As with every other good idea, though, execution is the main thing. I’ve been at Masses with a multiplicity of styles that were unified and sacred and wonderful. I’ve been at others that felt like a (as my grandfather used to say of his parish) “like a three ring circus with two rings broken.”

Of course- all of my suggestions concerning proper training and vetting of liturgical musicians would go a long way toward getting execution right.

For major feast days, multi-lingual gatherings, and confirmations, I would say to always go the more traditional route and use Latin chant. That’s sort of what I meant by chant being the “default.” Vatican II stipulated that we all know how to participate in Latin, and there’s nothing wrong with following the council’s request that chant be given pride of place at times.

In my neck of the woods, having different styles of music at different Masses is completely out of the norm. It’s more common for the same music to be used at every Mass.

I have mixed feelings about eclecticism vs. “different Masses.” A lot parishes have this schedule:
4pm Saturday – Boring, badly played organ music
7am Sunday – short, no music at all
8am – High Mass, or something like it- increasingly in Latin EF
1030 – Folk Mass or “Family Mass”
1200 – Spanish Mass (or polish, german, phillipino, whatever)
6pm – Life Teen / Youth Choir

This has the benefit of “pleasing everyone,” but it also divides the community into little subcultures who rarely see each other. Plus- what music do you do on Feast Days when everyone is together?

A more eclectic approach, while a bit jarring at first, can – if done well- get everyone on the same page together, providing a shared repertoire of music everyone in a parish knows. Also, you can start to hear and understand how the “Hermeneutic of Continuity” becomes a real live experience and not a dry philosophical discussion.

I am not one of those called to obsess over liturgy, but I greatly appreciate those who can do so with balance. And I would love to see your suggestions were implemented.

I have no problem with well-done contemporary music. I personally don’t care for it, but have met a lot of people for whom this music is very moving. My only real problem with it is that it has completely shoved traditional music so far out of the way that one could live their entire life as a practicing Catholic and never once hear any of it. I should know, I was 20 when I first heard a Greek Kyrie, and have never heard Latin at the Novus Ordo without first spending a lot of effort to seek it out.

IMO, a small repertoire of Latin chant (like in that Jubilate Deo book) and sung liturgy with the Mass propers should be the default for the principal Mass on Sundays and major Holydays. This what children should be taught as part of CCD. Everyone should have to *learn* to participate in a Novus Ordo High Mass, even if they end up liking folk Masses better. Doing so might give Catholics a sense of tradition and continuity they currently don’t have, and stress the universal nature of our wonderful faith. A Latin setting (even the much maligned Missa De Angelis) should be what tugs on a Catholic’s heart strings whenever it is played rather than the Mass of Creation, or any other vernacular setting, regardless of actual personal musical preference.

I don’t think we should have eclectic Masses (a rock song followed by Palestrina, followed by a folk tune, etc), but I see no reason why there can’t be separate Masses in a variety of styles with the traditional one having true pride of place as a sort of default that everyone can still look back to and participate in.

BTW, sorry if my post was too much about musical style as opposed to quality. I realize that quality was what your post was mostly getting at.