The Gothic Revolution

Need a liturgical pick-me-up? Visit the Chant Cafe!

Sursum Corda: The Youth Classical Schola

Last Saturday before the historic Pontifical Mass at the National Shrine, I had the honor of directing the children's schola which chanted during Bishop Slattery's vesting. The schola combined my own Alexandria, VA, St. Louis Church's Youth Classical Schola and the Chorus from St. Ann's Academy in DC. In the weeks leading up to the Mass, I spent a good deal of time on the road, rehearsing with St. Ann's, to produce a unified sound.

The children sang Veni, Creator Spiritus, Adoro Te devote, and Regina caeli. I think they sang their best--which, many say, is beautifully--and under challenging circumstances.

The event was marked with controversy and strife. The originally planned celebrant did not say the Mass, for reasons that have been widely publicized. From my perspective, the Mass had certain less-than-optimal earmarks of any inaugural event. There were little glitches here and there, and some problems communicating. My guess is the communication issues had most of all to do with everyone's relative uncertainty. It is difficult to do something complex and new, because there is no established routine. Meanwhile, everyone's goodwill and effort was evident, and the pleasure of collaboration can make little glitches seem unimportant. The second time will be much easier, and, God willing, under much less public pressure and scrutiny.

From the time when the discussions of my schola's involvement first began, the organizer who was my principle contact spoke of his strong sense that children's voices would be essential at this Mass. While I agreed, I had no idea at the time that his sense would turn out to be quite so prophetic and urgent. Given the publicity, and given the scale of the atrocity of crimes that have been committed against children, the sweet sound of children's singing, which always lifts my heart, can be a balm for all of us. Their pact with the Church, after all, is unbroken. They are safe, they serve, they learn. Our experience in working together has been not only positive but joyous, a microcosm of the excellent ecclesiology of Catholicism as it is played out in so many ways around the world.

I hope that joy was evident in their sound.

Teaching chant

Pontifical Mass April 24th

The Pontifical Solemn Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine

April 24, 2010 at 1PM

Join us as Vatican prelate Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos performs the first traditional mass held at the Basilica in 50 years in celebration of the fifth anniversary of Pope Benedict's innauguration.

Spread the Word

A Hymn for Candlemas: Adorna, Sion, Thalamum

Here is my translation of Adorna, Sion, Thalamum, for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord:

Let Zion's bridal-room be clothed:
He comes, her Lord and her Betrothed.
Let man and woman, by faith's light,
A vigil keep throughout the night.

Saint Simeon, sent forth in joy,
Exults to see the baby Boy.
The Light through Whom all things are known

Is now to all the nations shown.

His parents to the temple bring
The Temple as an offering
The righteousness of law He chose
Though to the law He nothing owes.

So, Mary, bring this little one,
Yours and the Father's only Son
Through whom our offering is made
By whom our ransom price is paid.

And forward, queen of virgins, go
And let rejoicing overflow
With gifts bring forth your newborn Son
Who comes to rescue everyone.

Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory bright

Who guides the nations into light

Be praised, and for eternity

Be glorified, O Trinity. Amen.

Translation c. 2009 Kathleen Pluth. All rights reserved.

How I spent my summer vacation: the video

SACRED, BEAUTIFUL, & UNIVERSAL: Colloquium XIX from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

Jeffrey Tucker at the Catholic Information Center

Jeffrey Tucker, the author of Sing Like a Catholic, will sign books at the Catholic Information Center on K Street in downtown Washington, DC.

Jeffrey Tucker is managing editor of SACRED MUSIC, a quarterly journal published in its 135th year by the Church Music Association of America, where he serves as director of publications. He is a director of the St. Cecilia Schola in Auburn, Alabama with a specialization in bringing chant and polyphony into modern parish life. He has been widely published and interviewed in the Catholic press, writes a weekly column for the New Liturgical Movement (http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/) and The Wanderer, and gives clinics to choirs around the country. He will speak on the desperate need for a unifying and universal music voice for all Catholics to call their own. all Catholics to call their own.

http://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=bzFwamc5Z2NpZjQ2NGd0bmFnMTJkOThibjQgazRtNTM5NHBuOTJ1MWVzMjRpbmd0YTdsbTRAZw

Wellbutrin

Tired? Grumpy? Feeling run-down?

Try this simple pick-me-up. Find some adorable children. Pray with them in the church. Then teach them how to sing the Sanctus from the Missa Orbis Factor.

You'll be joyful in no time. Try it!

Until then, this ought to help.

Church Music Association of America Colloquium 2009

I've just returned from a terrific musical and liturgical experience, the Church Music Association's annual Colloquium. The Colloquium is an immersion experience in chant and polyphony. Participants are organized ("sorted," in Harry Potter language) into working groups: chant choirs and polyphony choirs. Within a few days, each choir learns a substantial amount of music well enough to sing at Mass.

Here is a page of very well-done sound files to provide hours of listening pleasure. My favorite piece of all is the Gloria from Thursday's Mass, which was actually not sung by a Colloquium group but by a parish choir from St. John Cantius, in Chicago.

Missus Est

Musica Sacra

Just took a look at the sidebar links here and noticed to my amazement and embarassment that the Church Music Association of America's website Musica Sacra was not there. This oversight is now remedied. You can find the CMAA under "Chant."

As I've mentioned previously, the CMAA hosts several national events each year for Church musicians, focusing on Gregorian chant and/ or polyphony. Their faculty is excellent and the atmosphere at these events is exceedingly joyful.

I'm posting their ad for the upcoming Colloquium--an annual gathering in Chicago every June. In the audio clips, if you hear a Victoria Sanctus and wonder why one of the altos is hitting a wrong note, that would be me! But I'm learning, and that is exactly what the Colloquium is all about.

How I'm spending my winter vacation

Here

Vacation is not the right word, actually. It's called a "chant intensive" and it's intense indeed! And at the same time fun. In addition to the interesting information, there is all the organic learning that one does just by singing.

Already I'm beginning to master solfedge, which was a huge gap in my ability.

Rumor has it that we'll carefully study the Introit for the Epiphany (below) that I sang at my parish last Sunday, with its trumpet call, Ecce! Behold! The King!

The Introit of the Day

"Behold: the Sovereign Lord is coming. Kingship, government and power are in his hands. Endow the King with your judgment, O God, and the King's son with your righteousness."

Introit for 1st Sunday of Advent: Ad te levavi

The Introit (Entrance song) for the First Sunday of Advent is Ad te levavi, or To you Ihave lifted my soul, and is based on Psalm 25:

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me. Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long...

Here's a nice version, by way of The New Liturgical Movement:

What Chant in a Parish Looks Like

At St. Stephen's Catholic Church in Sacramento, the ancient musical form is sung by children and young men and women, a multiethnic choir of multicolored voices.

Teens sing wearing Vans or boots poking out from beneath cassocks. They sing at Masses where toddlers babble and babies wail and adults walk in and out during services.

Rehearsal is in a classroom furnished with old pews, the ceiling covered in dull acoustic tiles.

The setting is mundane, but the music is ethereal. It's ear- pleasing and eye-opening, but difficult to describe.

It resonates when the men's deeper voices are breathing the Latin phrases.

When the higher voices come in, the music undulates; it flows out like unrhythmic acoustic heat: radiant music.

more

(HT The New Liturgical Movement)

Learning Gregorian Chant

In the olden days, you could hang around a schola and learn to chant. Or maybe they would teach you in school.

These days, you can go to youtube and learn from a master.

A week of chant and polyphony

Greetings from Chicago, that toddling town, city of the big shoulders. City where it takes 2 hours on the train from O'Hare to Loyola. A trip that is worth the trouble because of the beauty of Lake Michigan, for one thing. I have never, sheltered as I've been, seen a lake whose horizons disappear. The lake bottom seems to drop twenty fathoms within 20 feet of the shore.

I've gazed interminably at the Pacific, and I've got a good sense of the Atlantic. But this lake--clearly one of God's great gifts to the human race, is something else again. I'll have to go see about this tomorrow if I have a free moment.

However, it looks like free moments will be far from plentiful, here at the annual Colloquium of the Church Music Association of America. From 7:15 am to 6 pm, not counting meals which are important social/ networking times, I count 2 fifteen minute breaks. And then a full evening from 7 to 9:30, so there will be precious little time for gazing at the water!

Professor William Mahrt of Stanford gave a rousing opening talk about liturgical music: its beauty, sacrality, and universality. One excellent point: music might be very beautiful, but still fail to be sacred enough for liturgy. He gave the example of a Beethoven sonata he had heard once in church. "Why are they playing this parlor music at church?" was his reaction. Music evokes a place, and piano music--even great piano music--evokes a sense of place that is different from the liturgical place, the church. Contrariwise, he said, where else could you ever hear chant, "in place," except in a church?

I would guess that the greatest thing about the Colloquium is its immersion character. We're singing what we talk about. I've signed up for one of the polyphonic Masses, Victoria's Missa simile est regnum. I'll sing alto, which is always more fun than soprano. Almost never as beautiful, but always more fun.

Have you registered yet?

All the cool kids are going to the Sacred Music Colloquium this June!

This is like summer camp for music geeks. You wouldn't want to miss that, would you?

Of course not. I'll be there, too. Details here.

Princeton's Gregorian Chant Homepage

Plenty of great links here.

Found by way of St. John's Abbey's Chant Page, which has a lot more resources as well.