Eat your hearts out! The intensive is already intense and the ambience in San Diego is great. Charles and I have already solved all the problems of the church music world over lunch and wound up a few details with a margarita. Now ensconced in my spacious yet economical quarters, I'm going to sing a few modes and rest my grey matter, reading Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona. Then I shall rest for the morrow's labors.
And did I forget the joyful reunion with Nancy, my girlfriend from Augusta?
We only had 4 hours today, so we only mastered solfedge, the modes, the neumes, and 3 Kyries. Tomorrow we should make better use of our time, haha.
Right now my mom's dishing up apple pie and ice cream and I'm catching up with my old best friend. So life is good. In fact, heaven is probably just like this: chant all afternoon and apple pie at night.
Nope, I wish the tall guy were me. He\' s from MaryAnn\'s Schola here in San Diego. I\'m actually hiding out by the window behind Scott. I believe that AOZ is in the process of posting an extortion photo of me on a YouTube video that Jeffrey T.\'s making on how to tie a bow tie. I left my solfege tie untied in memorium of Tucker\'s non-visit to the Left Coast. Wow, intensive is apt. As one of the Python\'s skits used to cry \"Me brain, me brain!\" Mary Jane and I have Old Town San Diego down now. Lunch and dinner both at Mexican establishments. The first had homemade flour tortillas, I insisted on homemade corn for the dinner! We ended up there for dinner as we volunteered to give a couple of Benedictine sisters a ride to their hotel in \"Old Town,\" which we thought meant the Old Town Inn. No, it was the La Quinta. Finding the \"La Quinta\" is a story one cannot make up. Suffice it to get to the best part- after cruising the entire grid, we\'re on a surface, frontage road alongside I-5, and one of the nuns says, after considerably funny banter exchanges about turning here and there, \"I think I recognize the darkness of this street. Yes, this is a unique darkness and I know it.\" The La Quinta appeared out of nowhere on the next block. (Soundtrack \"Twilight Zone\" que.) Do not mess with the Benedictines. Anyway, Scott is in fine fettle, as is Arlene and MA, singing mum. A friendly tenor (great voice) from Colloquim 07, Gary, was a pleasant surprise. Going to be a fine week. I\'m going to find the YouTube thing, teach any gentlemen or ladies of Jeffrey\'s mastery, and bequeath about 20 handmade ties to those who desire to honor Jeffrey.
Ok, so the plan is to make an instant youtube tomorrow on how to tie a bowtie, for chant intensive students only. That's the plan! who knows what will happen?
by the way, these updates are amazing. please keep them coming!
If you are wondering how I'm posting these pictures, they seem to be traveling from one media to another to another to another and they land somehow.
I tried to show my ties sprawled on the hotel bed, but it messed up the post with HTML stuff. Yeesh. Need wine now. Have a great photo of MJB in an adobe chapel surrounded by a transfigure-like halo of light! Tell me how to post these things!
Janet, I have my Zoom, MJB didn't infer she brought hers. I will record the Friday Mass fer sure. Of course, that means she has to listen to a recording of my Christmas Concert to and from the intensive, chortle, wheeze, chuckle. Charles
This is heaven for me- what a SPECTACULAR grace to have you all here in San Diego. And fun. The reminiscing jokes have already begun. Still waiting for Charles' wine, but that would have been too much happiness on this first day of the intensive.
WELCOME, eveyone!!! Now can you stay in SD and infiltrate every parish? Ha!
I wish I can be there. Sounds too good. Please someone record the Mass and post it. And what are the chants you are learning? Would it be possible to list them here? And keep posting pictures and stories. I better register colloquium before I loose the spot.
Bishop Cordileone was invited to celebrate the Mass. But had other obligations and very much regretted that he wouldn't be able to do so. I spoke with him by phone on Sunday evening when I arrived in San Diego. He extended his blessing, and a personal warm welcome to the CMAA to the Diocese of San Diego.
Celebrating will be Fr. Cavana Wallace from Oceanside, CA. It will be a lovely Mass. OF, Latin.
The Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church are there -- wonderful! Scott and I met four of them in Australia. If I remember correctly, they teach in the schools in the Spokane diocese. This will be good, very good.
I'm not sure what difference this makes, if any, but the Sisters from Spokane were/are SSPX. I did a gig with them one year, Christmas '04 I believe, at their "Singing Nuns" concert. A very nice group of women and very devout. I don't know if the sisters there at the Intensive are these very same ones or not, but I do know the convent up at Mt. St. Michaels was technically schismatic, and not part of the Spokane Diocese. Again, I don't know if it makes a difference or not, at least they are there learning chant!
I love the line "like an ictus". Of course, you can see from my Christmas picture that I've already experienced stages 1 and 2 of Tuckerization. Stage 3 is a copy of a VonMises book, although I'm not there yet.
[EDIT: apparently I have no clue how to post a picture...]
I've officially passed the Rubicon into Geezerdom. That was elegant, compassionate, and (imagine Maude Lebowski saying) "thorough." But, despite Jeffrey's sincere dialectic, I still felt like I had watched both "The Illusionist" and "The Prestige" what with his non-just-tie-it-like-your-shoes-knot approach, but Pes' metaphysical yet-to-be hole. I have demonstrated my mastery of tying my wife's handmade bow ties around my knee to some of the Illuminati down here, and this is the epicenter of American Chant's Manhatten Project, and all I can do is empathize with the poor grampa that hits me up now and then with "Hey, can you sing 'O Lord, I am not worthy?" On so many levels I'm fighting the flight portion of my limbic system (Ooh, a pun after much Cabernet!) MJB and I did meet a lovely docent of a local museum who sported the Western string bow tie thingy. I looked, real hard (imagine Samuel L. Jackson saying "real hard") at his tie, and decided, if nothing else, I will master that puppy by weeks end. Offertorium for Epiphany? No problemo. The perfect tie, it's George Will and Jeffrey Tucker. I'm like Rodney Dangerfield at Bushwood.
I'm exhausted but somehow got pulled into watching Jeffrey's bow tie video... there goes any excuse I may have had about being too busy to get to bed on time.
Seriously, can anyone imagine what it must have been like to be this man's 3rd grade teacher?
Actually, Gentlemen, Scott did have a bit of his "Anglophile" on for a few tiny bits. Had to do with consonant pronunciation whilst in Lincoln Cathedral.
I'm not sure what difference this makes, if any, but the Sisters from Spokane were/are SSPX.
The Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church are in full communion with Rome. They're a very brave group of ladies who left the CMRI some while back. Their new habits reflect their ties with the Missionaries of Charity, who have been praying for the return of the CMRI to the fold of Rome.
Charles, please let me know how far you had to walk to dinner! Inquiring minds want to know!
While I have everyone's attention. All of you are invited to the CMAA Florida Chapter Chant workshop in March (yes, March when its nice in Ft Lauderdale and not so nice in YOUR town). The workshop will be conducted by Jenny Donelson, Susan Treacy, Mary Jane Ballou and Michael O'Connor. Heck, if Scott shows up unannounced, we'll put him to work ; ). More details coming soon. Carry on.
CMRI is the "Congregation of Mary the Immaculate Queen", I believe is the translation. This is a traditionalist schismatic group which is sedevacantist, meaning that they deny that there is a pope. They don't believe that John XXIII, or any of his successors, was a valid pope.
SSPX is the "Priestly Society of St. Pius X". They are a group whose canonical status ranges from schism to questionable unity, depending on who you ask. I wouldn't be surprised if this turns into a massive argument with trads arguing against Ecclesia Dei (the document by John Paul II excommunicating the founder of the SSPX). They do believe the reigning pope is the successor of Peter, although they believe him to be fundamentally wrong on many issues, and some may even label Benedict a "heretic". In reality, this group is not terribly monolithic; there are some members who are kind, rational people, but there's also a lot of anti-semites, anti-Catholics, and conspiracy nuts in the ranks of the SSPX. The pontifical commission Ecclesia Dei (I think) recently extended an invitation for the SSPX to return to full union with Rome, which was rejected by the leaders of SSPX with some fanfare.
It should be kept in mind that all these groups, even SSPX, reject not only the Ordinary Form, but also the actual documents of Vatican II, particularly those on ecumenism and religious liberty.
Mike, MJB and I actually "walked" to lunch on Monday, eerily remnisent of another first day lunch walk I had a couple of summers ago. Except for the fact that Old Town San Diego bears no resemblance to Beirut or Gaza. MJB's caught me up on the Cliffs' Notes of lit/music in St. Augustine/Jacksonville and Florida at large. Not much different from out here on the left. I am exhausted not from excursions gastronomique, but from the wealth and depth of the treasure chest within the miracle of chant. Were I not exhausted, I might take issue with Gavin in the other thread about the merits of neumes versus notation, now having walked on the wild mild side. Good night and good luck. C
Jeffrey Tucker was so kind to suggest, that with so many liturgical chanters in San Diego right now, I post here to ask if someone at the Chant Intensive might know of someone from So. Cal. who has evenings of chant training for the laity like the one Jeffrey just had in AL? http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/#8409148904287232663 ; or if you have any ideas on how to start something like Jeffrey's program: bringing together old and young, musician and non-musician, to revive through chant those sacred roots of our faith that draw us deeper into worship and bring us closer to God?
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