Why do you ask? Is there a desire for your parish to incorporate more of that style, or to incorporate more traditional styles, or seeking a solution for a current mix of the two?

I've worked in parishes that match exactly both of the descriptions you've asked about, and can give feedback on either, but I'm interested in first knowing what the motivation is (in order to be as helpful as possible).

I urge folks not to take the gambit. In fact, I was once asked this very question in an interview.... although it was more about "cultural" than "musical" diversity. I insisted that Latin and, specifically, Gregorian chant would allow those individual tastes or styles to exist without making a Balkan zone out of the liturgy.

I have also had the observation that if Masses are divided by music, one priest is, in reality, the pastor of as many parishes as there are "styles". People tend to get locked into their "This is MY Mass, and you can jolly well go elsewhere" frame of mind.

Please note that this is not intended as a commentary on the value (or lack of value) of any of these kinds of music.

And in relationship to performance practice for P&W music...

- Sing things unaccompanied.
- Focus on congregational rather than performative singing.

Those two things will immediately remove 90% of the musical problems with these genera. You still have to make sure you aren't singing terrible lyrics though.

"Particularly, what do people think of the following:
-Having different genres at each mass, such as one mass having chant, one having 1800s style old hymns, one having your run of the mill OCP hymnal stuff, and other doing praise and worship.
-Doing more blended worship, such as chanting the ordinary but doing contemporary music for the hymns"

I would be particularly interested in what others have experienced about these two points. What are the relative pros and cons of each approach? If one is stuck in one or the other of those positions, how do you make the best out of it?

Usually such 'specialty Masses' involve different team of musicians, which can make it hard to offer an attractive salary. I once succeeded to a job where 'traditional', folk and contemporary services had been consolidated with a single player (after another had fallen off the wagon and been escorted away by a SWAT team) and had a lot of practicing to do. I thought it odd that two services were played from books while the contemporary service was the one that depended on oral 'tradition'.

People can indeed get a little crazy about defending turf. When I got more recent news it was that after one service was eliminated the Pastor got an anonymous phone call: "Do you know where your pet dog is right now?" I'm sorry to say that was one of the traditional partisans.

You know there a lotsa "musical experts" who consider Ravel and Debussy "contemporary." Teehee.

These are guidelines to what I have done at my church, which honestly I don't think is ever going the all-chant-and-polyphony route. I have been here seven years, and overall I do think that what we do musically is appreciated. I am not as strict as probably most people here, but my conscience is clear. Though we occasionally get complaints (which I think everyone does) I am very reluctant to go to different styles at each of our three Masses because it just makes things complicated, and to me once you start trying to cater to everyone's taste at Mass, they start asking for more and more....

1. NO DRUMS, period. (Except occasional timpani.) This is the current pastor's rule. *story below
2. Organ is played at every Mass, at least for the opening hymn and closing recessional (Used to be also for closing hymn, but we recently eliminated this at pastor's discretion.) We also generally have used it for the Mass Ordinary.
3. Piano is also played, at every Mass. There seems to be a certain contingent among parishioners that gets sick of all organ, and then they start requesting "Contemporary Masses." This alone seriously has appeased people, and honestly I do some tasteful but at times borderline sentimental piano preludes that seem to keep people happy too.
4. We have guitar occasionally. My philosophy on this is that it works with a skilled enough player, on soft, meditative music, for Prelude, Preparation of Gifts, and/or Communion. Not going for the loud pseudo-rock sound. One Sunday Mass that had (tasteful, of course) guitar with yours truly on violin received NUMEROUS compliments, I was informed. I know that's not what it is all about, but it is good to feel appreciated if you would like to keep your job....
5. We do music that is theologically sound and singable by congregations (not tons of syncopation, in other words), from any era and style. I do try to throw in chestnuts that people ask for. But again, if it is the opening hymn, for example, it is played on the ORGAN! (Possible OCCASIONAL exception for Gospel-style, if our other accompanists choose, but I play them on organ.)

As far as the propers are concerned, I have at least introduced versions of the Entrance Antiphons for Advent and Lent for some of the Masses (with choir, for example). I would love to do more but am not sure how far I can push this. We do some chant, and some Latin. (Again, I would love to do more.) A big goal of mine is to have the choir sing the Byrd "Ave verum corpus" this year for Corpus Christi. It may be accompanied, but I figure accompanied polyphony is better than none!

As far as choirs go, my observation and that of others is that when you have a regular or "traditional" choir, they tend to be game to sing just about anything of any genre, but once you call a group the "contemporary" choir, they are very insistent on what they want, how they want it. Which is kind of ironic, if you think about it.

So good luck with whatever you decide to do. I know of quite a few programs that have different styles at different Masses, but what we do here seems to work at our pretty average suburban parish. I always say, and it's only partially a joke, that the reason I am a music director is that, as a Catholic, I have to go to Mass anyway, and if I am going to Mass, I can either complain about the music, or be in charge of the music! I chose the latter, and am very glad I did.

------

*Imagine a scenario where a parish's new music minister notices a drum set in the choir area, which is simply ignored. A few weeks later, a choir member requests to move said drum set to avoid the danger of injury to choir members. "Excellent idea!" Said drum set then is moved, first to choir room, then to the BOILER ROOM in the basement (for about six years), then eventually is snuck out of the building under cover of darkness and given to a local radio station that in turn gives it to a local school music program. (Not saying whether or not this actually happened ;-)

Thanks for the thoughts everybody. Music123, I'm interested in hearing what your ideas are for tasteful use of guitar (starting a new thread for this!)

It seems that there is a general consensus against doing a different genre for every liturgy as it leads to consumerism and impossible workloads for musicians.