Dismissal Singing Woes?

Found this floating on the Web.
Click the image for a larger version.

This meme was thrust upon me from Lyn Francisco at the Organ-ic Chemist Blog. She prefaced the following questions with a query as to whether I was self-aware of my "strange duck" persona?

1. Put yourself in Ahhh-nold's place. What would be the next great piece of legislation you would introduce to the State Legislature?

Upon and after secession from the U.S., I would then mandate, ahem, through legislation und za brute force off my biceps, the nationalization of all corporations whose interests directly affect the energy, information, environmental, transportation, medical, scientific and educational infrastructures of the state. I vood zen renegotiate all trade contracts mit za U.S. and all uhzer economeese und guvuhnmentz for za vellfayuh off mein fellow Kahlifahnians or Eurekians.

2. What would be your ideal gig?

Being a successful busker in both Glasgow and Edinburgh.

3. You are commissioned by Pope Benedict XVI to compose a new Mass that would reflect the new English translation, that would be debuted in Rome. What would you present?

I would just retrofit the already butchered ICEL revision into the so-called "St. Louis Jesuit Mass Setting" inwhich I would set in retrograde and inversion backwards, as if viewed in a mirror. So, the end of the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) would be the beginning of the Kyrie eleison (Lord, have mercy.) That would represent a true reflection of any English translation, one would think.

Failing that, I'd set the new text revisions to the best hits of Frank Sinatra. Like "Glory on high and on earth lotsa peace" using "I've got you under my skin." Kind of like "L'homme arme" parody type of deal. Imagine the "Lamb of God" to "When I was seventeen, it was a very good year." And so forth.

4. Okay. Back to California. If California were to fall into the sea tomorrow, and if God commissioned you to escape in an ark, who and what would you take with you?

It's not a matter of if, Lyn, but a matter of when. But if God commissioned me, I'd first want to know the value of the commission in Euros, and keep pressing for points and bonuses for exotic species and celebrities and the like. God would easily tire of me, let Wendy take the gig and I'd get swallowed by a great white or tangled in the seaweeds off Monterey, and hopefully wake up in Purgatory. But if pressed into service (yeah, like I AM's gonna let me off the hook) I'd take Wendy, my kids, grandkids, Helen Mirren and Charlize Theron, you and Jason Pennington, my cat Plunkett and Wendy's cat Butterfly, the foremost genetic scientist who could clone the cats in perpetuity, Russell Crowe and Kevin Spacey as escorts and dinner companions to Helen and Charlize, one of my carbon fiber guitars as they float and are impenatrible to sharp objects such as swordfish, knives and bullets, all the estate bottled and reserved wines from the Napa Valley/Central Coast regions, happy cows who'll magically produce whatever frommage compliments the bottle brought up from the galley, a Bible with serious commentary, a GPS (that no one on board would have the foggiest idea how to use, but the satellites would still be "up there"), a Me n Ed's pizza parlor where all the staff made twice union wage, and took pride in their crusts, a baker who knows bruschetta, and the Dale Warland Singers, sans Dale Warland 'cause I want to conduct them. That's pretty much it.

5. If California were to secede from the U.S., would you follow, or would you staunchly stick with the U.S.?

Are you kidding me? We have Magic Mountain, Fisherman's Wharf, the Golden Gate, Yosemite, Graumann's Chinese Theatre, Pinks, Clint Eastwood, aforementioned wineries, cool cars everywhere, lots of prisons for people who torque me and Arnold off, a few pristine beaches and coastlines left, great forests and ranges, and Nordstroms.

Stick with the U.S.? I'm real cozy with the IRS, the federal judicial system, the ATF and the two party system of electoral politics. What happened to the Whigs, the Know-nothings and the Bull Mooses anyway? Nope, I figure we can run the new republic of Eurekaland just like Fox and American Idol. We can dial everything in. I would, however, deport anyone who imports, prepares or consumes sushi to Nevada, Arizona or New Mexico with one way visas.

Now, I would pass onto the following mandate from Lyn to these folks: Tyler from RPInet, Jeffrey Tucker from Musica Sacra, Todd from Catholic Sensibility, and the Carolina Cannonball from The Crescat. Go to "Organ-ic Chemist" blog, follow the rules, comment here if you want and I'll dream up your five questions and forward them to you.

The following is a compilation of three responses I made in other blog comboxes regarding the Papal Mass at Nationals' Stadium in D.C.

Katherine, a very well known poster from various lists offered the following in the RPInet Listserve:

"Just back from the Mass. I was spiritually rewarded by every minute of it."

To which I felt compelled to respond:

Katherine, mon ami, I know you choose your words very carefully, which I truly respect. There is no reason to doubt or call to question what you said above.This being a thread concerned with liturgical music in general, and the music at service of this specific Mass, I have no reason, from your words, to believe you endorse the "spectacle" and cavalcading potpourri of "showpieces" that, IMO, was a gilded cage that kept the flight of grace and the Holy Spirit captive to egoism on the part of many.What saddens me most is that at Vespers the Holy Father was integral as both a figurehead, and more importantly as a humble worshipper sharing in the heavenly dialogue. But at this "event" at the stadium, he was as celebrant, mostly a spectator. Concessions, whether sublime and unspoken, or deftly articulated between the archdiocese and young Marini, were made. The Holy Father conceded to spoken orations despite his known proclivities and love of sung prayer. The Lessons and Gospel's proclamations were slathered in bravado and hubris, not humility.I've, myself, strayed from the music, but when you conclude the psalm with a cadence that is only more ambiguous than Sondheim because it lacks Sondheim's expertise and surety, and whose text calls clearly, obviously for consonance, not an Ives'ian "Unanswered Question," then the rest of the lineup is pretty much doomed. Communion was anything but. Some elsewhere have almost applauded Haugen's MoC acclamations simply by contrast to the Lead Zepplins of the litany of "aren't we so PC and cool" Communion pieces. I don't buy that either, as the lag time between invocations by Benedict to the fanfare of brass introductions works against whatever austere simplicity MoC intrinsically has.AMERICAN IDOL as it has evolved, has more integrity than the truly baroque monstrosity that this Mass's musical repertoire contained.But what do I know? I'm just a working stiff in a rural outpost on the Left Coast.I do know that I wish the crypt of the Basilica could've held thousands of regular faithful beyond the American princes, so that they could have sung and heard that music which is undeniably Roman Catholic.With respect,Charles

Among the hundreds of combox critiques and observations at the New Liturgical Movement, Jeffrey Tucker's first post regarding the musical performances unleashed a veritable Pandora's Box of charges and counter-charges that all but declared this event the last trumpet blast before a liturgical Armageddon. Among the mix of venom, bile, reason and reaction, one post by the ever-practical Richard Rice (if my instincts are correct as to his identity) struck me as particularly cogent. I augmented his post as follows:

Richard R (Rice?) hit the nailhead squarely. Our sewing circle here can banter 'til hell freezes over about how every macro and microcosmic aspect of the DC "spectacle" edifies their own philosophical perspective on what constitutes proper, much less licit liturgy. So what?The seemingly purposeful detachment of our bishops (hence to their priests) from serious engagement collegially as how to address equally serious issues of worship practice in their local sees is the real disaster.Yesterday's stadium Mass was certainly a "Hindenburg." But what political entity's hubris mandated the engineering of such an innovative and symbolic spectacle?Lotsa hubris yesterday evident throughout. Hubris is not in any way, shape or form to be found integrally in music. It can be found in both composer and performer, and then made manifest in their music. Sure. What was evidently missing yesterday was true humility from whomever served as architects of that brokedown, baroque, monstrous musical palace. And that lack of humility was heartbreaking, because as Richard R aptly states, it diminishes authentic worship to the status of mere ceremony. And many of us live that heartbreak daily as we try ever so often, with ingenuity, charity and deference, to engage our parish pastors to enter into dialogues concerning the "hows" of our worship. Only to find more indifference and disengagement.

In Jeffrey Tucker's second commentary post on the music for this event, he was describing his perception of the different economies at play that likely spawned the harbinger of doom for post-conciliar, American worship music standards. But he couldn't resist this little barb, which is found ever so often on the largely traditional boards spoken by many who still are regaled in the luxuries of youth and distance from the evil, egocentric, perpetual adolescent "baby boomers."-

"It must be said: they're old and unteachable."

Poor boy, he couldn't see that it wasn't a fastball down the middle, but a slider, and swung away anyway....

Jeffrey, with all respect, why do you believe it necessary to use stereotypes to fortify a contention of yours? Yes, there is a problem of attitude and education. And I agree (see my post in your earlier thread) that humility among our ranks, both as musical leadership and certainly as Catholics, must remain evident in our ongoing duties. And I agree that a majority of designated leaders of music in parishes and perhaps even cathedrals aren't interested in these truly progressive ideals being realized. But it ought NOT be said that such are "old and unteachable."I'm not taking personal umbrage at that. It simply isn't the whole truth.If you want to offer a general characterization of the modern, Catholic music director (which won't be much different than those in earlier eras I suspect) you can cite the somewhat trained (degreed) musician who trots from parish to parish every few years, demonstrates little interest in either the musical or spiritual formation and improvement of his/her volunteer personnel, who resigns themselves to whatever repertoire a predecessor or hymn product was in place as they arrived, who has little interest in engaging their pastor/employer with issues that are "difficult" so as not to be a provocateur, and so forth.I'm really sickened by a sort of common notion that this whole melange of a mess often gets laid at the feet of so-called "aging hippies."When in doubt, just refer to Pogo: "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

After viewing the balance of liturgies during the Holy Father's visit, I'll take some time before posting again on this subject. In the meanwhile, I'm mindful of something Todd Flowerday posted prior to the visit that basically suggested we all cool our jets (like that was gonna happen) and don't get all exorcized by the hoopla attendant to these mega shows, and make sure we tend our own gardens in the meanwhile.

Saint Mary’s Parish, Visalia, California
Order of Music-April 20, 2008
Fifth Sunday, Eastertide

S/Schola

E/Ensemble

Entrance: S GO MAKE OF ALL DISCIPLES (Ellacombe)
E RESUCITÓ 421 (Arguello)

Opening Rites: S Kyrie-plainsong/Schiavone “Glory to God” (Holy Family Mass)
E Kyrie/Glory to God (New Danish Amen Mass-Culbreth)

Responsorial: SE Respond & Acclaim

Gospel Accl.: S plainsong “Alleluia” sequitur
E Alleluia (New Danish Amen Mass-Culbreth)

Offertory: SE THE FAREWELL (Culbreth)

Eucharistic Accl.: S Holy Family Mass (Schiavone)
E Holy/Christ/ Amen /Lamb (New Danish Amen Mass-Culbreth)

Communion Procession: SE Antiphon: Tanto tempore
S WE HAVE BEEN TOLD (Haas)
E THE SUPPER OF THE LORD (Rosania)

Communion Anthem: S CANTATE DOMINO (Croce)
E I AM THE VINE (Hurd)

Recessional: S NOW THE GREEN BLADE RISES (Noël Nouvelet)
E GO FORTH (Manalo)

Sweet singing of the priests...

This is a response I'm cross-posting from a conversation with Gavin over at Catholic Sensibility.

I’ve never researched this, but always pondered the need to canonically prohibit the Eucharistic Prayer from being accompanied. The prevailing documents, it can be argued, generally provide for multiple options on what can be sung at specific moments, who can/should sing them, etc. We know that some of these canons have heirachical priorities as well.I’ve supposed, as have many others, that a simple rationale is that all celebrants’ singing faculties aren’t equal in quality or tessituras, and so in deference to that reality, we will just legislate that their intonations of the EP shall remain unaccompanied through the preface to the Sanctus, and either a pitch or an introduction will establish the tonality of the corporate singing, and so forth.If someone knows that this prescription or prohibition has its origins in a tradition, I’d like to know of it.

Barring that, what of those priests who can intone on key, whether they’re singing in Dorian from the Sacramentary that can be tonally linked directly to the Sanctus, or an EP preface set anew by a composer that whose musical elements are congruant throughout the whole ordinary?I’ve always read the prohibition of such accompaniment as a matter of fact, not subject to interpretation. But in my musical heart, I don’t get the “why” of that? Sure, a musically gifted celebrant can find or be provided a pitch, then chant unaccompanied and maintain the modality/tonality that leads to the next ordinary movement; but if accompaniment adds to Mahrt’s “paradigm of beauty,” why banish it?And, IMO, a celebrant singing with competent accompaniment (austere, minimal) would also lessen the notion of clericalism, in that there is a real collaboration between him, the accompanist(s) and eventually the choir and congregation.

Regarding your (Gavin's) contention that original composed settings of the preface and the EP’s relegate the celebrant to the role of a secular performer, I think that somewhat depends upon whether there is an appropriate (sacred or liturgical) melodic/harmonic/rhythmic construct that is self-evident in the setting. When you mentioned the celebrant as secular performer, my mind didn’t reference that to, say, the canon in MoC or MoL, but to Leonard Bernstein’s MASS. That _would_ be bad. That, as a first and foremost artistic work, must call forth attention unto itself.For myself, I prefer the celebrant to use the Sacramentary chants. I just also think they can be easily, modestly and yet beautifully accompanied as well. YMMV.

Consolation to all Tarheels and Bruins:I think calling the Memphis and Kansas guards, "guards," is patently false advertising.They're wraiths who swoosh around the tall forests of Hansborough and Love at velocities closeto the speed of light.

Not that this has anything to do with this post.

I'm just gonna play tag with Dear Lyn F., whose newest "Is it live, or Meme-ix" she found time to type this morning!

My username is YERTLE because of reasons I shall discuss in a public forum no way, no how!


Suffice it to say that when the going gets tough, I'm not above retreating my beak into my shell.

My name is Charles because my mother wore the pants in my family, and that's her dad's name.


My middle name is my other grandfather's Christian name; well, not chronologically Christian in origin. My paternal grandfather, according to my cousins, did possess the fearlessness to enter into the lions' den, if necessary. Patron Saint? Who else? Gregory the Great.


My journal is titled MUSICA DEI DONUM OPTIMI because it is. Well, maybe next to the concept of "woman." Thank you, God!


My friends page is called THE ORGANIC CHEMIST because she only uses the freshest ingredients when brewing up some obtuse compound by which she'll one day cure cancer!


My default userpic is a formal, "tux" head shot because it looks better than my current appearence as a goateed, porcine human homage to John Lennon, round specs an' all.


Th-th-th-that's all folks.

Who Sez April Fools’ Day’s Lost its Mystique?

The following appeared in a combox on Todd Flowerday’s CATHOLIC SENSIBLILITY and spread like ragweed spores in my hometown all over the WorldWideInterLink. I gotta admit, at first blush (which I should have known was Sutter Home Zinfandel, or something pink from a box,) that its authorship was genuine. So, ever so cautious and discreet, I entered the fray with the response below the original “Haugen” post.

Marty Haugen Says: 1 April 2008
For twenty plus years I have been told, mainly anonymously through the internet, how I have been personally responsible for destroying Roman Catholic worship. I have never responded; however, I wish to offer a few comments now.
First of all, although I am not Roman Catholic, I have a deep love and respect for and faith in the worship tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. My own hesitancy about joining the Church is not about its eucharistic theology, but rather around the unwillingness of the Church to commission, ordain and welcome all humans as Jesus did–male and female, married and unmarried, saints and sinners. I believe that the Church, God’s people and all of creation have suffered from this omission.
I do not think of my own music as central or important to Roman Catholic worship, present or future. I began writing as a parish musician; I still keep the vision that to be “catholic” is to learn and love and embrace the best of the past tradition and to welcome the “best” of what is new, as Gods speaks through all cultures and expressions (see “Lumen Gentia”). I leave it to communities and to the Holy Spirit that will (more than us, thank God) guide the future choices that will last.
I had nothing to do with the choice of “Mass of Creation” for a Papal Mass. Having said that, I believe that attacks upon Tom Stehle in his efforts to engage a congregation with what he hoped would be familiar and meaningful to them (using parts of the liturgy with currently approved texts) were unfair, un-Christian and beneath those of us who truly care about how God speaks through our Sacraments.
Marty Haugen

Charles in CenCA Says:

1 April 2008
Would that Mr. Haugen had been content to let his music speak on behalf of his personal ecclesial philosophy. To whit, I have defended the merit of texts such as “All Are Welcome” against all sorts of charges such as heterodoxy, etc. Like another poster, the de facto reality that MoC is the apparent, pre-eminent default Ordinary setting, hasn’t compelled me to use it on Sundays as well. When I happen upon pieces authored/composed by Mr. Haugen, I give them a just look through and audition just as I do whether it originated from the pen of Lassus, Lambilotte or Lauridsen- each judged upon its own intrinsic merit as I deem that to be.However, all that said, for Mr. Haugen to formally state his personal convictions that the institution (The Church Christ founded) that he has purposefully benefited financially from throughout his career, starting even as a “parish musician,” is essentially at odds and in error with Jesus Christ’s commission (as Mr. Haugen sees it) as regards Holy Orders, seems intellectually dishonest at the least, hypocritcal at the worst. Does he not receive royalties every time a publisher reprints “All Are Welcome” in their hymnal or a recording of it is sold or played on a commercial broadcast? But yet, he does not believe, in fact, that “all are welcome” in the Roman Catholic Church? Hello?Wow, two great quotes in one newsday cycle: Barack Obama wouldn’t want to see his two daughters “punished” by giving birth even though he taught them the merits of abstinence. And “I do not think of my own music as central or important to Roman Catholic worship, present or future.” Then why is Mr. Haugen also on the stump at every NPM or Pax Christi convention replete with product line? Who do they think are buying their hope, promises and product? People who are steadfast in their convictions to their God and their Church? Or those subject to cultic and populist nature of consumerism at its most marketable?Thank you, Mr. Haugen. Now I have to measure my own convictions about whether to program “All Are Welcome” ever in the future again. And if you think that’s a good thing, we’re definitely not on the same page.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. All of the following tumbleweeds were my various interactions among the greater RC BlogNebulae. Things occasionally got very Crabby-Nebulae (nod to Todd’s other avocation.)

Charles in CenCA Says:

1 April 2008

Dear Todd 2,I really did not regard my observation of a cognitive dissonance (if only in my mind) as a “cheap shot.”I was not amused when some of our colleagues fabricated their ersatz “Moratorium” group on H/H music. I found that extremely uncharitable and have said so on forums elsewhere consistently.I do grant that in another forum I have responded to another composer’s public polemics with what could be termed clearly “ad hominem” characterizations; but this issue clearly challenged my sense of what ethics and integrity come into play in the high stakes marketplace of “new Catholic music.”Hope this clears it up for you. If you feel I’m being morally inconsistent, I apologize.

From my confriere at RIPnet, Anne:

>> Chuck, Chuck, Chucky!! Was it really necessary to say all that? Do you think that these comments, in any way make the RC faith inviting? There are many of us born and raised Roman Catholic who believe the Church suffers because of the valid points he spoke about. VII asked us to reach out in charity in order to overcome whatever it is that divides us. Mr Haugen has inspired many Christians over the years to sing, worship and pray over the years. For this we should be grateful even if his style is not our preference. I truly don’t care how much money he is making. That’s not my concern. My concern is that we should be servants to one another to bring about the Kingdom.Actually, this whole discussion (I broke my promise to myself and jumped in)has only given me a better appreciation for the works and the person of Marty Haugen.<<

My response:

“My dear sweet Anne,I wish I could say I enjoy being dubbed “Chuck,” but I’m actually “Charlie” to those who know and love me (perhaps few and far between ;-)But “Chucky?” Anne, I’m way to old, fat and bleary-eyed to be associated (by insinuation or innocence) with a malevolent, murderous doll!
Now to the point- what it necessary? If the post was written by Mr. Haugen, yes, I felt it necessary. It’s not about “how much money.” It’s not really about “money” per se at all.It’s about the wisdom of biting a hand that feeds you. I don’t question Mr. Haugen’s morality and you darn well know I give his work the scrutiny and respect that I provide all pieces that I’m charged with employing at public worship.If the post was proffered by a Tokyo Rose, then I fully apologize to Mr. Haugen in this public forum.

Todd (of Catholic Sensibility) then respectfully offered:

“The Catholic Church as an institution does not hire musicians, and it doesn’t utilize the music they compose. Pastors, staff members, and parishioners make these choices. And in any case, their understanding of ecclesiology need not be perfect or orthodox in any sense for them to pay a musician, either by salary or royalties, who may or may not be completely orthodox. If the morality of a composer were any sort of determining factor in using that person’s music, are church musicians prepared to study biography in detail? Or are we being a tad hypocritical?
I suppose a principle strongly held might cause a person to brush up against cooperation with what they perceive as evil, wrong, misperceived, or less than a good thing. I’d suppose that abortion opponents might choose to practice tax resistance rather than cooperate with a society dedicated to the destruction of the unborn. More often, a convenient choice is made: to attempt to punish those who do not believe with full congruence.
I remain unconvinced of the philosophy of “love it or leave it,” or as the neo-orthodox would rephrase: obey or get out. It struck me as rather dumb when applied to Vietnam War protesters in the 70’s. It seems more an exercise in anger today than an exercise in logic. (Please note: I never insinuated nor portrayed such a maxim.)
As a lay person in the employ of Catholic parishes for the past twenty years, I identify far, far more with the people I serve than with the institution. My retirement portfolio is laughable. The institution contributed zero to the cost of my schooling. I think the pope, curia, bishops, and clergy make catastrophic errors in judgment almost daily. If they asked me, I’d get specific. Parishioners have confirmed my call from God, and they make serving as a liturgist fruitful, worthwhile, and a blessed opportunity.
Yet why don’t I feel I’m a hypocrite?
Because I work for the people. I don’t serve my “superiors.” My pastor can hire and fire as he wishes, giving two week’s notice or two week’s pay. The institutional Church owes me nothing and the same’s true in the opposite direction.
Marty Haugen says he differs with the institutional Church. And I say, “So what?” People are free to buy, use, sing, play, ignore, burn, or criticize his music. What I often detect from his critics is an immature sense of envy. “My compositions are better. Why aren’t I published? Why isn’t my music sing for the pope, played in parishes, or the subject of adoring fans?”
My only answer for envy is that no matter how good you are or that you think you are, nobody owes you a darn thing. Tough news, but somebody has to break it.
Or if you want to get Biblical, why do the wicked thrive and the just suffer? If you really want the answer, turn the clock back a few weeks.”

Response to Todd’s point:

Charles in CenCA Says:

2 April 2008

Dear Todd,I thank you for a reasoned response to my post. I cannot reflect and reply now as I’ve got to get ready for a very long day at the school, then staff meeting, then schola rehearsal.I trust that you understand that what I had to say was not couched in terms that would be deemed “bile.” I took great pains to articulate that I had no prejudice regarding Marty Haugen’s actual music catalogue.To be continued in charity and respect…
Then the suggestions of an April Fools’ Con had me shaking my head: “You are such a doofus.”

You know, Todd, now that a have a little down time before the next wave, I think it best to refrain from furthering the discussion between your points of contention and mine. It occurs to me that all of this based upon whether the original post from “Marty Haugen” was genuinely authored by him.I believe the discussion can continue on general principles that we’ve both shared and do not agree upon; but if my comments had their origin via a falsehood, then furthering this debate does Mr. Haugen an injustice. I hope you understand my concern.”

About this time, on The Cafeteria is Closed, Gerald had weighed in with his definitive “Marty Haugen Strikes Back” masthead. A respected poster, Ma Beck, had unfortunately confused the authorship of both Haugen’s “Gather us in” and Joncas’ “On Eagles’ Wings” which I felt compelled to set the record straight:

“ Ma Beck,I was present at the NPM National (1979, Chicago) premiere of OEW, sung by its composer, Michael Joncas (seminarian at the time, I believe) accompanying himself on the guitar with no other supporting instruments. Schutte was there as a member of the SLJ, because this performance was the NALR showcase presentation, for which I was the bass player for all NALR presenters. I was sitting right next to Joncas as he debuted the tune. Whatever y'all think of it now, it was an singularly stunning performance.Just to get the facts straight.”

If you want to check out a younger, skinnier me with the SLJ at their performance, go to:

http://www.npm.org/pastoral_music/issues/PM%20Vol%2003-5.pdf

page 46

To which poster Boots replied

“A stunning performance it may have been, but a Mass is NOT a performance.” Ma Beck concurred.

Being in an altered state (caused by my being in a "Groundhog Day" loop, pychologically) I rashly replied:

“Ma Beck and Boots,First of all, it wasn't Mass at Chicago. So, get yer contexts straight, unless you're so prejudiced that "It don't matter to me."Secondly, on a more deeper level, try to stay with me here, Mass is not a performance? Get real. If it's not a performance, to y'all who regard yerselves as thoroughbreds: then why doth the Blogosphere cup runneth over with glam shots of every canopy, fiddleback, candle arrangements, and the oh-so-austere ministerial entourages that have all their "blocking" down pat before having their own Gerald's "do the money shots?"Give me a break. And, yes, it was a lovely performance. And Joncas could likely advance an argument for or against whatever the h*ll position you think you're so knowledgeable about in a nano-second. Because he's in the vineyard, not a poseur. He's done the heavy lifting in Rome.Not even amateurs. Be ashamed. Be very ashamed.”

My now confriere, Ma Beck, had the temerity to challenge my insolence:

“Maybe you misunderstood me, Captain Run-on-Sentence.I AGREE that you were at a performance. You just got done saying that.I am GLAD it wasn't a Mass.I am HAPPY you had fun.I THOUGHT I made that clear.Now where in the hell do you get off acting like you know anything about me, and being so hostile?(Re: your equating Gregorian Chant, beautiful vestments, etc., with "performance", I can't help you there. Start with "Spirit of the Liturgy.")

But, then, the grace that is and typifies Christianity spread the fog and fury of the rhetoric: Ma Beck invited me to discuss this off-line, which I appreciated and did. And, as should be expected among followers of Jesus of Nazareth, we both “got it.”
Back at the bunkhouse of the ranch, CATHOIC SENSIBILITY, April Fools’ got my full attention, and I wrote:

“You know, Todd, now that a have a little down time before the next wave, I think it best to refrain from furthering the discussion between your points of contention and mine. It occurs to me that all of this based upon whether the original post from “Marty Haugen” was genuinely authored by him.I believe the discussion can continue on general principles that we’ve both shared and do not agree upon; but if my comments had their origin via a falsehood, then furthering this debate does Mr. Haugen an injustice. I hope you understand my concern.”

As an addendum to my own moratorium, which has nothing in common with the insidious philosophy of the erzatz Moratorium on H/H to which many of my friends and peers have zealously attached their names, I clarified, as well as apologized, the tone of my post to Ma Beck and Boots in “Cafeteria.” Those exchanges shall remain in confidence as they were respectfully invited by Ma Beck, to which I respectfully responded, and to which we affirmed a consensus of opinion. (And I so admire her for her temerity as well as her recognizing the providence of her family’s membership in the roles of St. John Cantius in Chicagoland.

Ma Beck had no need for the following, but she posted it in “Cafeteria”:

“ Everyone:I am *SO* sorry for my rude comments to Charles earlier. Thankfully, he is kind and charitable and did indeed e-mail me. I had not understood his meaning but his e-mail made perfect sense.I very much appreciate his kindness in forgiving me for my behavior.I have no idea what got into me - I am NOT like that!Sorry again for any offense I caused.”

Then the ubiquitous “Anon” chimed in: “ Ma Beck, you should know that you hit a soft spot with your logorrheic antagonist.Ad hominem attacks may be made against anybody but Fr Joncas.”

Hmmmmmmmm. The Joncas thing gave away to me a prejudiced opinion from more than a decade ago that I was a blind Michael Joncas apologist. And I found that amusing that someone could carry that mischaracterization for such a long time:

“ Dear Anon,Without looking it up, and with a nod of gratitude to my latest patron saint, Wm.F., I may indeed be dubbed "logorrheic." (I've been hoping for some sort of diagnosis for years now, thank you.) But let it be known throughout the land that I am not, nor intended to be, Ma Beck's antagonist.And you just, just, just might be surprised at how little of Fr. Joncas' actual repertoire I actually program over the course of years! But if you want to imply that I'm a sycophant of Fr. Joncas, I could do worse. From the film of "M.A.S.H."- I don't know your face, stranger, but yer voice is fermilier." Cheers, Anon.And Ma Beck, I'll welcome anything you have to say to me 8 days a week.”

So, once again, as I stated on “Cafeteria” and, I think, CMAA and RPInet, if this was a hoax to being with, and I responded (not alone) to the bait, mea maxima culpa and may it cease and desist as to do otherwise is not Christian charity towards Marty Haugen.
In truth, I hope it was a hoax. In truth, I hope the crux of the imposter’s rationale that the Catholic Church is inherently “unwelcoming” is anathema.

Brian's New Meme

What was I doing 10 years ago?
*Teaching high school choral music full time; leading music ministry half-time at my current parish. Composing music. Completing my last effort at staying physically fit which ultimately failed due to taking my first cruise ship vacation!

Five things on my "to-do" list today
*Teach 8th grade Bell Choir/7th grade Choir/ four other grades music classes.
*Prepare/score study music for schola rehearsal: Vivaldi’s CUM SANCTO SPIRITU; Victoria VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS; Tallis O LORD, GIVE THY HOLY SPIRIT.
*Compose “Music/Liturgy Report” for monthly staff meeting held at 4pm.
*Finalize repertoire choices for 3 Easter.
*Watch one of the blondes get booted from American Idol, and hopefully a new episode of Criminal Minds.

Snacks I enjoy
*Bruschetta with either jalapeno jack cheese, or even margarine.
*Triscuits
*Salted mixed nuts or mixed nut/fruit trail mix

Things I would do if I were a billionaire
*Found a conservatory and elementary/secondary church school for liturgy and sacred music education, with scholarships and satellite campuses nationwide.
*Buy my wife all the clothes she ever wants for putting up with my fat *ss.

Three of my bad habits
*Quick temper
*I interrupt people when they’re talking
*Failure to eliminate the use of Anglo Saxon expletives from daily vocabulary.

Five places I have lived
*Visalia, California (native, and back here for good)
*Oakland, California (adopted hometown, love it, miss it.)
*Concord, California
*Rodeo, California
*Richmond, CaliforniaFive jobs I've had*Library clerk
*Shipping and Receiving
*Sporting Goods/Automotive Parts Retail Manager
*Teacher at all levels, primary to collegiate
*Professional Church Musician/Composer

Now, if you've read this, you're supposed to tag five other people to post their responses in public.
Cheers,
Charles

This post is copied from a thread I started at the MSForum boards, regarding the efficacy of the current state of the Pope's chapel singers-

Realizing excessive loquaciousness has derailed me before, I will risk broaching this subject with an audacious hope (or should that be "bodacious pope"?) with Ian W's (from the Musica Sacram Forum)quote:

"I was involved in that discussion. I can only speak for myself, but my take wasn't quite how you describe things. As far as my limited experience of the Sistine choir goes, I agree with you that they're not a good advertisement for Catholic liturgical music. As you say, there's a tendency to the soloistic. Also, they have problems with intonation. But ... we shouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater. There are distinct choral traditions other than the 'English' sound. It should be possible for a choir director to work within one of those traditions, to develop a balance that respects liturgy, place and resource. Any move to uniformity would not only be unnecessary; it would impoverish us all. "

As Mike knows, I like Francis, have heard the capella "live" here in the states, in my city almost a couple of decades ago. They were on "tour" in the states during Lent, if I recall as late as the week prior to Palm Sunday. They were under Msgr. Bertolucci's direction. The concert consisted solely of the Palestrina settings of the Songs of Solomon. Prior to that, my only serious consideration of them were in masters seminars where recordings, both audio and video, were used as pedagogical examples of what a choral experience should NOT consist of. "Nuff said" there.I think it telling that we, at least, can agree that this group is not a "good advertisement" for the Church. This sentiment has just the slightest amount of benign tolerance among catholic musicians, that despite themselves (and I really try to not include the singers individually in this culpability) we credit their continued contributions and efforts to their legacy as the pope's personal ensemble, replete with the legends of Josquin, Lassus, Palestrina, Allegri. And I know, Mike, you have no reason to fret over their performance practice in those eras by comparison to that of the last two centuries. If they suffered internal problems, they certainly were behavioral like every other contemporaneous choir well into the Baroque. But I digress.Ian's criticisms also seem a bit bridled and measured: "soloistic" which, of course, breeds issues with "intonation." Not mentioned was the obvious lack of solid vocal development and care the boys should receive (which I saw in living color from the front row.) I'll try to be brief here: it could be argued that the capella does not meet the basic criteria of being a choir, other than it performs only for liturgies in church. This is a grand opera chorus in cassocks and surplices, in my estimation. And yes, one may argue that type of ensemble does fall into the category of a "choral tradition." But I believe an overwhelming majority of choral scholars would regard this "choir's" product as dysfunctional in all major areas of CHORAL proficiency, no matter what western tradition nuances would color the other various regional "sounds."Would we endorse the indigenous choral tone of lowlands' Mississippi shape-note singers, or the Bulgarian Radio Women's Chorus, or Ladysmith Black Mambazo as the "baby in the bathwater" and worthy of keeping IN TACT simply because they happened to be ensconsed in five centuries of service tradition at the Vatican?I have, through 25 years of ACDA membership and convention attendance, been privileged to hear most of the finest ensembles likely assembled in history, if you measure competence by evolving scholarship keeping pace with the natural human inclination to improve upon performance in art, athletics, invention etc. The Swedish Radio Choir under Ericcson was not a final terminus; what they achieved spawned even more stunning choral ensembles. The Kings College "sound" of Sir David Willcock has yielded many progeny, and in agreement with Ian, not all identical or xerox copies of each other's tonal properties. The bold richness of the Stuttgart Kammerchor under Bernius is full bodied, vibrant but never lists toward an aural assault upon the ear. The purity of some Asian choirs, the Dale Warland Singers, Chanticleer, St. Olafs and Brigham Young University choirs is breathtaking.No one has suggested that these schools of thought (choral philosophy ala Howard Swan) move toward bland uniformity.But the irony of the notion of moving toward uniformity while discussing the Sistine Chapel Choir is too much to ignore. Their leadership's insistence upon maintaining this clearly chauvinistic approach to corporate singing is deliberately antithetic to the very concept of "uniformity," which has to be the first foundation of truly choral excellence in any genre! It is also antithetic to the successful negotiation of the two native art forms that it is called to serve: chant and polyphony, as any reasonable choral scholar understands them. (Another irony- the fete celebrating the lifelong contribution of Msgr. Bertolucci in which both he and the Holy Father pounded into the collective consciousness the dire need to return to these forms universally; well, yes, the capella under the monsignor sang all Palestrina, all the time! They just did a Gawdawful job of it!) And lastly, as long as this ensemble is not fundamentally revamped to reflect universally understood standards of choral beauty, it remains antithetical to the very principles of beauty that Cardinal Ratzinger proposed as a necessary step in returning "beauty" to sacred worship in THE SPIRIT OF THE LITURGY.I haven't googled anything prior to these thoughts, but I remember reading in someone's blog that the new Marini has plans in place to initiate such a revamping of this singularly unique ensemble. I hope sooner than later. I would love to hear precision in beauty eminating from them even if via an EWTN/CTV broadcast. Were they such a compelling choir, perhaps the commentators would then keep their traps shut during the communios.Thus endeth the rant.

As a brief prologue to my response to the commentary “The Furious Power of Music” by Fr. Anthony Manuppella in the current issue of SACRED MUSIC (Spring 2008, v.135, n.1,) I would commend Jeffrey Tucker for continuing this very important dialogue and discourse of these last two issues, that have benefited me personally through the offerings of Professors Stump and Mahrt as well as the reasoned Ms. Ballou. Fr. Anthony’s title took me aback somewhat, reminding me of the scenes in the film “Pulp Fiction” wherein the hit man Jules, as played ferociously by Samuel L. Jackson, quotes Ezekiel: “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers.”
The zealous tone of Fr. Anthony’s commentary resonates with a righteous sort of menacing glare to my eyes as did those of the characters Jules was about to dispatch to perdition.
It is not the self-evident premises of the ecclesial documents that he re-iterates that are irksome to me, nor the rhetorical device of quoting an atheist’s paean that extols the unfathomable power of music. It is the cavalier, though heartfelt and not entirely untrue, insertion of code words full of innuendo and short on specific indictments, as well as stating the litany of “the usual suspects” that have smokily seeped through the stained glass window panes of post-conciliar, primarily American Catholic worship, and polluted the possibilities of a pristine, perfect atmosphere.
Here is my list of the irksome:
*Musical forms in currency today at many churches are interchangeable with lounge music.”
*For those who think narrowly, music in church is a kind of mood setter, cute but irrelevant. The more ample Catholic mind recognizes that music in church ought to act like an earthquake upon the soul, unleashing the powerful forces that make it crave intimacy with the Blessed Trinity.
*Our Catholic faith does not rest on such gauzy sweet nothings, or the musical equivalents.
*If a soul is fed on musical sap, its soul will turn to sap.
*Music at Mass should make us tremble. At least a bit.
*Man is never so intoxicated than when he is surrounded by sacred music (which immediately and ironically followed citations of criminals at bus depots being mollified by soft classical music, loud and percussive nightclub music-is that lounge music?- which produces emotional abandon to purchase liquor and give in to sexual license, and the heart-racing effect upon aficionados of John Phillip Souza’s marches!)
*Do you really feel that Kumbaya could inspire such words (as those of St. Augustine praising the Church contemporaneous’ “hymns and songs.”
*Mother Church….has felt it her grave obligation to protect (sacred music). After all, she recognizes that man’s soul hangs in the balance. If the music is wrong, the teaching of the church will be wrong, and men will go wrong….She (in this century, presumably the 100 years that span the 20th and 21st centuries) stood as a mighty wall against subjectivism and sentimentality.
Sacred music transports us beyond the stars to the throne of the Blessed Trinity. Beware of music at Mass that leaves us only Dancing with the Stars.

It’s really difficult to take all of the tentacles and emissions of this pulsating nebula of indictments in, and subject each of them to scrutiny. The filthy lucre of lounge music is certainly proffered here, there and everywhere among many parishes whose musical impoverishment likely predates the arrival of the first guitar-slinging crooners with ditto sheets of “Where have all the flowers gone.” But why give lounge music the low-lit evil eye alone? Aren’t there hordes of churches where one would swear they’d landed in Jalisco, Mexico on December 12th to the strains of mariachi and ranchera, and whose currency is measured by Pesos, Latino indeed, but not Latin? Aren’t there churches where one might expect Oktoberfest from the accordions and oompahing euphoniums? Aren’t there churches where the ukulele strums swing in concert with the lithe arms of hula dancers and slack key guitars? And how could Father forget the mother of all atrocities, the Broadway musical, which was borne from yet another T. Day identified defiler, vaudeville. Currency, whether as in commerce or as in connectivity, has never been a stranger hanging around the narthex doors throughout the last 1500 years of the Roman Church. And Mother Church has often found it indelicate and cumbersome, not to mention exponentially problematic to manage that currency, whether it be the parodies of Ockeghem or the spectacles of Classical Dom Masses in Vienna and Romantic grand opera masqued as Masses.
But Fr. Anthony rightly reaffirms the noble efforts of Pius X and most of his successors to preserve and protect the patrimony of Roman Rite music, understood commonly as those forms codified at the Council of Trent. But I think he traffics in excessive hyperbole to suggest that corrective documents such as Tra le sollectudini have, as a mighty wall, actually been a fortress keeping subjectivism, sentimentality and their vehicles, the popular hymnals and paperback missals out of the choir lofts. And the contention that such protection from centuries-old use of alius cantus (philosophical more so than practical) is a critical link in a logical progression of moral equations: “If music is wrong, the teaching is necessarily wrong, man will be led astray as their souls hang in the balance (should that soul not flee a church the moment it recognizes the opening strains of “Gather Us In.” Now, really, Father?
If provided time for more circumspection, I also believe Fr. Anthony would have not chosen the word “intoxicated” to ascribe a worshipping soul’s communion with the beauty of the chant and polyphony well performed. He proves my point by supposedly contrasting that state of being with the anesthetizing effects of classical muzak pumped into the clinical green waiting rooms of bus terminals to subdue the savage hearts present; and then the omni-irritating Europop thumping bass and electronica in the disco which, ahem, inevitably leads to chemical and biological intoxication-I’m numb, therefore I am not am, but numb. I really don’t know what to say about “Mine eyes…” or Souza marches and heart rates.
But this notion of intoxication is itself at odds with his premise of the “furious power” of sacred music to transform the soul into union with the infinite. Without deliberate, persistent and truly pastoral catechesis at the direction of every bishop through to every priest/celebrant provided every parishioner as regards the infusion of chant and polyphony (even IF in the VERNACULAR), even many “ample” Catholic minds* will likely be unable to process the paradigm shift as more than a change of musical atmosphere, thus still relegating them to “mood setters.” But instead of “cute but irrelevant, without such catechesis, we likely will have to confront charges of “pretty, but alienating.” Or “ethereal, but meaningless.” Or, as I heard from a right reverend Monsignor recently “Nice, but it doesn’t uplift me!” Gratuitous tolerance works both ways.
Speaking of ample minds recognizing that sacred music (which we have to presume from Fr. Anthony’s lexicon means that which has its roots in chant and Roman polyphony) ought to have the effect of an earthquake upon the soul- his approbation of Bishop Slattery’s contention must lead one to conclude that the use of metrical hymn texts and tunes provides a lesser magnitude tremor upon the soul. The singing of either “O God beyond all praising” or “Three Days” (text M.D. Ridge) to Holst’s Thaxted, to this soul, has the power of the caldera brewing beneath Yellowstone Park. The taking up of Lasst uns erfreuen to most its assigned texts washes over me like a tsunami and leaves me and my companion worshippers on the far side of the Red Sea, safe, renewed and prepared to give witness to the miracle of God! The majestic austerity of Crucifer ennobles this sinner to take up the yoke of Christ as well as my own crosses on my path towards my trials and sufferings. Without belaboring the point, are these not musics of “Furious Power” as implied by Fr. Anthony’s premise? And, apropos of the fact that as I write tomorrow is Good Friday, isn’t there a parallel resonance we ascribe to the text painting we find in chants such as “Videns Dominus” as is found in the spiritual “Were You There?” To tremble, indeed.
I suppose I could opt to take issue with the contentious language and propositions contained in other statements using the words “gauzy sweet nothings”…or “musical sap”…or the presumption that Kumbaya is still a hallmark of 21st century contemporary musical worship. But it’s really not necessary. In short, I found Fr. Anthony’s exhortation long on passion and “furious anger” towards general notions of laxity on the part of …. well, I’m just not sure exactly whom; and very short on specific examples and citations of actual musical forms or pieces that would sufficiently illustrate his argument. In that, his article shares a dubious similarity to the eloquent but nebulous defense of beauty apparently evident to Professor Stump in the music of the St. Louis Jesuits.
To Fr. Anthony: we get it, already. Chant and polyphony ought and hopefully shall regain principem locum obtineat universally in our Church. We’re working on it. Next time around, just say so without having to rummage around in the dustier bins of that which this particular readership (of SACRED MUSIC) have already consigned to the dumpster. But I also believe that a fundamental issue of intellectual honesty has yet to be fully deliberated in the effort to advance and restore truly sacred music in our worship- the endorsement, and that attends that, of metrical hymn texts whether from the Catholic tradition or not, and of worthy hymn or (blush) even songs that will transport them into the hearts and souls of the faithful.

Wachet auf and keep yo' lamps trimmed and burning!


"There are no atheists in foxholes

isn't an argument against atheism; it's an argument against foxholes." ~James Morrow

First of all let me dispense with any notion this posting addresses anything pertaining to atheism, war (and foxholes) in general or James Morrow. I am interested in what the former two human “conditions” symbolize to each and every conscious human being who’s awakened to a new day: this “day” may be my last. So, in words, those concerns would be “Death” and “Belief.”
When I taught middle and senior high school and these two words were thrust into reality and palpability in the classrooms and campuses because of the loss of someone local to the community, or from globally known events from the Columbines, the Oklahoma Cities, the 9/11’s and such, I would first address the concerns and emotions of “my” students with the following scenario-

You’re walking your dog and without looking turn from the sidewalk onto the street. Suddenly you and the dog turn and sense that a bus is just a few yards from where you’re now standing and is moving fast enough that collision is unavoidable. What’s the difference between you and your dog? You know you might die. Your dog senses danger, but no more.

Wintertime is always somber to me- a season calling for both dormancy and reflection. The “holidays” are difficult to many because of separations between loved ones, especially for those who are survivors of death and loss, recent or not. When we suffer the death of the beloved, particularly young people, our grief seems magnified, our trust and beliefs challenged, our lives changed irrevocably. We struggle to remain upright and cope by clinging to words that best, though inadequately, express a purpose and a reason for our loss when little else gives solace. “I'm sure his/her soul rests in peace.” And to believers God's providence is already known to those who have died (from this life's perspective-the veil of tears) but whose souls were pure in His sight and whom He recognizes. In that we hope, we trust, we pray, we manage to endure.
We humans, mortal and cognizant of our impending deaths, cannot mentally, psychologically or emotionally "reconcile" our relationship to "death." It, like Emmanuel (God with us), is among us, even all around us incessantly if we choose to focus upon it at the expense of seeing other things. We know "death" takes, but we can't usually discern if "death" gives back anything. So, for you...and me... we cannot stride confidently passed "death" when it is close to us, touches us directly. But, we also know intuitively that to linger and pause, to not take even a halting step forward in living and giving for and of ourselves to life and its known purposes is waste, a vacuum that nature abhors. We don't understand death at all. We should be respectful of it and prepared for it, both as survivors and as souls journeying toward the existence beyond it. Otherwise, death is the foxhole, the horror that one cannot survive.

Liturgical Music in Lock-Down
A brief discussion of my experiences in providing musical leadership in one of our state prisons.

I first need to thank God for being patient with me. Having done 37 years of RC worship and sacred music as director, performer and composer, I was embarrassed and humbled by the fact that it had taken me until age 56 to "visit Christ in prison."
I started volunteering in late summer this year at a regional state prison facility on Monday nights. The prison is a level three facility, so it's population intermingles convicts who aren't quite in the news as often as those of San Quentin, Folsom or Pelican Bay. But, it is an overcrowded, desolate and huge facility that looks like the "City on the Hill" at night as you approach from 15 miles away, and then rips off that bright facade when you're on it and crossing through its multiple razored fences that house the lethal electric fence that surrounds its six "yards."
90% of those inmates who attend chapel in the two yards I've visited are Hispanic. The catholics who attend chapel use the OCP bilingual hymnal and missal. There are the occasional Anglo lifers who evidence memories and desires for the musical aspects of the Mass they knew as young boys; but they are a very minute, and quiet few.
I'm typing this after a session where "chapel" was held in a yard's Visitor Center. Unlike regular meetings, this was heavily attended (by 3 times the normal number of inmate participants on normal nights.) This was due to an ongoing series of retreats that culminated in this one yard with a priest who was hearing confessions, one on one, in a small room within the larger visitor's center.
Basically, each weekly encounter is not scripted or outlined in advance. Tonight the prison chaplain and permanent deacon just basically said "Hit it" to me, and I became a heavy set human I Pod delivering and leading singing for the men, taking requests in rapid fire sequence.
It was an unusual opportunity to sing a random historical variety of musics that now are housed within our tents: Latino praise songs, bilingual scriptural allusions from Gabarain and Hurd, gospel and traditional spirituals, traditional hymns (Te Deum/Holy God), chants such as the Kyrie, Ave Maria, Veni creator, all co-mingled amongst these starving souls searching for God and a sense of beauty and peace which obviously hasn't been much of a factor in their previous life experiences, and which provide a respite from the din and relentless noise that is ever-present for them daily.
"Doing" music in prison is not an easy experience to characterize or typify. I do know two things about it that became maxims upon my first visits: 1. Don't come in with any agenda or pretense- these men are looking for Christ and the promise of redemption that we cannot possibly understand from the "outside"; 2. Do come in hoping to be ministered to by the prisoners' witness and spritual hunger and vitality that far exceeds whatever talent or charisms you have to impart to them.
I'll add onto these initial reflections later, when I can report more lucidly.
I do know this also: I need them in my life much more than they need me in theirs'.
And a last word before bed, the much-discussed ideal of achieving the "paradigm of beauty" in liturgy, has an incredible gravitational power among the imprisoned- they take nothing for granted as the fellows I've met acknowledge that they wouldn't be in prison save for their succumbing, often, to that which is evil and ugly, and that they now "get" that the holes in their hearts cannot be filled with the Enemy's empty promises and more noise, more crime, more hate. They sing with a freedom most of our parishoners eschew due to the paradox of acccessibility. They strive for true unity with Christ through unison in song.
Before I sign off for the night, if there was a "rapture" at the parousia as the millienialists and their populist sons of Hal Lindseys' tout, it wouldn't surprise me that there'd be more "missing persons" from the prison, per captita, than from those found on the rolls of the average RC parish.

Seasonal Concert Announcement

The St. Mary's Music Ministry will present

A Christmas
Pastorale, A concert of Choral and Instrumental Music, on Sunday, December 16, 4:00 p.m., in the Church.

They’ll be performing many beloved and renowned carols that
are newly arranged including an Advent motet, JESU CANDLELIGHT CAROL,
based upon the famed setting of “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”
from Bach’s Cantata 147, that is then complimented by another
Bach/Gounod favorite, the “Ave Maria” that uses that melody as a companion
to the traditional Austrian carol “Still, Still, Still” in STILL
A BACH LULLABY. The always-enjoyed Ukrainian Bell Carol
receives a choral treatment that is also partnered to the French
carol “Noel Nouvelet” with a new text by Patrick Liebergen,
BORN IS EMMANUEL. Keeping the musical theme of adapting
great melodies, PEACE ON EARTH takes its inspiration from
the folk song “O waly waly” which is better known as “The Water
is Wide.” The profound poem of Longfellow is set beautifully
in this arrangement. Another adaptation is a choral setting, OF
THE FATHER’S LOVE BEGOTTEN, a 13th century plainchant (O divinum mysterium)
whose text dates to the 4th century. Schola St. Mary’s will perform
a number of formal sacred works, HODIE CHRISTUS NATUS EST
by the late -Renaissance composer Marenzio, and IN FESTO NATALIS by Tomas Luis de Victoria. John Rutter's haunting setting of the American composer Niles' I WONDER AS I WANDER, as well as the Praetorius PSALLITE UNIGENITE will complete the schola portion.

The concert will then feature some
new, audience friendly works: O, TINY BABE OF BETHLEHEM
(Althouse,) and MY HEART, YOUR BETHLEHEM (Schram &
Gaines.)

Portions of the concert will also be reprised before the annual Midnight Mass of Christmas.

Vis a vis discussions we've all had on these and other blogs and boards, and through 37 years of experience dealing with personalities that hopefully live in rectories (as opposed to condos or villas that are discreetly distanced from a parish campus), alter Christis that stand at the center of our altars and ambos, baptize, marry and bury us all, and are supposed to represent, and in fact "be" the Christ of both Matt. 25 and the Great Commission, I would simply say the most serious issue facing the Church is the reclamation of the dignity and humility of the priesthood. I've quietly observed more men, both domestic and foreign, who disturbingly have displayed little and often no evidence of discipleship. Whether they decided to create a priestly class above the lay level castes before or after professing their vows (not only of chastity, by the way) I have seen more of our modern priests who relegate their roles to certain desirable affects: the administrator who can raise and manage millions, and does that to avoid accountability in other areas of demand; the dilettante that deigns to impart to the masses the minimal sacramental and ministerial attention than can be personally afforded and then enjoys the mystique and celebrity of the collar in the public eye; the escapists, old and young who hole up in their homes, rectories or offices (like we) glued to a keyboard and monitor, 'cause it looks like work and no one will dare bother "Father" when he's "there." I'm sure we all can come up with such stereotypes.
At this point, I want to stress that these characterizations do not represent all the priests I've worked beside these many years. I have had the honor of knowing many true servants of God who embody the absolute truth of the Mandatum; and they also come in many flavors and colors- old, young, cassock, t-shirt, gay/straight, white/brown/black/yellow/red, nice and not-so nice.But our Church, as I mentioned in another thread, cannot continue to exist if it cannot "man" the seminaries with both novices who, even at the youngest age, are given the complete picture and skinny on just how tough one has to be to live the priesthood; and then provide them with professors and support staff, education and assessment that is complete, rigorous and, above all character-building. And then, when they're given their first assignments over their first years, provide them with more than lip-service communication and support; help them keep their focus and eye on the prize.
Another aspect that does not seem to attract much blog attention is the notion that the Church evidences no discernable interest in discussing- the merits of a "tiered" priesthood that would add to the ranks of celebrants married Catholic men whose vocations were thoroughly deemed authentic and who would maintain economic self-dependence by maintaining their secular occupations. I personally can envision men who've already raised their children to adulthood, such as those who discern a vocation to the permanent diaconate (another issue for another post) who could be assigned primarily liturgical and sacramental duties versus the myriad of responsibilities an active parish priest and pastor is charged with 24/7.
I don't want to outline my own thoughts about the ramifications of the notion of restoring a "tiered" presbyterate in this post. Needless to say, I do think it would be possible to articulate and restructure such an ordained heirarchy. And equally needless is the mention of the irony that this "tiered" system already exists in the Roman Rite via "back-door" ordinations of Anglican, Lutheran and Methodist clergymen who profess vows and are initiated into first, the Church, and then to its priesthood. Or even the canons governing the ordination of married men in other Rites in full communion with the Roman Rite.
"Seasoned" men, with so-called "real life" street cred, who would be willing to serve the Church without reservation or recompense as liturgical presiders might even serve to resurrect among young boys and men the vision and exemplars of those selfless priests they saw on the silver screen when they were boys, those heroic priests who did and do still exist. Perhaps these young boys and men of this generation could see passed the distractions and tempatations of the secular culture because their dads and grandfathers clarified the perspectives by which young vocations could be discerned, fully cognizant of the treasure that celibacy and chastity provides those strong enough to accept such a calling and gift.

Cantate Domino, canticum novum.
Sing to the Lord, sing a new song.

As we close this liturgical year we also must be mindful of the advent of the A cycle of readings for the liturgical year. Music and Choral Directors, cantors, organists, ensemble leaders and others who are responsible for the daily, weekly and seasonal decisions concerning worship and sacred music usage at liturgies are currently navigating through the seasonal demands of Advent and Christmastide by the light of a star that also reveals Lent, Holy Week, Triduum and Easter just over the horizon.

Even prior to beginning my time at Fresno’s St. Johns’ Cathedral in 1987, I have directed liturgical music with Oregon Catholic Press worship books and repertoire since the mid-70’s. After the cathedral, OCP was the publisher of choice for both parishes I’ve been associated with here in Visalia, the last fifteen at St. Mary’s. I would venture to say that OCP is the predominant source of congregational worship music for not only this diocese, but a majority of those across the nation, especially in the western states. OCP, GIA, WLP and the Liturgical Press have all undergone yearly and generation revisions of their hymnals and missals since the advent of the subscription model of such publishers in response to the implementation of the vernacular languages in the Mass of Paul VI, and the resultant growth of a full spectrum of musical and cultural influences in contemporary catholic music composition.

In this posting I absolutely will avoid addressing the so-called “musical wars” that are waged within parishes, among musicians of divergent philosophies, in organizations such as NPM/AGO/ACDA and their periodicals, over the internet listserves and weblogs, etc. All of these concerns are best examined through the lenses of the abundant documents that we should already have studied: Musica Sacrum, The Constitution on Sacred Liturgy, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and the American document Music in Catholic Worship as well as many other resources such as papal letters, the Milwaukee and Snowbird Statements of recent years.

My long-felt concern regards the extent of complete employment of our hymnals and missals; does your parish thoroughly review its worship aide’s contents? What percentage of hymns, songs, service music (propers) and mass ordinaries are actually programmed and sung on a regular basis by any given parishes’ congregations? Does the pastoral and/or musical staff who are responsible for choosing worship music in each parish rely upon regular visits to NPM conventions or the Anaheim CCD event, or the commercial endorsements of new product within publishers’ annual catalogues? Do the musicians/singers and leaders of choirs/ensembles use composer and artist recordings as their primary resource for examining and learning both new and old repertoire to be included into the parish’s common and seasonal usage at liturgy? Does the pastoral and musical staff have the background and education necessary to craft a lasting foundation of worship music based upon the three criteria listed in MCW: the musical, liturgical and pastoral judgments? Is there cohesion and communication among parishes that have different and specific musical styles, choirs and directors assigned to specific weekend and festal masses so that the parish can worship with consistency during the high seasons? Or is there a benevolent, but deliberate ignorance of what the “other gal or guy” is doing at “their” mass?

I am of the generation known as the Baby Boomers of post-WWII and the Korean wars, as are many of our current pastors in the Fresno Diocese. So much cultural history has flowed so quickly over the last forty years (as relates to the post-Vatican II era) as to seem like an overwhelming flood of demands, resources and change has left us clinging to our chosen lifeboat of standard, they’ll-sing-this-hymn-every-time-we’ll-need-it “stability; or we’ll choose the opposite and let our musical boat drift to whatever the newest port in the storm offers quick comfort and the freshest, faddish innovations!

Well, like beginning the process of singing itself, straighten up, relax, take a deep, silent breath……then be still and know……
One of my favorite hymns unfortunately isn’t available in the OCP hymnals: JESUS, LEAD THE WAY. But that is the philosophy I have about my responsibilities as a music and choral director in service to our Lord’s Bride, the church, el Pueblo de Dios. Jesus not only calms the stormy waters that can be our experiences with music and the people who make it, but Jesus invites us to join him upon the waters, to do and become something better than we ever thought we could accomplish, if we trust and have faith in Him and ourselves as disciples.

Canticum Novum: This is the day!

In a previous column we examined the issues of how parish music directors and musicians go about their duties, particularly the highly important tasks of choosing appropriate music for liturgies and how to discern what musical selections, whether new or old, meet the various criteria for “worthiness.” Directly related to that is the reality that most of our local parishes use Oregon Catholic Press worship materials. So, in an effort to “cut to the chase” I would offer for your consideration the following Paschal season titles that meet, in my opinion, those aspects of liturgical, pastoral and aesthetic (artistic) worthiness found in OCP hymnals.
PANGE LINGUA by Fr. Ricky Manalo- this Latin ostinato (Taize-like “mantra”) accomplishes so much in such a simple and solemn setting. Manalo couches the Latin text within an extremely elegant melody, almost Gregorian or Palestrinan by its scale-wise movement and contours. Cantors can then superimpose the verses while the congregation/choir maintains the ostinato during the Eucharistic procession on Holy Thursday. BEHOLD THE CROSS receives a new poetic lyric by the prolific Bob Hurd that achieves great poignancy both in verse and refrain. He uses “waltz-time” meter, which is uncharacteristic until you examine the text that ties the humility of the nativity, the Virgin Mary’s steadfast witness at the crucifixion and Hurd’s inclination to bring attention to justice as a main “theme” in many of his texts. Hurd’s setting of the famous Bernard of Clairvaux’s hymn “O SACRED HEAD” shares this thematic emphasis in his originally composed third and fourth verses.
A recent addition to the OCP repertoire is Anne Quigley’s setting of the Good Friday Lamentations THE SEVEN LAST WORDS. Like Manalo, M.D Ridge and a host of contemporary composers, Quigley has written a very accessible, somber melody to the great “O vos omnes (All you who pass by…)” with alternating verses sung chorally or by soloists that would be most appropriate for the venerations on Good Friday.
I am now going to take a brief, sideways look at a very serious issue. For a number of years now, composers such as Roc O’Connor, Marty Haugen, Chris Walker and Bernadette Farrell have had metrical (poetic) text settings of the Easter Proclamation (the Exultet) printed in OCP’s hymnals. I believe that before deciding to use these more “accessible” settings at the pinnacle liturgy of our year, musicians, pastors and deacons should consult with each other and the major documents such as the GIRM and CSL (General Instruction on the Roman Missal/Constitution for Sacred Liturgy.) There are necessary protocols to observe regarding this liturgical singularity event of which the entire parish should reach consensus understanding of before making the final choice of which setting is best rendered at the vigil.
If your parish has never sung the hymn tune THAXTED by the great English composer Gustav Holst, run don’t walk to introduce them to M.D. Ridge’s THREE DAYS. As I mentioned in the last column, this powerful text is perfectly wed to the most profound hymn melodies ever composed. And then after Eastertide, the parish can continue using the tune with the text O GOD, BEYOND ALL PRAISING that OCP finally included in its books in 2005.
Lastly, please consider using the chants provided in the missals and Breaking Bread, which include: HOSANNA FILIO DAVID, PANGE LINGUA GLORIOSI, LITANY OF THE SAINTS (maybe as a change from the worthy Becker setting!), VIDI AQUAM and VICTIMAE PASCHALI LAUDES. And, if nothing else, enable your congregations to stand firm and with the very stones join fully in the singing of “Alleluia.” Amen.

Cantate Dominum: Novum et Antiquum? Both new and old?


Of the five questions that “wh”ispher to us constantly, “Who?…what?….why?….when?….where?….,” we often fixate on “why?” as we ponder a course of action or reflect upon a decision made. As I’ve aged (as opposed to “matured,” my wife would say) it seems to me that the other four words actually have more weight and importance as I consider which (oops, missed one!) hymns, songs, mass settings, acclamations, litanies will serve our liturgies at my parish. As mentioned in the last column, often a decision to use certain musical selections over others could boil down to “why not?” or just “Why? Because we all know that tune!”

However, I propose that each of us who chooses to enjoin in public worship, which includes the codified canonical exhortation to participate in a manner that is “full, conscious and active,” should possess a minimal if not refined understanding of the anatomy of our songs and sacred/ritual musics. The “who, what, when and where” constitutes the parts of this “one body” of which we sing daily and weekly, not palely and meekly. So there is an order to this knowledge we musicians must understand and share:

I The text to be sung.
II The melody (of which “rhythm” is the “muscle” that transports that text from our intellect
to our heart.
III The form of the song, so that we can recognize and remember it as distinct and unique, and
IV The harmonic structure which supports all of the above.

I would like to illustrate this order by using the example of the hymn (text) “I Heard the Voice of Jesus.” Even though I remember first hearing these lyrics couched within an early 70’s pop-tune style reminiscent of the Carpenters, I now totally associate this text with the collected “folk” melody (called Kingsfold) as set by the English composer Vaughn-Williams. Ironically, this very “Celtic” melody was not originally assigned to this tender and compelling text by Scots preacher Horatius Bonar. Bonar’s words were originally assigned a “hymntune” by the great John Dykes, composer of Holy, Holy, Holy among many other great hymns.
The Reverend Bonar’s text was inspired by Mt.11:28, John 4:14 and John 8:12, wherein three promises are made by our Lord and to which Bonar gave us voice to reply. What many don’t know is that most of Bonar’s hymns were written for children’s Sunday School and often were disdained by his own adult congregations. But look deeper into the response we sing in verse one: “I came to Jesus as I was: weary, worn and sad. I found in Him a resting place, and He has made me glad.” This evidences more than a child-like innocence and intent: Bonar and his wife suffered the loss of four of five children in quick succession. This text was a reflection of Jesus’ promises through the real lens of Bonar’s personal sufferings and trials. Worthy is the song to be sung. The text matters first and foremost.

The melody…. ah, we sigh, the melody. Can we “wh”istle it like a Gershwin tune after its “performance?” Well, yes and no. The Dykes tune is suitable. It has a rising melancholic arch for the first two phrases in a minor key, and then Dykes employs a device called a “parallel major mode” to “answer” that melancholy. But KINGSFOLD, though also set in a minor scale mode, isn’t a melodic manipulation manufactured as a mere vehicle for the words, but has its own flowing contours that almost seem self-propelled. Bonar’s text is the oxygen in the lifeblood of the song being transported throughout the body. And the tune of KINGSFOLD is given an easily recognizable face (form) that musicians would simply call AABA (and that’s not a Swedish quartet!) And finally, the marriage of “I heard the voice of Jesus” and KINGSFOLD has been adopted, adapted, arranged and likely never to be annulled because of the authenticity apparent in both the first two elements of the order. Whether sung in unison, a capella traditional harmony, accompanied by the majestic organ, an innovative pianist, a symphony orchestra or to the strums and arpeggiated finger-picking of a well-played guitar, or (Saints: preserve us!) to the lilt of a pub band replete with tin-whistle, fiddle, accordian, harp, bagpipes, bodhrain (hand drum) and bouzouki, this hymn and tune will always meet the criteria and have the integrity to be worthy of regular use at worship.

Earlier in this column I used the term “refined understanding.” We liturgical musicians ought never to regard ourselves or the people we serve as refined, or finished. The fire kindled by the Holy Spirit in our hearts is the refiner’s fire of Christ, ever allowing us to become purer, take new form and to become stronger…for the sake of not only ourselves, but also our children to follow.