ChoralTracks.com

For budding choir groups out there, here's a great site which would be of tremendous help, and should be on your browser's favourite list alongside cpdl.org. The man behind this is Matthew Curtis, who sang every part of every piece featured on this site! If you have no idea who Matthew Curtis is, perhaps Chanticleer would ring a bell, as Matthew also currently sings with this world-renowned group.

How to get young people to be involved in the parish?

Answer to be found here.

N.b. The Sacred Heart Choir members could certainly attest to the truth of this article, since it was formed by young people, with only young people as members, all with the encouragement of the priest.

Passer invenit rehearsal

This is a partial clip of our rehearsal on 23rd February 2008 singing 'Passer invenit' (communion antiphon for 3rd Sunday in Lent).

Domine, non sum dignus (Victoria)

Renaissance polyphony

Enjoy some beautiful Renaissance pieces especially those sung by the Tallis Scholars.

Nunc Dimittis by G.P. Palestrina sung by the Tallis Scholars.

Vigilate by William Byrd sung by the Tallis Scholars.

If Ye Love Me by Thomas Tallis sung by the New Chamber Orchestra Choir.

Canticle after 4th Reading of Paschal Vigil

Another clip of the choir, this time singing the canticle "Attende caelum" which is after the 4th reading on Paschal Vigil 2007.

Ladies, You're Wanted!

OK, just kidding about the dancing part, but no harm for the good-looking part right? :) We need female voices for the soprano and/or alto parts in singing sacred polyphony. Those of you who love singing (judging by the annual turnout for Idol auditions, who doesn't love singing?), now's a great opportunity to do your part in creating beautiful music for the Lord! Please see the membership post for more details. As another incentive, have a look at the picture below:

Cantus singing Ave Maria

This is very nice. Too bad these kind of music are only appreciated in a secular setting.

Clergyman vs. choir in the news

As some side reading for choir enthusiasts here, here's something from The Times. Can any of you imagine Shine Jesus Shine being compared to those glorious Anglican-styled renditions of psalms and anthems? Pathetique....

Hat tip to Zadok the Roman.

Some other useful books for a choir

I'm wish to highlight a couple of books today. Other than the hymnals (which I will review in an upcoming post) and a Liber Usualis or the Graduale Romanum (not the new edition used in the New Mass!), several other books can be considered helpful. Anyway, yours truly doesn't even own a Liber Usualis himself as a new copy costs more than US$100 a piece (gulp!) but we have some donated copies from the Singapore priory and neume from free online sources.

First on my mind would be the well-known Fr. Carlo Rossini's "Proper Of The Mass" which are propers set to Gregorian psalm-tones with organ accompaniment. Beautiful, yet simple enough for most congregations to start a choir in order to sing the propers, if going full-scale Gregorian melodies seems intimidating at first. Republished by Neumann Press, this indispensable book is readily available in either hardcover or spiral-bound. In fact, our choir use pieces from this book especially for overtly long Gregorian melody pieces, such as the Tract for the First Sunday of Lent. Singing that piece alone in the original Gregorian melody actually takes about 12'30"!!! I guess that's why it's used to start Lent.... a penitentially long piece. (grin)


Next, I was alerted to a book published by Roman Catholic Books. The title is "Papal Legislation on Sacred Music". Though I have yet to get my hands on this book, it seems like a complete and authoritative compilation of papal and SCR (Sacred Congregation of Rites) decrees on sacred music, going all the way back to the time of Pope St. Damasus. I guess it would be useful for those involved in Church music to refer to this every now and then, to remind ourselves on the duties and responsibilities as well as what's permitted and what's not permitted in the Sacred Liturgy. Now, anyone willing to sponsor this as a gift for us? (wide grin)

Pueri Concinite

Here's a nice clip of Pueri Concinite (suitable for Christmas) sung by Jean Baptiste Maunier (a 14 year-old with a very good voice, though I have some reservations over the way he pronounces some of the Latin words) and Les Choristes. Actually this gave me an idea of who to pull in to sing for Christmas 2007. :) Hint: Get those kids who are not serving Mass.

Every diocese ought to have a choir like this....

The Westminster Cathedral Choir is my personal favourite, beating other better known names like the Sistine Chapel Choir and the Vienna Boys Choir. Their tone sounds just so right, while the later two are too shrill for my liking. Try Hyperion Records to look for some of their recordings and listen to their angelic voices via the samples available. This choir is reputed to be "the only cathedral choir in the world to sing Mass and Vespers liturgically every day" uninterrupted since the foundation of the cathedral in 1903! Now that's what I call dedication and love for sacred music.

New suggestions

I received a suggestion yesterday from someone that the choir members wear choirdress when singing during the Liturgy, i.e. cassock and surplice. What do you guys think?

Another suggestion was to put up pictures of each choir member. However, I don't think this is a good idea as members may come and go and this is a service to Holy Mother Church, not to promote ourselves like some sort of pop star.=))

Membership information

If you are interested in participating in this ministry, please contact Cyril at +60 16-361-9104 or send a message to cyrilaugustineyee at gmail dot com for more details.

Requirements for Membership:

• Male (for the Mass propers), regardless of age, as long as determined by the Choir to be able to sing in tune. Under usual circumstances, females are not allowed to sing the Mass propers, but may do so for the hymns, sacred polyphony and Mass ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus). Thus, males and females are encouraged to join us.
  
• Practicing Catholic.
  
• Attendance at practices and scheduled liturgical celebrations at the Chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Sungai Buloh. We take our practices very seriously as we want to glorify God and edify the faithful for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, rather than being a source of distraction and annoyance to the senses. Members would not be allowed to sing if they have not practiced beforehand. The principle we take is, we'd rather not sing than to sing badly and distract the faithful.
  
• Practices every week (about 1-2 hours each).
  

Required Equipment:

• Your voice.
  

We do not desire for membership to be cost prohibitive, so music sheets will be provided.

Current Members:

• Cyril Yee
  
• Daryl Lim
  
• Gabriel Lim
  
• Isaac Teng
  
• Jason Undan (away for studies)
• Nigel Lim