More Video from Colloquium XX

Part two of Corpus Christi Watershed's four-part mini-documentary on this year's CMAA Colloquium.

Live from the USCCB Arena....

Courtesy of LarryD at Acts of the Apostasy, the logical conclusion of my very first Liturgical Pet Peeve #1:

Seymour: "The ushers step backwards as they distribute the bowls - it's like watching an intricate dance. The last bowls are handed out...now they're returning to the front, where the filled bowls are ready to be collected. They're taking the bowls from...oh no!"

Stan: "Oh, this is bad! One of the ushers has dropped a bowl! Envelopes, bills, checks and coins - scattering everywhere!"

Acts Of The Apostasy: Play-By-Play Masses

Scenes from a Week of Musical Heaven

Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed, a brief look at Colloquium XX.


CMAA Colloquium XX 2010 from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

Miles to Go before I Sleep (in My Own Bed)

Today was my last full one in Pittsburgh, so, as I had promised myself, I set out to see the sights, specifically Point State Park and the Carnegie Science Center.

The park was interesting, but, unfortunately, I wasn't able to go out to the Point itself since the large fountain there is undergoing extensive renovation. So, I satisfied myself with a tour of the Fort Pitt Museum, built over a replica of the fort's outer walls (the actual fort was abandoned in 1792 and quickly fell into decline—one blockhouse is all that's left standing). The museum presents the history of the fort and, in particular, its role in the French and Indian War, emphasizing the perspectives of the French and  British troops and their respective Indian allies.

The Science Center is worth at least a full day's visit if you have small children, with dozens of exhibits—many of them interactive—ranging from wind tunnels for paper airplanes (mine was reasonably aerodynamic, but needed a paper clip at the front for balance) to basketball-shooting robots (robot's accuracy: 95%; human accuracy: 17%) to laser harps to a real Cold War-era submarine, plus a separate building housing sports- and health-related displays. (I wanted to ride the little bicycle out across the two-inch-wide steel beam 40 feet off the floor, but I was just a tad over the weight limit. Time to go on a diet, I guess.)

Early flight tomorrow, so bedtime's in about an hour or so. Lucky me managed to score business-class upgrades for both legs home, and I need the rest.

Colloquium Update #5

Colloquium Dos Equis is in the history books.

Our final Mass of the week featured a setting by Franz Schubert, sung by Dr Horst Buchholz' choir and accompanied by a small orchestra. I had the opportunity to sing under Dr Buchholz my first two Colloquia and can attest that he gets the best out of his singers through a fine sense of humor and initmate knowledge of the works he's preparing.

After a quick brunch and fond farewells to new friends and old, it was off to the airport to pick up my rental car for today and tomorrow, check into the last hotel of my trip, then dinner at the Church Brew Works, a brewpub set in an old Catholic church in east Pittsburgh. The diocese closed the parish in 1995 and deconsecrated the church, then sold it to its current owners. Good food and excellent beer (the brewing equipment is housed in what used to be the apse) in a unique setting, including the original flooring and stained glass windows; in fact, the owners did such a good job of restoring the furnishings to their original state that a local historical preservation society gave them an award for it.

After dinner, I swung by Station Square once again to ride the Monongahela Incline to the top of Mt Washington and took in the view of downtown, as well as looking around the neighborhood, which still has several old brick-paved streets. Once evening came, a few quick snaps of the lights of the Steel City and back down the incline for the hotel.

I don't know how much I'll be able to see tomorrow, since I have such an early start Tuesday and I need to drop the rental car off around 6 PM or so. Most of the interesting stuff seems to be closed on Mondays around here, including the Natural History Museum, the Andy Warhol Museum (Warhol is a Pittsburgh native), and the Mattress Factory. I think I'll try Point State Park, where the Allegheny and Monongahela merge into the Ohio, and the Carnegie Science Center.

Colloquium Update #4

My last full day at the Colloquium was jam-packed with activity. Early Mass today, this one Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Only one thing for me to sing today, a polyphonic Ave Maria by John Taverner as a Communion motet.

As, of course, we're winding down after a week of hard but rewarding work, today's rehearsals went fairly quickly. My chant schola finished up the Alleluia for tomorrow, while my polyphony choir, all of our obligations completed, took the time to read a few works we hadn't sung, including the Byrd Ave verum Corpus, a MIDI of which, you'll recall from earlier this month, I used as the prelude for Corpus Christi/First Communion.

I skipped the rehearsal of the final polyphonic piece, Anton Bruckner's Locus iste, in favor of watching the US get eliminated from the World Cup. (Gotta keep the priorities straight... and this is the second WC in a row that we've lost to Ghana in the round of 16. Grrr.) The new music reading featured some very nice pieces, including two by a Duquesne music professor who's been here since the 1960s. I didn't really sing anything, though, since my sight-reading skills, at least with modern notation, are extremely poor, and I have to be able to hear other singers in my section to match pitch. Interestingly, I have little trouble sight-reading Gregorian chant notation, probably because (1) I don't have to worry about time or key signatures, dynamics, etc. and (2) unlike modern music, chant notation is a relative-pitch system, so I can set do or fa (the two clefs in chant) at whatever pitch I want and sing away.

A word on the Masses: The Colloquium features Masses in both the Ordinary (1970 Missal) and Extraordinary (1962 Missal) Forms. Tuesday's Mass is always an Ordinary Form Mass in English, just to show how reverent a vernacular Mass can be without the all-too-prevalent "sacropop." From then on in it's all Latin, alternating between the two forms and ending with an Ordinary Form Mass on Sunday, since we don't want to freak out regular parishioners who may be unfamiliar with the EF.

Time to get packed for tomorrow's epic 15-mile trek to the airport hotel where I'll be spending Sunday and Monday nights, then a 6 AM flight home Tuesday.

Colloquium Update #3

A belated update from Pittsburgh—last night's laundry took longer than expected. This one'll have to be short as it's just about lunchtime.

Fr Mark Kirby finished his session on liturgical theology last night with a discussion of the five characteristics of chant:

—the irreplaceability of the human voice
—chant as sung speech
—objectivity
—holiness and hallowability
—the fostering of full, conscious, and active participation by the faithful

Unfortunately, Fr Kirby only had time to develop the first two characteristics in any detail, but what he did give us last night, and over the three days as a whole, are worthy of a separate post.

After lunch: final rehearsals for the highlight of my Colloquium, solemn sung Vespers, followed by Mass and a CMAA membership meeting. Dinner, a lecture by Fr Frank Phillips of the Canons Regular of St John Cantius, and Compline round out the day.

UPDATE 10:05 EDT: I'm sitting outside the student union since they close at 10 PM on Fridays, trying to find a comfortable position to post in (the WiFi signal drops to 56% at the benches just across the street).

The CMAA meeting was more interesting than usual (what to say, it's a business meeting), as a Fr Rojas from New York made a quite impassioned appeal for the Association to start reaching out to Hispanics. Fr Rojas said that the deterioration of the liturgy at Spanish-language Masses was even worse than that experienced in Anglo parishes, and that the pressures put upon the Hispanic Catholic community from the charismatic movement and Cursillo make the situation even more critical. Father went on to mention the vast repertoire of traditional Spanish-language hymnody and polyphony that has been sadly neglected in favor of the equivalent of the "sacropop" we have to put up with at English-language Masses. Fr Rojas was roundly applauded for his appeal.

Vespers apparently went over well, judging from Dr Mahrt's smile at the end and the positive feedback I got from a fellow attendee, despite it being rather warm in the sanctuary; having the AC and fans turned off in the church, plus 25 or so musicians and about ten clergy and servers all crammed together in a small space, didn't help much. But at least that's the largest part of what I had to sing over and done with. I'm looking forward to Carl Dierschow's recording to see how it all turned out. (Carl's the gentleman at the left of the front row in the picture at the top of the linked page.)

Fr Phillips' talk, on why we should reintroduce chanted Mass propers (Inroit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, Communion, with modifications for Lent and Eastertide), was entertaining. I've had the opportunity to hear Fr Phillips speak at previous Colloquia and have always enjoyed the experience.

Only three full days left here in Pittsburgh, one and a half for the Colloquium and then Sunday afternoon and most of Monday to explore the Steel City.

Colloquium Update #2

Another short one this time—we're not given much time between events and I have to schlep the laptop to the student union to get onto the only WiFi connection we're authorized to use on campus.

Today's Mass went well, a Requiem for all deceased CMAA members. The advanced men's schola took on the Alleluia, Requiem aeternam, and led the Dies irae, while my polyphonic choir sang Martin Rivaflecha's (1479–1528) Anima mea liquefacta est after Communion.

The second day of Fr Kirby's series on liturgical theology brought a discussion of the elements of lectio divina (divine reading) in one of the verses of the Dies irae. There's so much information coming out of that session, I'll probably have to do a separate post to cover everything.

Dinner's supposed to start at 6:30, but I'm stuck in the student union for a while until this summer squall passes over. I might be able to post more after Compline tonight.

UPDATE (10 PM EDT): Fajitas for dinner, followed by a lecture from the ubiquitous Dr William Mahrt on the Divine Office.

Cecilia Nam gave an entertaining session on "Connecting Emotions to Performance Technique," in which she pointed out that singers should be given mental warmups as well as vocal ones, and that choir directors and singers all should study the pieces they're about to sing to see what emotions the composer wanted to evoke.

As is the standard practice at every Colloquium, we're adding more Latin to our singing of Lauds and Compline each day, and eventually we'll sing the entireity of each office in Latin.

Tomorrow's schedule:

7:00—Lauds
7:30—breakfast
8:15–9:45—chant practice
10:00–11:00—Psalm Tones and Modes (day 3 of 5)
11:30–12:30—lunch
1:00–2:30—polyphony practice
3:00 until it finishes—Mass
4:45–6:00—Liturgical Theology (last day)

There's supposed to be dinner, a panel discussion, a reception, and Compline after that, but tomorrow's my laundry day, so I get a break of sorts.

Am Here, Doing That, Got the T-Shirt Anyway

The official Colloquium T-shirt, as designed by Richard Chonak.

Front:

Back:

***WARNING: MAJOR CHANT GEEKERY FOLLOWS***

The back design is from Sanctus VIII (part of the famous Missa de Angelis; if you've ever seen the Christmas Midnight Mass from the Vatican, which used to be shown on NBC every year, you'll have heard it); specifically, it's the third iteration of Sanctus in the piece.

***END OF MAJOR CHANT GEEKERY***

More, I hope, after dinner, a lecture, and Compline, including a piece on Fr Mark Kirby's highly entertaining talk (no, seriously, he's an excellent speaker) on liturgical theology.

Colloquium Update #1

A quick post before lunch to update y'all on what's going on here at Duquesne.

The advanced men's chant schola, under the baton of Dr Kurt Poterack, prepared a gradual in English by Richard Rice for this afternoon's Mass, and we also took a look at the Alleluia and Dies Irae for tomorrow's Requiem Mass for the deceased members of the CMAA (a Mass that's held at every Colloquium).

Dr William Mahrt's series on modes and psalm tones is also interesting. Dr Mahrt is having us memorize psalm antiphons by ear and helping us understand the characteristics of each antiphon—its final tone, range, etc. We're going to progress tomorrow to singing Psalm 110 in the tones corresponding to the modes of the antiphons we've tried to memorize; that should be fun to watch....

Off to lunch, then another session with Dr Mahrt for polyphony. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm stuck on falsobordone and am looking forward to singing Solemn Vespers again this year.

The Exercise Will Be Good For Me

Made it to Duquesne University about 12:30 this afternoon, a stark change after two days of Westins and Sheratons. I'm by myself in my dorm room, but have to share a bathroom with a fellow Collqui-ite; having my own bathroom at Loyola for the last two Colloquia has spoiled me, I guess, but I used to have to share with 25+ guys in high school and my freshman year of college, and, unlike in high school, I don't have to endure a daily room inspection or pull what the military calls "bay orderly."

Duquesne, just east of the skyscrapers of downtown Pittsburgh, sits on top of a bluff overlooking the Monongahela River. Colloquium participants had been warned that the campus was hilly, but I wasn't prepared for San-Francisco-on-the-Mon. There's just no escaping hill climbing here, although I think I've found a path or two that minimizes the discomfort. Hiking several  blocks to the church where all of our Masses are scheduled, on the other hand, is likely to be a challenge, but hey, I could do with a little workout now and then....

Plans for the evening: a reception about half-an-hour from now, followed by dinner; introductory comments; a lecture by Dr William Mahrt, president of the CMAA; and Compline in the University Chapel, another good hike from the lecture hall.

Let the "Seven Days of Musical Heaven" and the "Burning of the Excess Calories" begin!

Colloquium Vlog #1

Sorry about the problem with the sound synching. (%$&@#* typical YouTube newbie....)

Safe and Sound in Steeltown

Well, I'm here, none the worse for wear, spending the night at Station Square across the Monongahela River from downtown Pittsburgh. Now to figure out how to avoid walking to Duquesne.

The Journey Begins

Just sitting in my room at the LAX Westin with a few minutes before I go to bed—long day ahead of me, of course—so I thought I'd post something. This isn't going to be very musically-inclined, but I did say I'd post other stuff from time to time.

This isn't my first time at the Westin, as this hotel used to be the site of the thrice-a year Strategicon game conventions until a couple of years ago, but obviously it's been a while since I've stayed here. One of the big changes I've noticed has been the hotel restaurant, which has been upgraded from your average hotel restaurant (i.e., overpriced small portions of blah food) to a steak-and-chop house (still pricy, but good food and fairly large portions). Sitting next to a young lady with a rather plummy English accent was a plus....

Anyway, enough chitchat, so, to quote one of my Pepys: "And so to bed."

The Countdown Begins

Nine days and counting until I leave for Pittsburgh and Colloquium Dos Equis. I haven't quite decided which choirs I want to sing with, but at least I have a while to look at the music packet (low-resolution PDF—7 MB, high-resolution PDF—68 MB). I've taken something of a shine to falsobordone—a polyphonic harmonization of chant—so I think I'll try the Friday Vespers again this year (MP3s from last year's Colloquium available here—scroll down to "Votive Vespers of Saints John and Paul, Martyrs"). I might also give the advanced chant schola a shot, just for the challenge.

Looking forward to, as the man says, "staying churchy...." (Thanks to Aristotle Esguerra of The Recovering Choir Director for the poster.)

First Communion WITHOUT the Follies

Ladies and gentlemen, in honor of Corpus Christi (albeit a day late), I present my parish's first communicants for 2010, minus two kids who took off before I could get their pictures. Six of the nine (including the missing ones) are my CCD students and I'm as proud as can be.

On the left: Fr S, our new parish administrator (Fr C retired in December after 40 years in the priesthood). On the right: Deacon Clyde, who works at a nearby state prison and who gave an excellent homily.

Our musical selections for Corpus Christi:

Prelude: William Byrd, Ave verum Corpus (MIDI file)
Entrance: St Thomas Aquinas (tr. John Mason Neale), "The Heav'nly Word Proceeding Forth" (Verbum supernum prodeunt)
Sequence: By Flowing Waters #207
Communion:  St Thomas Aquinas (tr. Melvin L. Farrell), "Praise We Christ's Immortal Body" (Pange lingua gloriosi)
Recessional: Johann Rist (tr. by Catherine Winkworth), "O Living Bread from Heaven"

CMAA Colloquium Documentary on EWTN

Just announced by Jeff Ostrowski of Corpus Christi Watershed: Sacred, Beautiful, and Universal, the documentary on the 2009 CMAA Sacred Music Colloquium, will be aired on EWTN in July (all times Eastern):

Sunday, 4 July: 2 AM
Wednesday, 7 July: 1 PM
Saturday, 10 July: 2 PM

And just as a reminder of what you'll be seeing:

SACRED, BEAUTIFUL, & UNIVERSAL: Colloquium XIX from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

If a Three Year Old Can Sing Chant....

The future of chant.

O Frabjous Day!

From the National Catholic Register comes the good news that the Holy See has, at last, given its recognitio to the new English translation of the Roman Missal. So, if all goes well, we'll see much-improved texts in our parishes in Advent of next year—certainly by 2012.

How are the new texts an improvement over the old ones?

The current translations are the product of a translation method called dynamic equivalence, which tries to convey the gist of a text without necessarily translating word-for-word (or formal equivalence). This is OK for some situations, for example, if you want to give readers a simple overview of what the text means.

In 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued the instruction Liturgiam authenticam to give guidance on vernacular translations of the Bible and liturgical texts, calling for these to be more accurate and more faithful to the originals (see paragraphs 19–33, and especially paragraph 20). This meant that, basically, dynamic equivalence was a non-starter when it came to the new English translations, although many people, including several bishops, clung to the old ways on the grounds that the People in the Pews just wouldn't be able to understand fancy two-dollar words like "consubstantial." (Um, isn't that what catechesis is for?)

One of the dangers of the dynamic-equilvalence appropach is that it's fairly easy to oversimplify and obscure, or eliminate, subtleties in the original text. Here's an example, the Domine, non sum dignus:

Official Latin text
Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea.

Current translation (using dynamic equivalence)
Lord, I am not worthy to receive You, but only say the word, and I shall be healed.

New translation (using formal equivalence in accordance with Liturgiam authenticam)
Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.

Do you recognize the new translation? It's the centurion's words in Matthew 8:8, when he asks Jesus to heal his servant—something that you wouldn't necessarily pick up from the current translation. (Of course, in the Gospel the centurion actually said "servant" rather than "soul," but that's neither here nor there. The point is that we join in the centurion's act of faith before receiving Communion.)

Here's another one, this time from Eucharistic Prayer III:

Official Latin text
Vere sanctus es, Domine,
et merito te laudat omnis a te condita creatura,
quia per Filium tuum,
Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum,
Spiritus Sancti operante virtute,
vivificas et santificas universa,
et populum tibi congregare non desinis,
ut a solis ortu usque ad occasum
oblatio munda offeratur nomini tuo.

Current translation
Father, You are holy indeed,
and all creation rightly gives You praise.
All life, all holiness comes from You
through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
by the working of the Holy Spirit.
From age to age You gather a people to Yourself,
so that from east to west
a perfect offering may be made
to the glory of Your Name.

New translation
You are indeed Holy, O Lord,
and all you have created
rightly gives you praise,
for through your Son our Lord Jesus Christ,
by the power and working of the Holy Spirit,
you give life to all things and make them holy,
and you never cease to gather a people to yourself,
so that from the rising of the sun to its setting
a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name.

The new translation, especially the part I've highlighted, more closely parallels Malachi 1:11 than does what we have now:

For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting,
My Name is great among the nations;
And everywhere they bring sacrifice to My Name,
and a pure offering. (New American Bible)

So, to quote Lewis Carroll (again):

Callooh! Callay!

Disclaimer: No jabberwocks or bandersnatches were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Liturgical Pet Peeve #1: Holding Hands during the Our Father

A bit unusual to have back-to-back LPP1s, but I couldn't pass this one up after seeing the excellent video embedded below.

A practice seen in a large number of Catholic parishes (virtually every one I've attended, outside the Sacred Music Colloquium and St Patrick's in New Orleans) is that of congregants holding hands with one another during the Our Father—sometimes practically the entire congregation takes part in this, and I've even seen folks holding hands across the aisles. This culminates in the hand-holders raising their hands high at the Doxology ("For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours, now and forever").

I'm not quite sure how or when this got started; I've heard that someone, somewhere, saw it at a Protestant service and thought it might be cool for us Catholics to follow suit. However, the practice has become so prevalent, at least in the United States, that many bishops have acquiesced in it (in my diocese, it's supposed to be limited to immediate family, but I still see unrelated folks reaching for their neighbors' hands).

"But, Chris," I hear from the galleries, "it's such a nice, touching gesture [pun not intended]. It shows our warmth, our humanity, our neighborliness, our unity."

That's nice, guys and gals. I truly don't have a problem with gestures of warmth, humanity, or unity per se. I certainly exchange the first two with Ladylove rather frequently (the third one, of course, will have to wait for marriage, should that be our lot). But three small problems arise with endemic paternosterian manual contact:

1. Someone, somewhere, figured it would be cool and decided to "just do it." Sorry, but that's not the way we do things in Catholic liturgy, brothers and sisters:

Regulation of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church, that is, on the Apostolic See and, as laws may determine, on the bishop.... no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority. (Sacrosanctum Concilium 22)

2. There's already a sign of unity built into the Mass. The Eucharist is the ultimate sign of Christian unity, which is why the USCCB "Guidelines for the Reception of Communion" point out that, basically, Protestants can't receive (with specified exceptions). Why do we need another?

3. It takes the congregation's attention from the One Whom we're supposed to be praying to. I'll let Fr Jeffrey Keyes, pastor of St Edward Parish in Newark, CA, explain:


So, can we please give the hand-holding a rest?

Liturgical Pet Peeve #1: Liturgical Dancing

There are some folks who, no matter how nicely or how many times you explain something, seem to just not get it. One such group of people are the promoters of the topic of today's Liturgical Pet Peeve #1: liturgical dancing.

Over the five years now that I've been a Catholic, I've seen many examples of liturgical dance at Mass posted on YouTube and other sites. (I've been lucky so far in not having been to any live Masses with dancing, although I've attended a couple of Vespers services in which a dance troupe performed.) Examples range from the sublime...




...through the ridiculous...




...to the outrageous (sorry I couldn't imbed this; it was posted directly to Facebook, which doesn't support imbedding):

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=394275649000

Now, the folks involved in all three of these cases were, I'm sure, well-intentioned when the planned and performed these dances. However, there's a small problem with what they're doing: It is not permitted in liturgical celebrations in the US.

The now-Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments first took note of liturgical dancing in 1975 when it published an essay on the subject in Notitiae, its offical journal (Notitiae 11 [1975], 202–205). The essay was later translated into English as "The Religious Dance, an Expression of Spiritual Joy" and published in the Canon Law Digest (Volume VIII, pages 78–82).

To quote the essay:

[In Western culture] dancing is tied with love, with diversion, with profaneness, with unbridling of the senses: such dancing, in general, is not pure.

For that reason it cannot be introduced into liturgical celebrations of any kind whatever: that would be to inject into the liturgy one of the most desacralized and desacralizing elements; and so it would be equivalent to creating an atmosphere of profaneness which would easily recall to those present and to the participants in the celebration worldly places and situations.

The entire essay, along with some preliminary comments, can be found at the bottom of this page. The Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy (now the Bishops' Committee on Divine Worship) of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops reprinted the article in 1982 and issued directives specifically prohibiting liturgical dance (along with ballet and clown Masses).

Given this clear statement from both the Holy See and the US bishops, one question remains for the proponents of liturgical dance: What part of "no" don't you get?

Gone with the.... Well, Just Plain GONE

I found this gem, from Austrian TV, while cruising YouTube. Note the, ahem, ambiance at this Mass:



Save your Confederate money, boys, South Austria's gonna rise again.

Suffering....

Paul Nichols at Catholic Cartoon Blog came up with this little gem. I know how the caller feels....

An Inside Look at Colloquium '09

Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed, here are a couple of snippets from polyphonic choir rehearsals at last year's Sacred Music Colloquium.

First up, Maestro Wilko Brouwers:


Dr Jenny Donelson's choir for the Thursday Holy Hour:

Think Warm

Because it's still cold and windy and snowy and, well, wintry throughout much of the country (including here in the Mojave), I've gone ahead and put up the springtime Clamator banner to help y'all think warm.

It's Here!

The DVD of Sacred, Beautiful, and Universal, the documentary on the 2009 CMAA Sacred Music Colloquium, is now available from Corpus Christi Watershed. Feel free to consume mass quantities.

Colloquium Dos Equis

My registration's in for the 2010 CMAA Colloquium, or, since it's the 20th edition, "Colloquium Dos Equis" (XX). This'll be my fourth journey to "Seven Days of Musical Heaven," this time at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

Pardon My Dust

Just making a few tweaks to the place—new banner picture, some links on the side, a signup sheet for plainchant settings of the new Mass translation on the bottom.

Extraordinary Manners

From the Philippines comes this useful guide to etiquette at Extraordinary Form Masses, advice that would apply just as well to the Ordinary Form.

Aging Hippie Paradise

Father Z over at What Does the Prayer Really Say? be doin' that rap-parody thang an' droppin' some science to boot, dawg. Check out this here rhyme.

Sacred, Beautiful, and Universal

Back in July, I mentioned that I had attended the CMAA Sacred Music Colloquium in Chicago, at which Corpus Christi Watershed had filmed a documentary.

CCW released the completed documentary, entitled Sacred, Beautiful, and Universal (from the three requirements for sacred music given by St Pius X in Tra le sollecitudini), online yesterday (embedded video courtesy of Vimeo):



The documentary is also going to be available on DVD, along with a bonus interview with Dr William Mahrt, president of the CMAA (and, from personal experience, a wonderful lecturer). More info on the DVD, as well as a CD of the music, can be found at the Music for the Liturgy website.