A little musical humor

Leave it to church musicians to come up with something like this.
Hope you enjoy it!
I wish I could have you hear what was done at the CMAA's music colloquium last year, it was just as good as this, if not better. Using fauxbourdon and gregorian chant, a psalm was sung with a touch of humor like this: verse (chant): You have called me and you know me, you know when I sit and when I stand, You understand my thoughts from afar; Refrain (fauxbourdon): "...except for the English translation of the Roman Missal. Copyright 1974, International Commission on the English Language, all rights reserved."

Maybe you have to hear it to get it, but I think someone out there will find this hilarious.

Growing as a musician and growing in holiness

I just thought I'd share some thoughts about my own experience with this. While in college I have found it interesting to see the parallels between struggling to grow as a musician, especially as a vocalist, and struggling to grow in holiness. Being a musician has helped me to better understand the struggles of the spiritual life. As a musician, it can be frustrating at times to see how slowly you progress. You realize you have deeply engrained habits in the way you sing (or play), that are very difficult to change to become better. To improve, you must be diligent in working on those problems/habits specifically even if you would rather practice what you are good at. You also will only improve as much as the effort you make to practice. Your singing is also very much affected by how well you physically, emotionally, and psychologically take care of yourself. For example, if you deprive yourself of sleep, it is very hard to sing without going flat, or to truly focus during practice time.
How similar the spiritual life is to musicianship! We tend to have deeply engrained sinful habits that can be frustrating because it is so hard to root them out. We can also become frustrated with ourselves when we know we do not take the time or effort to practice those virtues that will counter and help to change such habits. We also tend to prefer to continue those spiritual practices that we know we are good at and not challenge ourselves to take a step deeper in transformation and the path to holiness. We get in a comfort zone and for a while often like being in auto pilot. Our prayer life is also affected by every other aspect of our well being. If I am lacking in sleep, going to adoration is not as fruitful because I cannot focus and be as attentive to the Lord.
No matter what aspect of my life, it seems I cannot escape such fundamental spiritual realities. It manifests itself in all tasks and vocations in life. And on that note, I am going to head off to go practice organ, since I desperately need to if i really am going to get any better in that!

SNOW DAY!

Today we have a snow day! As the teachers here say, cancellation of classes is the only time students cheer to not get something they paid for. Coming from Vermont, it's awesome to get a snow day when there is only about 5 inchest of snow, if that. However they have a point in cancelling, since we are supposed to get sleet and ice a little later on. I think it will be a good day to take a nap. As a senior, it seems I never can get enough sleep! Course, when I have a friend from home that calls often, that makes it a little harder to get to bed on time :-) But that's okay. I'll sacrifice sleep for that.
Also, I'll be lacking sleep this weekend some more, since for the first time in a long time a group of friends and I are driving down to DC to go swing dancing at the Spanish Ballroom Saturday night. I'm excited, but it also means getting to bed at about 4am Sunday morning and having to wake up at 9am to get to church in Berlin, NJ. I guess a nap will be in order on Sunday afternoon when I get back. Hope everyone else has a good weekend!

Vision Statement

I currently am taking a the last class that is specific to my church music concentration and for one of our assignments we had to write a vision statement for our own parish or one that we would be involved in "planning worship" for. Now, there tends to be a fair amount of stuff covered in some of these classes that isn't all the practical or usuable for me since the Catholic understanding of a musicians role in worship is very different from that of most Protestants. Catholic musicians do not "plan" worship. It has its own set structure. We are there to serve the liturgy, even if our service is "ars integra" of the liturgy. However, with some tweaking, I think a vision statement is a wonderful idea for a Catholic parish that is trying to undertake reform/renewal of liturgy and music. It should be something that succintly gets across to the parishoners the direction the church is trying to head in and in broad terms, WHY that is the direction the church is taking. So considering my own future position as a music director, this is what I came up with so far, although I think I would want to give it some more thought and change it a little. Any of your own Catholic thoughts are welcome:

Vision Statement:
1) Rediscover and learn our Catholic heritage and traditions that have been forgotten and that enrich our faith.
2) Renew our parishes by combining the best of the old and new in our liturgy and parish life, embracing our traditions in a new way in light of the modern world.
3) Extend the gift of our faith to others, having strengthened our faith by the renewal of a Catholic culture and liturgical life, which fills us with a desire to be leaven for the world.

I think something like this gives some clarity to changes being made and helps to word the renewal in a positive way. I would think expressing the missionary aspect of the church as a result of that inner renewal would be important, considering the emphasis on such in "Sacramentum Caritatis".

The liturgical Tilt-a-whirl

Another tribute to Fr. Ben:
Does this church make anybody else feel as disoriented as being on an amusement ride?

*Side Note: Sadly, these really are Catholic Churches. Destroyed and hoisted upon Catholics by the one and only "Fr." Richard Vosko, alive and well and still on the rampage. :-(

New UFO Landing site

As a tribute to Fr. Ben:
Maybe if the aliens choose to come, they'll help to usher in Vatican III.