Here, we have a report on the recent Sacred Music Workshop, sponsored by St. Cecilia Schola Cantorum. I'm quite excited about the success they had in introducing novices to chant and polyphony, and even applying what they all learned that day at an evening Mass.
"Contrary to the impression that this music is only for specialists, all the music sung at this liturgy was prepared in this one day. Most participants had never sung Latin chant or polyphony before, and many had no prior experience in reading music. Some came with some hesitancy about their ability to sing anything in Latin. But everyone left the workshop with new enthusiasm for the possibilities of sacred music to become integral to liturgy in any parish. The day underscored how it is not just for cathedrals or concert halls but for everyone to experience as an aid to prayer...
The children's participation in the evening liturgy served a special purpose of showing that this repertoire goes far beyond age or other divisions but has the same universal and timeless quality of the faith itself...
The feel of singing itself took on an entirely different character, almost akin of being aboard a glider that lifted and soared through the air without the aid of engines. Moving passages were almost an act of faith, as were most aspects of singing in this manner. The director was not making the music but merely acting as a guide for the singers to offer praises through their own internal gifts from God. Few of us had ever encountered such an approach which was at once simple, humble, and suggestive of a lifetime of experience. In the end, it worked brilliantly to bring about the creation of a heavenly sound of sung prayer...
Parishioners who came to Mass that evening were not expecting to greet a choir of sixty singing this vastly beautiful and expansive repertoire but the comments afterward made it clear how the workshop schola came across: the faithful that gathered that hour for liturgy adored the entire approach because it pointed to the God which is truly worthy of adoration."
Good work! Thank you for putting into practice the vision, that many of us hope will one day be the norm again everywhere.
