Unison or SATB Ordinary usage strategies?

For just over a year our primary Schola has led the singing, really the chanting, of the Mass of St. Therese of Liseaux by Fresno composer Royce Nickel (available at Corpus Christi Watershed.) Royce's Mass uses traditional note values, but it became obvious that the quarter note functioned much more sucessfully as a punctum, and that their were "semiological" concerns that would be resolved through  examining the phrasing and declamation. Though we function very well as a going SATB concern, there were many issues to consider about introducing the setting at only one Mass out of about fourteen English services scheduled among our four parishes. We do not have pew pockets, we use OCP's BB/Unidos-United Missals racked and picked up and after Masses, and creating a Mass leaflet seemed impractical. And, of course, we knew that the acquisition (or not) of the Glory to God would indicate a general acceptance. So we opted for the unison chanting of the soprano melody for all movements.

For almost a year, and for the first time in twenty years I functioned as a "cantor" at an "epistle side" ambo close to the choir, with perfect visual access to the schola, organist and congregation, as well as the celebrant. And as much carping and harping about "animateur gestures" by songleaders, I used a sort of combined method of chironomy, intend to both provide the congregation with visual anticipation of the ascension and descension of melodic phrases, as well as phrasing,  cadences, etc. It actually worked quite well and I'd say we started clearly hearing the folks clearly within a month's time.

But now that we've entered the second year (more or less coinciding with the school year) we've had the consistent choral forces to render the piece in SATB. So, I traded places with my wife for the last three weeks. She mentioned to me today, though, that despite the congregation being fairly fully actively singing hymns (you can see them below next to the "S" designation) she thought that they shied away from the usual solid block of sound on the heels of the choir, and ascribed that to the difference of having a soprano cantor versus a baritone/tenor. And, it can't be discounted that whenever we sing a more involved hymn or piece in SATB, it is somewhat expected that the congregation relies as much upon the unison choir as it does the organ, and there will be a drop-off in volume.

Has anyone else experienced these circumstances? I know the issue of male v. female "lead voices'" effectivenss has long been debated. But as many of us are moving towards Jeff Ostrowski's "Sherwin Mass," or Mueller's "MR3," or the Bancks' setting, what strategies did you think worked best to encourage acquisition and then consistent response for these more demanding, but congregational settings?

27 Ordinary, Ordo

Back to our Scheduled Programming!

I'm going to conclude my analysis of what contents of OCP's Breaking Bread pulp hymnal have some merit worthy of any interested party's attention. I didn't mention in the first post that I'd obviously not chosen to include any standard hymns, chants or songs that are more commonly presumably known and sung across the Anglophone sphere of churches. I also chose not to consider the "psalter" and "ordinary" setting portions of the book, simply because other than "Jubilate Deo" we do not use those in our parishes. And I wish I could state that the woeful track record of OCP editorial decisions about which of their catalogue ordinary offerings makes the "big book" league has improved, but alas I can't.

Sacred Silence Tom Booth/Jenny Pixler Perhaps too obvious a pleading prayer, but the intent and effect of the setting works


Laudate, laudate Dominum Christopher Walker A veddy British, triumphal refrain (Lift high the Cross), in Latin. The verse texts overwork a sort of militant church ethos, but I'm not particularly bothered by that.

Thanks be to God Stephen Dean A "meat and potatos" text, also with a British flavor that has a mixolydian great final cadence.

The Lord is my Light Walker Chris Walker's forays into neo-Celtic strains now and then, but not with this lovely setting alluding to Ps.27.

Be Still My Soul Finlandia (Sibelius) What should be numero uno Funeral Hymn rather than OEW, SMOG or HGTA

O Jesus, Joy of Loving Hearts Jesu dulcis memoria I'm sure Kathleen Pluth could refine Ray Palmer's Bernard of Clairvaux hymn, but it still works as is.

There is nothing told about this woman Rv. Christopher Willcock, SJ One of the most unique and tender Marian texts married to an equally tender, yet strong tune.

Exodus 15 Whitaker-Sullivan If Ms. SW were among the Hebrews across the sea, they'd be singing this melody!

A Debt of Gratitude to Jeffrey and CMAA

I want anyone reading this to know that the circumstances that culminated with a parting of the ways between myself and Chant Cafe, and perhaps by extension to relationships to certain colleagues and friends in the CMAA family, do not reflect anything other than a fundamental philosophical difference of opinion concerning the content of Jeffrey Tucker's article, "Why we must chant," in which he articulated quite passionately about the act of sacred chanting proving a potent force for personal and communal transformation. I can and have testified to that truth and reality in the six plus years of my association with CMAA, and have Jeffrey, Arlene, and particularly William Mahrt among so many others to thank for helping light the path to my personal revelation that, among all the ways one can pray and praise to one's Creator, most Beloved and arbiter of my soul's destiny, "chant" is paramount in my heart.
I have to say that though I understand there may be much from Islamic chant traditions that, besides still sharing "DNA" strands among the history of sacred song in the Holy Land among peoples of the Book, I am personally disabled and distracted by the larger dissonances that differentiate so many profound and irreconcilable dogmatic problems between Judeo-Christianity and Islam as "belief systems." I can't and won't apologize for this confession, just as I would not demand from the Imam who stood before a packed audience in our parish hall and blithely, if not blatantly, expiated how Islamic theology subsumes the Person of Jesus Christ to a revered, but penultimately all too human culmination of prophecy that would be fulfilled finally elsewhere in history and time immemorial.
This is no criticism of Islamic theology nor belief, nor ritual practices of which Jeffrey rightly extolled. But I would think that someone might just ponder the irony of how we Catholic Christians verbally eviscerate each other within many circuses of media every hour of every day, and then once in blue moon pause to remind ourselves to consider the true meaning of "in all things, charity," then there's more quiet murmuring about the rhetoric of "charity" and we then resume our internecine warring. Yet and still, we are commanded by Christ, the Logos present before time, to be tolerant and charitable to all who give offense. I accept that, even as it relates to very large existential dynamics between the human instrumental institutions that guide each and all of us towards achieving true discipleship. But as I mentioned elsewhere, the eschatological "endgame" of our respective theologies are fundamentally and I fear permanently at odds. Our "lex orandi, lex credendi' as I perceive the discipline has a much different resonance than with other religious belief systems and practices.
Chant is huge to most all of the great traditions, as natural and necessary to living as breathing. And there might be much to be gained and learn from following those sinews of commonality. But what texts we sing amount to much more than "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony....It's the Real Thing..."
Again, Mr. Jeffrey Tucker is a gentleman and scholar, both qualities I seldom exhibit. I think that I will  breathe a bit easier out of the "echo chamber" here and there, and likely others will also sigh in relief as well. Thank you, Jeffrey.

What is POSITIVE in the current OCP books?

It's been a few years since the article "The Hidden Hand Behind Catholic Music" posited that the most egregious malefactor in the Liturgical Industrial Complex could only be Oregon Catholic Press. First I saw the title, I smiled at the subtle hint of a sort of Sicilian La Cosa Nostra, "Godfather," inference. Their initialed acronymn, OCP, generally seems to be regarded by most of the "independent" forums and blogsites as if were gang grafitti tags splayed on the outside walls of a church! You can almost feel the blood pressure of some writers bubbling up, reddening their faces and widening the whites of their eyes when the mere mention of "OCP" pops up. Then, inevitably, someone reminds everyone that, like it or not, OCP is not likely to go away quietly into that dark night.
But, as I've done in the past, very few people ever take the time to actually  comb through the major OCP English hymnal/missal books, looking for merits rather than targets to demerit.
So, take a look at the first half of the current year (2012) Breaking Bread from #1 to 500 for hymns, chants and songs you may have missed when perusing, or likely not perusing through the book. In subsequent articles I will finish the 2012 BB. But I'm also going to try to include an article in which I'll share my opinion of some pieces of music that OCP regretably has dropped from their congregational offerings, real editorial lapses of judgment.
Then feel free to share whether you think it's worth the effort to put up with some of the dross, or even better, drop those dessicated oldies and work towards infusing some of these into the rotation.

Title of piece	Hymntune/Composer	Merits for usage
The ICEL (English Mass) setting	composite, arr. Fr. AW Ruff, OP	Like its Latin predecessor, Jubilate Deo, from which portions are based, the setting is meant to be universally inculcated at all churches, cathedrals, basilicas, missions should be mandatorily implemented by all rectors, pastors, bishops and abbots as SOP when needed.
Respond and Acclaim	Mr. Owen Alstott	Also a controversial commodity in the Gradual/Psalter/Responsorial category. But after decades of use, almost an imperative because of its inclusion in the Missal cantor the verses without ego and overwhelmingly poor declamation or dramatics.
ADVENT
Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus	Janet Sullivan Whitaker	Ms. SW's very semitic melody complements the Aramaic cry beautifully. The verses require a choir or soloists to project, in all ways, the prophetic texts with authority. do demand surety and stability to be successful.
Creator of the Stars of Night	Conditor alme siderum	chant!
CHRISTMAS/EPIPHANY
Of the Father's Love Begotten	Divinum mysterium	not truly Gregorian chant, but chant! OCP should mirror it with the Latin text opposite
Once in Royal David's City	Irsy	One of the great Anglican carols, noble and stately
Child of the Poor/What Child	Soper/Greensleeves	A very accessible partner song, Soper's text might seem preachy, but its theological merit is obvious
LENT
Led by the Spirit	Kingsfold/B.Hurd-text	A Lenten compliment to the famed "I heard the voice of Jesus" text. No objectionable text issues.
Transfiguration	Fr. Ricky Manalo	A borderline inclusion; the melody has to be acquired, and its semiolgy, or syllabic emphasis is clunky because of the many intervallic leaps. But those leaps pay off well in the refrain "Praise and glory…"
EASTER
Christ is arisen	Dr. Randall DeBruyn	A strophic allusion to the Easter Sequence with a quite appealing, dignified melody. The full effect of the actual sequence text is somewhat diluted, but for parishes that don't chant, it works nicely.
Two were bound for Emmaus	Dr. Bob Hurd/Kenmare	This text qualifies as one specifically as a "Hymn of the Day" candidate. Hurd's other "Emmaus" text, In the Breaking of the Bread, dropped the very personal disciplereinforcing reminder of this post-Easter encounter.
Three Days	Thaxted (Holst); M.D. Ridge text	A mini-documentary alluding to the chronology of the Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection; not an insult at all to the monumental hymn based on Holst's tone poem.
God We Praise You	Nettleton; C. Idle, text	Nettleon is one of the iconic hymntunes, the text paraphrases the Te Deum, what's not to like?
GENERAL MUSIC CATEGORY
Here at this Table	Janet Sullivan Whitaker	JSW's text is "light years" beyond that of the ubiquitous, obnoxious "Gather us in." It also can function other than an Entrance "chant" (ha ha) but, as appropriate, an offertorio or communio
As We Gather at Your Table	Nettleton; C. Daw, text	Nettleton again, short text which is a plus for "accompanying" the entrance procession without needless time extension.
Sacramentum Caritatis	Rv. Dr. J. Michael Joncas	Absolute proof that Joncas, author of "On Eagles' Wings," is a master composer. OCP should print the whole hymn rather than just the Latin.
These Alone are Enough	Dan Schutte	The King of "3/4" sing-songy can also tap into a deeper, if somewhat emotional, melody and text combination that congregations should be offered for their consideration. This is one of those.
For Your Glory Reigns	Berberick and Walter	There are so many neo-Celtic, modal songs in that sing-songy category, that it is too easy to dismiss a real heir apparent. Though its chorus has an arena-anthem feel, the text and melody are wed well.

Myths, Truths, Facts, and Irrelevancies from Cal Cath Daily Combox article

California Catholic Daily became the third Blog organ to reprint a now somewhat incendiary article by Jeffrey Tucker that I've commented upon twice already (below). But the toxicity levels that have been engendered both at the second reprint, online "CRISIS MAGAZINE" and at Cal Cath Daily comboxes compels me to respond with some perspective that neither Mr. Tucker (though he is an accomplished choir and chant director at his parish, but not a parish Music Director) nor the legions of unhappy people of all bleeding stripes seem to grasp as reasonable realities that must, like all symptoms, be first isolated and then identified before a prognosis and regimen of recovery is undertaken by doctor, patient and support people.

Ergo:

Myths: "Another bad fruit of the “spirit” of Vatican II is that any song or type of music is suitable for Mass."

The myth is simple in that this statement has never been universally true. There are, to be sure, thousands upon thousands of anecdotally true accounts of music abuse to the Divine Liturgy. But this was not a result of VII, or any so-called spirit or smoke therein.

"It would also be better if there were no music when receiving Holy Communion so that people could pray in the quite. (sic) "
No, the Mass is, according to every major liturgical document and as far as tradition informs us, essentially one entire song of dialogue exchanged between God and His Faithful, using the Word given us, as the Holy Father in so many books and encyclicals reminded us, come primarily from the Psalter, the Psalms. Quiet Masses, Missa lectas, even Low Masses (with/without hymns) are all subsets of the solemn High Mass, in a word, a “sung” entity. Those who insist that “their private prayer time” should not be infringed upon by the communal song of a congregation or a decent choir demonstrate a lack of basic sacramental theology, which Pope St. Pius X and many of his forebears in that office have tried to bring to the people for over many centuries. Musical abuse of the liturgy extends much further back, also in centuries, than the last fifty years. Back in the “Bells of St. Mary’s” days, folks simply said “Offer it up.” Now, if someone claims the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as licitly theirs to modify at their whim and will, they should be willing to call themselves Protestants.

"Those who love both God and music are overjoyed when we worship with our most moving music, and those of us who are appalled by so much of what passes for music these days long for the days when it was all so masterfully chosen and sweetly presented."
Those days were no different than these days. In fact, I’m rather sure after four plus decades of doing this with (if needed) degrees in sacred music literature, that the actual performance abilities of those choirs under professional (in both senses, dedication and career) directors has actually improved after Vatican II. School choirs in lofts singing as best they could the Requiem is a nostalgia. Films from the thirties to this day also offer what seems a pervasive beauty that, in reality, rarely existed in the pre-conciliar years. The book by Tom Day, WHY CATHOLICS CAN’T SING, clearly cuts both ways. There were no golden days in the first half of the twentieth century in Catholic U.S.A. One must do one’s homework before waxing nostalgic.

"Why seek to recover? Post-Vatican II music is uniformly awful."

The indignity of such an ill-informed, nee ignorant declaration doesn’t deserve a proper response. It’s simply not the case. Such an opinion can only be spoken by someone who can’t be bothered by facts, or to find the truth. But for the lazy of heart:

http://youtu.be/RCqyIdtTFmg

"There is no silence at any time, except while the homily is spoken. Even when two communion hymns are sung, and there are still people in line, they must be playing instruments. Silent prayer is not allowed."
I am very sympathetic to this plea. However, if that abuse does exist at your parish, I respectfully invite any parishioner to speak to the pastor about GIRM (rule) 45, that mandates silence at three specific points of all Masses. If you receive no satisfaction, document that, take that to the chancery. If that is not responded to properly, file your document grievances to the Vatican, attention the commission Ecclesia Dei. There is no wiggle room on this one.

"The Church has centuries of music appropriate to the Liturgy, and the one person who has the responsibility to choose that music for Mass is the pastor, or the priest who will be offering the Mass on that particular Sunday, for his Mass."
Again, with sympathies towards the deeper meaning of this complaint, each celebrant reserves the canonical right to oversee the music chosen for Masses he offers. That is not quite the same as "to choose." But, anyone who has eyes to see, ears to hear in this era, knows that the modern priest, if truly engaged, spends tremendous amounts of time with pastoral duties in hospitals, homes, his office, various meetings of the canonically required councils as well as other parish enterprises such as religious education et al (Our parish has 73 -different mission-based ministries and organizations.) And, if they have an ounce of energy, then they still fulfill their obligations to offer Mass, keep the Office, hear-confessions, anoint the sick, communicate to the dying and bed-ridden. A modern pastor who actually is engaged will also then surround himself with competent “surrogates,” such as a professional, Catholic musician, whom he trusts will put into place his vision and preferred repertoire of worship music. My job would be a cakewalk if any of our priests were actually capable of choosing music for worship. It’s simply not the case in modern life.

Truths

"Stop the clapping people…..It just encourages more clapping when the musicians respond with a hearty “Thank you, thank you”. Ugh!"
Amen.

"Give Glory to God and block your ears if you don’t appreciate the talent or lack of talent that the people are trying to use to Worship Him. +JMJ+"
Amen, again. Better yet. Stop complaining and help in any and all ways to improve your parish situation. For every dedicated singer and musician I have in my program, there are likely nine others who, for whatever reason, decline to commit themselves to the discipline it requires to maintain a great musical ministry.

"Why is the Pope’s Sistine Chapel Choir so bad?"
Because, like everything else that gets everyone hot under the collar, the “politics” or better yet, the “exercize of power” is perceived by church insiders, whether lay or clerical, as being more important an interest than actually ministering to people is pastorally healthy ways. The incompetency of Capella Sixtina in the last century is both legend and fact. And it is testimony to the reality that there were no golden eras in recent eras. One of their former maestros, recently presented his red hat by HF Benedict XVI for a lifetime of service, personally butchered the presentation of Roman Catholicism’s greatest composer, Palestrina, every time he directed one of the master’s great Masses or motets. You can hear better renditions of Palestrina at St. Anne’s in San Diego or St. Stephen’s in Sacramento, other CA. parishes if you look, and likely the local public high school. If one really wants to talk about putting on a “show” tune into the next broadcast from St. Peter’s and REALLY listen to the pope’s choir. I personally think their bellicosity aged John Paul the Great much more than he ever let on. My opinion.

Facts

"As long as the Bishops continue to cave in to the Oregon Catholic Press and its acquisitions as a virtual monopoly over American liturgical music, these efforts at remediation won’t go far."
At USCCB Plenum Meetings, presidents from Archbishop Gregory to even Cardinal Dolan have systematically and with casual consensus of the majority tabled or remanded the “problems” of hymntexts and other musical concerns to the bishoprics of Abp. Vlazny and Cdl. George, which also happen to be the homes (Portland/Chicago) of OCP and GIA/WLP respectively. Efforts by few bishops such as Abp. Vigneron (from a conservative POV) to Trautman (progressive) were dismissed immediately after they’d made motions regarding the use of propers, or in Trautman’s case, a call to review the 3rd edition of the English translation of the Missale Romanum.

Irrelevancies

"EWTN has been going downhill for years ever since the imprudent decision of Mother Angelica to step down over a decade ago."
EWTN has demonstrated, until very recently, very little interest in actively promoting the improvement of “liturgy” per se. Interviews with Tucker, great programs infrequently such as produced by Corpus Christi Watershed that don’t cost EWTN a dime have just now made a blip on their radar. Their daily conventual Mass has struggled (at what cost?) to present at best an incoherent liturgical praxis with it’s tippy toe back and forth between the OF in Latin one moment, and English the next.

Why the children at Fatima? Who else would get it?

Yeah, I guess suicide's not so attractive a read, unless we're talking that of Western Civilization. Everyone has an opinion on that one.
But, everyone (even Kierkegaard) had at some point ask themselves "Why I am still on this planet?" Or this plane, this dimension, this veil of tears. Whatever.
Well, just look in the eyes of the nearest bunch of children, especially any that you have even the slightest influence over their maturation.
I have that privilege. Maybe that's what's kept me hopeful and definitely not disconsolate. We did the last formal rosary before our parochial celebration of Our Lady of Fatima tomorrow. Most of the music we will use at the Fatima Mass was arranged by me, Portuguese folk songs and hymns that I've somewhat fiddled with or actually amplified their qualities towards perceived or confected choral legitmacy. (What's that?)

But from our Kindergartners to the Eighth Bell Choir, such unaffected love and joy eminates. Yes, towards me, but they know I serve the Bigger Mr. C, Christ the Lord. God help me, I pray they eventually stay with the faith to know that as big as Mr. C was, Christ is Lord, King, Savior, who emptied Himself by reminding us to suffer these little ones, to call them to us, to be one of them always.

It is important.

That is to know that God our Father, through our BVM, with whom every woman who's ever breathed air has shared a unique burden and joy, gave us Baby Jesus, who was shortly recalled as a precocious gadabout lecturing rabbini in the Temple, only then to be rightly scolded by Mom (and maybe daddy J as well!)

We're all subs. Models. Exemplars. And we are children still while grown. We want joy and peace. Why? Because that is Eden, nature as intended. We are not automatons of past intelligentia posing as prophets of politics over peace.

That's what I was thinking of during the decades of tonight's Fatima Rosary. The One, Holy, Apostolic and Catholic Church. There is no other. Christ is Alpha, gaudete! Christ is Omega, laetare.

How can you keep from singing:

A treze de Maio....

What awaits in the desert

Another day in the valley (of the shadow…). Our little French bulldog just over a year goes “under the knife” for a likely ingested tennis ball fragment. My grandsons’ great-grandmother passed away last night and the boys came to school and school Mass was “perfect.” But their other grandmother, not my wife, is still dealing with the effects of major surgery and chemotherapy for her own battle with cancer. We celebrate “Our Lady of Fatima” formally this weekend. I doubt that one percent of anyone connected with the “celebration” have any clue how serious the apparitions she made still remain. But I pray that all the prep and good will (thousands are fed freely) will not only benefit our school fiscally, but somehow touch souls desperately in need of some sign of hope that, indeed, all will be well. Or, in the interim, this, too, shall pass. Between the school Mass this morning, a true occasion of God’s grace and power through our children, and going back to the school for the final Rosary “pilgrimage” rehearsal, I happened to tune into Fox News’ ‘Studio B with Shepard Smith” broadcast. -Some people think Smith is some sort of faux or pod person “antebellum” talking head. I don’t share that view. He’s pretty much like me, though younger. He’s simply interested in reporting what comes across his media “desk.” And he freely admits to having certain “Jone’s” of news preferences; like the hijacking and car chase that occurred in downtown Phoenix today. I would imagine Shepard was somewhat of age when, on the occasion of our 25th anniversary Wendy and I managed to enjoy and celebrate that milestone whilst the infamous O.J. Simpson chase was broadcast live. Just one surreal day after another, apparently since then. But the fascination with car chases that is as unavoidable as rubber-necking any traffic mishap has taken on great magnification since O.J. But this is about a car chase. This is about the tragedy of yet another soul whose name won’t even register as much Q as Trayvon Martin or the name of the Aurora theatre shooter. Do you remember his name? It was in the news cycle briefly today. Holmes. And another “guy” just shot up five people in the Twin Cities less than 24 ago. No one will even “get” his name, save the surviving families, because the body count is now, “low.” Back to our car-jacking guy. He maxes out on the 10, unhindered apparently by AHP, and goes off the grid save for the helo’s and ends up on dirt roads, non-threatening surface roads, until finally he ends up on some desert (think also about deserted) road. Probably out of gas like Shepard predicted. He get out of the “low class” Dodge Calibre he jacked, does a little duck and roll, cover and rebound and then runs, as if on script, to some coverlet of brush, back to the helo cameras, and puts one squarely above his right ear. There’s an interminable interval of time, you can’t even fake it like in movies, until his body reacts and falls forward into the grit of the desert. “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani?” was likely not on his mind. Did the presence of mind leave his being some time ago? No one will ever know for sure. I can say that with absolute assurance. My dad chose that path. So have other dads of friends I hold dear. I’m not part of any “survivors” group with a name. I’m part of that ignominious club that has some interest in trying to get people like Judas Iscariot. I don’t think that, when it comes to suicide, it’s a matter of how “they” got so disconsolate, but when their disconsolation was fired into despair beyond despair. There’s no indictment over survivors’ failure to interdict, intervene. People choose their paths. And the kindest thought I can muster is that sometimes they choose paths that, whether they can foresee or not, possible outcomes, they then choose not to act, but simply react. So, this is the elegy for the young punk whose fifteen Warhol minutes ended up in Sheperd yelling “Cut, cut, cut away….” Sheperd has a heart that is true and on course. But none of us can delay what we cannot foresee. And now we have cell phones and chase helo’s and drones/satellites that can nail us before we’re even aware that we’re conscious. That’s why this kid’s soul and all those of the faithful departed need the “Dies irae” prayed over them.

Pro-Choice in Worship Music, Part the Second

More or less in response to Jeffrey Tucker's reprint of a Cafe article in this week's "Crisis" online magazine article....


What Jeffrey Tucker passionately pleads for is undeniably truthful and would, in an ideal world stuff the plethora and panopoly of post-conciliar problems back into the Pandora's box. But, as I've reminded him elsewhere, more light and truth need to be shared with both the professionals and the pew people who root for his vision to prevail. The whole truth and nothing but this truth is that the endgame always remains the Latin Graduale Romanum. So far, so good. However, as has been correctly pointed out in these comments already, the Church has been down this rocky road at least twice in its liturgical history- Trent and "Tra le sollecitudini." And the "ideal" solution wafts away soon like incense, save for some remarkably beautiful, exceptional adherents in alpine monasteries, small parishes in Palo Alto, San Diego, Auburn et al, and in small colleges where folks like Dr. Ed Schaefer and others have chosen and been providentially endowed the privilege of implementing the ideal. But back in real, unwashed catholicland, there is a sort of renaissance that approaches the ideal and endgame with the burgeoning catalogue of "chant-based" book resources, the most notable examples in the U.S. including the forerunner "By flowing waters" (1999, Dr. Paul Ford), The American Gradual (Pr. Bruce E. Ford), The Simple English Propers (2011, Mr. Adam Bartlett), The Vatican II Hymnal (2011, Mr. Jeffrey Ostrowski), The Lumen Christi Missal (2012, Bartlett), as well as many other similar "solutions" over the years by Frs. Weber and Kelly, Dr. Tietze etc. The dilemma remains: are these bridges or terminal destination resources for people that must negotiate vastly different worship cultures armed only with the meager knowledge that the popular culture has ensnared upon them? And what's more, we've been here before. What little liturgical reform resulted from Trent was soon forgotten upon the fraternal twin horns of baroque opera forms and an opposite extreme, the singmesse. After 1903 resources such as the Rossini Propers and the Palmer Burgess Gradual hardly made pervasive dents in the now well-ensconsed "hymn sandwich" mentality. We in the church music biz ARE STILL COMPELLED to have to CHOOSE what elixar product will be the parish remedy or poison? You can't still "make this stuff up." For most of us this "wonderful variety" of choice remains a sort of potential "Russian roulette" revolver wherein each chamber is loaded with one of those "silver bullet" solutions I listed above. We can get the pastor's permission to pull the trigger and still not know if we will survive or thrive afterwards. The Latin Mass, OF and EF, and the Gradua Romanum (or Gregorian Missal) remain the only "true" path in intellectual honesty here. We're always going to be in it for the long haul.

To be "Pro Choice" in liturgical music? Yes, but how?

The Church has given us the music we need and it is found in the GRADUALE ROMANUM. Every piece is scripted for each part of Mass for the full liturgical year. Plus, we have new resources that enable people to sing this music in English, in much easier settings. This is what we ought to be shooting for.

 

Two years ago, I would have been certain that this book (LUMEN CHRISTI MISSAL) would have been far too cutting edge for American parishes. Today, maybe not. Regardless, we finally have a clear and achievable standard.


If the Psalm between readings at Mass makes your ears hurt, here is the ticket to peace: The PARISH BOOK OF PSALMS by Arlene Oost-Zinner. This one book has beautiful Psalms in the Gregorian style written for solo cantor or group, with full notated verses, for the entire liturgical year. Get a copy for every member of the choir. The Psalm is the oldest and most revered sung part of the Mass, and it deserves the right musical treatment in every parish

For years I’ve heard the lamentations. Why can’t Catholics seem to put together a decent hymnal? Our own schola in my parish does without. We now plan liturgy without any recourse to the hymnal. This has saved us endless hours of frustration over crazy music, bad theology in texts, terrible arrangements, goofy Psalms, pathetic Mass settings, and more. We are free, and now the Roman Rite speaks for itself.
I’ve not had much luck in persuading pastors of this opinion. Taking the hymn-free option does indeed require some degree of musical expertise. You have to be pretty savvy to know how to pull it off. Not everyone can do this. New pastors who don’t entirely trust their music staff still need a hymnal just to work as a filtering device, and many pastors believe that the people do indeed need something to look at during Mass.
In this case, I’m happy to report that after half a century, there is now a viable alternative. The book is the VATICAN II HYMNAL. It is published by Corpus (Christi) Watershed. This is not a big publisher. It is actually one person, and his name is Jeffrey Ostrowski. It offers an excellent selection of poetically and theologically robust hymns. And refreshingly, unlike most post conciliar hymnals, there are no self-referential pop-song imitations. The rest of the hymnal is filled out with a diversity of highly useful material.

The SIMPLE ENGLISH PROPERS provides music for the full liturgical action of these processions (Introit/Offertorio/Communio) for singers who have not previously sung Mass propers. They are designed to be used without accompaniment. They are flexible enough to be sung by a cantor alone or by a large choir that can sing in unison in two octaves or be divided into high and low voices. The people are free to join in but this is not necessary, for the propers of the Mass belong primarily to the choir.

All of these "mini" reviews were authored by the managing editor of the journal "SACRED MUSIC," Jeffrey Tucker, culled from reviews at MusicSacra Forum, the Chant Cafe and the introduction to one particular volume, the SIMPLE ENGLISH PROPERS.

The above five reviews represent the notion often mentioned (including from this author) that this era amounts to a watermark, better yet watershed(!) period in the history of our Church’s liturgical evolution. The most common expression amounts to something like “What a great time to be Catholic.” Why yes, thank you, it is.” But the difficult reality to grasp is that the five resources above, not to mention the amazing list of royalty-free resources (by and large) found at the Musica Sacra Home Page “Chant Books” section, presents the interested, then dedicated church musician with more than a plethora of options with which to fashion a new liturgical landscape, both ecology and economy, within the “normative” parish practices that can be, at the least, presumed to be antithetical at worst and apathetic often at best to yet another set of circumstances and personnel that “leadership” is convinced with result in “full, active and conscious participation” by the faithful. Long story short, pastors and parish administrators have a crew-cut vision of what all that means: it means they can hear the folks singing, period.

But those among us who’ve been “at this” for a long while know that such an assessment can be an indicator of both true and deceptively false perceptions of success.

Besides, there are finally analysis and conversations that, due to the instantaneous marvel of the internet, are laid before our eyes, ears and intellects that challenge us to reconcile the dissonance deeply embedded in our practices, i.e. “The hymn sandwich” (which doesn’t, ironically actually require the use of any formal hymns at all) and the use or abuse of the roles of the choir and cantor in modern, authentic worship music.

I won’t, in this post, elaborate further on the dilemma of choice represented by both these newer contenders for pastoral implementation in parishes above, much less those market driven and feature laden volumes that have dominated the American pew pockets for decades. But, it is important to note, in light of a very interesting chronology of liturgies directed by the eminent American scholar, Benedictine monk Fr. Anthony Ruff, currently at a conference in Europe, that the notion of unity of practice that appears to waft and have the same appealing fragrances of our ceremonial incense, may be a veritable mirage, both now, in the past and likely into the future. As I’m now in the twilight of a four decade vocation in worship music, I pray and work for coherence and consistency in the local fields with even more ardor than perhaps two decades ago, when I thought it expeditious to just cover the waterfront through eclecticism. But what I see is that the four or five decade long tenured Director of Music as exemplified by John Dunn, the late Msgr. Schuler, Roger Wagner and Paul Salamunovich, and most notably Professor William Mahrt, rare as their careers have already proven, represent a soon forgotten species. So I suppose what I’m saying is that the wisdom necessary to navigate through the above choices, their unique offerings as well as redundancies, will require not only intuitive young directors whom we have in abundance in CMAA, but those who will remain at their posts long enough to mentor generations of future, professed and learned musicians at service to the Church.

Sorry, Sister, you're a bit late for the party....

I came across a link from Fr. Zed's place that he touted as a must read. So I poured through Rebuilding Catholic Culture: Church Music and the Fad of ‘Folk’ Style by Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, C.S.J.

I was immediately struck, stunned even, at how melodramatic her article began and that in light of the fact that she seemed to be in a time warp, somewhat like the Dude in the film "The Big Lebowski" who "just dropped by to see what condition my condition was in." I think many musicians had their Chicken Little revelation moment quite some years ago, and yet another trad screed wasn't really going add anything new to the conversation. Well, anyways I've done what I do, parced and fisked it, and you can choose to take it or leave it. Some excerpts.

I will never forget that moment! Flinging off his eyeglasses, he glared at me, “Sister, what have you done to our music!” I froze. It was my first year at NYU as a graduate student of musicology, and I was enrolled in Professor Gustave Reese’s course, Medieval and Renaissance Music. He was the world’s leading authority on these two musical periods. An American Jew, a Renaissance Man, he loved the sacred music of the pre-conciliar Church. In a sense, he was its custodian.

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No, in no sense was Professor Gustave a custodian of the pre-conciliar musical traditions and treasury of the Church. As we will see, the tautology of a “golden age” or a quantifiable “treasury” of sacred music as “kept intact” before the Second Vatican Council will be reinforced by the obvious dissonance between enjoyers of the aesthetic properties of those traditions, and the enjoiners or practicioners of that tradition in an era that only existed in the theoretical realm by the time the council convened. In fact, that two musicologists would cite St. Pius X’s motu proprio, Tra le sollectiduni, as evidence of musical integration in favor of the pre-conciliar art forms is nonsense.

On the day of John F. Kennedy’s funeral in 1963, Beethoven’s second movement of the “Eroica” Symphony accompanied the cortege on its way to Washington’s St. Matthew’s Cathedral. Beethoven had dedicated the symphony “to the memory of a fallen hero.”

And this, again, is a detrimental, faulty example that somehow links the majesty of the symphonic art form to the mystical power of elevating the human spirit towards the ethereal. Well the Beethoven might have done that somber day, but my memory more recalls the Mozart Requiem in Boston that served as a more “authentic” prayer for the repose of the soul of a dead president.

According to Sing to the Lord, the musical judgment of sacred music requires musical competence, (and) only artistically sound music will be effective and endure over time. To admit to the Liturgy the cheap, trite, or the musical cliché often found in secular popular songs is to cheapen the Liturgy, to expose it to ridicule, and to invite failure.

Here is another misunderstanding that is constructed as a smart missle aimed at late 20th century sacropop, that unfortunately could be retroactively applied to art forms that sister and the professor would endorse as fundamental and sound. I’ll even overlook the presumption that “musical competence” to her is confined to composition (rather than including performance!) That said, were the collected melodies of R.V.Williams, Gustav Holst, C. V. Stanford (in the U.K. only) among all the romantic era symphonic collectors, not legitimizing what theretofore was relegated to the public houses and bawdy crowd? Was “KINGSFOLD” or “HYFRYDOL” some noble and ancient tunes that lofted up proud and majestic prose. Or might such hymn texts of the equally great writers Wesley, Vaughn, Hopkins et al have been successfully wedded to the now formalized “cheap musical clichés” of which some serve as even National Anthems for major countries of the world? Yes, failure is quite possible and is to be excoriated, such as the recent, unfortunate redux of misappropriating so-called Celtic tunes such as LONDONDERRY and SKYE BOAT SONG in order to impose a faux impressionism of mysticism upon a newly minted and sellable product..

Below is a sampling of songs from the OCP:1) Trite music to accompany texts with little or no theological import: #332, Let Us Break Bread Together; #449, How Can I Keep from Singing; #376, Here I Am, Lord; #616, They’ll Know We Are Christians.2) Romanticized, saccharine melodies: #476, You Are Mine; #331, Taste and See; #359, I Receive the Living God; #438, Be Not Afraid; #442, On Eagle’s Wings; #522, Earthen Vessels.3) Songs with jerky, heavy, frenzied rhythms, or dance rhythms found in popular culture: #302, Gather Us In; #374, City of God; #447, Though the Mountains May Fall; #452, Blest Be the Lord; #495, Let There Be Peace on Earth, the perfect song for Bette Midler; #548, Sing to the Mountains, Sing to the Sea; #578, Sing a New Song Unto the Lord; #548 and #578 are cast in the style of a brindisi, a drinking song similar to that sung in Verdi’s La Traviata.

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Sister is to be commended for actually disclosing clearly titled examples of songs that contribute to the perceived malaise, most critics actually just lump all the stuff as if into a compacter bin and press “crush.” However, this should be the one area where her expertise as a musicologist should wipe any patina off the fresh faces of any of these malefactor songs, and she actually makes a few blunders (IMO, of course) with her one liner disses. The lack of theological import in “Let us break bread together” is no small matter, she should have questioned its inclusion to great lengths. And if were one inclined to easily find the remarks made by the cardinal archbishop of New York at Fordham University this last week, I’m sure she’d feel a bit of Irish rebuke for her crankiness over “How can I keep from singing.” (Not to mention from hymnologist Alice Parker, DMA.) “I received the living God” is hardly a saccharine hymn, its roots are in the French "utilitarian/peoples'" tradition of Deiss, Berthier and Gouzes, not at all to be included in the usual suspects she otherwise mentions in that category. The use of “jerky…frenzied rhythms….” as disqualifiers for the last lot is almost comical to me; bringing up images of old black and white Merrie Melodies portraying cartoon Sambas in celluloid jungle settings, really? And the sea chantey discourse was pretty much hammered over by Tom Day two decades ago. Her list of popular rhythms is woefully out of date. Maybe she should google Fr. Stan Fortuna. But whatever, do not take her to a GaGa or Nicki Minage, or JayZee/Kanye West concert if she wants to know what’s truly popular in rhythms this era.

The ‘folk’ style used in the liturgy is written for guitar or non-organ accompaniment, and free style, off-the cuff improvisation is to be expected. The guitar needs to be defended. It is a serious instrument, not to be trivialized. Belonging to the lute family, the guitar is first and foremost a solitary, gentle, soft-spoken plucked instrument with limited sonority.

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This will be the last of my fisking the commentary sister advances. If sister had really done her homework, around 1976-78, at the advent of the St. Louis Jesuits, songwriters such as John Foley S.J. (it would be inaccurate to deem them composers at that point of their careers, none were studied in the art and rubrics) very clearly articulated in their book collections the very opposite instructions or implications. They made it clear that their melodies were to be accompanied by guitarists who would adhere to an emerging pedagogy similar to both basso continuo or figured bass of the baroque tradition, and the lead sheet chordal nomenclature used in jazz. Now, that is not to say there isn’t a ring of truth to what sister says in that a vast majority of guitar “strummers” who had command of a grand total of about six chords in their lifetime chose to ignore that new pedagogy of complex chords, assigned bass note movement that was meant to “go somewhere” or what we call “voice leading.” But that eventually became a standard to which successive generations of contemporary composers adopted and specified. But to wholesale declare that no one for decades exacted a method beyond struma diddy strum strum and “They’ll know we are Christians” is an extremely impoverished or lazy account. And she does get it quite right in her last statement. The guitar can be used very seriously in this era, as its forebears were used in Venice during Monteverdi’s time. To sum up, despite the endorsement of this article, I would admonish the readers to reach far beyond these summations to those of a more eminent musicologist and, and, and, practicioner, Professor William Mahrt of Stanford University, present president of the Church Music Association of America. His recently debuted book, “THE MUSICAL SHAPE OF THE LITURGY” is truly, what I believe, critics of the perceived decay of our musical treasury should use a criteria for evaluation. And for some measure of balance, but much weightier tome, I’d recommend Fr. Anthony Ruff’s “SACRED MUSIC AND THE LITURGICAL REFORM” which argues from more varied perspectives the paths we can choose to take to improve our dire straights.

The Style Wars at our Schools-What to do?

This thread came up at Musica Sacra Forum the other day. A poster wrote:
The teachers at my school are complaining a bit about the music at Mass---too hard to sing, students aren't singing it, Kindergarteners can't read the hymnal, etc---and I've written a letter to my principal about the principles that motivate me. Teachers at a meeting today were suggesting Exalt, whatever that is, and other praise-chorus type stuff.The priest is (sic) no foolishness and backs me 100%, but I want to minimize grumbling among the staff. I want to make sure I make the case well for sacred music. To which another poster replied: "At my job I play for school Masses and the teachers take turns "planning" the liturgy. I get the list of songs each week that I am to play, and they are such classics as "This Little Light of Mine," "Shine Jesus, Shine" and "Table of Plenty." I pick my battles and this isn't one that I've bothered to fight yet."
If there’s one thing you can get liturgical conservatives to agree upon instantly, it’s that progressive improvement, or “brick by brick,” is best applied when towards the children and young people. As much as I, the choral director, take greatest pleasure in the ability to sing Palestrina or Tallis at a moment’s notice, the most important aspect of my “job” is to prepare our parochial kids, the RE kids (as much as I only interact with them directly one or two times per year) and the children attending Sunday Masses to become “singing Catholics.” However, in keeping with my “fail to plan” maxim, a school music teacher, assuming we’re talking primarily general music (singing/music reading) and choral classes, should be mindful of creating a very deliberate scaffolding of goals and strategies that accommodate the grade level learning skills of a K-8 school AND which also reinforce not just the attributes of “how to read, how to sing,” but also “what kind of music is worthy to be sung” and knowing the ritual moments which those music’s accompany. Happily I took advantage three curricular years ago to thoroughly examine and teach the elementary level kids (roughly 3rd-6th) the musical attributes of the three primary forms of music the church uses: chant, hymn and song. I don’t need to ruminate further upon that other than to say that they systematically had to identify those types when learning new material to be used at weekly Mass. So, when the third edition of the English Missal was coming, I was provided a platform to teach them Gloria XV in chant, which has paid dividends for the last three years every red day or Holy Day Mass. For Ordinary settings, I have chosen one unified setting specifically arranged for that broad grade level, with some aspects of easy acquisition for novice readers, and even Greek/Latin in non-chanted settings so they can make connections later on to Latin terms and chants in upper grades. For example, I took a Natalie Sleeth ecumenical Mass and “catholicized” it, using a very sweet descending 5-1 motif with “Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.” From the 8th grade Bell choir to the kindergarten wee ones, full participation was not only possible, but achieved consistently. Make the Mass Ordinary, in whatever style you choose, geared towards beauty and worthiness as well as the didactic music skills you’re trying to reinforce in real practice. Don’t place so much worry about the style wars. But, if you’re under pressure to be inclusive towards music you would otherwise shun, take some time to find melodies and texts that have true merit. “Table of Plenty” isn’t the most banal of songs that has entered our repertoire, truth be told. Neither is it a truly beautiful work such as Whitaker’s “In every age.” But compared to the pedantic early works of the Baltimore and NALR composers (not the SLJ’s) it was much worse back in the 70’s, take my word. But, if one scours, literally combs through the OCP Breaking Bread and (I suppose) Gather hymnals one can find chant emulative songs like Barbara Bridge’s “We Walk by Faith/In Times of Trouble,” or Hurd’s “Ubi caritas,” you can find songs that systematically teach concepts like syncopation like the Manibusan/Hart “Give us your peace,” or the plaintive, repetitive motive found in Tom Booth’s “Sacred Silence.” And identifying a clear body of “decent” modern songs (including texts that pass theological muster) shows to the general faculty and administration, as well as pastors, that you aren’t mired in someone else’s concept of blending orthopraxis with music curriculum that needs to be taught and learned by the kids systematically. And, of course, whether you use Ward Method, your method or Words with Wings method, be very creative and enthusiastic in your strategies that will bring the kids a sense of spirit, of more precisely “inspiration” as they learn the subtleties of chanting our sacred texts.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Mediocre

Music is there to support the liturgy, not to overshadow it. I have found that too many youth masses in particular have turned into some sort of pseudo christian concert for those who either wouldn't or couldn't make it as a musician anywhere else.

Another one rides that bus, and it thus bites the dust!
The above quotation serves, as yet again, to illustrate the pervasive myopia of the self-righteous templars of "That which is known to all as SACRED MUSIC." I mean to say I could name the error of the reasoning above in two notes: "Mister Caruso." What part of "Why Catholics Can't Sing" did this commentor miss regarding the "grand stage of the high drama of the Mass and its, ahem, captive audience"? Now, at our parishes, we don't indulge with LifeTeen, but we have three ensembles of musicians and singers whose repertoire is culled basically with SLJ to the present stuff, primarily from OCP (including one group that uses "Spirit and Song" to augment what isn't in BB.) I have seen three young high school players (one soprano sax, two guitarists) who have since gone onto conservatories and colleges, received degrees in instrumental performance and one in composition at the Thornton School of USC under Morton Lauridsen, from our little pseudo musician poseurs out here in California's dust bowl. Maybe that doesn't happen down under elsewhere. But what likely happens elsewhere is the persistent and predictable reality that Mr./Ms. Caruso will make a grand appearance somewhere during the Divine Liturgy, particularly if the Bishop of Rome is presiding or in choir. And there is much rejoicing, cooing, fawning and laudatory accolades about how "This is real Catholic music! This is how it's supposed to be done!"

Well, I am 61 and who gives a rip. Comment away!

When I first entered blogdom, I had no clue about how nefarious bad actors (that should read: each and every one of us, original sin an' all) could make things go south if one had nothing but good intentions and presumed everyone else did as well. Well, as soon as the first Far East porn spammer linked to my personal blog and, by extension, to the parish website, well...a little carpet time with the pastor spurred by a letter from an, ahem, unsympathetic parishioner presuming I endorsed any and all things that leeched into "my" cyberspace and thereby sullied the parish got my attention in a serious way. (Like, uh, this is my job! I'm really a good person, but "bad company" can be photo-shopped and ruin ANYONE, I mean existentially, RUIN ANYONE in a nano-second.) But, blogs are becoming passe. Yay! So, if anyone really gives a rip about my musings here and wants to stay on topic, I figure that this message will serve to let them know: If it's on topic, it's in. If it contains spurious crap, that being whatever I deem it to be, I'll yank it. If'n it's spam, spam, spam, spam.....then that robo-engine has an idiot for a client. I mean, who reads this blog that would possibly be interested in your ponzi scheme, zombie remedy, hooking up with whatever, or any hate group product line? We return to our normal programming.

Fail to plan, plan to fail. Bad Music as SIN!

One particularly heinous song has the congregation proclaiming, “We are the light of the world,” even though this biblical description applies to Christ. The lyrics of “We Are Called” are liberally peppered with self-congratulatory references to the people in the pews. In my book, bad church music is a sin. It can annoy people and make them angry, which is never a good thing. It also drives some people to avoid Sunday services altogether.
In continuation of some reactions to recent posts in the liturgical music blogworld, yet another post features what amounts to no more than a haranguing bloviation about taste. I was amused, however, by the complaintent's choice of songs to excoriate; they were'nt among the ususal suspects, those being of the Vox Dei or We Sing Praise to Ourselves in order to Bring a New World Order Church Into Being. Nope. The first song, not knowing if its setting was Greif's or Hayakawa's (doesn't matter, really) is purloined as proof that the clear biblical intention from Matthew 5:14 to identify Christ as the Light of the world, and there is no mitigating extension allowing his followers to self-apply that assignation to themselves. But even a randomly selected commentary on the passage yields what should have been obvious to the irate writer:
from Clarke's Commentary on the Bible Ye are the light of the world - That is, the instruments which God chooses to make use of to illuminate the minds of men; as he uses the sun (to which probably he pointed) to enlighten the world. Light of the world, נר עולם ner olam, was a title applied to the most eminent rabbins. Christ transfers the title from these, and gives it to his own disciples, who, by the doctrines that he taught them, were to be the means of diffusing the light of life throughout the universe. Regarding the latter mentioned song, of all of the David Haas catalogue, I actually find this lyric quite compelling personally. It's never sung at any Masses that employ primarily traditional chant and hymnody at our parishes, but is often found at the ensemble Masses, including the one a week I direct. And I only use it after the dismissal, where its appropriateness in unquestionably purposeful. It's about the missio, Ms. "I hate bad church music." It's not about contorting ourselves into our own redemption. But the larger point of this followup addresses the much larger issue, namely, if we continue to use propaganda-like vitriol such as the absurd accusation that bad music compels back-sliding grinches from worshipping Lumen Christi, and being present to the salvivic grace of confession and Communion, we do nothing but place ourselves in our own little corner and appear to many as mere doubters and pouters. There have been a number of moments and missed opportunities to engage divergent opinions which might further some consensus as the evolution of understanding, not the music itself, but the understanding of its role at worship, could have proceded well. David Haas gave it the old college try, but any stridency of his voice was met by the big guns of rhetorical shock and awe. So he basically said, "Forget it. These folks have ears that are mere props. I'm outta here." Who could blame him? And, of course, more REACTION thus ensued. "We prevailed, the foe is vanquished, our righteousness and zeal won the day and will win the war." Bad music? Define that for me please. Bad music, a sin? "Hell yeah, because it burdens my ability to pray at service!" No it doesn't. It's your cross, show up and bear it. Lay it before the altar and pray for relief. Stay home because of "bad music," you're choosing to stay home rather than to encounter the Living God. Don't lay that on the music or the musician.

Just follow the directions, call me in the morning.

Yet another synchronous revival of concern over what "truly" constitutes the various aspects of sung worship at our catholic rites at both the Chant Cafe and the MusicaSacra Forum. Apart from citing the prevelent documents' legislative recommendations (the key word being "recommendations") the push remains fixed upon the resurgence of ritual chant to its principled place, that would be "first place," as the quick yet eternal fix for all yer troubles-musicale at St. Malaise the Mediocre and such parishes ever'where. What mystifies me is that all shareholders to the unique call of "church musician" old enough to have lived and worked the evolutionary curve from Wagner/Schuler/Salamunovich to Hurd/Haugen/Haas aren't being systematically asked about how they've survived, nee even prospered for over four decades as they've lovingly accepted the burdens placed upon them by people, pastors and peddlers, kept the home fires stoked and burning every Sunday for every congregation, and have come to realize that, indeed, noble simplicity is the achievable goal. On the other hand, it seems that the push to inculcate the chant (which leads to polyphony which leads to Schubert which leads to Messaien which leads to.....Stockhausen? or Carey Landrey?) is cried so freqently and urgently as if by a muezzim from a minaret! Even Fr. Zed posted yesterday that no one individual or group can hector their way to convincing a pastor and people to "just do it" with putting a TLM and its attributes into a weekly parish Mass schedule. But in Jeff Tucker's recent post at the Cafe he reiterates "There is a way out." The tenor of the title of the post is yet another reminder that chant proponents are united in the perception that "church music" everywhere amounts to the USS Poseidon (or the Titanic, your choice) already keel upside down, and we chant proponents are so cockswain sure, just like Gene Hackman's hip but stern preacher/messiah character in the original film, and if we don't move in single file through the serpentine problems that confound us, we will drown, the ship will sink, and humankind will throw petals on the water and move further away towards other abysses. Jeff states with certainty:

There are objective conditions that rule our discussions of liturgical music. There is tradition but that tradition is not arbitrary. It is bound by a ritual purpose and structure. This, and not individual taste, is what serves as our guiding light. The music is not there simply to please people. It is there as a servant of the liturgy.

All of that somewhat terse assessment is true in a sort of didactic way; not unlike the placards in airplane seat pockets that are then repeated verbally by flight attendants to a cross-section of disinterested to extremely interested passengers in said plane. "In the event of...."  if you're really becoming interested in what's happening in Mass, please follow the instructions." My young colleague, Adam Wood, inserted a clip from the great slapstick movie "Airplane" about the singing nun ministering to the gravely ill child on the plane, who in the process of singing her happy clappy nun song rips the IV from the child's arm with the headpiece of her omnipresent guitar. Well, the other appropriate clip from "Airplane" concerning following liturgical principles would be the one where the lead attendant orders passengers to assume the correct emergency position for a crash landing, and they all scramble into an absurd melange of idiocy and chaos! The problem with think-tank processes, surveys, making more and more legal documents (think of Pelosi begging congress to pass Obamacare just so everyone could then have a reason to what was in the law after the fact!) and aesthetes calling all the shots is that it doesn't account for the purpose of liturgy, to save the people first! Serving the liturgy is an ideal that cannot merely imply serving the people well and in good fashion and taste. Churches have been often dubbed hospitals for sinners. Well, how's our health care system doing lately? Better than the Church? About equal maybe? Well, by my reckoning we're seemingly in a state of perpetual triage. Standing at the nexus of nave and sanctuary crying out "Chant you people, chant now, chant well!" is analogous to young Kevin Bacon's ROTC character in "Animal House" facing the riotous stampeding Faber townspeople raging towards him, and his pathetic cries "All is well, all is well!" If all is well in Catholic Church Music Land, how come I know of more than a handful of top drawer musical leaders who are struggling to either keep the legacy of their work going under intolderable circumstances, or who are seeking a shrinking scenario of professional possibilities in an extremely tenuous civic economy which redowns upon a church economy a hundredfold worse? I'm going to mull this whole enchilada over for a while, after a brief interlude. But has it occured to anyone that there are a spectrum of factors that have influenced the three or four living generations of pre and post concilior catholic culture besides the ritual purity and moral rightness undergirding the Church's Thought on these liturgical matters? What if Great-granny Mildred's most cherished musical memory from "church" wasn't singing the Dies Irae in her schools choir in a loft 75 years ago, but a constant re-hearing of hymns such as "Nearer my God, to Thee," "In the Garden," or or this great classic, So, if you're fortunate enough to consult with a cogent Millie prior to her passing, are YOU going to have much success recreating Fr. Pasley's eloquent exegesis of the Dies Irae at the Salt Lake colloquium to her and her attendant family in order to persuade its singing as the Offertory at her "celebration of life" Mass? And good luck telling Mildred's daughter and grand-daughter that OEW sucks and you won't play it when they keel over either. The liturgy cannot be merely dealt with in the abstract. There are persons involved-both people and divine creatures, not the least of which is the Creator of all. And, of course, like Hallmark, when we want to send our greetings to Him, we want to send the very best. But that "very best" may not always be summarized tidily in elegant simplicity or ornate adornment. It may be a fingerprint of a cross in the dirt and clay, or scrawled on a napkin in a hurry, or in the inconvenient clank of coins into a collection basked amidst the bills and checks. Now, in the interim, don't a one of ye who lurk here think I've touched the third rail and fried my connection to the eternal, sacral language of our Roman Catholic chant. I'm just sayin..... To be continued.

And Frederick Faber wept.....

Fluttering about I ran into THIS ARTICLE "Crisis Magazine" by Anthony Esolen. I come to one of those screeching Roadrunner v. Wile E. Coyote dead stops with a title including such a hook "Paint by numbers hymns." Now, what I want to know is what the heck hymnal did he dredge the titles and verses out of? Please tell me it's not WORSHIP 4! Even I would have doubt that GIA would stretch their credibility, or what's left of it, out that far like some deranged bubblegum fanatic. Are the hymns Esolen mentions even real?

To Richard Rice, Cobalt in intensity and beauty

Schola got off the summer wagon and back on the rehearsal bus last night. Boarding was bumpy, jostling among no parking, a large RCIA class, and a larger contingent of RE volunteers in the very small downstairs of the old convent. But even without basses, we had a good first night turnout. We went through a lovely little anthem of John Leavitt, "Come, follow me" which will be perfect for Sunday's gospel. We read through the new SATB version of Jeff Ostrowski's "Glory to God" from the ST. RALPH SHERWIN MASS (CCWatershed). That was of breathtaking elegance. We read some lovely Charles Giffen Christmas Carols including a snappy Czech piece I'll have to ask Chuck for phonetics help. But the capper was our first encounter with this Sunday's Communio, Qui vult veni (Whoever wishes to follow...) from Richard Rice's new CHORAL COMMUNIO collection. When I first encountered Richard in 2006, his Latin COMMUNIO resource collection was my first serious introduction to propers. And I only had glances of him personally. Then he issued the famed SIMPLE CHORAL GRADUALS under CMAA license, and the quasi-orthodox homophony was an instant hit with my group who sight reads pretty well for all amateurs. Over the intervening years, we wouldn't rehearse the SCG until right before Mass. But they still maintained an edifying presence for all. Now, we have in the CHORAL COMMUNIO's a collection that will demand serious attention on rehearsal night, and amounts to a virtual motet as the celebrant receives and then distributes to the deacons, acolytes and EMHC's. If you've met Richard, you'll smile if I say he has such a quirky and enigmatic personality. I think his immediate visage to the uninitiated my smack of one who doesn't suffer foolishness gladly. But I think his sense of humor and affection for family and friends have deep waters. How could he write with prolifically but yet so sensitively and with variety, freshness, poignancy if he wasn't truly inspired. Do invest in knowing the music of Richard Rice.

Set my Quarterback Free!

This is not my oddest post here or elsewhere. I'm awakening from a long weekend, watching CBS's main football anchor, James Brown, give the Week One run down on the NFL's brightest moments. The subject of the Washington Redskins (irony) convincing win against the Saints in NOLA came up first, and it was so predictable-the subtle fawning over the new Moses of DC and the league, Robert Griffen III. He's "the kind of character you want to build your team around....He's so articulate and intelligent....he's magnetic.....he knows how to command the stage....."- on and on were the superlatives. His smile now adorns more newspapers and periodicals this morning than were ever seen exposing the Cheshire Cat's in ALICE.
But this is racism, folks. Albeit the well-meaning sort, but still insidious to my sensibilities. This rant is not meant to detract from the realities of the superlatives and the abilities and character of Griffen. But Brown was clear, for every Griffen III, there's five JaMarcus Russell's.
The culture is so flawed. It think it really started to go sideways when poor Rodney King was thrust into the glare of the news cycle not when he was savagely beaten after committing a misdemeanor driving act, and then his broken psyche was likely pushed before the media gauntlet to be the "other King, not MLK,Jr." and plead "Can't we all just get along?" And now both Kings are gone and largely footnoted to history. And once the Zimmerman trial is done, Trayvon Martin and Zimmerman will also await that fate as well.
Back to the NFL, the culture and the African-American Quarterback myth. I have a question for Mr. Brown and all who keep reminding us that the man and the system still keep the black quarterback down: who is Warren Moon, who is James Harris, who is Donovan McNabb, who is Michael Vick (there's a story!), who is Jason Campbell, who is Charlie Batch, Cam Newton, Doug Williams, Vince Evans, Steve McNair (RIP), Randall Cunningham.....one is tempted just to go on and on.
This sort of subtle, back-handed racial profiling got plenty of people in trouble in the past, ask Jimmy the Greek. But the Greek (RIP) was largely a jerk when viewed by the emerging PC culture at the time. But that big James and perky Noral O'Donnell who played Ed McMahon to the praising of Griffen would still perpetuate that "the black quarterback" was still some sort of social lab experiment is a huge slap in the post Obama era. Yeah, we're mired in racism and bigotry still. (I make a distinction, as learned by Malcom X's wisdom.) But it ain't at the quarterback position.
You want to find new pickings? Start praising Chinese-American point guards in the NBA, or the rise of erstwhile "white" superstars in world basketball. "Wow, that Dirk Nowitski is one gifted white boy forward, he's the second coming of Larry Bird. ('Course, he's from Germany, and those guys are really smart!)"

Oh, I forgot....this blog is about Roman Catholic Sacred Music. Hmmm.
How 'bout that Kevin Allen? Can he write some seriously great polyphony? And he's a Trad Catholic and Black, too? Wow! I'm telling you folks, he's a game changer!

Have a nice week, James.

My "Reagan" moment

So, we retire to the den towards the end of Bill's summation (it's not a speech, it's a seduction, he's Bill for gosh sakes) to watch the most Christian show on television, "So You Think You Can Dance." And all's going very well; for cryin' out land it's the final four of both genders! I'm so exhausted I want to sleep but this is the only display of truly Christian charity, not dogmatically, but in terms of establishing bonds and covenant relationships that you'll ever encounter on broadcast, cable or pay per view. Period.
But after a few featured segments an advert comes on. The track is easy; a mildly reverbed I pedal point with 5-6-b7 and backwards riff  on a Strat. The very heart of rock, that which Jagger and Richards lauched themselves into immortality with a fuzz boxed "Satisfaction" in '64.
I'm sitting there listening to the advert. I know the VOICE, I know the riff, I know the era, I know everything about the world inwhich that tune lived at the height of its popularity.
I can't, even now as I've struggled to solve this so inconsequential question, remember the group's name, the song's title.....I can't "place it."
For an analyst, AKA, anal retentive organizer, this is no small collapse; it's monumental. No herbal nor medicinal regimin will alter the course with any assurance that decline can be delayed.
I suppose this is that moment I've anticipated nearly all my life: when my wits fail me. Wits, don't fail me now!
Sorry, guy. Spit happens. (Spit is at least somewhat arbitrary, the other is required.)
I'm thinking: was that Freddie Mercury? Some great American rock tenor I can't place. I don't know. I can't place it.
This is the old reality/new reality of me.