Author: Mary Jane Ballou

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal cited a study that showed that a high-stress boss can communicate his own feelings to subordinates.  The person who is always rushing around makes others anxious (and “rush-y”) as well.

What does this have to do with sacred music?  Well, what kind of director are you?  Insecure, easily threatened when someone asks a question you can’t answer, always rooting around in your music, never quite prepared?  Is the result a nervous choir? I hope not!

However, wouldn’t you love to feel secure in your understanding of chant?  Experienced with high-level polyphony?  Up-to-date on what some of the best and brightest have to say about the present and future of sacred music in the Latin Rite?

The Church Music Association of America (CMAA) is here to help.  The Summer Chant Intensive from June 23-26 at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh can make all the difference to a schola director’s life!  You’ll be grounded in the modes, familiar with the style and shape of Gregorian chant, and experienced in chant’s role in the Divine Office and the Mass.

The Summer Colloquium is another saturation experience for church musicians – just about all the chant, polyphony, and liturgy anyone could hope for.  From June 29th to July 4th, beginning to advanced singers will have the opportunity to work with some of the finest musicians in the United States and Europe. Breakout sessions will also be available on topics from children’s programs and chironomy to semiology.  Plenary speakers and a special course for priests, deacons, and seminarians, as well as a full complement of Ordinary and Extraordinary Form Masses make this a one-of-kind time.  And there’s still ample opportunity for networking and just plain old conversing with old friends and new.  Also at Duquesne University this year.

You’ll come away stronger, surer, and heartened!  So head on over to the CMAA website and get onboard! 

I was wrong (yes, it happens) about the early registration deadline for the Colloquium – if you weren’t in as of midnight last night, you missed it.  But you could still save on the Chant Intensive early registration this month.

Soooo, why not register for both now?  You’ll have saved on one and helped us out on the other.

Apologies for any confusion.  It’s late Sunday afternoon.

Tomorrow is the 1st of March.  There is one month left for early registration at the Summer Chant Intensive and/or the Summer Colloquium.  This year both will be at Duquesne University in beautiful  Pittsburgh – the city of 27 bridges, a splendid cathedral, a new organ in the campus chapel – and all the delights of sacred music.  Monophony, polyphony, vocal, organ, chances to sing your heart out, to learn semiology and principles of chironomy, to network with like-minded folks for all over the country (and even other countries).

What are you waiting for?  Hie thee to the CMAA site and get on board the train now.  Early registration saves you $50 (or fifty Washingtons, if that’s the way you talk).

Join us for one or both conferences.  Summer Chant Intensive with the incomparable Wilko Brouwers, June 23-26,2015.  Summer Colloquium XXV with a plethora of talent and brain power, June 29-July 4, 2015.

Take the plunge!

I recently had the pleasure of attending the Winter Chant Intensive’s track on “Singing the Mass” for priests and deacons.  Why me? While I’m obviously neither a priest nor deacon, I was interested in seeing how Matthew Meloche of the Cathedral of Saints Simon and Jude would work with a diverse collection of clerics.

The willingness of the priest/deacon participants to get up one at a time and sing was wonderful. There is nothing more terrifying to most amateurs (and most professionals, if we’ll be honest) than singing before one’s peers.  Some of the singers struggled to find their voices at all; some simply needed tuning up and clarification.  Meloche sensed quickly how to meet each participant where he was at that point.  He also knew when to back off, lest personal attention begin to seem humiliating focus. Everyone was encouraging and positive, even as we moved quickly from dialogues to orations and finally to the dread Exultet.

Each of the participants made progress and seemed ready to take some of the learning home and into actual liturgical practice.  My only concern was the length of this intensive course because the last day seemed to push some over the edge into musical and psychic exhaustion.  What did I get from this 4-day crash course?  A better overall picture of the priestly and diaconal musical requirements of the Ordinary Form of the Mass, strategies for helping priests with whom I presently work or may work in the future, and most importantly a chance to spend a few days with dedicated men who want to do everything within their power to bring the richness of chant into their local churches.

A similar course will be part of the XXV Summer Colloquium at Duquesne University this summer. If you’re a priest or deacon who wants to build his chant on a firm foundation, give that opportunity some thought. It is a chance to experience musical collegiality and growth, to learn the music particular to your liturgical vocation, and to be surrounded by singers who want you to “shine” in the sanctuary as much as they would in the loft.