Teaching New Singers
I like to cover (or re-cover) all of the basics with the boys and girls.
“Is it not true that prohibiting or suspecting the extraordinary form can only be inspired by the demon who desires our suffocation and spiritual death?” —The Vatican’s chief liturgist from 2014-2021; interview with Edw. Pentin (23-Sep-2019)
Dr. Lucas Tappan is a conductor and organist whose specialty is working with children. He lives in Kansas with his wife and four children.—Read full biography (with photographs).
Simply dive in and do it. Remember how quickly your children grew up and left home? That is all the longer it takes.
“This honest, magnanimous and public statement made my struggle totally worthwhile.” —Colin Mawby
At the end of the audition, most of the students experience a great sense of accomplishment and really consider it an honor to be accepted into the choir!
There is a proper balance between an impossibly hard formal audition and the usual “any child can join” policy that exists in the typical parish children’s choir.
It had been over a decade since I had set foot in St. John Cantius—enough time to forget that one never can tell what beautiful surprise awaits unsuspecting visitors.
I realize what I propose seems like moving forward at a snail’s pace, but considering how long the average parishioner has been in the liturgical and musical desert, anything more would cause the musical equivalent of refeeding syndrome.
Considering the great gift Mother Teresa had been to the world, I had to wonder why her sisters chose something as dubious as “Shepherd Me, O God” to be sung at her funeral?
If you couldn’t sing, you wouldn’t be able to talk.
A choir school can be an immense help toward our goal of establishing a liturgical choir worthy of its name.
Perhaps if we invested in better music in our parishes the Good New would be spread more effectively.
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