Chaswjd

Need conducting help
While conducting is important, what is more important is the rehearsal. There is only so much a conductor is going to be able to do on the spur of the moment during a performance. You could have the best stick technique in the world, but if you ha…

Comment by Chaswjd February 2020 permalink
Screens in liturgy
The only reason to possibly use screens is to be able to display beautiful pieces of sacred art in a particular space. One could change out the particular image displayed each season or each Sunday. The snarky side of me would say that if it’s …

Comment by Chaswjd January 2020 permalink
Credo III 'Et incarnatus est...'
Another lovely Et incarnatus is from the Des Prez Missa Pange lingua.

Comment by Chaswjd September 2019 permalink
Great Principles of Liturgy
Fostering cognitive dissonance is anathema to good liturgy. E.g. For priests, is your homily really more important than a prayerful Eucharistic prayer? But isn’t that what you communicate when, to shorten mass after a long (usually bloated) ho…

Comment by Chaswjd September 2019 permalink
Requiem Mass
“One usually doesn't sing at one's own funeral, or play an instrument.“ But doing so would make the funeral more remarkable— and more memorable.

Comment by Chaswjd September 2019 permalink
Ordination of a Bishop
If you have a good organ, you could do something like this: https://youtu.be/ohDqL6pjpjY

Comment by Chaswjd August 2019 permalink
Psalm 148
You could meld the text from the Scottish psalter with one of the Tallis tunes.

Comment by Chaswjd August 2019 permalink
Requiem Mass
The Victoria four voice Requiem, although less famous with its six voice sibling, is also based on the chant. Perhaps you can start with the chant and move to parts or all of the Victoria.

Comment by Chaswjd August 2019 permalink
Seeking Wise Counsel - Where do we go from here?
Father: I will keep you in my prayers. I think the core issue is to educate your parish with what liturgy is. Just before the Sanctus is sung, you say words to the effect “We join with all the choirs of angels and saints as they sing to Your glory…

Comment by Chaswjd July 2019 permalink
Charpentier Messe de Minuit pour Noël
We usually just sing the Agnus Dei. It is a fun piece.

Comment by Chaswjd June 2019 permalink
Carl Czerny: More than just "Velocity"
There is a musicologist whose clips are on YouTube who theorizes that that Czerny’s metronome markings are actually meant to be half as fast as they are usually interpreted. See e.g. https://youtu.be/DO-N-k5-qkI

Comment by Chaswjd June 2019 permalink
Is Archbishop Sample's pastoral letter on sacred music dead on arrival?
It is simply bizarre to assert that the letter does not have the force of law in the Diocese of Portland. For example: 3] Hymn and song texts must conform to the teachings and doctrines of the Church, especially with regard to the Eucharistic Sac…

Comment by Chaswjd March 2019 permalink
Mass music program for an upcoming major conference
This perhaps summarized it best: https://youtu.be/QxcOv4zPoVo

Comment by Chaswjd February 2019 permalink
Easter Vigil: Instead of the Gloria; Te Deum?
I have to disagree with Richard R. The General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours is explicit: “212. The Easter Vigil takes the place of the office of readings.“. It was for that reason that I suggested singing the Te Deum after communion at …

Comment by Chaswjd February 2019 permalink
Easter Vigil: Instead of the Gloria; Te Deum?
I don’t think that the rubrics would allow the substitution. According to the General Instructions, where morning prayer is celebrated together with mass, the canticle is sung after the communion antiphona. Similarly, you could use the Te Deum as…

Comment by Chaswjd February 2019 permalink
Lessons & Carols
You could do an Office of the Readings with each reading followed by an appropriate musical reflection or meditation on the preceding reading.

Comment by Chaswjd December 2018 permalink
Old McDonald
Stepping up on my soap box . . . Good King Wenceslas is not a Christmas carol. It happens on the Feast of Stephen. Getting don from my soap box now . . . BTW Anyone ever done Amazing Grace to the tune of the theme song of Gilligan’s Island?

Comment by Chaswjd December 2018 permalink
Reasons for your church to ditch the projector screen
One would think that the best i.e. least bad use of such a screen would be to project pictures of great art on it. In that way a parish could open up the treasury of great religious art more fully. But to project the responses . . .

Comment by Chaswjd November 2018 permalink
Short Advent motets/chants
The Walford Davies Psalm 121: https://youtu.be/xkIrg0SDSoQ

Comment by Chaswjd November 2018 permalink
Zielenski
There is a Collegium Zielenski which is recording his works. The discs are available on Amazon. They have a website, but it is in Polish, although Google will translate. The website is: http://www.collegiumzielenski.art.pl/index.php?option=com_c…

Comment by Chaswjd October 2018 permalink
Question for choir directors: have you ever timed the parts of the Ordinary in a Latin Mass?
Do I go too far in suggesting that you might time out the homily if you are concerned about how long mass takes? I am always amazed at priests who won't pray Eucharistic Prayer No. 1 because it takes too long, but then bloviate during the homi…

Comment by Chaswjd October 2018 permalink
Advent service ideas?
You could also use the Office of the Readings. After each psalm or reading, you could use an advent carol as the response / antiphon substitute.

Comment by Chaswjd September 2018 permalink
Use of Agni Parthene in Roman Catholic parish?
There is nothing in the rubrics which would forbid it. And since it is vastly superior to much which has been published since 1970 or thereabouts . . . . Perhaps it could be used as example of the church breathing with both her lungs.

Comment by Chaswjd August 2018 permalink
Scholarly articles - polyphonic vs. chant ordinary
I don't believe that it has to be an either / or. There are ways of doing both chant and polyphony in the same piece. Here is a Kyrie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KYVEgWk-J0 Here is a Gloria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DCXkIjp6S…

Comment by Chaswjd August 2018 permalink
Help With Ditching Breaking Bread
I have a personal difficulty with including the readings in the hymnals. Participation in the Liturgy of the Word should be an aural activity where the entire congregation experiences the proclamation together. If you are simply going to have a &q…

Comment by Chaswjd August 2018 permalink
While two organists sit in the pews and the organ sits silent . . .
Sing to the Lord from the USCCB at paragraph 93: "93. Recorded music lacks the authenticity provided by a living liturgical assembly gathered for the Sacred Liturgy. While recorded music might be used advantageously outside the Liturgy as an a…

Comment by Chaswjd July 2018 permalink
Discouraged/banned music
Although it is technically inappropriate, I would love to sing the Gloria from the Haydn Klein Orgel Mass. It does make a joyful noise. And given that we have a bishop that likes the trains to run on time, its 50 second duration may make a point.

Comment by Chaswjd July 2018 permalink
Introducing a new mass setting
It sounds like you have a reasonable plan. Do you take time before mass to teach the congregation the new music?

Comment by Chaswjd July 2018 permalink
Discouraged/banned music
The Palestrina settings of the Song of Songs should not have been sung in the liturgy. The texts for the offertory and communion were set. Palestrina, himself. seems to have recognized that they were not entirely appropriate for church.

Comment by Chaswjd July 2018 permalink
What are the "directives" of the Mass?
Here, many local churches simply print Orders of Worship which either have the score in them or contain a reference to the number in the hymnal where the score for the particular music being sung can be located. Ergo, no need to announce anything.

Comment by Chaswjd June 2018 permalink

Welcome to the MusicaSacra Forum!

To participate in the discussions on Catholic church music, sign in or register as a forum member, The forum is a project of the Church Music Association of America.

About

Username: Chaswjd
Joined: September 2015
Visits: 2,015
Last Active: 6:16PM
Roles: Member
Posts: 303
Thanked: 451