Author: Arlene Oost-Zinner

• More Singing the Psalms led by Mary Jane Ballou, Director of Cantorae St. Augustine; Saturday, September 15, 9:30 am – 11:30 am; Villa Flora-Brown Hall Renewal Center, St. Augustine, FL To register call 904-824-1752 or online at www.ssjfl.org Cost: $15; Building on the first “Singing the Psalms” workshop, Mary Jane Ballou invites you to add your voice to over 2000 years of sung prayer by learning to chant the psalms in your own prayer or with your family. St. Augustine said, “He who sings, prays twice.” This two-hour workshop will show you how to use any edition of the psalms or the Liturgy of the Hours to bring song to your prayer. There will be a little history and humor, a review of the basic principles and more chants to sing. Those new to simple chant will be brought up to speed quickly and more experienced singers will increase their skills. Hand-outs and links to online chants will help you make the music your own. We will conclude by chanting midday prayer.  No prior musical knowledge or experience with the Liturgy of the Hours is needed.
• Simple Chants for Advent & Christmas led by Mary Jane Ballou, Director of Cantorae St. Augustine; Saturday, December 1, 9:30 am – 11:30 am; Villa Flora-Brown Hall Renewal Center, St. Augustine, FL. To register call 904-824-1752 or online at www.ssjfl.org Cost:    $15. Enhance the anticipation of Advent and the joy of the Christmas season with music drawn from the Church’s treasury of chants.  This two-hour workshop will give you short chants for the season, suitable for morning or evening prayer, for singing with your family or just by yourself.  Some meditative, others spirited; some Latin, some English; from Ave Maria to Puer Natus, you will join 1,000 years of music.  There will be some history of the season and feasts and lots of singing – enough to carry you through Twelfth Night! Hand-outs and links to online chants will help you make the music your own after the workshop. We will conclude by chanting midday prayer on the very last day of Ordinary Time. No prior experience with chant is required.

Yesterday I wrote a post lauding the efforts of those putting new resources into action.  One of the comments in response to my post read:

I think it would be good time, right now, to take a survey of how many parishes are using the Vatican II Hymnal, the Lumen Christi Missal, &c. &c., and how these parishes are improving their musical worship through these New Resources.

So, let the reporting begin.  Is your parish using new resources?  Which ones?  How are they changing the way you do things?  Who pushed for the change?  Who resisted the change? How are things progressing?  What are the unexpected challenges?  Unforseen benefits?

I receive a lot of correspondence from CMAA members reporting on local goings on.  The reports are fascinating…and encouraging.  The latest, an internal communiqué, comes from a newly formed CMAA chapter on the West Coast. 

The Feast of the Assumption has special meaning for us, since three years ago it was the first Mass our new schola sang and one which is always marked by an exquisite sermon by Father —, who has great devotion to Mary as our Mother.

 

Because we have been cramming disparate groups of people into a 9 by 12 chapel at the hermitage and yesterday, six more people from an SSPX community planned to come, Father asked our new bishop for special permission to lift his restrictions for this occasion and allow us to use a small mission church seven miles south of the hermitage. The bishop agreed, a very good sign he is a reasonable and understanding man. For photos of what Father and helpers have to do to transform this rather ugly sanctuary into a suitable place for an EF Mass, see: www://philotheaonphire.blogspot.com

 

The Mass was very beautiful, even sans schola.  A colleague sang the propers and she and I managed to lead the ordinary, Mass IX, and do what responses were necessary. Father had three acolytes, so was able to do incensing. We also had a couple from Lyons, France, who were  in the area and  came to the Mass. They have been here before and attend the FSSP parish in their hometown. They were also pushing a pilgrimage to Chartres that happens every year. (Probably for the very young, as it involves a walk of some 50-plus miles. Right now, I can barely manage a block!) I hope to keep in touch with them, as they can give me some info about Solesmes as well.

 

We had a potluck later and a board meeting, which may be interesting to you for this reason: We plan to send the bishop a letter soon and follow it up with a meeting in the next month. Our group will present him with three things: 1. Summorum Pontificum is not being followed in this diocese and a generous spirit on his part could change that; 2. The severe shortage of priests problem here in regard to holding EF Masses we are ready to address by offering a diocese-wide training for priests who want to learn the ancient rite, and 3. He could lead by example by saying a low Mass (the mind boggles at the requirements for a pontifical High Mass in the EF!) sometime in the near future, such as on the feast of St. Gregory the Great or that of the Holy Cross, the anniversary of the proclamation of Summorum Pontificum. 

Pray we make some headway there. Of course, we also plan to mention that he does have a priest whose restrictions he has the power to lift who can and will say this Mass until such time as parish priests are ready to take over.

 

There are tons of good resources available to liturgical musicians and parishes these days.  Projects galore.  I eagerly await the release of Adam Bartlett’s Lumen Christi Missal.  I am thrilled to see the the St. Michael Hymnal and the  Vatican II Hymnal appearing in pews across the country.  The CMAA alone has published a number of books in the past couple of years, all of which are transforming the ways we celebrate Mass…parish by parish.

Why are the resources making a difference? It’s not merely because the books exist. It is because people are using them.  People are making the conscious effort to change the way they do things.   A thousand new books on a subject won’t do any good unless people pick them up and apply their lessons.

Think of going to the travel section at Barnes and Noble.  There are volumes and volumes written about England or Italy or Japan.  Many authors, many publishers.   You can walk past the section and by happy to know that those books are available in the case of a cash windfall that promises that long awaited vacation.  When the cash comes the first purchase you make consists in a Frommer’s guide, a Berlitz language crash course and a “getting around by train” guide.  Acquiring the materials and doing your research is a valuable and enjoyable first step toward the vacation of your dreams.

What about the music of our dreams at Mass?  It, too, is within your reach.  The treasury of sacred music is there.  It’s not hidden away in a vault in the Vatican; or even closer to home, behind lock and key in the far corner’s of your music director’s office.  It is available right here and right now.  You can download everything you need at MusicaSacra.com and other websites.  You can browse Amazon and purchase all of the resources mentioned above.  You can buy the books and do your research take advantage of the many chant and sacred music events being offered around the country on a regular basis a part of your dream landscape. 

Musical genius and pedagogue, Wilko Brouwers, lives and acts on this knowledge every day.  He has given the world a remarkable gift when he wrote Words With Wings: Gregorian Chant for Chidren in Twenty Lessons for children in Holland.  The CMAA saw immediately the great promise that this resource holds out.  I’ve had the great privilege of working alongside Wilko and translating and adapting the book into English, making it available to a much broader audience. 

Music directors have noticed the book. They are picking it off the shelves and doing their research.  They are preparing themselves to deploy it with their children’s choirs this September.  They have taken the first step, and are preparing their journeys –  just like our friends who headed to Barnes and Noble and by now certainly have their discount Eurail passes in hand.

Are musical dreams going to come true in these parishes? I think so, although no one can truly prepare us for the joy of listening to a choir of fifteen children singing the Puer Natus along with the angels during Christmas this year.  I suppose it is kind of like the Grand Canyon.  You’ve read about it.  You think you’re ready. You finally get there.  Your jaw drops.

No matter how jaw-dropping it all is, there is always more to see.  Lots more.  Why stop at a choir of twelve children? Let’s not limit it to a self selected small group. Each of the children in our parishes can sing a simple line of chant.  As Catholics we must take on the responsibility of teaching them to do so.  This is not only the job of the music director.  This is the job of parents.  This is the job of educators. And this is the job of pastors.  Words with Wings needs to be implemented in every parish in this country.  The solution need not elude us…in fact, it is staring us in the face for the first time in fifty years.

So many are working so hard to make the treasury of sacred music open to everyone. Musicians and authors and publishers are doing their part.  But none of these resource will do any good unless we all pick them up, learn how to use them, and teach others–all Catholics–to do the same.  Like the Gospels, these books must be lived.

Reviews are coming in on the Words With Wings Workshop.

–Thumbs up for the book and the workshop!

— The Words with Wings Workshop was such a good use of my time. Excellent presentation of the book and the method. We’re going to be adding the program to our regular CCD classroom schedule.

–I really enjoyed the afternoon sessions where participants got the chance to teach the materials themselves.  I didn’t think I could do it, but I did.  And it was fun.

Helps us spread the word;  get registered for a workshop between August 16 and August 31, 2012, and receive  30% discount off the workshop fee.    Discount will apply to workshops held through October 31, 2012.

This year’s venue is beautiful St. Joseph Catholic Church in Macon, Georgia.  Stroll back in time and enjoy the southern hospitality of Reverend Allan J. McDonald (who many of you know from his popular blog, Southern Orders, and elsewhere) and spend a a week singing and praying in this stunning and revitalized parish…situated right in the middle of Macon’s historic district, a spot largely untouched by Civil War cannons.

Registration is already open.  More details here,

Registration deadline is Friday, September 28th.