There is far too much happening to even begin to provide comprehensive coverage but let me first mention the extraordinary form Mass yesterday that celebrated the Feast of St. John Baptist, one that ended with the great hymn Ut Queant Laxis as the recessional. The Mass setting was Palestrina’s Missa Brevis, as sung by Kurt Poterack’s choir, along with motets by Tallis (sung by Brouwers choir) and Guerrero (sung by Horst Buchholz’s choir).
St. John has a special place in the hearts of all musicians because all scholarship indicates that it was he (not Cecilia) who was long considered the patron saint of music in the first millennium (the job was handed over to St. Cecilia after St. John’s long service).
The Mass was of course very beautiful, complete with all sung readings and the most solemn sung parts.
The evening’s events broke new ground. The idea was initially proposed by William Mahrt and carried out by Arlene Oost-Zinner: a panel on the growth of sacred music programs in academia. The panelists included Kurt Poterack (Christendom College), Paul Weber and Alanna Keenan (Franciscan University Steubenville), Ann Labounsky and Sr. Marie Agatha Ozah (Duquesne University), Susan Treacy (Ave Maria University), and Peter Jeffery (Notre Dame University).
Each talked about the program of his or her institution and commented on the dramatic change in the attitudes of students today as compared with the past. The interest in sacred music and chant is very intense, to the point of representing a serious paradigm shift. Professor Jeffery in particular spoke of the support he has received from the administration to forge a program that will have national influence, and he looks forward to working with student groups in the year’s ahead.
To see all these panels and here their comments struck many people as very significant, for it demonstrated that the change we are seeing at the parish level is being mirrored in higher learning as well.
Here is an image of Professor Jeffery buying a colloquium tee!
I believe that this mass at the Church of the Epiphany was the first Tridentine Mass celebrated there in 40 years or so. Can anyone confirm this?
I, for one, would be very interested in a more thorough discussion about the ideas expressed at the panel on academic sacred music programs. Jeff, would it be possible to post synopses?
At least three of the five schools have a distinctly Catholic music program for undergraduates, two of which have a major. The other two (Notre Dame and Duquesne) have relatively traditional music departments but at least offer sacred music degrees.
These schools, especially CC, FUS, and AMU, are not the norm in the Catholic academic world, but perhaps they should be. Look at Georgetown for a radically different approach. If I were at the presentation, I would have asked the panelists what they think can be done to reshape music departments/curricula so as to coalesce better with schools' Catholic identities. And why hasn't this been happening on a much larger scale already, especially if the fruits of the effort are so rewarding?
Christendom needs a music MAJOR. The void is salient. The integration of music education, orthodoxy, and Catholic culture doesn't seem to be found anywhere.
By the above statement I don't mean to short-shrift FUS or AMU. Please, no offense – I liked their presentations very much and I'm sure their music programs are worthy.
Franciscan University and Ave Maria do have majors, however, so I'm not sure it can't be found _anywhere_. As I suggested, the integration you speak of is not the norm, which makes it a fertile area to explore.
Based on my own conversations with administrators and faculty at Catholic colleges, there is an identity crisis stemming from the question of how to strike a balance between orthodoxy and academic freedom. Schools don't want to scare off leading non-Catholic faculty with orthodoxy, but they don't want to lose a Catholic identity in the process.
The whole situation revolves around one question: What is the purpose of Catholic higher education?
Was the choir at the back of the church (judging by the third picture)?
How I wish that was the standard placement of choirs in the absence of choir lofts (and how I wish choir lofts were actually used).
Pictures of this Mass are on the Pittsburgh Latin Mass Community's web site.
http://web.me.com/plmc.amdg/PLMC/Photos/Pages/Nativity_of_St._John_the_Baptist.html
It would be interesting to see a synopsis, as Doug suggests. In its absence, I resist the temptation to suggest that an undergraduate sacred music major is too narrow in its focus, and that the specialism makes more sense at masters level, in case that point was addressed at the event.
"The integration of music education, orthodoxy, and Catholic culture doesn't seem to be found anywhere."
The need for this is of great importance, I think. And we can't leave out of this effort of "integration" the study of liturgy and theology. "Orthodoxy" alone can pretty devoid without the consideration of these, and, as we know, can often result in a sort of shallow legalism.
I agree with Adam and Ian completely; excellent points.
There is a wide middleground between an exclusively sacred music degree for undergraduates and the traditional BA or BM. The potential for defining that space using the Catholic intellectual tradition is virtually limitless. The problem lies primarily in convincing those with the power to change curricula that such change would be useful.
Plus, as I suggested earlier, people sense a friction between orthodoxy (traditionalism, or whatever you want to call it) and academic freedom. I can't stress this enough. It's a tricky and delicate issue. Even the most conservative Catholic school doesn't want to come across as "thought police," but I dare say that some non-Catholic academics see certain Catholic schools leaning in that direction.
Is an undergraduate sacred music major in keeping with tradition? In other words, in times past, were church musicians trained in conservatories or were they developed in parishes? If church music is more a craft than an academic exercise, I'd argue in favor of the parish or religious community being the locus of the distinction between music and sacred music. At the very least, a professional church musician should spend time being an apprentice in a faith community before being academically recognized for having a "church music degree."
I'd say some people are rightly concerned about the emergence of what is essentially a political quality–orthodoxy–into the equation. More essential to the personal equation is faith. Simply faith.
Todd, you don't concur that most church musical DIRECTORS have essentially been engaged in that parish/faith community (?) "apprentice" model defacto as S.O.P.? Secondly, if sacred music majors practice their discipline both within the curricular and the liturgical crucibles, how does that not count as your "apprenticeship" ideal? You minister in an academic community. Is that a different experience on Sunday than mine somehow?
I think it unnecessary to hint at one's reservations about orthodoxy at a nominally (in the good sense) catholic college.
Charles,
I think there's a difference between a person spending time at a keyboard or on a conductor's podium absorbing the experiences of playing at Mass (which is no doubt formative on some level), and a person in a program of ministry being challenged to apply one's abilities in a mentored and monitored situation.
So sure: a person gifted with self-reflection will certainly go home and ponder the border between learning notes and learning people. My sense is that it should be part of the overall curriculum, like CPE is for pastoral ministers and clergy.
I suspect that you and I are probably more attuned to the value and virtue in mentoring people and directing them to involvement that will spark and challenge their formation, to spur them onward and upward. Our parish volunteers' experiences are probably very similar in that sense.
My reservations are not with orthodoxy, but with some who claim to profess it.
On another note, it sounds like you had an excellent week, Charles. Good work, Colloquium.