A friend of mine is an Eastern Orthodox Christian with little experience with the liturgical tradition of the Western Church. She is a tremendously gifted, truly world-class, musician who is seeking employment in a Catholic parish here in the United States. She has an interview with a "business-as-usual" parish in the Midwest. What sorts of things would you recommend she read between now and then? I want to try to help her get her feet wet in reading about Novus Ordo music and liturgy, but not overwhelm her. Any recommendations would be sincerely appreciated.
Maybe Smolarski's "How Not To Say Mass": it doesn't say much about music, but it is a good example of what is considered good practice from a non-traditionalist point of view.
The Spirit of the Liturgy (Ratzinger) If she is world class, I humbly suggest working for a parish or cathedral with more opportunities. In addition to the scandal of the "business as usual" model, it's highly probably that she will be unchallenged musically. If she were my friend, I'd offer her a caution about that. Maybe you already have. You want to give her something good. Problem is, a book on the subject that is solid and beautiful... won't be what she finds in an average parish.
That's kind of my worry, MACW. I think she's used to not being challenged since she's very gifted, but I'm afraid that giving her something GOOD to read about liturgy will lead to her being unsuccessful in a St. Louis Jesuits, Haugen--Haas parish.
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.