The 5 C’s of cantoring at church

Cantoring at a worship service is no easy task. Like anything, it becomes easier the more you do it, but for those who have never done it before, it can be intimidating and scary. So here are five cantoring tips to keep in mind if you have plans to give it a whirl:

Confidence – The people in the pews are impressed with you even before you open your mouth. That’s because you’re doing something admirable – putting yourself out there for your community to see. And no matter how good or bad of a voice you think you might have, remember that it’s likely better than most of your fellow parishioners. So carry yourself with a bit of confidence and know that your ministry will be well received. A confident song leader can go a long way toward encouraging members of the congregation to sing.

Collected (or Calm or Composed) – When do I go up for the Psalm? How many verses of the Alleluia? Which songs do I announce? It’s not unusual for these types of questions to pop into your head immediately before or during a liturgy. Be as prepared as you can be heading into the service. New cantors are highly encouraged to make a cheat sheet so that they can follow each step of the Mass. Even seasoned church-goers are surprised at things they suddenly forget when they’re in the new position of leading the music. And if you panic during the liturgy and draw a blank, try to discreetly ask your accompanist for help. If all else fails, stay confident and rely on your instincts.

Contact - Make eye contact! Don’t bury your head in a hymnal. Don’t stare at the microphone. Don’t spend the entire Mass looking at the back of the church. The words you sing will have a powerful effect on those who hear them. You can further bring them into the presence of God by making eye contact and giving them a split second of personal connection. I know you have music to read, too. But practice looking up and down from your music. Know the parts of a particular piece where you don’t have to rely on music and tell yourself to look at the congregation during those few bars. A little eye contact will go a long way.

Congregation - The most important thing you can remember as a cantor is that you are there to help lead the service, not to become a part of the service. Your primary role is to facilitate participation among the congregation. You are serving them. When the cantor is the only one singing, your job is to lead the congregation in prayer. When leading Psalm verses, it’s important to make the words you sing the focal point (not how well you’re singing them). When soloing a meditation piece, it’s important to let your words and the music become almost a backdrop to the silent prayers of your parishioners. You may be leading the congregation in song, but ultimately you have to see your role for what it truly is – as that of a servant.

Courteous - While it’s important to have confidence (as mentioned above), it’s also important to not let that confidence turn into arrogance. The latter has no place at a worship service. Always remember that your gifts come from God and that your role as a cantor is to proclaim God’s word. It is not unusual for a cantor to receive compliments after a service (or sometimes a spontaneous round of applause). The praise of others will certainly motivate you and make you feel very proud. Just be sure to remain humble, too. Acknowledge any praise with a simple and courteous smile, wave or “thank you.”

Those are my C’s. Do you have any others to add??

- MW

Music: The sacred language

One of our newest Twitter friends, Marketta Gregory, was kind enough to let us bring your attention to a recent post on her blog, “Simply Faithful.” What caught our eye was the headline – “Music: The sacred language of the heart.” It’s a relatively short blog about Marketta’s childhood experience with a man who used to sing at her church. What stuck with us was this graph near the end:

I can never seem to adequately describe the power of music, but I know it preaches a good sermon all on its own and works like prayer to draw me closer to God and to remind me of sacred moments.

Have truer words ever been written? How many times have you been at church only to hear a song that seemed to fit so perfectly with the thoughts that were swirling in your head? How many times has music proven to be the perfect background soundtrack to your meditative prayer? How many times has the hair on your neck stood tall upon hearing the angelic voice of a fellow parishioner?

Music of all kinds – not just liturgical – has the power to stir within us emotions that we may not be ready to face. It can open up a part of our soul that’s yearning to be exposed to the world. It can bring comfort. It can bring hope. It can help us grieve. It can help us celebrate.

We’ll make this the focus of a future blog — that is, music’s ability to have truly sacramental qualities. In the meantime, we’d like to thank Marketta for reminding us how lucky we are to have such a powerful thing as our hobbies.

- MW

Sacred music in the liturgy

I read an article this week on Catholic.net that touched on the increasingly popular debate about sacred music’s place in today’s liturgies and how it should be reconciled with the pop-style music that has been the genre of choice for liturgical music directors for decades.

I continue to believe that both styles have tremendous liturgical value. And while many advocates of sacred music point to its historical significance, one can no longer deny today’s more modern style from having similar historical importance. Generations of worshippers have seen their faith formed to the beats of songs by the likes David Haas, Marty Haugen, Michael Card, Amy Grant and hundreds of other influential, faith-filled, talented individuals.

A preference for one style over the other is perfectly acceptable. But to disparage one style over the other based on that preference is simple minded. And to disparage one over the other on the basis of liturgical value or sacramental qualities is plainly unchristian.

It’s the opinion of this writer that the best liturgies are those that, over time, show a deep appreciation and understanding for all styles. The single most significant metric liturgical music directors should consider when evaluating the impact of their liturgies is whether or not the music helps the congregation pray. Different congregations will want different styles more often than other. To that end, it’s the job of the music director to balance what the people want with an infusion of new sounds.

Helping people pray – that’s the job of a liturgical music director.

 

Preparing for Lent

As a Christian, today, Ash Wednesday, marks the beginning of 40 days of the Lenten season – a time of internal reflection, of quiet prayer and of sacrifice (no more potato chips until Easter).

I’ve always enjoyed the season of Lent primarily for what it prepares Christians for — the Easter season and, most notably, Easter Sunday. Spending a few weeks on a more somber tone makes a joyous holiday that much more joyous. Simple as that.

Today I came across an article that a college friend of mine posted on Facebook. It’s from last year and it’s one man’s (pastor’s) account of experiencing the Carnival season (Mardi Gras) for the first time in his life. The experience opened his eyes to an entirely new meaning of Lent and for the first time in his life he’s embracing the 40 days of reflection with open arms. As someone who just experienced his first Carnival season (albeit one day of it — yesterday at Fasching Tuesday in Munich), I kind of see his point. If a quiet, reflective period of time is the perfect lead-in to Easter, why can’t a celebratory period of time be the perfect lead-in to Lent? Perhaps it can be. And perhaps that’s why so many regions around the world celebrate Fat Tuesday the way they do.

Modern church music in Munich

I had to write a quick post to let everyone know that — after a month of living in Munich, Germany — my wife and I finally caught a Catholic Mass with a modern folk group leading the music from the front of the church. Although everything was still in German, it was a comforting and familiar sound that I wasn’t sure if I would hear while overseas.

You see, the churches here are different than in America. As I’ve written before, they’re massive. They’re buildings that are meant to be filled with the sounds of a pipe organ. And let me tell you from personal experience — hearing a chanted psalm with an organ behind it while sitting in the pews of a 500-year-old church is an amazing spiritual experience.

Still, it was nice to see that Germans also have an appreciation for a more modern approach to music at Mass. This past weekend we were treated to an eight-person choir accompanied by a piano and guitar. The music was more of the praise-and-worship variety and they even treated the congregation to a communion meditation piece. It was beautiful.

I will be honest. A piano does not sound nearly as good as the pipe organ in a building with such booming acoustics. But it doesn’t not work, either. (Don’t you love a good double negative?)  I’m hopeful that we’ll experience a few more modern musical liturgies during our stay here.

More to come as we hear it!

- MW

Publishing new Mass settings

Hello Matt and Holy Measures, and thank you for the service you provide to composers and lovers of holy music!

I have been working for several years on composing my own Mass setting, based on my experiences with our youth/teen ministry, and my own tastes in musical styles suitable for praise in the contemporary setting.

When I found out the intended changes for English Text in the Roman Missal, to be effective Advent 2011, I made it my goal to coincide completion of my Mass setting with this date, i.e., I gave myself a real world, practical deadline!

In order to legally cite the English texts in the Roman Missal, which appear in the Catholic Sunday/daily Mass Missal, one needs to secure permission from the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL). I contacted Jason McFarland, Assistant Editor for ICEL, and asked him about the process. Jason guided me through the process explaining different scenarios, and we
came to a decision about what I was doing and what would be the appropriate arrangement.

Jason instructed me to forward proof copies of my Mass settings to ICEL for review and approval, as well as any publication details (print run, formats, retail list price). I proofread and made final adjustments to music and word, including punctuation and capitalization to reflect exact wording. Once all parameters were satisfactorily met, Jason extended permission to me according to their guidelines.

And I said, “Amen!”

This has been a dream come true for me, to be able to compose a Mass setting of my own original music. I have sculpted the music for years, becoming more aware of the congregations needs as well as their desires for certain kinds of music, whether contemporary, traditional, gospel, whatever. I have strived
to have upbeat, celebratory music where appropriate, and more meditative, reflective music where appropriate, all of which I hope lends itself to prayer. I wrote my Mass setting, entitled Mass of St. Vincent de Paul, in the vein of contemporary Teen music, and I believe it will be conducive to worship by the young and young at heart.

Here’s Jason’s contact information:

Jason J. McFarland, Ph.D.
Assistant Editor – International Commission on English in the Liturgy
1100 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 710, Washington, DC 20036
202-347-0800 x4 | 202-347-1839 (fax) | www.icelweb.org

- Bill Monaghan

Bill Monaghan is a liturgical musician (among other types) from the Philadelphia area. He is a Holy Measures composer with nearly 50 songs in his catalogue.

Big churches

Katie and I moved to Munich a couple of weeks ago and we’re spending all of 2012 here. We’ve lived through two German weekends and have gone to two separate churches. Both have been large, cathedral-style buildings, but last night’s was incredibly impressive — St. Michael’s near the town’s Marienplatz area. It was built in the late 1500′s and has a dome second in size only to Rome’s Vatican.

While I was reading about the history of the church — the cost, the time it took to build, the fact that people were forced out of their homes to make room for construction — I realized something. Such magnificent places of worship will never again be built — at least not in ordinary circumstances. People won’t stand for their cost or the time it would take to open the doors (“We’re going to build a church here.” “Great! When will it open?” “In 15 years.” “Oh.”) And people certainly wouldn’t allow citizens to be uprooted from their homes.

And while I agree with all of those sensible things, I couldn’t help but sit back and soak in the magnificence of what I was sitting in. Since I couldn’t understand most of what was being said outside of “Alleluia” and “Amen,” I had a lot of time to absorb the beauty of the church. It made me happy that there was a time when such monstrous churches were constructed. All places of worship offer the same promise — a chance to be close to God, to celebrate the Mass (or another service for another religion) — but these gorgeous churches in Europe seem to take worship to a new level.

You can’t sit in a place like St. Michael’s and not be in awe of the power of God — especially with beautiful organ music filling the space. So while my hometown of Milwaukee, Wis., likely won’t be bulldozing any neighborhoods in the near future to make way for a new cathedral — which, again, I think is a good thing! — I will make sure to soak in the European churches while I can.

- MW