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From the rising of the sun to its setting and from North to South, chant will change the world!
Why not pay a visit to Gregorian Chant in Orkney? And while you'll up in the islands, you'll want to stop by Papa Stronsay to visit the Transalpine Redemptorists. Check out the pictures of the White Nights and their Highland cattle.
All the microphones were dead that Sunday morning. The sound board remained unresponsive. The emergency sound technicians were on a cruise to the Bahamas and wouldn't be back for a week.
There was no microphone at the ambo. No microphone for the cantor at the lectern. Father's wireless was silent. And the boom mics for the choir were useless.
People sang. People spoke. People listened. And they listened hard because they needed to.
Having read somewhere that sung speech carried better than spoken, the celebrant sang the Mass. And the congregation responded in kind. Even the reader, while not being sure of the intonation patterns, chanted a reading that was no longer a laundry list or a dramatic interpretation. It was the deliberate conveying of a text.
Choir members stopped jostling with each other for positions relative to the microphones. While it was sad that the organ didn't work, well, the keyboard and the guitars had died as well. This week the congregation could hear themselves singing.
And the recessional was omitted, so that everyone left after the dismissal and closing procession of the clergy.
Then I woke up.
Loyal readers might remember my reports of the "White Christmas" version of the Our Father. Pretty awful. But consider the item below, which appeared as a comment on a liturgical music blog:
Here in France where I now live, one can be offended to the point of tears by such things as the Pater noster at Mass sung in French to the tune of 'Old Macdonald had a farm'. Yes, really! It isn't even the whole prayer but is just 'Notre Pere qui est au cieux, bonjour notre Pere!' -repeated ad nauseam.
See?
Today is the feast day of this great saint, who dreamed of traveling as a missionary until God told him that "Rome is your Indies." And there he stayed and transformed Renaissance Romans who came day after day to see him, listen to him, sing and talk with him.
And he was always cheerful and welcoming, honest and compassionate.
May all his Oratorians have a wonderful feast of their founder.
This delightful collection of essays by Jeffrey Tucker is an excellent (and painless) way to learn about the role of chant and polyphony in both the historical and contemporary Roman Catholic Church. History, failures, triumphs, the ups and downs of textual translation, and the unintended consequences of copyright law weave in and out of these ruminations. And Mr. Tucker never minces his words.
It's a wonderful book to keep nearby for odd moments when your will to work for better music and art in the Church flags. Read an essay, flex your musical and spiritual muscles, and plunge back into the fray.
And proceeds from its sale help fund scholarships to the annual CMAA Sacred Music Colloquium in Chicago this June. A week of musical heaven.
Enough already! Just buy the book.
When I awoke this morning, I heard the pet peeves mewling in their cages. Yes, it's Ascension Day! "The Lord has gone up with a shout!" Well, not in my diocese (or many others) because we've transferred the feast to Sunday.
Forty days is forty days. Thursday is not Sunday. And excusing the faithful from finding time for a Mass on a weekday only helps us find ways to avoid every other aspect of our faith if it falls outside the hour on Sunday we've set aside.
Having given that pet peeve a quick run around the park and an extra carrot, I shall return her to the menagerie and enjoy the feast.
Go thou and do likewise!
I'm listening to "Live in London" and loving every track.
Leonard and I go way back - all the way back to my first Judy Collins' album and McCabe and Mrs. Miller.
And he's still great.
Thanks, Leonard, for all the songs.
While searching for material to use in a program of Marian vespers, I came upon the poetry collections at the Mary Pages of the University of Dayton's Marian Institute. Here's a link to those for the month of May. The quality is uneven, but everyone suffers by being in a collection with Gerard Manley Hopkins.
There's poetry for every feast and season. And some nice pictures too.
Let's call this "Telegraph Tuesday" - so you can read Damian Thompson's report in the Telegraph.
MacMillan, one of England's leading contemporary composers (how many of us get our own concert at the Proms for our 50th birthday?), has commented in the past on the state of contemporary congregational Catholic music and he'd like an end to the
"de-poeticisation, de-sacralisation, and a general dumbing down of the Church's sacred praise"
Never a man to mince his words. Go and read the whole article.
