We've been talking recently about instruments at Mass, what is preferred and what is ideal and what is permitted. This subject is inseparable from the issue of style, since every instrument carries with cultural associations. With contemporary styles - pop music really - pervasive in liturgy today, it is very possible that the pathway to purely vocal chant, sung with decorum and discipline, might lead through the styles of contemporary music.
I've heard several people make this claim, and I can't entirely discount it, though it is not an issue we struggle with in our own parish. The current situation is probably an unprecedented in Church history, so the pathway toward the pure music of the Church could take some unpredictable directions.
One blog that is struggling with these difficulties, transitioning from one approach to another, is theCatholicWorshipBlog.com, which has a forum, a store, and a podcast as well. The blogger here is working his way toward chant, and below is an example of some of what he is doing in earnest.
My own reaction in listening to this is to imagine how his vocal inflections might change if the guitar were to be removed altogether. For my own part, I associate these vocal inflections with a degree of egoism that is certainly not intended. As Mary Jane Ballou is fond of saying, less is more and simple is often just better.
In any case, you will find this instructive.
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