Has anyone heard that their center aisle stage will be lubed with olive oil tonight? Did I hear someone say that if they all fall in a heap flapping, they might relocate to where they belong? 

$%^& flappers were back at Mass center stage. too bad they didn't slip and fall into a heap.

If other OLOS parishioners are annoyed by the vain distraction, please mention it to our Pastor and Prior.

...Conductors train all the musicians beforehand but then during the performance they're unnecessary other than to stand up there to take credit for the performance and so the audience has something to look at...

There are some cues and especially timing aspects that require somebody to conduct a group. The way that the music moves ahead, on or behind the beat is crucial to how it will "feel". It is something that is not on the sheet, and that is why the conductor is so important.

Even Baroque music performances will have a musician the leads the group, as a conductor was not the custom at the time. It will usually be the soloist.

I don't really know much about chant, but I notice that some kind of direction is necessary. The rhythm can get messy if there is not a clear leader.

Of course it doesn't need to be done dramatically and theatrically. 

I had never heard of "flapping" and it does sound very innapropriate. How can a person be allowed to stand on the front of the altar calling attention to itself? Does this practice have a historical precedent?

Oh, admit it, Mark, that "older parishioner" was none other than youself, right? 

I wish!  That dude was moving even faster after the confrontation!

The sspx leadership are bringing to the US all of the "european customs" from the 30s, 40s, 50s.  Most of these customs were liturgical abuses, and not traditional.

This must be part of some bigger plan. A hybrid mass was mentioned some time ago. There might be a deal with the Roman authorities to implement this little by little.

This must be part of some bigger plan. A hybrid mass was mentioned some time ago. There might be a deal with the Roman authorities to implement this little by little.

The 62 Missal is itself a problem since it is the temporary bridge betwee the immemorial Mass and the Novus Ordo. The so-called 64 and 67 missals are merely rubrical modifications of the 62 missal.

But I think that Benedict XVI's plan of making a synthesis of the 1962 Mass and the Novus Ordo Mass might have not been abandoned. If it was, why would the SSPX impose these liturgical innovations? These things were never a custom in the US, as I have read.

I think it's still in the works, but just delayed by one Bishop Richard Williamson.  They'll boil the frog since they know it won't be accepted all at once.

So, after Traditionis Custodes, the bishop of Cleveland didn't immediately act on it.  Finally, Rome clamped down and he had to shut down most of the Motu Masses, apart from one held at a parish that he designated a "shrine" (and two more pending an appeal to Rome, which will be denied).  In many of the places that they had Motu Masses, they're now having Latin NO Masses instead.  So, you use Latin, have people kneel for Holy Communion, sing some Gregorian chant, use Anaphora (aka Eucharistic Prayer) I, which is nearly identical to the Tridentine Canon, and 95% of the laity wouldn't even know the difference.  They'll come away with the impression, "Well, this NOM isn't as bad as we thought if done right.  It's basically the same thing."

There are some cues and especially timing aspects that require somebody to conduct a group. The way that the music moves ahead, on or behind the beat is crucial to how it will "feel". It is something that is not on the sheet, and that is why the conductor is so important.

Even Baroque music performances will have a musician the leads the group, as a conductor was not the custom at the time. It will usually be the soloist.

I don't really know much about chant, but I notice that some kind of direction is necessary. The rhythm can get messy if there is not a clear leader.

Of course it doesn't need to be done dramatically and theatrically.

I had never heard of "flapping" and it does sound very innapropriate. How can a person be allowed to stand on the front of the altar calling attention to itself? Does this practice have a historical precedent?

I disagree.  Nobody looks at the flapper.  There’s usually a dominant voice and you follow by listening rather than by watching the hand flap, and you practice ahead of time so you’re all in the same page.  There are a number of conductorless orchestras out there that perform every bit as well as those with conductors.