The Chant Cafe
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    ha ha it's kind of creepy!
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    OK... in reparation for my sin, I will donate an A-1 very classy header designed to your liking... Do you have any requests? I can mask and feather (different than tar and feather), use tranparencies and/or half tones, and superimpose any images into layers, etc. etc.

    Compliments of FrancisKoerber.com, MAM
  • BachLover2BachLover2
    Posts: 330
    JT, your blog would be much improved if you stop being overly sensitive to 1-2 people with big mouths and lots of free time.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    Hmmm good point. Thanks
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    Jeffrey

    I envision a sort of still life... historic chant manuscripts, the chant stand, possibly a schola, a pile of chant books perhaps... arranged as a still life... and... I will include an excellent picture of you, but it would be somewhat cloaked.

    Here's a couple that gives you the idea.

    http://manianim.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/david_bailly_vanitas1651.jpg

    http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/56463723.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=45B0EB3381F7834DEAE4613713EC762F4D4D24A6EE341B109CB8A39610D66668

    http://globalwholesaleart.com/images/paintings/med/SL3006HRT_m.jpg

    Here's a really creative idea to get everyone involved.

    Everyone find a graphic element of chant on the web, and post the link here. I will take all of them and put them into the still life. It will be a Photoshop montage par excellent.
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    Jeffrey -- the Georgia looks good! It is kind of a shame that there's no bow tie to be seen anywhere on the page, but I guess it's still early. Hmm, now I think I will make some bowtie pasta ....

    Francis -- your first picure is right on the money: a skull is a must.
  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    Suggestions-
    That we all here say a prayer for contributors at chantcafe every day. These folks are all working away with sleeves rolled high.

    Honestly, Jeffrey, I worry that you don't sleep and am amazed by the sheer volume of your output! Your recent post about your experience at the Polish church, and what it means to embrace rather than reject one's one heritage was a stand-out.

    I am still mourning your absence at NLM, but knew you'd be off and running with some other gift to the Church asap. Enter chantcafe- I am loving it!!!
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    At the moment, Jeffrey, you have a floating gif or jpg with chant music in the background. I would make your header stationary and it would bleed left and top, and possibly right. I can also create a matching navigational system to go with it, similar to what is on musicasacra.com. The header on this site (here) also fits well on a 1024 pixel screen, which is still the norm for many, and I would recommend that size. It also doesn't have to be too deep. Less is more when it comes to headers and navigational real estate.

    Here is one i just found that would be close to what i am thinking but not as animated looking. More like a serious still life.

    http://www.marchanddetrucs.com/
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    There could be a skull, but that makes it a bit dark... I think Jeffrey would like to project seriousness, but add a lighter note, so to speak.
  • IanWIanW
    Posts: 756
    What a wealth of expertise there is here, just waiting to be tapped!
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    It occurs to me that a role for the Chant Cafe is to offer short tutorials on the relationship between the Roman Rite and its music - as a practical help to musicians, who actually know very little at all. It's not their fault. There is not a single book that explains this in a way that normal people can understand. Anyway, this is something that the Chant Cafe can help with. ideas welcome!
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,160
    Jeffrey, I've been thinking there's a need for a wiki to present that sort of educational material.
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    I agree wholeheartedly with the wiki idea. If someone were to approach it with this scenario in mind, it would go very well:

    "I am a music director at a Catholic parish. It's day 1. I know nothing about implementing chant but want to start. What do I do to plan for this weekend's Mass? What books do I need? What other resources?"
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 993
    I second whoever said that they liked the format with snippets. It means less scrolling and a quicker overview of the content. It also concentrates the mind of the writer on those first sentences. (Okay, in one of my other lives I wrote academic abstracts.)

    And Georgia is a lovely state.
  • IanWIanW
    Posts: 756
    It is, it is. Ah, those Tbilisi nights!
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    I'm against those who like the snippets. (No, wait, actually I'm for them, but against what they stand for.) Why should I have to make an extra click on every single post just to read it? There's a reason that, as far as I've ever come across, Pray Tell is the only blog in the world to do it that way.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    So now I've shortened all the posts to one paragraph or two - not snippets (I'm sort of against that too) but not just long posts either. See what you think
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    Maybe people with chant fonts can produce a succession of square notes that spell out the blog name:
    punctum-podatus-punctum ...
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