Thursday, May 3, 2007

THIS SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT

Jeffrey Tucker on the NaPalM convention:
"It seems that the authentic music of the Church that is intimately linked to the Mass itself is making a brief and hesitant appearance as part of a vast range of options, like one of a thousand side dishes in a massive all-you-can-eat buffet."

Yup - in other words, pretty like a cameo. Jeff's about got that right. Supposedly they do workshops on chant, but you hardly ever hear about it because they're buried behind cantor (read: arm flapping) and guitar workshops, as well as showcases by the publishers and composers of the "greatest hits" fare.

In fact, the NPM "Institutes" posted at this time at their site are:
"Cantor Express"
"Choir Director Institute"
"Music with Children"
"Guitar and Ensemble"
"Pastoral Liturgy"

No chant. No organ. And I shutter to picture their definition of "Pastoral". Considering I used to post on their message board (for about six years), I am NOT sold.

Peace,
BMP

4 comments:

DominiSumus said...

I noticed the location of the Pastoral Liturgy conference.

I plan to take a walk by, but I will not be attending. I will be taking real classes during that week.

Unknown said...

such a scary thought!!!

PhiMuAlpha2681 said...

As the resident NPM apologist...

The Cantor Express events are quite good, especially for singers without formal vocal training. A good part of the session is spent on lectio divina, and how to prepare the texts themselves, memorization of the antiphons, musical preparation via vocalises, as well as liturgical study via the General Instruction.

Jennifer Pascual, John Romeri, et al. will be doing several organ workshops of various levels at the national convention. Good question about why there is no organ/organist institute, as the Organist Section is the single largest section of NPM. I'll drop Jennifer an e-mail and see what she has to say. Anthony Ruff will be doing chant at the convention as well, Michael Joncas and James Chepponis will be presenting sessions on the Propers, and OCP has sponsored a chant session with Columba Kelly and the monks of St. Meinrad.

~nb

Chironomo said...

I'm not sure that NPM really needs apologists, but the point is taken. Your outlie of their programs does not address the real point of this posting: That NPM seems to put ALL of the choices for liturgy on the same level, as though they were all equally valid (which they are not). AND... the appearance of any treatment of chant at an NPM event is an extremely new phenomena (I've been going to them since 1986), leaving me with the feeling that they are seeing it as "the latst trend".