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.

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.

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.

The CMAA’s nineteenth annual Sacred Music Colloquium is filling up in record numbers. The registration deadline is still two months away, but rooms are going quickly. In fact, if you were planning on attending and staying in a single room, be advised that as of today there are only 25 rooms remaining at the lower price. Register today.

Still haven’t decided? One look at this year’s playlist is sure to sway you. Buchholz conducting Haydn with orchestra? Brouwers conducting a polyphonic Requiem? Turkington conducting the Byrd for Five? Countless treasures await us, including lectures by Dr. William Mahrt and Fr. Frank Phillips, an organ recital by Brother Jonathan Ryan of St. John Cantius, a new motet by Chicago’s own Kevin Allen, not to mention fellowship with old friends and new.

Don’t forget that the week before the Colloquium Scott Turkington will be teaching the second annual Summer Chant Intensive. Graduates of his week long courses are changing the shape of music in parishes all over the country. The deadline for registration is May 1st.

If there is someone you know who isn’t quite convinced he should be attending, consider giving him (or her!) Jeffrey Tucker’s book, Sing Like a Catholic. Proceeds from all sales go directly into the Colloquium scholarship fund. Purchase the book here.

Here is Ave Maria by Anton Bruckner, sung as the recessional to the final Mass of the Sacred Music Colloquium XVIII, with 240 singers conducted by Horst Buchholz, sung at Madonna della Strada Chapel, Loyola University, June 22, 2008, recorded by Corpus Christi Watershed.

Here are more sound files.

If you have ever run a workshop, you know that one of the largest expenses of time and money involves just getting the word out.

The CMAA faces this problem too with its Sacred Music Colloquium, June 16-22, Loyola University, Chicago. A national mailing would be prohibitively expensive. Just like last year, we need your help.

If you would like to distribute brochures for the colloquium, can you write us and say how many you will need? We’ll get them right to you.

And, truly, forwarding the link brochure, and talking it up among friends and colleagues, is a great help too.

Thank you so much!

Dear Supporter of Sacred Music,

We would like to tell you of a wonderful emergency that we are facing. From all over this country, we have been flooded with registrations for two programs: the annual Sacred Music Colloquium and the Chant Intensive. Both are held at Loyola University in Chicago in June 2008.

I am an instructor at both, and I can’t wait!

We are facing unprecedented demand, and the reason is clear. Gregorian chant in our Catholic parishes is making a huge comeback. People all across this country—and around the world—are working hard to learn to sing it and make it part of our Catholic lives again.

This is a moment that many of us have waited for and work for, for decades. The Church has given us such beautiful music to go with the Mass. It is an answer to prayer that there is now intense interest in hearing this music not just on CDs but in our own parishes, as an essential part of our liturgy.

What is the emergency?

We have received many messages from young music students, young music directors, young priests, and seminarians that they cannot afford the full cost of the program. Now, as a non-profit organization on a shoe-string budget, we have made the price as low as we possibly can. Many of these people will have to decline to attend if they cannot find the money.

Why does this matter? Because this is the future of music in your parish at stake.

The people who train at these programs come back and immediately start using what they have learned. They train others in their parishes. The movement catches fire. People’s spiritual lives are renewed. Most important, the music that is uniquely appropriate for Mass (it should have “pride of place,” said the Second Vatican Council) is again heard at Mass where it belongs.

Have you heard Gregorian chant at Mass? If so, you know what it can mean. It is the sound of the faith, even old and ever new. It is sung prayer. It has a quality that meets the very definition of sacred music. Popes from all ages have taught this. Benedict XVI has reinforced this many times in his sermons and writing. But it doesn’t require an encyclical to make the point. It is there in the hearing.

Think about what chant would mean in your parish. It can make a huge difference in the way the faith is presented. Instead of tunes drawn from popular culture, chant is rooted in our history like not other music. When we sing it, we are singing the music of the saints and martyrs.

Given the state of Catholic music today, many people think there is little hope. The truth is otherwise. What is missing are people with the training necessary to take the step. They need to know how to chant the music, pronounce the Latin, handle the phrasing, and integrate it with the liturgy so that we don’t just sing at Mass; we sing the Mass itself.

Some of those waiting for scholarships are young priests and seminarians. Others are young music students who are considering vocations. They will return to parishes and schools with a burning passion for chant. They will be an essential part of a bright future.

And not just chant: the training we provide encompasses its successor music, polyphony of the Renaissance, which the Second Vatican Council also named as uniquely suitable. That means the music of Palestrina, Byrd, Victoria, and all the great composers of that period.

The causes of the problems in Catholic music are many, but the answer of education has the highest prospect for success. It’s been proven for several years. Most of the new scholas starting out in today’s parishes have formed as a direct result of the programs of the CMAA.

I personally have a strong interest in seeing our scholarship budget grow. I have received messages from these young people, and I so badly want to see them attend. We are on the verge of something truly wonderful. There is opportunity for you to help.

If we don’t receive support, we will have to tell these people (and there are more of them every day) that there are no funds for them. They need to know soon so that they can make their summer plans. I would like to be the bearer of great news!

Would you please consider it? A gift of $1000 would make an enormous difference. Gifts of $250 or even $100 can make a difference. It will permit us to begin to have the means to bring some of these people to our programs and train them to play a special role in the future of Catholic music.

Your help can make the difference. Go to musicasacra.com/donate to make a contribution. Please know of our deep appreciation for your support of this important work.

Sincerely,

Scott Turkington
Stamford Schola Gregoriana
Church Music Association of America

New in Events: Chant Intensive, with Scott Turkington, June 9-13, 2008, Chicago.

The Cathedral of St. John Berchmans in Shreveport, Louisiana, held a Sacred Music Workshop on November 30 – December 1, 2007. Attended by 40-45 singers, it was a great success for our schola. The first such workshop offered at the Cathedral, it focused mainly on Gregorian chant and included some simple polyphony. Saturday afternoon, at the end of the workshop, participants sang for the 4:00 pm Novus Ordo Latin Mass at our beautiful cathedral.

Organized and sponsored by the Schola Cantorum of St. John Berchmans, a CMAA parish member, it was directed by Dr. Kurt Poterack of Christendom College in Front Royal, VA. Dr. Poterack also lectured on “Recent (1903—present) Papal Documents On Liturgical Music” and “Pope Benedict XVI on Sacred Music”.

At this first of what we hope will be many workshops, we had many attendees not familiar with reading chant notation or the singing techniques unique to chant. Dr. Poterack helped all the attendees get a sense of the unique Gregorian chant sound we try to achieve. His teaching was of great benefit to the schola, who had only been singing together approximately ten months.

During the workshop, the group was split into more- and less-experienced chant singers at certain times. One of Dr. Poterack’s former students, Matthew Dittert, who is a music director at a parish in Houston, TX, assisted with the chant ordinaries with one group, which allowed Dr. Poterack to work with a smaller group learning the Introit, Alleluia and Communio proper to the 1st Sunday in Advent. The entire group sang the Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei from Mass setting XVII, as well as the Credo III, Pater Noster and all Mass responses in Latin.

In addition to chant pieces, the group sang a Seasonal Psalm setting by Dr. Poterack, Palestrina’s Alma Redemptoris Mater, and a setting of Veni Emmanuel by Father Robert Skeris.

Our attendees hailed from Louisiana, primarily from the Shreveport diocese, with several parishes represented. We were also very pleased to have visitors from the Lafayette, LA area, including schola members from Our Lady of Fatima (a CMAA parish member) visiting. Father Jason Vidrine, from Our Lady of Wisdom in Lafayette, attended and concelebrated the Mass with our rector, Father Peter Mangum.

One of our schola members was able to record the workshop, including lectures and the Mass. We expect to edit the recordings and distribute CD’s to attendees who wish to have copies.

According to feedback received from attendees, they benefited enormously from Dr. Poterack’s skillful directing and teaching. We are so happy that he agreed to come and work with us. We can probably expect many repeat attendees at our next workshop, many of whom expressed a wish that we could have had more time. We also greatly appreciate the assistance given by Matthew Dittert, which allowed us to split the group and use our time more effectively.

We learned a great deal from this first Sacred Music Workshop. It gave a renewed sense of energy and enthusiasm to our schola and a desire to continue to improve. We have a great feeling of gratitude toward Father Peter Mangum for providing the impetus and encouragement for the formation and continuation of the schola. Without his support, it is doubtful that our schola would even be in existence, much less having the opportunity to host such a workshop.

St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, in Woodstock, Georgia, held a sacred music workshop on November 15-16, 2007. It was attended by 70-80 singers, who came to learn the basics of Gregorian chant and polyphonic music, and prepare a special liturgy for the vigil Mass on Saturday night.

It was organized by choral director Bridget Scott and organist Mike Ostro, and directed by Arlene Oost-Zinner, who taught chant, and Jeffrey Tucker, who taught polyphony. Oost-Zinner and Tucker, from Auburn, Alabama, both lectured on the topic of sacred music and took questions on the subject of a parish music program.

This parish was a bit different from other workshops in that there is already a schola in place that had been learning neumes and singing some ordinary chants. This was a help in permitting the directors to move more quickly through the material for the remaining three-quarters of the participants who had no previous exposure. These people came from outside the parish and around the diocese of Atlanta.

The music packet had been distributed in advance. It is what set the boundaries of what was to be taught over a day and a half. All goals were achieved. The workshop schola sang ordinary chants from the Kyriale without the aid of accompaniment. The women’s schola sang the Introit and the men’s schola sang the Communio. The entire choir sang a motet (O Esca Viatorum, music by Isaac) for prelude, and two additional motets for offertory and communion (O Bone Jesu by Palestrina, and O Salutaris by Josquin), as well as the chant hymn Anima Christi. The Mass ended with a recessional in English that everyone sang with vigor.

The organizers of the event were struck by the dramatic change of behavior on the part of the people, who have been habituated to casual visiting before and after Mass. But with the prelude choral music, the worship space became solemn and quiet in preparation for the introit, which took on a special solemn tone.

Among those who came to the workshop were other scholas in the area that are just getting started in singing the propers and ordinary chants. The participants left with a renewed desire to work hard for sacred music and take their responsibilities for singing very seriously. The directors of the workshop were especially complimentary toward the role of the pastor, Fr. Larry Niese, who has provided support to the parish schola and has encouraged progress toward the sacred in the life of this parish.

On November 9th and 10th, just over 100 singers participated in a chant workshop at the Church of St. John the Beloved in McLean, Virginia. Scott Turkington of Stamford, Connecticut, acclaimed Gregorian chant expert and teacher, provided a thorough introduction to chant performance according to the classic Solesmes method—the workshop’s primary focus. First, Turkington taught the group to sing a Kyrie from memory, then he introduced the basics of singing and reading square notes and clefs, the names and functions of neums, chant rhythm, the church modes, and psalm tones. He also provided an overview of the material contained in the Liber Cantualis, which served as the workshop’s primary textbook.

On Friday evening, David Lang, Master of Music at St. John the Beloved, gave an organ recital of works based on chant melodies, drawn exclusively from the 20th century repertoire. The pieces covered a wide range of the liturgical year and chant modes, and demonstrated a variety of organ colors and moods. A schola drawn from workshop participants introduced the chant on which each piece was based, and, for Maurice Duruflé’s Prelude, Adagio and Choral Variations on ‘Veni Creator Spiritus,’ sang verses in alternation with the organ.

On Saturday, Fr. Franklyn McAfee, Pastor of St. John the Beloved, gave a lecture entitled, “To Sing Is the Mark of a Lover,” in which he compared those who sing chant to people who have fallen in love. Mere words are not sufficient to express their love, which must be exalted by the addition of music.

The workshop concluded on Saturday with the participants singing the full chant Mass ordinary and other chants as part of the parish’s Sunday Vigil Mass. The Mass propers were sung by the schola.

Response was enthusiastic, and St. John’s plans to make the workshop an annual event. Readers in the northern Virginia area should watch the Arlington diocesan newspaper and the CMAA website for an announcement of next year’s program.

The celebrant workshop (Missa in Cantu) went spectacularly well. A total of forty priests and seminarians attended. They participated in daily sung liturgy in all forms. St. John Cantius hosted the CMAA and were wonderfully helpful. Many notes of appreciation have come our way, but this one was particularly striking:

“Thank you so much for the workshop in Chicago. It was eye-opening and life changing. It is hard to explain but everything seems different now. From not singing really anything, to this past Sunday I sang the collects, intoned the Sanctus and Agnus Dei, and butchered the final blessing. Oh well, you can’t win them all.”

Many others have reported excellent progress, and after only a two-day workshop. Thank you to all for your support.

Jeffrey Ostrowski of Chabanel Psalms fame was commissioned to write the music for the Responsorial Psalm to be sung at the seminar on the sung Mass next week in Chicago. There will be OF English Masses, OF Latin Masses, and EF Masses. Ostrowski’s setting is for the English OF.

We are very grateful that Bishop Joseph Perry, Aux. Bishop of Chicago, will celebrate the 4pm Mass for our group on Thurs, Oct 18th at 4pm at during the priest-training seminar Missa in Cantu.