Anyone else waiting on approval from the bishops?
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    GIA uses this as an excuse for not sending out an order placed over a year ago.

    Amateur.
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    We've received all books but one. They blame "approval" for not being able to get that one printed and sent out.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    What book?
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    This one:

    http://www.giamusic.com/pdf/Christmas-instr-for-web-c.pdf

    IT IS ONLINE.
    THERE IS NO TEXT.
    THERE IS NOTHING TO APPROVE.
    AND I REITERATE THAT THEY HAVE IT ONLINE.


    It fires me up at how amateur these people can be. For a major Catholic publisher, this is really embarrassing.

    I have no qualms with sharing this anecdote. It is not to defame them. They do that for themselves. It has taken them OVER A YEAR to send a SINGLE COPY of this book which is AVAILABLE ONLINE and their excuse is "approval."


    Say it after me: Amateur.
  • E_A_FulhorstE_A_Fulhorst
    Posts: 381
    Parallel octaves the whole way through? Contrary motion in the bass nearly as much? Hell, I could write that.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    Is there nothing to approve?

    Sometimes when I read the GIRM I think it says that the bishops conferences are supposed to be approving the melodies too! (And yes, de facto it means that only the diocese would be doing the review.)
  • ContraBombarde
    Posts: 471
    I have to agree with you ryand. I am still waiting too, and not very happy about that. The parts were so poorly written I used some of the resources Frogman pointed me to, and some other's JW Pepper sent. Not very happy and with a large orchestra of instruments for Christmas, I am very disappointed with that parts book for W4.
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    Probably too late for this year - but if anyone is looking to commission the writing of orchestral parts for ecclesiastical music, my rates are excellent.
  • Ally
    Posts: 227
    Matthewj - I may be contacting you for Easter after I get through the next couple weeks. I too have a problem with some of the major publishers' parts... and wrote a bunch of my own for Christmas.
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    My rates are more excellent. ;-)

    (Let the bidding-war begin!)
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,481
    My rates are rock-bottom, but I only arrange for unison, a capella choir.
    Thanked by 2Ally E_A_Fulhorst
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    My rates are slightly lower than Adam's for the same service.
    Thanked by 3Ally Adam Wood E_A_Fulhorst
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    My rates are significantly lower, for significantly less service.
    Thanked by 1E_A_Fulhorst
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,481
    In order to compete, I've created a reduced rate, reduced service offering:
    You pay me nothing, I will do nothing.

    Just TRY to say no that offer!
    Thanked by 2E_A_Fulhorst Jeffrey Quick
  • Andrew_Malton
    Posts: 1,186
    I will do nothing even if not asked.
    Thanked by 4Ben Adam Wood Ally E_A_Fulhorst
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    My rates are so low that I will actually pay you.
    Thanked by 3Ally CHGiffen E_A_Fulhorst
  • E_A_FulhorstE_A_Fulhorst
    Posts: 381
    @ryand: I'll take it.
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Ryan: I'd like to order 10 custom typeset graduale romanums and 3 sep accompaniment books at your current rate, please.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    Sorry: he only does graduales romana.
    Thanked by 3irishtenor Ben Adam Wood
  • francis
    Posts: 10,821
    I will compose for you a full polyphonic Mass including chants for priest and people for a keg of fine scotch and a large pig. (Does Fedex do that?) Very expensive, but worth every cent.
    Thanked by 1Jeffrey Quick
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    Ah, there's your problem: "Graduales Romana," throwaways. Gradualia Romana, priceless.
    Thanked by 1chonak
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    I want to be invited to Francis's party once the pig is roasted and the scotch tapped.
  • JahazaJahaza
    Posts: 470
    Hmm... if I was going to comission a Mass I think the budget would be closer to shot of bourbon and side of bacon.
  • marajoymarajoy
    Posts: 783
    I had bacon-infused bourbon once. It was pretty fantastic.
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    "Parallel octaves the whole way through? Contrary motion in the bass nearly as much?"
    I think y'all are needlessly hard on GIA. These aren't "parallel octaves" in a functional sense... it's melodic doubling to allow for different ranges of C instruments. If one had an oboe or violin, you might want the lower octave; a flute would take the higher octave. I don't know what the bass is doing because it isn't represented here, but I was taught that contrary motion is a good thing.

    As for the main complaint, that ryand got such an absurd excuse foisted on him, look on it as face-saving. GIA put this stuff online, then realized that, since it was online and free, no Catholic would pay for a print version, and preparing one would be a money-loser. Yanking the online version would cost them too much in ill-will. So they're stuck. Meanwhile, we get a perfectly serviceable resource for free. So quit complaining. There must be somewhere one can get these copied onto 9 x 12 heavy stock, for no more than GIA would charge.
    Thanked by 3Andrew Motyka CHGiffen Spriggo
  • ContraBombarde
    Posts: 471
    @JeffreyQuick ,Ryand has a legitimate complaint. The C and Bb instrument books have been advertised for some time now, but not available. The whole Worship IV product has been out for quite some time now, and nothing. My church has had them on order for months now. The packet of Christmas solo music is only a small portion of what those books would contain, and to my knowledge, not available as an "online" product as of yet. If you also noted, it says that the music is to be destroyed by December 31st, 2012. Last time I checked the Christmas season extends to the celebration of the Baptism of Our Lord. So that free resource is technically only available to us (that is if you follow copyright procedures) till the end of the year, but not into Epiphany or the Baptism? hmmm,,,, We only recently started finally getting the accompaniment books for the W4 line, which was so delayed, yet the hymnal has been out for some time now. It would seem to me that it's pretty hard to save-face after so many failures in a row.

    As for the quality of the written scores, again, a legitimate complaint. Even OCP's solo instrument book has parts written that demonstrate imho a better competency. While I like some of the GIA product line, this one has been very disappointing.
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    OK, that was my fault for not going to the site. If they said they were going to have the parts and they don't, that's an issue. In that case, perhaps having the Christmas parts up was the face-saving move. As for quality, I didn't see any moves of genius, but I didn't see any technical fail either.
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    If they want to embrace the online model, great.

    It's a flat-out lie for them to say that they need "approval" for instrumental books (WITH NO TEXT!)
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    Can you take the question to the top of GIA and see if you get some attention for the problem?
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    It's really not a high priority. I'd like us to cut ties with them altogether (we use OCP, mostly, and a few musicians like to order something from GIA on occasion).

    The one musician waiting on the music is happy with the online resource, so I'll let GIA send it at their own pace. We don't pay them until we receive it anyway ... and I might even just send it back with a "Thanks but no thanks" letter if we're using their online version anyway (assuming that they ever send the hard-copy...)

    Mostly I just wanted to rant about this amateur behavior of theirs. Nothing needs to be said about the quality of their music, but the quality of their business ... this is just ridiculous. I don't see how they could expect a church to be interested in doing business with them when things like this happen.
Add a Comment