TLM and Adventures

Firstly, I am about to embark on an adventure. (A very low-paying, but exciting nonetheless, adventure.) Starting this weekend, I will be thrown into a church job that will require every bit of my musical creativity and energy. (The outgoing organist: "So the new Mass setting that I wrote and that we've been using is in 6 flats, but it's not very hard." and "Well, there aren't any accompaniment books b/c I just improvise and harmonize to the missalette, so hopefully you can do the same..." oh goody...My plan is to require after the first weekend - where I will use an old copy of Choral Praise for the hymns- that the parish either buy or find the accompaniment books that they should be receiving for free every 3 years with the music subscription.)

Secondly, this same parish offers a TLM, which I was not asked to play for. I heard from one source that the current organist "wants" to keep playing it, from another that the current organist "hates" the traditional Mass/music, and from still another source that the current organist is sticking with it b/c he doesn't think he can find anyone competent to replace him! (Well, they definitely didn't even ask me if I've ever had any experience with it. I plan on at least waiting to tell them until I'm good and settled in and have figured out some of the politics a bit more at this parish, and possibly longer b/c I'm going to enjoy my late Sunday mornings while I can! Lol!)

Anyhow, this got me thinking about my feelings towards the TLM. I was thinking, "what if someone asked me why exactly I like the TLM?" I think my main answer would be that I like it b/c you are practically guaranteed a more reverent liturgy, and you don't have to worry about any goofy "innovations." However, I really don't like the fact that the whole thing is in Latin, and I would definitely over-all prefer a reverent Novus Ordo liturgy anyday. But one not-very-good reason that I do think I like the TLM as a musician who might do music for it, is that the people at it will appreciate the music more than the average Novus Ordo. The kinds of music that are done at it can be more choir-oriented, and more enjoyable for me to do. The reason I was thinking that this might not be the best attitude for me, is that this could start to lead to a more "performance" attitude. Ok, there is a whole lot of thoughts in this paragraph that I haven't quite begun to sort out, and it made more sense in my head than it is coming out on the screen, so I will stop here! :-)

A lovely Triduum!

A lovely Triduum so far. I am really glad to be at the parish at which I'm at this year! It's kind of bittersweet though, since it is bringing back memories of where I was last year (and the previous 4 years!) and where I will be next year. (Since I will only be at the current parish for the next week, and the future is rather fuzzy at the moment...)

I was very pleased that I only had to witness men having their feet washed, but was a little uncomfortable when I found out that the pastor would afterwards invite anyone who wanted forward to have their feet washed. ("awwwwwkward," thought I...)

I promise that I did not intend for it to work this way, but what ended up happening was there were 3 men left when the first piece of music was finished, so not knowing whether the priest was going to *say* anything when I was done to invite people up, I started the next piece. Looking in the mirror, I observed that he did indeed get in the middle aisle and (I assume,) invited people up, but this happened to be as the choir/congregation was singing the refrain of the new song. Either as a result of the congregation agreeing with me about the awkwardness of coming forward, or else they simply didn't get the message b/c the pastor was speaking over the music (that is the part that I promise wasn't intentional!) as far as I could tell from my limited vision, no one went forward! I almost laughed out loud when the 3 men left to wash others feet simply awkwardly stood there.

Note to self and priest-- try to avoid introducing innovations into the liturgy. they're just...awkward.
(awkward, awkward, awkward. There. Are you sick of that word yet?)

"guitar music"

So right now I'm the pianist for a little ensemble of guitars and singers that plays at Mass once a week. After having been in GIA territory for the past 5 years, I now find myself in OCP land and don't know pretty much any of the "contemporary" songs. Occasionally there is a song that is scheduled for the upcoming weekend, and I glance at it, and it looks a little difficult, so I decide to run through it and "learn" it in advance. 100% of the time, I sit down at the piano, and play through it, and find myself not only able to sight-read it, but immediately find it boring-ly predictable.
My point of this isn't that it is a reflection on my own musical abilities, but rather, the lack of any sort of musical-sophistication contained in the music geared for contemporary groups.
Now, if I have no difficulty running straight through it since it's so predictable, then it does seem to follow that it would almost as easy for the average congregation to be able to pick it up.
But whether that is a good thing or not, is another conversation...

Filled with delight!

It must be the weather.

And, perhaps, a cute little encounter I just had in the sacristy after Mass...

I was putting things away, and overheard two young men (high schoolers; I didn't notice if they had been serving at Mass,) talking to the priest (not the pastor.) They said something about the Latin Mass, and of course my ears perked up. Then I realized that they were talking about pattens, and someone said something about people receiving with their hands. I jumped in, and said, "Are you talking about patens? I know a parish that still uses them even when people receive on the hand." Then the sacristan, who was also there, mentioned that the communion rail was somewhere on the premises, and we joked about putting that back up. But we all admitted to not having any authority to do that. Ha. Then the priest was like, "oh...now we're dreaming..." and we all laughed and went our separate ways. But I couldn't stop grinning as I walked out of there!
"I'm one of you! Yay!" :-)

Really, the Penitential Rite is not that hard...

But I am beginning to find myself more and more amused/annoyed by priests who can't seem to get the Penitential Rite correct. Some of them never even got it before the new translation, but now it seems to me that many priests are even more confused by it than before, for a variety of reasons, (one of which I think is the major re-translation of the rarely-used option "B.")

Anyhow, I have now had not just one, but two priests whom I have had to mention the correct way to use the "Kyrie's," and my dear husband has also told me of another parish in which he knew the priests were not doing it correctly.

Dear Fathers... it's really not that hard...
Basically, we always do some form of "Lord/Christ have mercy."
So, either that would be option A (the Confiteor,) or option B ("Have mercy on us Lord,") either of which would then be followed by the Kyrie/Lord have mercy, OR we would do the option C (the tropes,) which already has "Lord have mercy" as a part of it.

I mean, I know that priests have a TON else that they need to be doing, but really, it takes like 2 minutes to sit down and just read straight through the rubrics of the penitential rite. I suppose it also makes me a bit worried when I think about all the other liturgical things that I'm probably not even aware of, and it makes me doubt even more the amount of time that most priests would spend even reading the basic rubrics. :-(

Finally available!

For free! Legal! For the entire world!

Until now, a mostly unknown, and unavailable choral work by César Franck.
Alleluia!

Can chant be sung without a director?

I certainly think so.

For example, if a group of singers were to learn a chant from the same recording, and each individually attempt to follow the nuances precisely (speed up here; barely lengthen this note,) and/or if the group spends time rehearsing together and agreeing upon rhythms and flow, then is a director really necessary?

I have found myself in the position of being "director," and yet, once I feel like I've "taught" the group, either by example or explanation of specific phrases, I can't help but wondering if all of my arm-waving is superfluous. Perhaps even moreso with some very amateur groups: if they have learned the chant more by ear than reading the notes-- wouldn't they be less affected by small nuances in conducting?
On the other hand, I have found myself in a situation of singing chant in a group with advanced singers and a superb conductor, and after extensive rehearsing, I feel as though I am so familiar with the director's every move, that we are already doing what he is directing, and if he stopped conducting, we would sound the exact same.

Perhaps I am not such a good chant singer or director, that I am not aware of the extent of the affect that conducting can have?

article

FABULOUS article-
http://www.amywelborn.com/whymass/article.html

Why go to Mass?

Yes, it comes down to - "Flannery O’Connor wrote of a man she knew who had converted to Catholicism because, he came to believe, Jesus must really be present in the Eucharist - otherwise, since the Catholic liturgy was regularly so dreadfully and mechanically done - no one would keep coming."

And unfortunately, most Catholics haven't been taught that, so, yeah...they're kind of struggling to find a reason to keep coming. (hint: this also isn't necessarily about pre-Vatican II or post.)

How to judge a church

I recently found myself in the position of describing (or rather, comparing) two different Catholic churches, to help someone who is traditionally minded decide which to attend. As I thought about it later, the kinds of things that I chose to mention were interesting, and certainly say something about a church. But most people wouldn't consider most of these things significant at all! I hardly even had to mention the devotion to orthodox Catholicism, since the interesting thing is that these things all point to that!

-Of course, the quality of the music. How much chant? Anything in latin? The quality of the choirs and of course what styles of music they sing in.
-The demeanor of the priest while celebrating Mass; including, how much he "ad libs," or brings his personality into the ritual.
-The content of the homilies.
-Whether there are female altar servers.
-Whether the church "looks" like a church inside.
-The demeanor (lack or presence of chatter or respectfulness) before and after Mass from the congregation.
-What kind of vestments the priest wears, and what the altar servers wear.

"Nobody has ever taught us this before!"

I had a lovely little choir rehearsal tonight.

Looking at the schedule, I realized that we really don't have much to learn between now and Lent, and, (if I wanted to,) I could surely run the rehearsal in 35 minutes each week. That not really being an option (since my pay isn't based on hours,) I have been thinking I need something more to do with the choir. So, I decided to have them work on a little polyphonic 4-part piece. At the very least, even if they never sing it at Mass, I could use it to teach some notes and how to read rhythms.

I decided I would do a lot of "everyone singing the same part" thing, so that people wouldn't get bored, and teach them to "count-sing." (Eg, 1+2+3+4+ for every measure.)

We had started that last week on a mostly quarter note song, and it was going well, so I figured that jumping into the eighth note song would be perfect. I quickly realized that they had less of a grasp on the actual note values than I was thinking, so I set about explaining how "1+2" or whatever fits into which notes exactly, and writing it on the white board. They were very interested, with only mild complaining about the difficulty. So, we had a great rehearsal, got through a bit of the piece, and I'm looking forward to helping them to really learn it solidly, with a complete understanding of the notes over the next few weeks.

However, my day was made (and my heart aches,) when, at the end of rehearsal, I was erasing the white board, and someone said, "Oh, you're erasing that! I was going to use it!" And then they started asking me to re-write it and hand it out! They said, "No one has ever taught us this before!... I failed music when I was in school... I've been singing in choirs for years!"

Wow. So, this will be an interesting experiment at the worst, or, way to change their lives (musically at least,) at the best. I will definitely write out a sheet for them, and even include some rhythm exercises that they can practice counting on their own! This should be fun.
And...this is why I love my job. :-)

oh dear.

whenever am I going to find time to read THIS?!

Copyrights...

I'm super excited... I'm currently working on typesetting a new edition of THIS gorgeous piece, which is certainly in public domain. I can hardly wait to be finished so I can put it on CPDL and make it available, accessible, and FREE to the whole world!

I'm particularly excited, because this, as a project, has been in the back of my mind as something that I would like to do... but I just received confirmation today that this is entirely legal, and rightly so! {why deny the world something that was written by someone who has been dead for more than 100 years, just so some publisher can line his pockets?}