They Want Projected Music
  • PurpleSquirrelPurpleSquirrel
    Posts: 165
    Help me.
  • PurpleSquirrelPurpleSquirrel
    Posts: 165
    Please.
  • Jani
    Posts: 441
    Egads.
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  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Who is "They"?
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  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,933
    pro·jec·tion (prəˈjekSHən/) n. - The unconscious transfer of one's own desires or emotions to another person.

    (...especially if they're a DoM...)
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  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,980
    Follow the bouncing ball - sounds like a sing-a-long.
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  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    If it cannot be avoided, make sure it is done well.

    Black background. White content.
    No artwork. None. And don't let anyone slip something saying that they'll only use tasteful art. Nothing is tasteful art when projected.

    Don't let it be used for anything else.

    Pick one serif font and stick to it. (Garamond is nice.)

    Use Finale (or Sibelius, or whatever) to put music on the slide. One stanza (or half-stanza) per screen. White on black background.

    Don't make the text to small to read. Don't make it embarrassingly large. Don't be cute. Avoid themes, templates, artwork.


    I hate projection screens. But you can make them serviceable.

    If you want help STOPPING them... good projectors are too expensive. Just keep repeating that. It will cost too much.
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  • PurpleSquirrelPurpleSquirrel
    Posts: 165
    "They" are:
    - A cantor/CWL member/Parish Council member
    - An elder CWL member/Parish Council member
    - Ukulele Fury

    It's all my fault really. I made the mistake of bringing up the fact that our hymnals were finally falling apart in large enough numbers that we should be concerned. They have duct-taped bindings now, or no spines at all.

    Immediately the idea of projected music came up, along with the following brilliant ideas: Large-screen TV's in the aisles; Stations of the Cross projected, highlighting each one as we pray along the wall; "Tasteful" images, like pretty flowers; personal tributes at funerals; plant the screen right over the alter, and replace the crucifix with an image of one that's even bigger!

    I want to cry, and... oh dear, I taste bile in my throat. Please excuse me for a moment...
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  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    The more that the "people" are involved in creating and running the liturgy, the distractions, interruptions and general havoc can reign. Slides in the wrong order, huge list of problems. This is why Protestant churches hire full-time media specialists to run all this stuff.

    Cantors, by the way in my experience, often work for the devil. What other liturgical position can be held without any training or natural ability?

    Adam's right, but all of the rules he recommends will not be followed.

    Squirrel. The END IS NEAR.
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  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Adam's right, but all of the rules he recommends will not be followed.


    Pretty much my entire writing career in one sentence.
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  • ronkrisman
    Posts: 1,394
    Squirrel. The END IS NEAR.

    Marana Tha.
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  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,980
    You know projection equipment is easily sabotaged, right? :-)
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  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    I was once at a church that did power point...
    After I left they moved the pipe organ console against a back wall, removing the pedal board so nobody could tell what it was, and put the computer there.
    The console was apparently taking up prime real estate.
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  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    So they're going to spend how much money on this stuff when new hymnals cost how much?
    Thanked by 2PurpleSquirrel MatthewRoth
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    Hey now Noel...I cantor and so do two of my daughters.
    Thanked by 3noel jones, aago amindthatsuits PurpleSquirrel
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    Um, I thought this was to be about music that was projected for performance at some future event; or that 'they' wanted to know what anthems and such you had planned for the coming season. I can't believe that Catholics are actually talking about what they seem to be talking about. This may be the only time that I disagree with Adam: there is no way to do this within the bounds of either good taste or even bad taste. This supersedes all parameters of human rectitude; nor is there any way at all for 'it' to be 'well done' - except perhaps in a bonfire.

    If this isn't covered in GIRM it is likely because even Catholics haven't thought of it yet. But now that it seems that they have, it is time for their excellencies to speak 'no' in a voice unequivocal. This stuff, by its very nature, is an unholy distraction from the Holy Mysteries taking place in the sanctuary. This gimmicky stuff, by its very nature, becomes the prime focus of attention during mass. It is vacant of any spiritual, intellectual, or artistic value. It is, in fact, the antithesis, the negation, of such. All this besides its being unspeakably hideous and on the same aesthetic level as a cock roach on a Thanksgiving dinner table.

    You should explain that such a grotesque solution wasn't at all what you had in mind and that it is beyond serious consideration - all, of course, as diplomatically as is or isn't needed.
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  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    Wendi, are you proving or disproving my statement?

    [I can hear the people - listen to them carefully when they cantor....you might catch them chanting and we can't have that!]
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  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    MJO is right. The moment people put up screens they will also want to project the Mass itself so everyone can be right up there on the altar. And this becomes attending Mass by TV, which does not fill the obligation.

    The more technology involved when Mass is said, the more chance for distraction and disruption.
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  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,501
    Isn't there some liturgical committee in your diocese that can help you? We have the "Sacred Art and Architecture Committee" in the Archdiocese of Toronto which is chaired by Fr. Vito Marziliano, who was trained at the Beato Angelico School of Sacred Art in Milan, Italy. The Committee has stopped disasters in their tracks and changed the minds of parishioners, educating them in beauty in the church. I imagine that some dioceses don't have them, but yours might and someone there may be able to help you move from this bad idea to the solution you were looking for... a new hard cover hymnal.
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  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    I second canadash and wish you well!
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  • francis
    Posts: 10,825
    ask them how people are going to sing if they can't see that far? What about when the electricty goes out?
    Thanked by 2Liam PurpleSquirrel
  • Carl DCarl D
    Posts: 992
    I have a little calmer opinion, having been in several parishes with projection screens. Here's my thoughts on making the best of it.

    White on black.

    Simple formatting.

    No pictures or artwork.

    The text has to be much larger than on the printed page.

    You'll never have enough screens so that everyone can see one comfortably. Some people WILL be left out.

    The projection has to be VERY powerful to be seen from 100+ feet away. Expensive.

    Don't forget to license the content.

    The person at the computer must know how to sing and read music. Otherwise they'll frustrate those who do.

    Should be projecting nothing for 80% of the Mass.

    Creating the slides is a lot more work than you think. Every week. For every weekend Mass.



    IMHO, it can be made to work.
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  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Is someone in the parish trying to compete with Protestant mega-churches by playing "me-too"?

    Maybe someone's trying to get people to pay more attention to a screen than to Jesus?

    Won't the electricity used to run the screens and their projections cause needless feedback into the microphone/amplification system and require still more work?

    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn PurpleSquirrel
  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    But, but Father! Who will be able to see YOU?!?
    Thanked by 5M. Jackson Osborn Liam CHGiffen PurpleSquirrel G
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Run.
    Thanked by 5Andrew Motyka Spriggo francis M. Jackson Osborn PurpleSquirrel
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    "But, but Father! Who will be able to see YOU?!?"

    FTW*

    * for the win.
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  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    This problem has been discussed here before:

    http://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/6028/projectors-and-projector-screens/p1

    The question was raised there whether the instruction on this issue in De Musica Sacra, in paragraph 73, has been abrogated. It states, "The use of any kind of projector, and particularly movie projectors, with or without sound track, is strictly forbidden in church for any reason, even if it be for a pious, religious, or charitable cause."
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  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    Worth citing for the sake of the principle, but around here the prime transgression against that rule is the bishop's annual diocesan appeal.


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  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    That's for the sake of (the) principal, too (doubly so).
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  • PurpleSquirrelPurpleSquirrel
    Posts: 165
    CHG-Yes, I actually did mention that paragraph, but logic dictates that it was obviously done away with, because almost all parishes in Alberta have switched to this tech, (urban and rural) with appropriate hard-copy (for when the lights go out) in the form of Breaking Bad.... Oops, sorry, I mean Bread. Oh, and with all those icky superbug diseases out there, do we really want hymnals that have been (ick) touched by all those (double-ick) hands? Eeewwwww...

    BTW you guys seriously get me howling with the funnies. My tummy hurts.
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  • PurpleSquirrelPurpleSquirrel
    Posts: 165
    And thank you for some very solid advice. I have to make some notes now. Presentation to Studen... Oops there I go again... Parish Council is on the 18th. Maybe I should just say "Nope. S'all good over here. Just pass the tape, I'll have it all fixed up in a jiffy..."
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen canadash
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    PurpleSquirrel, you're a hoot!! No wonder you're PurpleSquirrel. Good luck!

  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    NOEL!!!! you smartie pants.
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