Better late than never - I wanted to be sure to post a link here to the entry on my parish's Catholic blog, from last Sunday's Corpus Christi solemn Mass and Eucharistic Procession.  On the post (provided it loads for you... blogger has been so iffy lately) you will see some pics from the procession and a whole plethora of mp3s from the Mass, including part of the sequence, Lauda Sion.  Why only part, you may wonder? Well, for one it is awfully long to just sit and listen to at your desk, but for another I started a little bit too low and the whole first part is kind of growly.  It got better later, and toward the end a couple other ladies jumped in on the Ecce Panis Angelorum part, which they had learned last year in my little schola. 

By the way, it was kind of up to me about doing the long version vs. the short version.  I knew our pastor had asked my father to read the whole sequence at another Mass where it was not being sung.  I can understand why... St. Thomas' text is quite powerful and intensely catechetical.  It is not very "PC" if you know what I mean.  Here is some of it in English, with translations from the Gregorian Missal:

The good and the guilty may all have part therein,
but with different results:
life or death.

Death for sinners, life everlasting for the just;
mark well the varied effects
of this single food. 

So even though I doubt anyone (excepting our pastor) would understand the words in Latin, the congregation did have access to the translation in the missalettes, so if they wanted to read through the English version while the Latin was chanted, they had plenty of time to do so. 

I included some audios from the rest of the Mass music on the parish blog as well.  You'll be able to hear Panis Angelicus and Tantum Ergo, as well as an organ postlude.  For anyone who has not visited our parish, this will give you a little taste of what it's like at St. Peter's.  Now come in person!  

Posted by Darcy at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the upcoming projects for me at my parish (St. Peter Catholic Church in Stevens Point, WI) is helping teach the children's choir to sing Gregorian Chant.  To that end I've been keeping my eye open for resources to help in doing that, and success stories as well. 

Today I happened upon Fr. Rob Johansen's blog, "Thrown Back."  He had an entry about how he is teaching the school children to sing Gregorian Chant, and an MP3 of them singing Gloria VIII.

Yes, it is possible and it can be done well.  Moreover, these children who are growing up in a world where the Catholic liturgy is undergoing a restoration of the sacred, will have this Gloria under their belts whenever they worship in a "true Vatican II parish" or an international liturgy where Latin is used for the ordinary.  They will also already feel comfortable with the musical genre of chant, and be able to grow in appreciation of its beauty, and be helped to pray better when they hear it or sing it.  Great work Father Johansen!  

Posted by Darcy at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Nuptial Mass uniting Franz Simon Klein and Rosemary Therese Korish in the Indissoluble Bond of Holy Matrimony at St. Peter's Church in Middle Ridge, Wisconsin was yesterday.  Having forgotten the video camera, my husband and I made a quick investment in a digital audio recorder which will also come in handy for work on our parish's Catholic blog.  We are pretty happy with the results.  With a little editing including some virtual reverb, these sound fairly good.

On these chants, the solo voice you hear singing the verses is Father D. Joseph Redfern, who directed our small schola.  The rest of the group was made up of Samantha Parker, David Palm, Christopher Ruff, Jonathan Sorensen, Johanna Klein, Nathan Sward and me.

The introit Deus Israel conjungat vos was sung as the priests came in from the sacristry into the sanctuary.  The text is Deus Israel conjungat vos, et ipse sit vobiscum, qui misertus est duobus unicis: et nunc, Domine, fac eos plenius benedicere te. That is to say, "May the God of Israel join you together, may the One Who joined two in one be with you: And now, O Lord, make them to bless You more fully."  Here is the chant:

We sang the Gloria from Missa de angelis. 

The Responsorial Psalm was Psalm 8: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9 with the refrain "O Lord, our God, how wonderful Your name in all the earth!"  Given only the text, it was up to the schola to come up with a way to sing this. I vaguely remembered a melody for that refrain from the GIA resource we use at St. Peter's in Stevens Point, to which I made up an alto line and Samantha Parker improvised a descant.  I really like how this came out.  It reminds me of Faux bourdon.  Maybe we can start doing this at our parish.

This link for the Alleluia and verse is connected to the gospel (which was recited). The verse of the Alleluia was chanted in Latin by Fr. Redfern: Si diligamus invicem, Deus in nobis manet, et caritas Ejus in nobis consummata est.  That is, "If we love each other, God remains in us, and His love is in us consummated" (I John 4:12).

The offertory was a hymn set to Wesley's AURELIA, but these words were written by the groom, Franz S. Klein, 1981- . I love what he has written here, what a perfect text for a wedding hymn.  Here are the words so you can sing along after you click the link at the beginning of this paragraph.

Of rib of Adam coming, true woman Eve was named,
to his found wife fast cleaving, in fleshly union claimed.
God blest their happy marriage, by nature wrought secure,
father and mother leaving, God's gift to man made pure.

By choice the gift foresaken in primal couple's sin,
their blest bond freely broken and sadness found therein:
Thus mankind lost did wander through desert dryness years,
but God His blessings never withdraw in vale of tears.

To Mary's bosom clinging, a baby Jesus grew,
the Holy Fam'ly forming a marriage bond He knew.
At Mary's plea He acted to bless the Cana wine,
on the cross His blood shedding for gift thus made divine.

So for this new-wed couple, thy pray'rs now raise on high:
A union true and noble and world's cares to defy. 
All praise to God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son,
Who send Their Holy Spirit to live in two made one.

The Sanctus was also from the Missa de angelis.

The Memorial Acclamation Mortem tuam.  (The priest celebrant is Father Francis Abuah Quansah.)

The Pater Noster was also chanted in Latin. 

The Agnus Dei from Missa de angelis. 

The Communion chant Ecce sic benedicetur went on throughout the reception of Holy Communion of the whole congregation. The translation is "Behold, thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord; may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!" Here is the chant:

The post-Communion reflection Sancta Mater Ecclesia was written by yours truly, based on the conversion story of one of the professors for the Institute of Pastoral Theology at Ave Maria University, David Twellman.  I was (very happily) joined by Samantha Parker in singing this.  The song, which is included on a CD of my original compositions which I expressly indicated were not intended for liturgical use, was nevertheless requested by the bride and I agreed to sing it during the Mass if it were approved by the priest.  I figured given some of the things I've been asked to sing at weddings in the past, this was on the less-evil end of the spectrum.

The final chant was the Salve Regina, as the couple presented flowers to and knelt before the Blessed Mother. 

I am glad I was asked to participate in this dignified Mass, and especially to have been able to sing in the schola.  It was my first meeting with Fr. Redfern, which will hopefully lead to more collaboration in the future, possibly with solemn vespers at my parish.  And it was a joy to see Franz happily ensconced in his true vocation.  Deo gratias!

Posted by Darcy at 07:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Darcy at 01:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I used to play piano for a lot of weddings, and I made it a rule that I did not attend rehearsals.  Typically a musician would not have a lot to do at the rehearsal and would be more in the way than anything else.  However, this was not the case with the wedding I'm singing for this weekend!

First, the members of the schola needed to gather last night for the first time to run through the music.  It was an interesting little group consisting of the priest leading it (Fr. Redfern) who is a self-taught expert in Gregorian Chant.  Then there was a fellow who is in a male schola of three singing at Masses run by the Institute of Christ the King down here in South-Eastern Wisconsin.  Then there was a sister of the groom who doesn't read music, doesn't know how to pronounce Latin, and never sang chant before (at least not that she remembered - when she was little she was in a children's choir that I led).  And finally there was a young woman who occasionally sings with my schola, and myself.  Tomorrow we will be joined by a man who works for our diocese and is actually one of my former theology professors, and another former seminarian who used to be in my youth group (but has since become to be more a friend of the family). 

After an hour of hanging out in the sacristry learning and rehearsing all the propers and ordinary (while the wedding party went through their paces), we then were called up to the choir loft to go through a dry run of the whole wedding, including singing parts of the introit and communion and the entirety of the ordinary chants and responses.  It was the most involved wedding rehearsal I've ever been to.  By the end when I got a chance to practice my solo my voice was completely shot.  So here's hoping it's back this morning for the wedding!

I am still planning to record the music, so hopefully we'll get sound files online afterwards. 

Posted by Darcy at 07:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This Saturday I will be singing for the wedding of one of my former youth group kids, now all grown up and working as a reporter for our diocesan newspaper.  He has put together a little schola of singers, and many of the propers and all the ordinary of the Mass will be Gregorian chant.  The only others are a responsorial psalm which is actual set to a Gregorian mode, as is the Alleluia I believe. 

Because of being a former seminarian and working for the diocese, the groom knows his stuff and he has connections.  Fr. D. Joseph Redfern, an Australian native who was ordained for the Diocese of La Crosse, WI in June 2006 is the director of the schola.  (This priest narrowly avoided trouble with immigration authorities, though all that has been sorted out now and he's in the U.S. with visa issues resolved.) I do not know the other members of the schola except for one, who helped out with my youth group as a college student back when and has in the past couple of years helped fill out the soprano voices when our schola did special a cappella polyphonic pieces on occasion.  There are actually men in this schola, and it will be an experience I have not had since the colloquium, chanting with guys who are solid in reading their neumes (at least I assume these guys will be).

If you want to have truly Catholic wedding music, this is how you do it.  Once you have your schola put together, you can send them PDFs of the music and MP3 recordings such as the following

Gloria
http://www.adoremus.org/hymns/29%20Gloria.mp3
 
Santus
http://www.christusrex.org/www2/cantgreg/cantus/sanctus_8.mp3
 
Mortem tuam
http://www.adoremus.org/hymns/08%20Mysterium%20%20Fidei%20(1st%20version),%20Mortem%20tuam....mp3
 
Pater noster
http://www.adoremus.org/hymns/09%20Pater%20Noster,%20with%20introduction%20and%20embolism.mp3
 
Agnus Dei
http://www.christusrex.org/www2/cantgreg/cantus/agnus_8.mp3
 
Salve Regina
http://www.adoremus.org/hymns/79%20Salve%20Regina.mp3

You ask all your singers to show up early the night of the wedding rehearsal, then let them rehearse one more time an hour and a half before the wedding. 

By the way, in addition to the above music, you use the introit Deus Israel which is based on the book of Tobit, and the Communion chant Ecce sic benedicetur which prays with the psalmist that you "may see your children's children."  Beautiful, perfectly appropriate texts, it does not get more fitting than this. 

Needless to say I am looking forward to this completely new wedding experience.  I plan to have the video camera running during the Mass, so if things work out the way I'm hoping, I will post videos or sound files sometime afterwards (I know better than to make any promises on when that will occur).   

Posted by Darcy at 06:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks to the CMAA's web guru and "Recovering Choir Director", an article by Prof. Laszlo Dobszay has come to light which is important reading for those involved in restoring the sacred to Catholic sacred music.  Granted, this is not light reading, but it's good to exercise the brain cells from time to time (and to keep on learning - after all schola does mean "school").

There is certainly a lot to this article that could be discussed (some of it you would probably need a PhD to discuss so I won't go there).  Prof. Dobszay brings to the forferont a wish that congregations will not only tolerate or enjoy/not enjoy the music at Mass, but be able to internalize it, "own" it, actually pray with the liturgical texts as they are intended to be prayed.  He addresses the real problem of people understanding, for example, what the Propers are saying, but more to the point, he addresses the obstacles preventing the small parish from implementing Sacrosanctum Concilium's call for the pride of place of Gregorian Chant. 

Some of Prof. Dobszay's suggestions are surprising; for example, from what I understand it is the schola or cantor's role to sing the Propers.  Yet Prof. Dobszay suggests that the congregation could achieve the ability to sing the Propers if they were in a simpler format, perhaps in the vernacular.  Also, he suggests it would be wise if rather than the full repertoire of music for the Propers, "a relatively few model-melodies were adapted to all texts."  But to me this seems to fly in the face of the illustrative articles by Prof. Mahrt which show how the word-painting in chant helps illuminate the text (such as "Passer Invenit: A Communion On A Simile" in the Spring 2008 issue of Sacred Music). Wouldn't it be too high a price to relogate a good portion of the musical repertoire preserved in the Graduale to disuse (or more likely, it would be heard only in the Extraordinary Form, not in the Ordinary Form in this example)? 

Putting aside those things that gave me pause, Prof. Dobszay is proposing an action plan that could actually bring Gregorian chant alive in Catholic churches around the world.  He calls for flexibility in the approach to restoring the sacred, and I find this corresponds well to the CMAA's suggestions during the Colloquium last summer.  The variety of the music and the manner in which the Masses during the Colloquium were offered were meant to be examples of different approaches that a parish may take, only a taste of what is possible.  It does seem, though, that the ideal they are holding up is more along the lines of a sung Ordinary Form Mass with the prayers, ordinary, and propers (from the Graduale Romanum) in Latin.  I think Prof. Dobszay makes a point that this may be too rigid an expectation to realistically propose to the smaller congregation with less resources than, say, a cathedral.  He concludes that what he proposes

would bring whole communities, countries, languages, and social strata closer to the spirit of the liturgy, to ecclesiastical thinking and to the ecclesiastical 'vocabulary' of the rite. Thus it is not against traditionalism, but rather a tool for becoming familiar with tradition.

What he suggests is oriented toward building a bridge between today's Catholics and a living experience of Gregorian chant, which it is hoped will also lead toward a restoration of the sacred in the whole liturgy.  I agree with him when he (basically) says it is time to stop giving lip service to incorporating Gregorian chant by allowing a Salve Regina or Adore te devote into the Mass, but rather to give Gregorian chant true pride of place.  What he is asking though, is far more than just getting a higher percentage of the music to be Gregorian chant.  He is really calling for new life to be breathed into what was once a developing style of music which does adapt to various circumstances.

On a practical level, I think he is right about the need for flexibility.  There is a vast difference in the approach to restoring the sacred that a more traditional-minded parish would take to one that is recovering from a recent invasion of Call to Action.  I liked his suggestion that a Latin introit be paird with a vernacular version of the same thing (he suggested intoning the Latin and doing a more melodic version for the vernacular - I would and have done it the opposite way). I do think it is important that those who can are striving for the ideal, and can set an example of how timeless Latin and Gregorian chant are.  These places serve as an important piece of the picture in the "hermeneutic of continuity."  In many music programs, it may be the need for a paradigm shift - rather than spending much of choir practice time preparing beautiful motets like Ave Verum to be sung during Communion, the priority would be placed on first learning the Ordinary in Latin so as to assist the congregation in singing them, then moving on to the Propers by whatever means possible in their situation.  There are places where there are a few people willing and able to work at chanting the propers. 

It will take a lot more than learning to read neumes to achieve what Prof. Dobszay is proposing in this article, though.  Composers, this is your time.  Someone asked on the musicasacra forum what the guidelines are for new Catholic music... a question which actually brought me to learn more about Catholic sacred music myself, and introduced me to Gregorian chant.  I think this article provides an excellent guide for composers to work from. 

There's my $.02.  After hours of Nick Jr. and diapers it was nice to think a little.  I hope the article does get circulated and some truly helpful analysis and commentary gets posted out there.

Posted by Darcy at 07:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I greatly appreciated the opportunity to chant the sequence Sunday morning for the Solemnity of Pentecost.  Last year my little schola had chanted the sequence in Latin as well.  This year it was sort of a revisiting of that, as the only choir members who knew the sequence were singers who had been with me in the "interim schola."  It was four of us ladies, and I think it worked out pretty well.  I videotaped and we pulled the audio off the video, then my DH added some reverb to the recording so we can pretend that we have an echo in our church.  You can listen to the Pentecost Sequence here.

I made copies of the sequence from St. Cecilia Schola's collection of chants.  I didn't make enough though... so I followed the music from my Gregorian Missal.   One thing I had noticed and was confused about was the ordering of the Liturgy of the Word in the GM as compared to the missalette.  The Gregorian Missal listed the events in this order:

1) 1st Reading
2) Gradual
3) 2nd Reading
4) Alleluia
5) Sequence
6) Gospel

The missalette had number 4 and 5 in the opposite order, the sequence coming before the Alleluia, which is of course the way I remember it having been done for years.  I watched for it on TV when EWTN televised the Mass from Rome too, and they also did the sequence prior to the Alleluia.  But why is it different in the Gregorian Missal? 

I learn that the 2002 General Instruction of the Roman Missal #64 indicates that the sequence should precede the Alleluia.  The Gregorian Missal was published in 1973, hence the different ordering of things. 

By the way, the GIRM also indicates that sequences are optional except for Easter and Pentecost.  However, if you have the opportunity to use a sequence, why wouldn't you? They are beautiful chants, very melodic and easy to sing because of their repetitive melody and rhythm.  What are the other sequences? you might wonder if you are like me when I first embarked on this adventure of sacred music.  Well, apparently there used to be lots more sequences, but these are the ones that remain in use:

1) Victimae Paschali Laudes (Easter Sunday)
2) Veni Sancte Spiritus (Pentecost)
3) Lauda Sion (Corpus Christi) - shorter version starts with Ecce Panis Angelorum
4) Stabat Mater (Sorrowful Mother, also sung at Stations of the Cross)
5) Dies Irae (Requiem Mass as for funerals, All Souls, or other Mass for the Dead)

They are so wonderful.  I encourage you to give them a try if you have not yet. 

Posted by Darcy at 09:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Last summer I had the privilege of meeting John Wright, Kappellmeister of St. Mary and St. Boniface Churches in Piqua, OH and his pastor, Father Martin Fox. What was immediately apparent was how well these two work together. Together they are working diligently to bring greater solemnity to sacred worship in the two parishes under their care. John posted the following videos of a sacred music concert given by his schola. It's wonderful to hear them singing a cappella... I look forward to the days when our schola is back to that point. Anyway, enjoy. I combined the four videos into a playlist, so if you listen through the whole thing you will hear Mozart's Jubilate Deo, O Esca Viatorum by H. Isaac, Dixit Maria by Hassler, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Pie Jesu.

Posted by Darcy at 09:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We celebrated First Communion at our parish yesterday.  It also being the celebration of the Ascension in our diocese (we won't go there), it was a pretty interesting Mass.  To make it even more exciting, our music director/organist was not sure how much of the Mass he would make it for.  His "day job" is as the principal of two small Catholic schools that belong to other parishes, and they also were having First Communion, and he needed to be there.  Their ceremony was earlier in the morning, but with pictures etc. he wasn't sure if he'd make it back for our Mass.  So we had a substitute organist in place (she had played for the earlier Mass already), and she accompanied our rehearsal before Mass, which I was in charge of in the music director's absence.  We also were missing several of our choir members for various reasons, so I was a bit concerned with the results of our rehearsal.  As it turned out, the music director showed up around the time of the Gloria, so things were a little more normal after that.

Downstairs, things weren't any less exciting.  Our pastor had had foot surgery during the previous week, and apparently it was worse than he had expected it to be.  He was not able to process in with the First Communicants, but rather hobbled from the sacristry across the sanctuary to his chair.  The choir had been prepared to sing Horst Buchholz's Vidi Aquam but it quickly became obvious that a sprinkling rite was not going to be possible.  Father had to give his homily from a seated position, on a stool down by the kiddies.  (He usually preaches from the pulpit, but for First Communion he does go down near the children.) 

The part I was most anticipating was chanting the Communio, Data est mihi.  Although I had practiced with three other people, only one showed up in time to practice it with me, so it was she and I singing the refrain, and I did the verses.  It was all fine until the 2nd verse, when I messed up a bit, then I kind of invented my own tones for the Gloria Patri.  I doubt if anyone downstairs noticed.

And if all this busyness was not enough, I was also attempting to get some decent video or at least sound to put on our parish's website.  My husband and I are just about ready to launch a blog for the parish, which we plan to use heavily to show current happenings at the parish.  I taped the whole Mass very carefully, but the result was not great.  I had hoped to at least get the chant recorded well, but first of all the lousy acoustics in our church made it a pretty bla recording, and secondly I had messed up the verse etc., so I won't be using that recording for anything.

However, the one good thing that came of it was an audio recording of our pastor's First Communion homily.  (We did decide to go with audio only because I don't think he would be thrilled with us putting video online of him preaching from a stool with a foot cast on.)  The homily was great.  And really, the Mass was all very nice. You can relax at St. Peter's knowing liturgical abuses are very few and far between, prevented whenever possible.  The music... well, one thing about recordings, they don't lie.  Our choir is not as great as we may think we are.  It gives me pause to consider what I could suggest we do to improve (starting with remodeling the choir loft so we can stand in such a way that we can hear and see each other). 

Best feature of the day... my nephew/godson received his First Communion.  So it was good to be part of it.

Posted by Darcy at 09:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In doubtful things, liberty; in essential things, unity; in all things, charity.
"In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis (or, dubiis) libertas, in utrisque (or, omnibus) caritas." (Questionable attribution, see http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine/quote.html)

A pastor who was catechizing his flock regarding a shift to celebration of the Mass ad orientem used this phrase in his bulletin letter (which was then cited on Fr. Z's blog where I found it today), and I'm glad he did cite it, because this is exactly what I was trying to think of the other day.  Sometimes mommy-brain gets in the way of recollection, but this is what I was trying to remember when I read some of the commentary posted beneath the English Mass colloquium video.  (This is one of those I posted on YouTube on the "catholicsacredmusic" channel, and occasionally one of the contributors to the New Liturgical Movement, Jeffrey Tucker, will post one of the videos and then it becomes a topic of commentary.  Because it was in English, it attracted more attention than some of the other clips he posted... a lot of it negative... and there were some comments questioning the choices of Fr. Skeris in the way he did the incense, when he had people sit for the Kyrie, etc. 

At the crux of it is the fact that in the Ordinary Form, there is more room for interpretation and some things aren't written or leave options open.  In other words, they are doubtful, so in that case the old maxim above calls for liberty.  I would also say those things mentioned in the comments are not essential (I would consider essential being the words of consecration).  As for charity, well we could always use more of that.

Posted by Darcy at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)