Sacred Miscellany

Ancient City Harp

Ancient City Harp: Songs of St. Augustine appeared on my doorstep yesterday afternoon. Thirteen tracks devoted to the wonderful diversity of St. Augustine, Florida.  The music spans over 400 years and is a blend of relaxed and playful - just like this town.  Going from a medieval Spanish dance through Stephen Foster and spirituals to the Pachelbel Canon, you can travel through time without leaving your front porch. In a couple of days, it will be available online – and trust me, I'll let you know where to go for it.

Recording an album is an amazing process – you plan and research, you arrange, you re-arrange, you look for the occasional collaborator, you lose faith in the project, you record (repeat this step over and over), you edit, you recover your faith, you mix, you write notes, you lose faith in the project, etc. At one point when your faith is recovered, you write a large check to the manufacturing house and send them your precious master. It's the sonic equivalent of writing a novel – and all novelists everywhere have my sympathy.

Just to give you a taste of the album, here's a clip from the Fromajadas, a Minorcan folk song.  This song is in honor of the Virgin, but it was traditionally sung by groups going door-to-door on the evening of Holy Saturday.  The payment for the serenade was pastries (which took their name from the song).   

Download fromajadasclip.mp3

Regina Laudis

I just received an order from the Abbey of Regina Laudis – and I strongly encourage everyone interested in chant to follow my example in supporting them.

I bought the Recordare CD and Dr. Marier's Gregorian Master Class. The former is a delightful recording. And one of the most delightful aspects is that it isn't the perfect schola. Great audio engineering and hand-picked choirs have made for some great music. At the same time, it can be rather overwhelming to those of us whose scholas occasionally "slip." On this CD, you have excellent singing by a very dedicated group of women – but it's not absolutely perfect; it's human. And that's rather refreshing in the age of self-critical perfection.

The Master Class will help enormously with a structured approach to chant. It's very nicely produced with a spiral binding, so you don't have to stand on the book to keep it open. It's also very high-quality paper and printing. If you were at the CMAA Chant Intensive, this will help reinforce your learning. If you weren't there, this will make you smarter, although it will in no way substitute for Scott Turkington.

I love buying things from monasteries. I know that my money is important to them and encourages their work. Go thou and do likewise.

Os Justi

Recorded live at the final Mass of the CMAA Chant Intensive in the Madonna della Strada Church at Loyola University, Chicago. Yesterday was the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua and may he help us recover the music that we misplaced for so many years. You'll find the mp3 over at my website, mjballou.com

Click on "Listen" over on the side and you'll see the Chant Introit. More will follow as I have time to clean up the files and extract them from the full recording of the Mass.

Back from Chicago

Getting home from conferences is never easy – especially if you decide to travel on Friday evening. Every road warrior is out there. Flights are cancelled; small children are wailing; folks are missing connections. Nonetheless, I made it back to Florida and I am eternally grateful to the person who picked me up at 12:30 a.m. in Jacksonville.

The capstone of our Chant Intensive was a Mass celebrated in the Madonna della Strada Church at Loyola. Fr. Haines from the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius was the celebrant and he brought along a pile of brothers to serve. After I get the recording cleaned up, I will put up the various propers that we sang. Admittedly, it was an ad hoc recording, so the balance isn't perfect. (The perfect place for the mic would have been behind the altar facing out – I bet Father would have loved that.) Fortunately, the two voices that come through the strongest are Scott Turkington's and Janet Gorbitz's (Vox Feminae).

Yes, the Intensive was hard work. However, the joy of being surrounded by that much music and by a group of people who love chant outweighed any fatigue. Thank you, CMAA!

Grass-Roots Chant

One of the good reasons to attend conferences is "intelligence gathering."  What I'm learning here at the CMAA Chant Intensive is more than just technique and piles of neums.  It's about people.  There are scholas popping up everywhere.  Some of these are adjuncts to existing music programs.  Some of them are "garage scholas," individual initiatives put into motion by people who simply love Gregorian chant.  They sing where they can and when they can, but importantly these folks aren't waiting for everything to be perfect.  And they aren't waiting for permission to do what they love.

Oh, and did I mention that chant lovers are very entertaining?  They are definitely good company.  So there's another reason to take up chant.  The quality of your co-singers.

That's all for now.  I have another eight hours of theory and singing today.

Chant Intensive

After the labors of automobiles, planes and the Chicago subway, it was a pleasure to find myself at Loyola, surrounded by other chant fanatics and many friends from the blogosphere.

As usual, the CMAA has done a great job - and we even have very good (AND COPIOUS) food.

If you couldn't make this summer's events - Intensive or Colloquium, I suggest you start a savings account for next year. It's nice to come in out of the wilderness and be surrounded by folks who are on the same page musically and liturgically.  Even if only for a little while.

Map Your Schola or Find Your Desire

If you have a schola or a chant choir in your church, parish, backyard, whatever, let everyone know about it! Remember what was said about putting lights under bushels!

The Frapper map of the International Registry of Gregorian Scholas is your chance to let the world know you exist. And if you're looking for a chant opportunity or perhaps a boost for your own desire to start something, here's a place to reassure yourself that you aren't the only person in the world who loves monophonic sacred music.

And besides, it's fun!

I’m Psyched for Chicago

I'm going on the road to Chicago. To the CMAA Chant Intensive at Loyola, if you want to be more precise about it. I am so ready to be able to study and sing chant. I'll see old musical friends and make new ones. There will be a five-day separation from my harps and salterio, but it will probably do all of us good. While I wish I could do the Summer Colloquium the following week, it would probably overwhelm me and I would be carried away in a Bernini-style ecstasy.

Right now, I'm ripping tracks for travel. You know – James Taylor, Leonard Cohen, Esteban Salas, some 13^th century Franciscan songs, Pink Martini, Tracy Chapman, and the Convent of St. Elizabeth the Grand Duchess of Russia's Christmas album. Throw that in with the chant and harp already on my iPod – and I'm ready for anything.

More on the Chant CD

You'll also find a nifty video about the making the CD on the Amazon website.

There is also a link on the abbey's website. Along with lots of other information. But the video's great for "us visual learners."

Chant: Music for Paradise

 

I received my copy of this new CD yesterday. And it was definitely worth the extra expense of getting my paws on it prior to the July 1^st US release. (Patience has never been my long suit.) Here's the CD's website

Done by the monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz, this is a well-produced CD from Universal's Classics and Jazz folks. There are 29 tracks, including a requiem and compline. And one lovely snippet of the monastery's bells. I'm a sucker for bells.

It's thoroughly enjoyable. (And I know there are people who find that attitude toward chant annoying, so I apologize to them right now.) Just the right amount of reverb and a wonderful sense of movement. It topped the pop charts in the UK on its release there.

Why not buy a copy here when it releases? Better yet, buy two and give one to someone else.