I have had dreams of how to build a website with the Liturgy of the Hours chanted and lo, someone in Spain is well on the way. (Link below)

It is beautifully done. There is an American website that does the Hours in English in a format that is better for tyros: it just shows the whole text for the day. No clicking. But anyone who is brave enough to try Latin probably can benefit from the fact that this website just has a link to 'Psalmodia," just as when you use the books. Training wheels as it were.

For those of use who can use the books, this is awesome for bus trips across town, let me tell you. Less wear and tear on the books. And when you remember that you can't find your Vol. 1 for Advent because someone stole your Vol. 1 at the noon high Mass at the National Shrine on Christmas day. (I always love crimes like that one--stealing a holy book. True, I left it in the pew racks, but no one took my Italian version when I left it there.)

However, the site has another feature I would draw your attention to: they are beginning to build a library of recordings. For most of the Psalms, they have some (very obviously) Spanish nuns, and some monks whose accent is less obvious. But for other texts, like the Magnificat, they have links to quite a few recordings.

Which brings me to the point. I have been putting together a YouTube library of performances of chants so that people have a variety of references. Here, for the Hours, someone is doing the same thing, but just in audiophiles.

Folks, your iPhone gets excellent sound for a format such as most internet sites, which can't handle audiophile level of recording. You can make a fidgety teenager feel very useful by loaning him a decent $300 DVR and have him record things, load them into QuickTime and then post them on YouTube. I spent $2k or so learning how to be a video editor 15 years ago, and everything to make god movies can be had with very cheap software and hardware and everything I paid to learn all laid out. It is NOT scary, although some formats (not all) can be time consuming. (Hence, the usefulness of teenagers, with their well noted ability to become completely absorbed in something they just discovered.)

So let me repeat my request that everyone record as many performances of their choirs and scholas as they can and put them on the internet. It is very easy to do and is such a great resource. Audio files, even easier: you just store them in the Cloud and let the director of a website like this one know where to find it. I'm well-trained, yes, but I am a technoklutz, and if I can do it, you can do it. Or some kid can.

Just a thought.

Kenneth

http://www.almudi.org/Portals/0/docs/Breviario/fuentes/breviario.html