January 28, 2019

#049: Catholic Schools Week Edition

January 28, 2019

This week, across the country, thousands of parish communities are celebrating Catholic Schools Week. My connections to Catholic school are many – an educator, administrator, graduate, current parent, and more. I know many of you have connections to Catholic schools, too, and at various levels. But what I’d like to focus on today is how our work as pastoral musicians and liturgists intersects with the work of Catholic education. In some communities, the connection between parish and school is close and cooperative. In others, the parish and school operate so independently of one another that, save for physical proximity, you’d never know they were connected.

I’m hoping to explore these complex realities directly and in depth in future episodes. Today, however, we’re starting with something more basic. How do we engage the children of our parish in worship? How do we invite youth to appreciate a variety of traditional and contemporary liturgical music styles? To address these questions, we’ll begin with some thoughts from Dr. Elaine Rendler. We’ll also hear from the Congregation on Catholic Education in this week’s Ministry Moment.

SHOW NOTES

For more information about Dr. Elaine Rendler and her work, visit her composer page at OCP and her faculty page at George Mason University. You can find out more about Today's Liturgy, including how to subscribe, by visiting the OCP website.

Today’s featured article was originally published in the April-May 1998 issue of Pastoral Music magazine. To read the full text of “The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium,” visit the Vatican website.

The music you heard in today’s episode: “Love Divine, All Love’s Excelling” (HYFRYDOL, text by Charles Wesley) and “I Have Been Anointed” (Steve Warner).

Visit NPM's digital resource library, referenced at the end of the episode.

All content of this podcast is property of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians or its content suppliers and is protected by United States and international copyright laws. For information about the podcast and its use, please contact us.

January 21, 2019

#048: Improving Choral Rehearsals (with Michael Kemp)

January 21, 2019

Some of the most common resolutions set by musicians have to do with rehearing: we resolve to rehearse more, to rehearse better, to develop better habits, and so forth. As directors and leaders of music ensembles, we have the added need to improve our rehearsal design, the skills of our ensemble members, and their rehearsal technique.

Today, we’ll hear a special workshop presentation from Michael Kemp. Offered at the 2018 NPM convention in Baltimore, Michael presented a workshop titled “Igniting Choral Rehearsals with Efficiency, Artistry, and Motivation.” In this session, participants learned how to prepare rehearsals in such a way as to inspire singers and increase the beauty of their sound. Participants also examined sample anthems with annotations that helped show how to attain dynamic improvements in their choirs, creating an intriguing experience for choir members, and a tremendous boost to skill-building.

SHOW NOTES

To find out more about Michael Kemp’s compositions and publications, visit his composer page at GIA Publications and his personal website, www.michaelkemp.org.

The music you heard in today’s episode: “The Summons” (Bell), and “I Send You Out” (Angotti).

Visit NPM's digital resource library, referenced at the end of the episode. While you are there, check out the program and register for the 2019 NPM National Convention!

January 14, 2019

#047: Looking Ahead to Triduum (with Diana Macalintal) - REPLAY

January 14, 2019

Last week, our second installment of our “New Year Resolution” series explored liturgy planning with our guest, Christian Cosas. We are continuing that thread today, but we’re moving to a deeper and more specific application.

While we’ve only been officially out of the Christmas for a matter of hours, it’s time to think about Lent and Easter. To assist with our resolution of planning ahead, and planning strategically, we’re bringing you a rebroadcast of our episode with Diana Macalintal. Originally published in April of 2018, our conversation explored ways to effectively evaluate and plan for the marathon days of Triduum. It was one of our most popular conversations of last year. So, sit back and enjoy this rebroadcast. We’ll be back with a new episode next week.

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Doing real, objective evaluation of our liturgies, especially major celebrations like those during Triduum, is so important, yet can be difficult to get right. Often, we are tempted to do the evaluating in real time, while the liturgies are happening, but that prevents us from entering into the prayer and mystery of the celebration. Other times we are tempted to wait, and we do, but we wait too long and so forget what went well, what went wrong, or ideas about what might be done differently. Today our evaluation gets a boost from two important sources: Diana Macalintal provides a list of ten triduum pro-tips. Rachel Held Evans asks the question, “So how was your Easter…really?”

SHOW NOTES

Download Diana's evaluation resources from today's episode by visiting her website.

You can find out more about Diana Macalintal and her work at www.TeamRCIA.com and at liturgy.life. You can find information about her publications by visiting the Liturgical Press. You can also find out more about her music compositions by visiting World Library Publications.

You can read the full text of Rachel Held Evans' blog post, "So How Was Your Easter...Really?" on her website. The original post was dated April 9, 2012.

The recordings of “Gather Your People” and "Resucito" were produced by OCP. The recording of "Alleluia, Sing to Jesus," was produced by GIA Publications.

Visit NPM's digital resource library, referenced at the end of the episode.