As I mentioned in a previous discussion regarding the convention, this year's convention had a great lineup of speakers and presenters. I went to Pittsburgh with high expectations for it. I came away mostly satisfied.

The choice of Pittsburgh was a good one, as many from CMAA know after having held the colloquium there. The city is great, the hotels downtown are plentiful, and the church music scene provides for a wealth of experiences and learning.

I had the pleasure of attending Fr. Anthony Ruff's chant intensive. Father Ruff is, of course, very knowledgable in this area. He did a great job at the intensive of balancing the remedial and basic teachings of chant with the more advanced tidbits for those of us who already knew the basics. He also was a great advocate for the use of chant in the parish. I was glad to have attended his session.

The Keynote Address to open the convention was titled "The Universal Call to Holiness." The speaker was Fr. Ronald Raab. He focused his talk on the ways that holiness permeates the everyday, citing numerous examples from his work in inner-city Portland, OR. Although there was nothing particularly objectionable about anything that Fr. Raab said, he was mostly lacking in inspiration and passion, although there were a few moments in which he made thought provoking points. His talk probably would have been easier to receive later in the week rather than as the very first address. As one person attending the convention put it, "The Keynote speaker is supposed to fire us up and get us excited about the week. He kind of just depressed me."

The breakout session on Monday that I chose to attend was called "Chant as Vehicle for Vocal Production and Choral Sound," and was led by Robert Strusinski. To my pleasant surprise, Mr. Strusinski was not only wonderfully informative but he was also an advocate for the use of chant during mass as well. Yes, the man who taught David Haas and who has commissioned works by him actually asked how many of us regularly use chant in our parishes and when most of us raised our hands said "Very good!" I learned a lot from him.

Throughout the week there were other chances to attend breakout sessions. I chose two led by Ann Labounsky from Duquesne. What a great organist and teacher! Her sessions on improvisation and on the music of Jean Langlais alone were worth attending the convention.

On the concert front, there were wonderful offerings. Hector Olivera offered a recital at St. Paul's Cathedral that I count myself as truly fortunate to have heard. I'm not exaggerating when I say that one seldom hears playing like Olivera's. At the end of the recital, the entire crowd was on their feet cheering. The ovation was clearly heartfelt and not merely convention or politeness. In particular, Olivera's improvisation on "Veni Creator Spiritus" was stunning and nothing short of amazing.

Other standout concerts include J. Michael Thompson's choral ensemble and Adam Brakel's noon time organ recital. Adam plays with wonderful virtuosity. I can't possibly exaggerate when speaking of Adam's abilities.

I wish that I could be as positive about the plenum addresses. On Wednesday we heard from Msgr. Kevin Irwin of the Catholic University of America. It is truly regrettable that fidelity not only to the teachings of the church but to the mind of the church and the teachings of the Pope do not seem to be pre-requisites to teach at our nation's only ecclesiastical university. Msgr. Irwin denigrated the latin mass, implied that the Church under Pope Benedict is losing its way, and bemoaned the state of the priesthood today, noting the particular liturgical preferences of priests emerging from seminaries today.

Thursday brought a plenum talk by Sr. Barbara Reid. The beginning was quite scholarly, and I learned quite a bit about the Magnificat and Canticle of Zechariah from a scripture professor's point of view. Unfortunately, sister just couldn't help herself. By the end of the address, she went on a mini tirade about women in the church not being listened to and outright said that perhaps the men of the church need to be silenced so that women's voices could be heard more freely. NPM, as a Catholic organization, should absolutely not be allowing and promoting dissenters to speak to their conventions. That they do is truly lamentable.

The convention liturgy was brilliantly planned. I unfortunately did not get to actually attend the mass because of an emergency, but perusing the booklet revealed that the entrance chant was chanted in latin. The mass ordinary used was Christopher Pardini's New Century Mass, currently in use at the Cathedral in Philadelphia. In order to appeal to a large segment of attendees, Haugen's Eye Has Not Seen was used, which I consider to be at least on of his better pieces. The Communion song was a latin text set by Michael Joncas. Cheers to Fr. Chepponis and the rest of the planning committee for a job well done.

All in all, the week was a success and a great learning experience. I will likely return to another NPM convention in the future, but I sincerely hope that more orthodox plenum speakers are given that platform.