Author: Amanda G

As the summer comes to a close, the choir is gearing up once again for a new season of liturgical singing of sacred chant and polyphony beginning at the 10:30 mass Sept. 9th. The first practice is Wednesday September 5th at 6:15pm followed by a workshop on September 8th. Regular practices continue on Wednesday evenings throughout the year. We are always looking for new members to join us. Please prayerfully consider if you are being called to give of your time and talents for the glory of God in this way.  No prior experience or tryouts are necessary to join. We especially need men’s voices for both chant and part singing. Chanting in the choir is a wonderful way to grow in your faith and deepen your understanding of the liturgy. Check out this website and contact the choir director Amanda Gulick at 174gulick@gmail for more information.

This free app was developed by a member of the choir in Cincinatti, Ben Bloomfield. (Well done, Ben!) Just pick your Propers for the day, add the Ordinary, and you’re ready to sing Mass. This app puts it all in the order that you’d sing it.

Think of this as a travel Liber with the ability to play the chant at various tempos and pitches. You can even change the chant, adding or removing Episemas and bar lines!

But wait there’s more!!! If its a Sunday where we’re singing Psalm tone, it does that too!!! SO COOL! (When did I become such a chant geek?)

Perhaps in the future, it could potentially be used in the loft to sing from… I can just imagine. (of course we’d all need our own iPads 🙂 HUMMMM….

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chant-tools/id1225329409?mt=8

Mark your calendars for the first weekend in May! Between the 4th and 6th of May (still working on final dates and times) we will be putting on two concerts as a fundraiser for those who would like to attend the Choir retreat in Cincinatti. Much of the music is already familiar to you, but we are planning some new pieces as well.

This concert is centered around the year 1571 and the Battle of Lepanto. We will be featuring music from the composers living at that time in history. Fortunately for us, we know and love many of them already! Tallis, Byrd, Palestrina, Victoria, just to name a few.

Jim Warner has agreed to be our MC for the concert and walk the audience through this time in history as the Church fights a battle for her faith. The proposed line up is listed below:  (Not necessarily in the final order, but pretty close.)

Composer	New	Work
Persecution & the Church Suffering:
Tallis	*	Salvator Mundi	1
Palestrina		Super Flumina	2
Palestrina		Exaudi Domine	3
Byrd		Ave Verum	4
Byrd		Agnus Dei	5
Turning to Mary through the Rosary:
Lasuss	ladies	Tota Pulchra es	6
Guerrero	*	Ave Maria	7
Victoria		Ave Maris Stella	8
Victoria	*	Sancta Maria Succurre	9
Byrd		Organ Pieces
Preparing for Battle:
chant		Vexilla Regis	10
Palestrina		O Crux Ave	11
Palestrina		Sitivit	12
Palestrina	*	Ego Sum	13
Victory:
Lassus	* men	Ad te Parenne Gaudium	14
Byrd	*	Justorum Animae	15
Croce		Cantate Domino	16
Victoria		O Quam Gloriosum	17
Viadana	*	Exultate Justi in Domino	18

More information to come soon…..

Sacred Music Retreat Hosted by the Oratorian Community of Cincinnati, to be held at St. Anne Retreat Center in Melbourne, KY, from Wednesday, August 8th through Sunday, August 12^th of 2018.

We are very excited to announce that we have lined up the main presenters for the retreat.

• Bp. Slattery will celebrate the pontifical ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday. These include Matins (3^rd Nocturn) and Lauds of the Dead followed by a Requiem Mass at Old St. Mary’s on Saturday, August 11^th, and the Mass at Sacred Heart Sunday, August 12^th.  His Grace is bishop emeritus of Tulsa, OK, and currently resides in Lincoln, Nebraska.
• Msgr. Wadsworth will provide the spiritual conferences. Executive director of ICEL, the monsignor is highly regarded liturgically and musically. Currently working to help found the Oratorian Community-in-formation in the D.C. area, he has been a presenter at CMAA events. Monsignor studied with several renowned musicians and was a cantor under the direction of Mary Berry while she was director of the Schola Gregoriana at Cambridge.
• Nicholas Lemme will rehearse and direct the music for the Office of the Dead and pontifical Requiem at Old St. Mary’s. Nick currently is a professor of Gregorian chant, sacred polyphony, and vocal instruction at the FSSP’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminaryin the Diocese of Lincoln, NE.  Additionally, he composes music, conducts the St. Francis of Assisi Chapel Choir (FSSP), and periodically provides chant instruction for diocesan religious and clinics throughout the USA. He and his wife are both highly regarded for their interpretation of chant and knowledge of polyphony.
• Kevin Allen will rehearse and direct the music for the Sunday pontifical Mass at Sacred Heart. Kevin is highly regarded as a composer of opera, chamber, and orchestral music. He is also well-known for compositions specifically for the Latin Mass, several of which will be featured during the retreat. Based in Chicago, Allen is the founding director of the Collins Consort, American Composer’s Project, and Schola Immaculata. He is also the choirmaster of the Benedictine Monastery of the Holy Cross in Chicago.

Registration opens in mid-March and will also be available via the Facebook page and the CMAA forum. Registrations will be capped at 110 attendees. The attendance fee is $450 / person. This covers the cost of room / board throughout the retreat; as well as transportation costs involved in bussing attendees to and from local parishes for pontifical ceremonies; music; presenter costs; and other miscellaneous expenses.

 

For more information, visit the links below:

MusicaSacra

facebook

For your listening and learning pleasure, I have posted the newest pieces that we’ll be learning in the coming weeks on the Audio playback page. We had a good start on them on last Wednesday. I was super happy with our ability to sight read some tough stuff! More fun to come this week.

Please mark your calendars for Saturday, March 3rd, for the spring workshop! This will be the time we really work on our Holy week material.

See you all Wednesday

Welcome Back!

Here we are at the beginning of another exciting season! So much to do and look forward to…

Just a few reminders… practices are beginning this Wednesday, Sept. 6th at 6:15 pm. It’s helpful to arrive a few minutes before hand (If possible) to set up and grab some water. Sunday, rehearsal begins at 9:30 am.  Again, arriving as little as 5 mins early is super helpful. We strive for an attendance record of 85%.  It’s this kind of commitment that makes this choir so amazing. If you have to miss a rehearsal or Mass (I totally understand that life is taking place all around you) please just let me know by either Text message or email.

The schedule is up online for the month as well as Propers to listen to. Coming soon, will be playback files for our newest pieces from the workshop.

As we begin this new season, I’m reminded of how blessed we are to have this opportunity and privilege to not only make beautiful music with (and for) our friends and family, but to give honor and glory to God through music. Music, is food for the soul for those who sing as well as those to are blessed to hear it. May we always push ourselves to give this gift of ourselves to the best of our ability so that we, like the angels, may sing His praises forever.

May God Bless you all this year.

Let’s get to work!

 

The 2016-2017 has come to a close.

I want to thank all who have helped to make this season a great success through their hard work and dedication.  It has been a privilege to working with you. Together, we have given of ourselves and used our talents in order to raise hearts and minds to God in prayer. We have brought to life music from past generations although old, is still made new here at Holy Family.

Our next High Mass is scheduled for August 15th, 2017, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our practice for this Mass will take place on Monday the 14th of August, at the usual time (6:15pm).

Have a blessed and beautiful summer break!

 

Just a reminder that the Feast of the Sacred Heart will be celebrated with a High Mass in Lebanon at St. Francis DeSales Catholic Church.

Address: 20 Desales Ave, Lebanon, OH 45036

Those choir members who wish to sing are to be there by 6pm for the 7 pm Mass. We will have a 45 min. warm-up/ rehearsal.

Opening Hymn: Jesus My Lord My God My All
Propers for the Mass of the Sacred Heart
Mass: Byrd Mass for 4 voices
Offertory: Cor Dulce, Anon
Communion:
Anima Christi, Chant with Drone
Cor Jesu Trinitatis, Anon
Bone Pastor, Tallis
Closing: To Jesus Heart All burning

Please bring a water bottle and your music as I will not be able to provide copies.

MayGod Bless you all!

Amanda

 

This new recording produced by the Fraternity seminarians looks amazing. I can’t wait to own a copy myself!

 

First of all, I’d like to thank all of you very hard working choir members for devoting your Saturday to attend the workshop this weekend. Not only was it a very productive day, we were able to enjoy spending time together as a choir building friendships. I’d also like to thank the saintly souls who helped prepare the food for the workshop. It was quite a spread! It helped us all to get refreshed and prepared for more hard work.

The recording process is still in the learning phase.  We were able to get recordings from the morning session, but something happened in the afternoon recordings that left us with nothing. (Most disappointing!) However, the recordings we were able to get did turn out well for the most part.  There were mistakes, (as expected) but I think we are heading in the right direction.  Please share your thoughts as you listen to the recordings. One of the reasons for making them is to use them to self-critique and find ways in which we can improve our overall sound as a choir.

Schola Recordings

Thank you all for sharing your gifts and talents to bring glory and honor to God.