Musicam Sacram Reading Group, Vocal Technique for Aging Voices, Clergy Chants of Holy Week - Online
  • The Catholic Institute of Sacred Music presents the 2025 spring term online workshop series

    More information and registration are available here.

    Musicam Sacram (1967) – Directed Reading Group
    Topic #1 of Spring 2025 Workshop Series
    Mondays, February 10 & 17, March 3 – 5:30 – 6:30 p.m., PST

    Join Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka as we read the 1967 Instruction from the Sacred Congregation of Rites on the implementation of Sacrosanctum Concilium in the realm of sacred music. In addition to the content of the document, we’ll discuss the background for the document, its current legislative status, and its implications for the practice and understanding of sacred music today.

    Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka
    Live via Zoom


    Vocal Technique for Aging Voices
    Topic #2 of Spring 2025 Workshop Series
    Mondays, March 10, 24, and 31 – 5:30 – 6:30 p.m., PDT

    Do you have older choir members in your parish music program who need assistance in tackling vocal technique challenges that arise later in life?

    Are you an older singer looking for technical advice to develop or maintain your sound?

    In this 3-part workshop, singer, voice teacher, and Feldenkrais instructor, Karen R. Clark presents lessons to both older singers and teachers of older singers on how aging voices can improve consistency and stamina in their singing of chant and the choral repertory. In each session, Karen will present brief awareness lessons and offer vocal exercises to bring greater ease to enhance the joy we experience in singing.

    Session 1 – Monday, March 10, 2025 – How to organize “dynamic posture” for singing, exercises for sustainable and balanced muscular engagement

    Session 2 – Monday, March 24, 2025 – Breath awareness and pure tone singing

    Session 3 – Monday, March 31, 2025 – The speech articulators: jaw, tongue, teeth, and palate, and how these interrelate to shape sounds for optimal tone production

    Instructor: Karen R. Clark
    Live via Zoom


    Clergy Chants of Holy Week - Spanish
    Topic #3 of Spring 2025 Workshop Series
    Monday, March 31 – 3:00 – 5:00 p.m., PDT

    Are you ready for Holy Week? Are you a priest, deacon, or musician who trains clergy and who would benefit from understanding the chants of the clergy? Join us for this well-timed session to head into Holy Week well prepared to sing the sacred liturgies of this most holy time of the year. The chants covered will be in Spanish, according to the settings in the 2018 Misal Romano (USCCB) and the Passion narrative settings in Spanish by José Ballón according to the traditional chant tone, including the concluding planctus tone. Workshop instruction will be given in English, while the chants will be in Spanish.

    The chants included in the workshop are:
    -The gospels of Palm Sunday (before the procession), Holy Thursday, and Easter Sunday
    -A short review of the “solemn tone” for presidential prayers
    -The prefaces of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday (Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper), and Preface I of Easter
    -Good Friday petitions
    -The Exsultet
    -Easter Vigil blessing of water
    -Easter dismissal
    -Passion narratives, according to St. Luke and St. John

    Instructors: Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka & José Ballón
    Live via Zoom


    Clergy Chants of Holy Week - English
    Topic #4 of Spring 2025 Workshop Series
    Monday, April 7 – 4:30 – 6:30 p.m., PDT

    Are you ready for Holy Week? Are you a priest, deacon, or musician who trains clergy and who would benefit from understanding the chants of the clergy? Join us for this timely session to head into Holy Week well prepared to sing the sacred liturgies of this most holy time of the year. The chants covered will be in English, according to the settings in the 2011 Roman Missal (ICEL) and the Passion narrative settings in English by Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka according to the traditional chant tone, including the concluding planctus tone.

    The chants included in the workshop are:
    -The gospels of Palm Sunday (before the procession), Holy Thursday, and Easter Sunday
    -A short review of the “solemn tone” for presidential prayers
    -The prefaces of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday (Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper), and Preface I of Easter
    -Good Friday petitions
    -The Exsultet
    -Easter Vigil blessing of water
    -Easter dismissal
    -Passion narratives, according to St. Luke and St. John

    Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka
    Live via Zoom

    Pricing:
    $20 for 1 topic - live access via Zoom
    $70 for all 4 topics in the series - live access via Zoom
    $10 optional per topic add-on for archived access.
    Thanked by 1MatthewRoth