Church Musicians Tune Up for Changes in Liturgy

ncr ^ | July 24, 2009 | Amy Kiley

[AnAmericanMother]

Hardly anything Leonard Cohen ever wrote was fit for church. ("Sisters of Mercy", anybody?)

I'm surprised the sheet music doesn't just burst into flame.

[AnAmericanMother]

Congrats on being an Aunt! It’s one of the best jobs there is.

[NYer]

One of my siblings is a new parent as of Wednesday and things have been nutty.

Auguri! Boy or girl?

[AnAmericanMother]

Have the manager take Marty out of the rotation and send him to the showers. He's been pitching too long as it is.

We had to sing it today because the congregation LIKES it. I think they're just accustomed to it.

Our music director has it pegged. He said, "The very first time I heard it, I knew it was awful and everybody was going to love it!"

[AnAmericanMother]

Don't worry too much about cantoring.

I nearly drove myself into a frenzy trying to adjust to the switch from Episcopalian cantoring to Catholic cantoring. But I finally took to heart our music director's words -- if you make a mistake, so long as you don't throw up your hands and shriek "OMG! NOES!" chance are nobody outside the choir will know you made a mistake. This turned out to be quite true, so now I don't worry any more.

(I still cantor with a Brit accent though, even though my speaking accent is VERY Southern!)

[redhead]

"I nearly drove myself into a frenzy trying to adjust to the switch from Episcopalian cantoring to Catholic cantoring. But I finally took to heart our music director's words -- if you make a mistake, so long as you don't throw up your hands and shriek "OMG! NOES!" chance are nobody outside the choir will know you made a mistake. This turned out to be quite true, so now I don't worry any more."

LOL! This has been my philosophy all along. 9 times out of 10, we are the only ones who can read the music, so let it go. Cantoring in the Byzantine Rite is a little different, since the entire service is sung. The only "solo" is by the Lector, who chants the First Reading. But we have no instruments and no prep time, so we have to be able to "cold read" the day's special parts. No tin ears in the schola, thank God, but several in the congregation. Sometimes we get some strange little harmonies going.

[Desdemona]

Boy. Everybody’s healthy.

[AnAmericanMother]

Hurrah! Is this her first?

[Desdemona]

Everybody’s first, so he’s going to be a bit spoiled.

[wastedyears]

Is that Marshall a Valvestate?

[Gone_Postal]

no.. it’s an old Marshall Mos-Fet 100

[AnAmericanMother]

Sight-reading is a VERY valuable skill!

We have a few folks in our choir who can't read music, and it really shows now that we are in summer mode and picking up the music cold.

Of course we have a repertoire that everybody should know by now, but some people don't :-( It really sticks out, especially the bass that stands right behind me :-(

We did the Viadana "Exultate Justi" today and it has several traps for the unwary, especially if your Latin is rusty . . . Exultate Justi

Bad places: "in psalterio decem chordatum" and "bene psallite ei in vociferatione".

Communion anthem was the short Vaughn Williams "O Taste and See". It requires absolute control . . . we didn't quite crash and burn but it was close . . . .

[AnAmericanMother]

That’s why it’s good to be an Aunt. You get to spoil without suffering the consequences (much).

[Huber]

Nice looking guitar. I have a ‘74 Sunburst Strat. However, I have yet to hear reverent electric guitar music performed in a liturgical setting, most of it rather falling into the “joyful noise” category associated with “praise songs”, rock, folk, gospel or “contemporary Christian”. Are you aware of any serious liturgical music employing electric guitars that I should check out that would be roughly comparable to Palestrina, Byrd, Handel or Mendelssohn, or does such music simply not exist?