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Exercising the Vocal Cords
Yesterday was my "easy" day in classes (though the classes themselves are getting tough), but more interestingly (I hope) is a recounting of the musical events of the day.
First, Mass. Yesterday was the all-school Mass over at Marian. Usually, on Thursdays, we have Mass over at Marian, and while that was the case yesterday, it was a bit different than normal in that it was an all-school Mass. They have these Masses a few times a semester for big occasions, and this time the Mass was celebrating the opening of the new semester. All-school Masses are always interesting because first, they have a ton more people than any other Masses and second, the Marian Choir is the leader of the songs at Mass. The first point tends (for me anyway) to make concentration and especially prayer more difficult. I don't really know, at the March for Life it was so awesome to be surrounded by tons and tons of people - it was a very powerful, and even prayerful, moment - but for some reason the large numbers at Marian don't inspire me the same way. Anyway, moving onto the positives, the music at Marian was pretty good. I always go into all-school Masses not knowing what to expect (remembering the bongo's that appeared several months ago), but at yesterday's Mass the percussion instruments went un-played and the guitar was mercifully quiet. Yes, I could complain about the choice of hymns, but they weren't heretical, and Ubi Caritas, despite their playing it every. single. time., is actually a beautiful hymn. Overall, I found that going in with a (slightly) open mind, and less of a negative attitude, worked wonders for making the all-school Mass a better experience. I know, I know, most of this post was listing off my complaints, but the Mass is seriously getting better every time, and I am seeing it in a more charitable light.
Second, Schola Practice. Yesterday we had our second schola practice and we really got down to working on the hymn for parents and pastors (a Saturday 2 weeks from now during which all the guys' parents and pastors are invited to Bruté). Anyway, as I mentioned previously, I have been slotted (to my chagrin) into the base part along with another guy. Thank goodness, in at least this particular piece of music, a certain version of Ave Maria, the base section stays in a perfectly singable range of notes, and though it has a few tricky spots, I can easily hit the entire range. The other positions have much, much harder sections than I do. The soprano and tenor section both have to hit incredibly high (well into my falsetto) notes, and they, along with the alto section, have a much more complicated melody to remember. I am certain that once we pull it together it will sound splendid, absolutely fantastic. I don't know if I will be able to record it for your listening pleasure, we'll see.
Third, Compline. Last night we chanted night prayer as a community directly after schola practice. As it so happened, yesterday was my day to be the cantor, so that meant that I was in charge of intoning the hymn at the beginning, leading the "cantor-side" of the psalm and canticle, and then the hymn (praising Mary) at the end. I was pretty confident a few days back because I thought I could pick up right where I left off last semester. Of course, things couldn't go that smoothly. First, the few times I practiced I had a few minor slips on the chants during the psalm and/or canticle. We are using a somewhat simplified version of the Meinrad chant tones, and while I'm pretty good at being able to lead them (especially because we have an organist playing the melody along with), there are a few spots where I stumbled transferring from one line to the next and I my pacing just didn't seem quite right. Anyway, it also so happened that we changed the hymns up for the day. Because it was the celebration Queenship of Mary the hymn at the end changed from Salve Regina to Ave Regina Caelorum - I knew both of them no-problem, but the change meant one more thing to remember... Also, I thought that I would use Holy God as the opening hymn - it's easy, everybody knows it, and it's one of my favorite hymns - but, it was not to be, Tony, the prayer leader for the night wanted O Christ You are the Light and Day. Again, I thought I had it no problem... Once I walked back to the organ (where the cantor leads from for compline) I hummed the first few bars of the opening hymn to check what note I wanted to start on. To my horror, I couldn't take the hymn as it was in my head and get the notes right. The jumps between the notes just weren't coming out right and I kept hitting the "light and day" on the wrong note. Aaron (the organist) was phenomenal in singing the tune quietly for me. Anyway, to quickly destroy any climax that I was just creating, everything ended up coming out correctly. But wow, I was a bit worried there at the beginning.
OK, if that wall of text was too much, here's the super-short-summary: Marian's music was better than it has ever been, Schola practice was challenging, but the song will be spectacular when we pull it off, and Compline, even with tired vocal cords and a uncooperative memory, went well. What can I say, it was another great day!
Also, thanks to everybody who is reading my blog - the numbers have jumped up the past few days - that's very encouraging. I'll keep posting stuff on here whenever I get the chance. (Any ideas? Let me know in the comment section that you should see below.) Thanks!
Second, Schola Practice. Yesterday we had our second schola practice and we really got down to working on the hymn for parents and pastors (a Saturday 2 weeks from now during which all the guys' parents and pastors are invited to Bruté). Anyway, as I mentioned previously, I have been slotted (to my chagrin) into the base part along with another guy. Thank goodness, in at least this particular piece of music, a certain version of Ave Maria, the base section stays in a perfectly singable range of notes, and though it has a few tricky spots, I can easily hit the entire range. The other positions have much, much harder sections than I do. The soprano and tenor section both have to hit incredibly high (well into my falsetto) notes, and they, along with the alto section, have a much more complicated melody to remember. I am certain that once we pull it together it will sound splendid, absolutely fantastic. I don't know if I will be able to record it for your listening pleasure, we'll see.
Third, Compline. Last night we chanted night prayer as a community directly after schola practice. As it so happened, yesterday was my day to be the cantor, so that meant that I was in charge of intoning the hymn at the beginning, leading the "cantor-side" of the psalm and canticle, and then the hymn (praising Mary) at the end. I was pretty confident a few days back because I thought I could pick up right where I left off last semester. Of course, things couldn't go that smoothly. First, the few times I practiced I had a few minor slips on the chants during the psalm and/or canticle. We are using a somewhat simplified version of the Meinrad chant tones, and while I'm pretty good at being able to lead them (especially because we have an organist playing the melody along with), there are a few spots where I stumbled transferring from one line to the next and I my pacing just didn't seem quite right. Anyway, it also so happened that we changed the hymns up for the day. Because it was the celebration Queenship of Mary the hymn at the end changed from Salve Regina to Ave Regina Caelorum - I knew both of them no-problem, but the change meant one more thing to remember... Also, I thought that I would use Holy God as the opening hymn - it's easy, everybody knows it, and it's one of my favorite hymns - but, it was not to be, Tony, the prayer leader for the night wanted O Christ You are the Light and Day. Again, I thought I had it no problem... Once I walked back to the organ (where the cantor leads from for compline) I hummed the first few bars of the opening hymn to check what note I wanted to start on. To my horror, I couldn't take the hymn as it was in my head and get the notes right. The jumps between the notes just weren't coming out right and I kept hitting the "light and day" on the wrong note. Aaron (the organist) was phenomenal in singing the tune quietly for me. Anyway, to quickly destroy any climax that I was just creating, everything ended up coming out correctly. But wow, I was a bit worried there at the beginning.
OK, if that wall of text was too much, here's the super-short-summary: Marian's music was better than it has ever been, Schola practice was challenging, but the song will be spectacular when we pull it off, and Compline, even with tired vocal cords and a uncooperative memory, went well. What can I say, it was another great day!
Also, thanks to everybody who is reading my blog - the numbers have jumped up the past few days - that's very encouraging. I'll keep posting stuff on here whenever I get the chance. (Any ideas? Let me know in the comment section that you should see below.) Thanks!
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