 15 years ago, I was engaged to a catholic for a bit, but I never heard guitar in church. And I was rather grateful for that since I kept thinking the last thing I want to hear is some guy up there with an electric and an amp playing in church.... I played the electric back then too.... but, even though I was fumbling with the classical guitar at the time, I never even thought of it being used in a church prior to reading this.


at my parish, classical guitar was the ONLY guitar that Father would allow. You know, they publish the hymns with the organ parts for Church organists, but they also publish the same thing for guitarists. It costs about a hundred bucks USD, but you get the hymns with the piano parts and the guitar chords (which are sort of pointless if you are a good player, but they are there for the guitar strummers out there)

I have arranged about 60 of the hymns for classical guitar. Since you need the music to align with the reading for the Mass, I'm pretty much ready for anything anytime of year.

now playing "in" Church and playing "at" Church are sort of different things. If you are playing at a Mass, you have to remember that the Mass is actually a prayer, so you need to respect that and play liturgically appropriate music that aligns with the Gospel reading for that Mass. If, however, I get asked to play for a social function at the parish that is not a Mass, then I get to play anything I want.

This February there is a special dinner for the close of our 40 Hours devotions, and it is also the feast day of our parish's patron saint, so they are inviting a bunch of priests over and got me to do the entertainment. For that I'm playing sets of divertismenti by Giuliani, a few Paganini sonatas, and I'm going to cherry pick some dances for several Bach suites, so its the same sort of stuff I'd play if I was doing a solo restraunt gig, which is basically what I'm doing.

for me, playing for the Church is one of the ways I give my time and talent to God. I never accept money and I get to play plenty of paying gigs, so I'm not really looking for the opportunity to play, its more like an opportunity to add to a function one of my friends is organizing and help a brother or sister out... that sort of thing


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## regenmusic

Come To The Well - Well of Life - Psych XIAN Folk Private

This is a nice one. You can see the songwriting credits and they seem like all original songs.


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