We've hit the big time now... our little schola has made the news!  Well, at least we were mentioned in article entitled "Mass in Latin: Church calls for a return to her roots in word, song" by Franz Klein in the Diocese of La Crosse diocesan paper, the Catholic Times.  Actually, I mentioned to Franz (who was in my youth group in my past life as a youth minister - he's grown up to be a fine journalist) a few months ago that it would be nice to see an article about Gregorian Chant in the diocesan paper, and he said he had been hoping to do something on the use of Latin and Gregorian chant.  It is a timely topic, given all the attention Pope Benedict XVI has called to the rightful place of the Church's own language and music in the Mass.

The article brought out the Church's teaching on Latin and Gregorian chant, clarifying the confusion caused by a misinterpretation of Vatican II's Sacrosanctum Concillium.  Franz also interviewed some experts in Gregorian chant, who reiterated the Pope's teaching that Latin and Gregorian chant are "the norm" and discussed practical problems surrounding the issue of reintroducing Latin and chant to a Catholic population that is no longer accustomed to it.  However, the article also points out that parishes are already introducing some of the propers at Mass (Sanctus, Agnus Dei etc.). 

Our schola is mentioned toward the end of the article:

In other places, the impetus for liturgical renewal has come from the laity.  At St. Peter's Parish in Stevens Point, for example, parishioner Darcy Bunn approached pastor Father Kevin Louis before Lent for permission to form a school of singers, or "schola cantorum," to sing Gregorian chant for the penitential season.

"For me, not being terribly experienced in choir direction, nor experienced at all in Gregorian chant prior to this, the biggest thing was getting up to speed myself, so that I could teach other people how to sing, and how to read the notation,"  Bunn said.

Ultimately, Bunn said, the chant was such a hit that the schola decided to continue singing for St. Peter's Masses.  "People who were never exposed to it before are really interested to hear more,"  Bunn said about the various introits and sequences the schola performed over Lent.  "There's been a little bit of criticism because we're not perfect yet; but we're getting constructive criticsim, so we're using it to get better."

I like this quote from Cardinal Arinze that is included at the end of the article:

"[I]t is not true that the lay faithful do not want to sing Gregorian chant... What they are asking for are priests and monks and nuns who will share this treasure with them."

How true!  I rely a great deal on a religious sister who is a long-time choir member at our parish and is now singing with the schola.  She can read the chant notation easily, and I often turn to her for help with the Latin pronunciations.   Her religious order no longer chants the office, and she kind of misses that, so it's nice she has the opportunity to help us bring chant back to the Mass.  We certainly appreciate her help!

We who are serious about bringing chant back are also relying heavily on laity who have made it their mission to restore the sacred.  Hence, I'm really looking forward to learning all I can from the Gregorian chant experts at the sacred music colloquium at Catholic University in a few weeks.

Posted by Darcy at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If all you had to go by was Sacred Music for the New Millenium, you would think the world stopped on Good Friday.  Where have I been?  After the rush preparing music for Holy Week and Easter, and all the emotional angst that came along with it, I was in need of a break afterwards.  Not that the schola cantorum took a vacation... in fact, we are now singing weekly at our 10 AM Mass.  Throughout the Easter Season, we chanted Vidi Aquam for the sprinkling rite. 

But just to complete the story, I ought to share what we did for Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday. 

If you have never attended Easter Vigil, I hope you will make a point of doing so next year... preferably at a church that waits until sundown to light the fire which then gives light to the year's brand new Easter Candle, marked with the wounds of Christ.  It was COLD this year, but the die-hards gathered outside the church around the fire, then processed behind the priest as he chanted "Christ Our Light," and we echoed "Thanks be to God."

The Easter Vigil service is the one time of the year when priests who may barely chant anything the rest of the liturgical year tune up their voices to chant the Exultet, a beautiful, ancient prayer.  The church should still be pretty dark at this point, just enough lights to get by, and everyone will be holding their own tapers, lighted form the Easter Candle, the flame passed from one person's candle to another thoughout the church, even up in the choir loft.

This if followed by the most generous serving of Old Testament scripture readings you could ever have hoped to hear in one evening (as many as 7), punctuated by a cappella chanting of the psalm responses.

Then it happens: The Gloria.  ALL the lights are switched on at once, the tower bells begin to peel, and bells are rung in the church (a server at the altar and someone in the choir loft at our parish) throughout the whole singing of The Gloria, harkening back to Holy Thursday and the Mass of the Lord's Supper. 

The epistle from the New Testament is read, then the next musical high point: the first Alleluia of Easter!  It is longer than the typical Alleluia and more uplifting, actually a responsorial with three verses in our missallette.  But it is such a mental relief to give up the Lenten fast of withholding our Alleluias and just let them burst forth in joyful song.

Easter Vigil marks an important night for those who journeyed through the RCIA process (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults), as well as RCIC (...for children).  During the service, the unbaptized are baptized, the non-Catholic are received into the fullness of the Catholic faith, the unconfirmed receive the Holy Spirit, and those new Catholics who never tasted the Bread of Life before finally receive their First Holy Communion. 

For our schola, during this time there were a couple of short responses provided by the missallette that we sang around the time of the Baptisms.  Then during the Confirmations, the well-rehearsed and much loved Veni Creator Spiritus was chanted. 

We sang the very familiar Mozart Ave Verum at Communion with string accompaniment (by the time we sang it for 10 AM Mass the next day it actually sounded pretty good...) and otherwise led the singing of the great Easter Hymns along with the organ.

On Easter Sunday, we did some of the same music from the night before, minus the Veni Creator Spiritus, but adding in the chanting of the introit (Resurrexi) and the Easter Sequence:

Victimae paschali laudes immolent Christiani...

So you can see the world did not stop on Good Friday, and there's much more to write about from my ongoing adventures in the sacred music world, but for now, at least you know what happened at Easter.

God bless!

Posted by Darcy at 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)