Hi folks. Mark Donnelly here. Peace and God's blessing!
Those of you who received my last newsletter and watched the accompanying video, know that I have a few new projects planned for 2023. One of them is starting a podcast. What I'd like to do today is explain the nature of that podcast, why I'm doing it, and why I think you may enjoy and benefit from the content. God bless and stay tuned.
I took my first voice lesson about 45 years ago. For the past 40 years, I've been a professional musician and teacher. One thing that I've benefited from is working with great conductors and performers, and I've learned a lot from them. I've even learned from the students that I've taught. Along the way, I've also come up with some shortcuts or hacks that reduce rehearsal time and actually allow you to get into the music more quickly so you spend less time rehearsing and more time performing great music.
I'm sure many of you out there who are performers or conductors have had that experience of, when you're on stage or behind the podium, you seem to disappear, and the music takes on an ethereal existence of its own. That's great when it happens on stage. It's a pity though that we don't seek that same excellence and other worldliness when we sing in church. Our audience is Divine. We're surrounded by souls with heavenly aspirations. Yet somehow it doesn't seem to be as important as singing in a concert.
If you've thought this yourself, that we should be putting the same consideration and effort into sacred music as we do for the secular, then you might like my new podcast, ChantHacks. What I'll focus on is the two great pillars of Catholic Church music: Gregorian Chant, and Classical Roman Polyphony. I'll share with you the hacks that I've picked up over the years, and if you apply them, I hope that they'll help you make a really good offering to God; maybe the best you can. At the same time, you'll help the congregation, anyone who's listening to you, raise their hearts and minds to God.
Over the next few weeks, we'll be fine tuning the format and presentation of ChantHacks. Any comments or suggestions you make in that time would be greatly appreciated; we want to make this a really vital and enjoyable resource for you.
Topics will include
Words & Music: What's More Important?
Rules on Style According to the Old Solesmes Method (as outlined in Laus in Ecclesia), and
The Three Most Important Musical Skills the World (and the Church!) Have Lost Over the Past 30 Years.
Also, in the comments, let me know any challenges you or your singers have, and maybe it will be a topic of a future ChantHacks.
I also plan to have a series called, Why Did I Write This? a kind of Inside Baseball on composing and arranging. In fact, the first ChantHacks will be a presentation of my Organum Novi Mundi of the Lenten Marian Antiphon, Ave Regina Coelorum. It should be out in a few days, so you can learn it and sing it this Lent!
Though this is a soft launch of ChantHacks (the grand launch will be a few weeks out) I still hope to give you some really good stuff that you can use right off the top.
For me, this is all pretty ambitious. If you have a podcast, or if you've ever tried to start one, you know there's lots of planning, organization and costs. With all I've learned over the years from teachers, colleagues, students, and life experience, I'd be remiss not to try and pass it on, especially when it comes to creating music for God and for strengthening the souls on their way to heaven. Please pray for me, our ChantHacks team and stay tuned.
One more thing: I know many of you don't sing in church choirs or scholas, or even go to parishes where they sing Gregorian Chant or sacred polyphony. Please stay with us! Thanks to the generous support of the Saint Gregory The Great Foundation of Nebraska, chanthacks.org (under construction) has been able to start a pilot project called Domus Mariae. This is an initiative to establish home, parish and community-based groups who simply wish to experience this music well sung.
Please keep the SGGF of Nebraska in your prayers and God bless!
Mark
