Details and registration information here

Given the many obligations facing musicians in the midst of preparing for Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, and the end of the parish choral season generally, the submission deadline for the New Music Reading Session has been extended by one week, to June 17th. If you are a composer with works to submit — a motet or two, a Mass movement or two, or some combination thereof, as long as it totals 15 pages or fewer — please send them to newmusic@musicasacra.com in PDF format. When doing so, please be sure to include your contact information (e-mail address, website, etc.) for inclusion in the table of contents — important information for prospective performers and commissioners of your works!

Composers with Finale or Sibelius who may be confused as to how best to produce a PDF of their works should consider installing CutePDF, a free program that acts as a printer driver. The software and download instructions are available here. If you have a handwritten score, you can bring it to a local copy center (Kinko’s, Staples, OfficeMax, etc.) and have them scan it for you. As previously noted, the PDF requirement and $20 submission fee — payable through PayPal or by check to our programs office (address in the footer of this page), and which covers the cost of printing the volume — saves you from having to make 200 copies of each of your submitted compositions.

It’s all part of Sacred Music Colloquium XIX, coming up in a few weeks at Loyola University. Aside from daily chant (five scholas!) and polyphony (five choirs!) rehearsals, this year we’re featuring breakout sessions that go into more depth in the areas you’ve asked for. The difficulty for most of us will be deciding which to attend. More details can be found here.

New products at our Amazon storefront, including the classic Richard Terry book Catholic Church Music.

There is a new music reading session on Saturday of the Sacred Music Colloquium. If you have a piece of music you would like to submit for inclusion in the 2009 new music volume, please send it to newmusic@musicasacra.com in PDF format by June 10. Each composer may submit up to two pieces, for a total limit of 15 pages. A piece is either a motet or a Mass movement, Latin- or English-texted; hymns are permitted but not encouraged. In your e-mail, be sure to include your contact information for inclusion in the book. As this is a composers’ forum as much as a reading session, participation is limited to registered Colloquium participants. There is a $20 submission fee, paid through paypal or by check to our programs office (address in the footer of this page). The fee covers the cost of printing the volume, and saves you from having to make 200 copies of each of your submitted compositions.

We have been receiving requests for scholarship assistance for the Summer Chant Intensive and Sacred Music Colloquium since last November. Thus far the the donations that have come in have enabled us to assist 85% percent of the people who have sought help. But we still have a waiting list of humble and patient souls - most of whom have asked for just enough to help them make one of these programs part of their summer - and their musical formation. All are worthy candidates.

Our goal every year is to help everyone get to the Colloquium who has the desire to attend. This isn’t always going to happen, and maybe its not realistic, but it remains our goal - that will not change.

If you are coming yourself and think you could help someone else with a gift of $20, $50, or even $150 or more, please make a donation today. If you are not going to be attending, but you value the work the CMAA is doing in changing the landscape of liturgical music in our country, one parish at a time, please consider making a donation - in time for someone to benefit from your gift this coming June. It will help make that individual’s dream come true - but more importantly, it is an investment in the restoration of beauty and solemnity in the heavenly liturgy.

The May 1st registration deadline for the Chant Intensive has passed. We can squeeze a few more in, but you need to register this week. As for the Sacred Music Colloquium the registration and payment deadlines are May 15th. Register now to reserve your spot.

Starting on Tuesday, in Stamford, Connecticut, is a three-day seminar just for priests and seminarians. The purpose is to teach the extraordinary form of the Mass. The emphasis is on singing the Mass. There are several reasons for this.

First, the sung Mass is the normative form, and this form of Mass has the brightest-possible future in its sung form.

Second, there are pedagogical advantages to singing the Mass rather than just speaking it. Look at any pedagogical program for kids designed to teach reading or math. Music plays an integral part because music provides a means of ordering unfamiliar text and concepts. If you have had trouble with Latin or had difficultly following the text or are just intimidated by the sheer abundance of new things to learn for saying the EF, consider that using music may actually help you get to where you need to be. This is what makes this seminar unusual.

Third, we now have access to great teachers who know how to teach this Mass in its normative form, and they will be there for this seminar: Fr. Scott Haynes of St. John Cantius and Scott Turkington of St. John Evangelist, the host parish. It is not easy to revive what has been nearly lost but it can be done, and one can’t but be grateful that such teachers are available.

The seminar can accommodate more. Now is the time to take advantage of the opportunity. It is three days that will change the liturgical character of a vocation.

First, the news on the Parish Book of Chant. We are moving into the 3rd printing of this book. It is being used by seminaries, colleges, cathedrals, and parishes all over the English speaking world, and demand is increasing.

Also, here is Chants of the Church by Solesmes/Gregorian Institute of America, 1954. We preserved the color in scanning this, which makes the file bigger than it ought to be. But it is very helpful in this way for printing programs and guides.

This book contains a large Kyriale plus many chant hymns, in modern notes, with English translations in red (literal translations). This will not go into print because of the cost of color printing but it is a very helpful online tool.

Here is a sample:

For those still considering attending the 2009 Sacred Music Colloquium: there are only ten single rooms remaining at the lower price of $420. Once these are filled, single rooms will be available at the rate of $522 for the week. There are plenty of doubles left as of today’s date. Deadline for registration and payment is May 15, 2009.

The Chant Intensive is filling up as well. There are 17 spots left. Deadline for registration is May 1, 2009.

We are thrilled to see that the CMAA is listed as #4 in this sales list from the MusicaSacra.com storefront. If the CMAA emerges as the winner, it will mean an additional $1,500 available for scholarships to attend the Colloquium. There are two weeks remaining. If you have thought about purchasing a book, please do it now. It might put us over the top and mean so much to many students who want to learn chant. Thank you!

The Church Music Association of America is seeking a donor of $15,000 to underwrite the cost of the 3rd printing of the Parish Book of Chant. You will be mentioned in the front matter. If you are interested, please write. The CMAA is a non-profit 501c3, and all contributions are deductible to the full extent of the law.