I know it's good to be humble during Lent, but I've got to post the following. (Because after all, it's not about me, it's about the fantastic students I'm blessed to direct.)

One of my associates in my regular polyphonic choir gave me a semi-professional recording device, so myself and the students decided to start making recordings and posting them on YouTube. (The Student President of the group sat down and put this video together in one night.) The ultimate goal will be the recording of a CD, the proceeds from the sale of which shall go to benefit the local Catholic food pantry. (Shameless plug! Please stay tuned on that front!)

So here is their first recording, of the Gloria from the third mass of the Dominican Gradual. It's a variation on Orbis Factor with ever-so-subtle changes, which took some getting used to for our group. We had a lot of new voices this time around, so the uniformity is a little off, especially on pronunciation, and some of the word underlay needs a bit more practice, but overall I'm beside myself at how well they've mastered this in the space of half a semester.

The icing on the cake of all of this? Without any prior prompting, one of the students approaches me and asks me to help organize the office of Tenebrae at the Newman Center for Holy Week with full ceremony - chant, vestments, candelabra, Strepitus, etc. Can I just reiterate how awesome it is to see college age students this excited about practicing the Faith?

Side note - the photo of our group on the video is from the Rorate Mass we sang and served last December. For the morbidly curious, I sing in this recording, and I do appear in this picture. I won't say where, though. I will say that I am the oldest person pictured - being in my early thirties. As they say over at New Liturgical Movement: "Tradition is for the Young!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXBFcIkK2w8