I hope so. The other issue centers around the fact that my pastor tells us that the Mass is not over until the last note of the recessional (he calls it "sending forth) song is complete. The problem is that the Roman Missal is silent on this issue. It seems to me that we are imposing something on the faithful when Rome does not even mandate anything on the matter.

BGal, despite the disagreements we had initially, it occured to me to ask whether "the powers that be," including your pastor, would welcome positive, encouraging letters from some of us who are DM's with supportive pastors and diverse music programs?
I suspect not, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
Progress can be achieved. One can see that at JDE's thread "Darkness."
And it needs be said that the "fall back" position of citing Rome, mandates and even the black and white legislation even if you send to someone by registered mail, is just as likely to be dismissed from the get go by hardened and, God forbid, clericalist hearts.
But it's not impossible unless your efforts are from outside of their bubble/comfort zone. You have to be part of the fold, willing to subsume some of your agenda, and persuade folks from gaining their trust and exposing them to the thousands of positive videos produced by CCW et al, or getting a real shot caller to be willing to attend a CMAA event.
Peace and blessings to you,
C

Yep, don't hold up in the Alamo! ;-) Christian's advice from Germany works. If you go to my parish website, you'll see under ministries, liturgical, music a number of groups. One of them is our resident garage schola of only three gentlemen. I told their story over at Chant Cafe, just look in the archives of my articles.
I have a schola that sings chant, propers, polyphony, Rice settings weekly.
When I die, two things will happen:
1. Noel inherits my vocabulary, for reasons I can't fathom.
2. The garage schola, not my own choir, will chant the EF Gregorian REQUIEM for the repose of my soul. I want that to be my final gift to my parish, the sheer power and beauty of that particular liturgy.

But, as I've also indicated in many posts and articles, and frankly why I think Jeffrey Tucker keeps me hanging around, is that I also accept with humility that I cannot strip away, of my own volition, authentically good contemporary compositions that I deem worthy for liturgical use, ala the "Adam Wood" approach. I can still play serious classical style guitar better than the young rockers at the Youth Mass, and that will remain a valuable commodity as we move into the future. But I'll also conduct Mozart's REQUIEM this May 5th in a concert presentation. Flexibility gives DM's places to philosophically maneuver and persuade.
So, if I can be of personal assistance, let me know. "cculbreth (at) tccov (dot) org

BG,

Chill, as I believe they say in California [am I right, Charles?]. As liturgical musicians, we aim to serve God, the Church and our fellow worshippers, while participating in the Liturgy that is and includes the ordinary means of our encounter with God. That’s quite a religious, practical and psychological handful. In the context of your cry from the heart, it may pay to focus on two particular issues: the practicalities of your commendable desire to see liturgical music in your parish move closer to the Church’s ideal; and your own experience of the liturgy and musical preparation for it.

Few of us get to worship and work in a parish whose liturgical music reflects the best of tradition. Our task, then, is to influence for the good. This isn’t going to happen if we upset people. There are various good strategies, but they all involve giving people a glimpse of the beauty and practicality of what’s possible, given available resources. We might join or start up a garage schola. We might cooperate with parish musicians who don’t share our vision, but who are willing to work with us for a major festival or other special occasion. What won’t get us anywhere is repeated confrontation. That isn’t to say we shouldn’t be prepared to firmly voice our views in an informed and polite way when the occasion arises. It does mean, though, that we should pick our ground carefully, and acknowledge the practicalities and the good will of others, even where we disagree with them.

On the other hand, we all have to come to terms with what we’re comfortable with, week in week out. I have friends who would share your vision, but who are happy to get involved in other kinds of Church music, either because it goes with the job, or because they want to improve the imperfect. Speaking personally, I long ago realised that I wouldn’t be happy doing that week in, week out, so I don’t. I restrict music-making in my own parish to the once a month when the schola sings, and major festivals. The alternative is to have my weekly experience of the liturgy negatively influenced by music that I believe to be antithetical to it at a very deep level. I would rather have no liturgical music than that. However, because it’s such a personal matter I don’t judge my friends who feel otherwise, and I regret that some have felt it necessary to tell you how you should or should not manage it.

benedictgal,

For what it's worth: this is a good thing to take to prayer, and ask others to pray about. As IanW says, there is never a really ideal situation: there are always trade-offs. It is fair to "opt-out" if things are just too bad in terms of execution or repertoire; on the other hand, if you are dealing with people of good will and have the musicality and professionalism to present a better alternative to the usual diet of sacro-pop, then it would be better to stay around and do what you can. We often do not realize the effect (good or bad) we have on others in any given activity we participate in.

The first year in my job, I started to have some doubts about how things were progressing. So, before anything "big" coming up in the music program (Easter, Christmas, special Vespers, even the children's choir singing a normal Sunday Mass!), I would ask many of the parishioners for prayers. While it's good to ask anyone for this, I especially focused on the kids of the parish, older folks, those with an illness or long-term condition, and those whom I often saw making a visit or praying at Eucharistic Adoration. I believe this has made a real difference in how people perceive what I am trying to do, even if they don't always agree with my choices (which I like to think are as close as possible to the Church's choices, in my given situation!)

So, don't neglect prayer and sacrifice for these intentions, especially in the Lenten season when there are a lot of graces available in this regard. It's obvious that we must have as much professional competence as possible (ongoing lessons, continuing ed, hopefully a college degree in music if we are directing a program and are gainfully employed in it), but we are, after all, musicians working for the Church, so the prayer is crucial as a way of configuring our talents and desires to those of the Lord.

I went to the Spanish-language Mass on Saturday evening and again to the English ("youth") Mass the next morning. What saddened me was that there were no Lenten Hymns. The English music was all from Spirit and Song. There was just a huge disconnect between the music and the liturgical season. I told someone that I would love to help as a cantor, but, when I was informed that I would not have a part in selecting the music, I was discouraged. I cannot, in good conscience, sing sub-standard music.