One of the most remarkable innovations the digital world has made possible is to combine the power of commercial reach with artistic micro-patronage, probably for the time in human history. A leader in this effort is ThePoint.com, which is rather new but has already made fantastic things happen, from funding seminary students, to cleaning up parks, to making renovations happen in parishes and more.
ThePoint can also be used for music, and let’s all chip in and demonstrate how this works. The Simple English Propers Project of this site is a great test case. Adam Bartlett has been making these wonderful chant settings available week by week, publishing them not with traditional copyright but straight into the commons of the faith so that everyone can use them for free. The texts are also being made available for everyone in a special database to which many have already contributed.
Let’s use ThePoint to help Adam to see this project through to completion and in plenty of time for the release of the new translation. I’ve set the campaign goal at $5000, but if that seems like it is too high to raise, think again. If 50 people give $100, we are there. If 500 people give $10, we are there. The power of digital media can make this happen. Please contribute and send the campaign to friends.
Folks, this is a new method, a new way, and you can help be a pioneer this approach. We all know that there is no future to the traditional copyright-restricted and royalty-funded sheet music methods of the past. The future is with music put into the commons of the faith for free, and this is for both technological and moral reasons. Let’s be the first to show how it is done.
When the goal is reached, we’ll conclude the campaign. The money goes to the composer/engraver and then he puts the entire work into the commons. We’ll make it available for purchase too, at the exact cost of the paper and printing and no more. It’s like a combination of how the great works of the Renaissance were accomplished combined with the merit of commercial drive. It shows that Catholics value new music that is in keeping in our native voice.
The result will be something you can use every week in your parish – a way to sing the propers of the Mass in a beautiful way.
You can tell I’m excited about this. I have every confidence that this can work. And think of it: once it is done, it is done forever, for all Catholic musicians forever.
I’ve already made a pledge. Join me. Your card will not be charged until the goal is reached.
I am very excited about this project as well. But I have one question that has been nagging me… If a new translation is coming out a year from now, won't the translations of the Roman Missal antiphons be different from what they are now?
In which case, will the Entrance and Communion Antiphons of the Simple English Propers Project be revised to conform to that translation?
The beauty here is that he uses Gradual propers of which there is no official translation. Adam is using an adapted Douay here, so it is beautiful, accurate, and not dated. These are completely licit and will not change regardless of what happens with the Missal. They are completely stable.
Thank you Adam and Jeffrey for providing these awesome resources. With them, I am learning the simple chant propers and hope to begin using them the First Sunday of Advent!
There is zero profit
Part of this is dictated by amazons terms and I
Hope we can continue to lower the price over time