Young people doing their own sacred music

[VociMike]

Saw this on a blog today:

youtube.com/watch?v=NKuBfCaIqsU&mode=related&search=

Apparently they’re from a Mennonite college (!)

 

[Sarabande]

Wow! Thanks for sharing!!! That was great!!!

Do you know if this was part of their college’s curriculum? My university has a respected music department. We’d sing a lot of sacred music in the choirs for concerts and such, but our Newman Center never did any of it for mass - probably more so because we didn’t have the voices or enough talent to pull it off, since most of the music majors that were Catholic and stayed on campus were actually percussion majors. (Can’t do much with just timpani, cymbals and marimbas! haha!) We did the best we could with who and what we had. But I eventually moved on to our choir at the Cathedral to do the Palestrina, etc. as I was tired of doing that kind of Catholic sacred music only in concert or hearing it done at Protestant churches.

I attended a public university. Do Catholic universities have these groups to sing at their Sunday masses, or are they like the Newman Center I attended? I attended mass at Stubenville once when I was about 14 and I remember it only being a guitar mass. Nothing really special or inspiring in terms of the music liturgy, although it was nice to see kids happy to be at mass. It might have changed since then and I was only there once, so I really can’t make an opinion of it. I’m just wondering…

 

[PaulDupre]

Beautiful!

 

[VociMike]

Wow! Thanks for sharing!!! That was great!!!

Do you know if this was part of their college’s curriculum?

No, I don’t know much about them, other than they’re at Goshen College.

My university has a respected music department. We’d sing a lot of sacred music in the choirs for concerts and such, but our Newman Center never did any of it for mass - probably more so because we didn’t have the voices or enough talent to pull it off, since most of the music majors that were Catholic and stayed on campus were actually percussion majors. (Can’t do much with just timpani, cymbals and marimbas! haha!) We did the best we could with who and what we had. But I eventually moved on to our choir at the Cathedral to do the Palestrina, etc. as I was tired of doing that kind of Catholic sacred music only in concert or hearing it done at Protestant churches.

I’d say there’s no excuse for a Newman Center at a university with a respected music department not to be doing high-quality sacred music. Well, at least no good excuse.

I attended a public university. Do Catholic universities have these groups to sing at their Sunday masses, or are they like the Newman Center I attended? I attended mass at Stubenville once when I was about 14 and I remember it only being a guitar mass. Nothing really special or inspiring in terms of the music liturgy, although it was nice to see kids happy to be at mass. It might have changed since then and I was only there once, so I really can’t make an opinion of it. I’m just wondering…

While Ave Maria University was here in Naples the university choir and scholas would sing for Mass. That may be changing this year as the administration has moved the Latin Novus Ordo Mass to 8AM (from 10AM) and they’re just not going to get as many students in there for warmup at 7:30 on a Sunday morning. Since there is a strong Praise and Worship contingent in the administration, one is permitted to wonder if there is a deliberate attempt at marginalization involved.

 

[Sarabande]

I’d say there’s no excuse for a Newman Center at a university with a respected music department not to be doing high-quality sacred music. Well, at least no good excuse.

While Ave Maria University was here in Naples the university choir and scholas would sing for Mass. That may be changing this year as the administration has moved the Latin Novus Ordo Mass to 8AM (from 10AM) and they’re just not going to get as many students in there for warmup at 7:30 on a Sunday morning. Since there is a strong Praise and Worship contingent in the administration, one is permitted to wonder if there is a deliberate attempt at marginalization involved.

Yes, I agree, although not everyone in the music department was Catholic, so they wouldn’t have come unless they were being paid. Also, I do know a lot of the voice majors got paid positions in choirs at various churches around the city, which can make a difference for poor music students. At the time when I was in college (I’ve since graduated) I only knew of two Roman Catholic churches that did this music – our Cathedral’s volunteer choir, which was what I and my husband (boyfriend at the time) joined, and another church that had a paid schola and a couple of volunteer choirs. I think things are getting better around here, though.

I’m sorry to hear about Ave Maria University. You’re right. Most college students won’t want to get up that early for mass. It was hard enough for me at the time to get up at 9:00. haha! It will kill that part of the music program.