Yes...that looks about right.

I thought you might enjoy a good laugh.  If you are a choral conductor, you might just see yourself in here.  If you are choir member, "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."

Things I can't claim: 

- Six men? (I only have one, right now).

- That I have a Master's Degree? (I wish).

- That I have a "Pastor's Wife" to blame for bad sound? (Thank heaven).

- That I have an out of tune piano to blame for bad sound? (What piano?  We have a organ, thanks.)

"The Reform of Church Music" - Justine Bayard Ward

I just read a fascinating article from the early 20th century by Justine Bayard Ward.  Ward, a convert to Catholicism, developed a method for teaching music to school children based on the study of Gregorian chant.  The article is about the place of Gregorian Chant in the Liturgy - why it is important and why it sounds the way it does.  She addresses the differences between chant and all other forms of music and explains why chant actually is the most highly developed musical form for prayer and why all other forms detract from the prayers of the Mass.  She uses very accessible language to describe these things so that even if you are not a musician, per se, you can understand and grasp her meaning, but you also don't feel talked-down-to.  I have to admit, as a great lover of polyphony and hymns, I was surprised by some of her points and how much sense they made.

While I am not ready to throw all other musical forms out the window in favor of Gregorian Chant, I think that the understanding of what chant is and how it works is essential to choosing good music for the Mass.  It gives a much better understanding of the difference between devotional music and liturgical music.  As such, I think this should be required reading for every Catholic Church musician on earth. Seriously.

Although this article originally appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in 1906, you will find that most of the discussion is quite relevant to the challenges of being a church musician today, especially as we navigate the implementation of  Roman Missal, Third Edition and settle into new musical settings for the ordinary of the Mass (or the "mass parts").

Here is the beginning of the article and a link to get you to the rest:

"THE question of church music has been much before the world of late. The
discussion, at first confined to specialists, is now rapidly spreading to the general
public, the musical and the unmusical, the faithful and the faithless. It may be useful,
therefore, to bring out as clearly as possible the fundamental principle of the art of
musical prayer, in order that principle, and not caprice, may be brought to bear to the
solution of the problem. It is, then, with principles that I propose to deal. Should a concrete school-of art be deduced in the course of these pages, it is not by way of
limitation, but of illustration.
First, then, we want an adequate test of church music, an explicit standard of
artistic value. We have been too long content to make beauty. in the music as music the
Alpha and Omega of such test, a method wholly inadequate in this case. For church
music is an art made up of two elements, music and prayer,’ and it cannot be judged by the value of one of its elements tested as a separate entity. We need a test that applies to the art as a whole, and we find it in the simple formula “Lex orandi lex cantandi.” Here the crux of the whole matter; the law of prayer must be the law of song, both that our prayer (I use the word prayer, not in the sense of a mere petition, but in its wider meaning, a lifting of mind and heart to God)  may be good art and that our art may be good prayer. Prayer and music must so combine as to make one art; the music must pray, the prayer-must sing. Otherwise the prayer is forgotten in the detached beauty of the music, or the music is forgotten in the detached beauty of the prayer. Unless the prayer and song thus rise to heaven as a single “spiritual groaning,” unless they become one, merged in a true marriage of the spirit, their association is an offense both artistic and devotional. This, then, is the true test of a musical composition for the church: Does it conform to the law of prayer? It is good art. Does it seek independent paths of edification? It is bad art.  . . ."  

Keep reading...
                                             
If you'd like more information on Ward Method Instruction, see this link:
http://musicasacra.com/ward-method-instruction/

As a side note, I linked to this article from the comment section on a Chant Cafe blog post by Jeffrey Tucker on "Words With Wings".  This is a new children's music education program that's getting ready to be released in the coming weeks.  See more on that project here.

Doing the Propers: Why are the Communion Antiphons in the Missalette different from those in the Simple English Propers?

                  vs.  

As I have added the Communion Antiphons from the Simple English Propers to Mass, my husband noticed that often what I was singing did not match up with what was in the Missalette.  Sometimes it was not even close.  I thought that it was just a result of copyrighted material or translations, but it's not.

It's because they are intended for two different types of masses.  Ah!  A question answered.

Short Explanation:
If there is no singing at the mass (for example, at a daily mass), the Antiphons from the Missal are recited.  If there is music, the Antiphons (and accompanying psalms) are sung from the Graduale.


Long Explanation:
Below is the link to an article by Jeff Ostrowski of Corpus Christi Watershed that explains in better detail.
http://www.ccwatershed.org/Roman_Missal/


(Caveat:  Ignore the swipes he takes at priests who don't know these little details.  Everything changed so quickly, it was a miracle anyone could keep up.  Many pieces of information got lost in the shuffle of just trying to keep one's head above the rising tide of changes.  Plus, priests (who are much fewer and farther between these days) have a lot of important things to do without worrying about doing the musician's job, too.)

While you're over there, check out all their free music offerings.  They've got some pretty nifty stuff going on.

Eram Quasi Agnus

Each year I listen to these beautiful reflections on the Lord's passion.  Written by Tomas Luis de Victoria, a priest of the Diocese of Avila in the Renaissance, they use beautiful poetry and musical painting like no other to tell the tale of Christ crucified.

"Eram Quasi Agnus" is my favorite one.  If you listen to the second section of the piece, you will hear these words in Latin, "Come, let us put wood into his bread and eradicate him from the land of the living."  Notice how each voice enters quietly and one at a time, like people gathering into a crowd surreptitiously.  By the end of the section, their voices are like a tidal wave gathering together in bold, homophonic chords, just as the crowds would have shouted , "Crucify Him!".  It makes me weep every time.

This version is done by Harry Christopher's The Sixteen.  Here is a translation that I found:

I was like a lamb, innocent,

I was led forth to be sacrificed, and knew it not. My enemies conspired against me, saying:

Come, let us put wood into his bread, and eradicate him from the land of the living."

All my enemies contrived mischief against me, they uttered evil speech against me, saying:

Come, let us put wood into his bread, and eradicate him from the land of the living."

A Blessed Paschal Triduum to all of you.  I will remember you in my prayers today, please remember me in yours.

Perfectionism

As a choir director, I sometimes get caught up in perfectionism.  Of course, we all want to do our very best work, especially where the worship of God is concerned.  But sometimes, at least for me, that striving for excellence turns into something destructive, instead of constructive.  It is especially a danger to me when I am working toward major feast days such as Holy Week and the Christmas Season.  I find myself being hyper-critical of my own skills and failings, but worse than that, I find myself being hard on the others I work with and serve in a misguided attempt to make everything perfect. That's because perfectionism is really a sin.  It is a manifestation of the sin of Pride.

Perfectionism says, "You know what, God?  I've got this.  I don't need your help."

Humility says, "Lord, this is all in your hands.  I have done the best I can with the talents that you have given me. May it glorify your Name."

In the "language of flowers" violets symbolize humility.
Isn't it interesting that we see them right around Holy Week and Easter?

Holy Week is all about humility.  Christ did not die on the cross because he was full of Pride.  No, he died on the cross for our sins because he was full of Humility.  "He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even to the death of the cross."  (Phil 2:8)

Preparation for Holy Week is all about disposing yourself to God's will for your life.  That includes letting him direct the action.  As our divine parent, he gives us all the talents we possess in order to give him glory, just as a human father would give a child $5 to buy a Father's Day present.  He does this, not because he needs the gift, but to teach the child to think of someone other than themselves.  When we use our talents, whether they are gifts of song or oratory, or something you might consider mundane, like organizational skills, we give God glory.  And just as the light up tie that plays "Amazing Grace" is "just what your father wanted", so our very best use of our talents is pleasing to God.  All we can do is our very best.  After all the preparation is done, no matter how well we have prepared, we must leave the rest to God.

If the music is a prayer, then it will be beautiful, regardless of the fact that the Basses missed that interval or the Sopranos were a little weak.  The graces God gives us are always sufficient.