Monday 1 August 2011

On Holidays


Photo by Clare.

After a very enjoyable sing yesterday, it's holiday time til September.

Doing musical things is great, but it does take it out of you. One of the great things about the EF Mass is that because there is no chitchat or funny extra things that can happen, it is actually less distracting to play and sing at than many OF Masses I have been at, even though there is a lot more to do.

I am a very big fan of the fact that the texts to be sung are laid down and there's a book with all the music in. Skippy time. Happy as I am to select the music for my orchestras at work to play, I've never understood how random lay people can choose music for Mass. Why should you have to have my taste imposed on you? Weird. Add into the mix that I personally remember music primarily and not text and you see that I'm not the best person for the job. But then if you get someone who is very wordy to do it, I often find the music painful. Much better to have the music laid down and know that centuries of people before you have sung the same stuff. Clears the mind.

Anyway in another excellent development in the story of 'How Catholics reclaimed their musical tradition,' here is James MacMillan on the new Newman Institute of Liturgical Music. See the post on July 31st on the blog bit.

I have a spade...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is something to be said for having the discipline that you HAVE to sing the propers. In the OF it's so easy to find excuses for not singing them, lack of rehearsal time, which language to choose etc.

Thank you for having me! It was a fantastic day and l finally got to sing Credo I.

Have a good break

Clare

leutgeb said...

That's true, but I like the fact that the decisions are not mine and that I have some sense of, 'doing it right.'

OK trying to do it right.

Thanks for coming - long way for Sunday Mass.