THE CHOIR III.

We went over the reproaches and the Passion quickly tonight.Because both are easy, and we already know them, it did'nt take long. I never knew how high the tenor has to sing in it! But I like it. I love to sing high notes and get into my head voice, but there's usually no opportunity for that. The closest thing we have to that is Tallis' If Ye Love me.

Also, the lineup for confirmations on the Fourth Sunday of Lent has been finalised. We'll have Tallis' If Ye Love Me, Jean Psaquet's Lord, Sanctify me Wholly, and the 'Palestrina' Panis Angelicus. I put in in quotes because the authenticity is doubtful and I myself think it's obviously a forgery. You Listen and Decide.

That said, we'll be getting used to a new arrangement in the organ loft. There were some unfortunate water leaks in the loft during the winter, and the carpet and floor needed to be worked on, as well as the ceiling. This gave them a chance to work on the configurement of the loft. With such a small parish, there is little room giver for the organ and choir. It's quite cramped up there, partly because of the arrangement of the organ. (Detached console set in the middle of the loft facing sideways.Yes, so the organist doesn't face the sanctuary or the back of the church, but a wall at the side.) It wastes quite a bit of space. So the organ has been moved to a more traditional position .

This means the organist needs a mirror to see the sanctuary now, but it gives the choir more room and it looks nicer. Speaking of which, new choir seating! No more tripping over the black folding chairs trying desperately to find a way to walk around up there. Thank God, it was always a hazard, people feared falling over.

I should feel guilty.

Because I'm drawing a self portrait.

Tuesday,week II.

PROTECT, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy Church by thy constant protection, and because human frailty fails without thee, by thine aid, may She ever be removed from that which is harmful and led to that which is ordered to salvation.

Monday, week II

O God,who for the healing of souls hast commanded us to discipline our bodies,grant that we may abstain from from all sins, and that our hearts may observe the commands of thy goodness.

I should feel guilty.

Because I like some things in Stainer's Crucifixion. It's supposed to be that I think that it's typical sappy romantic English music, unfit for serious musicians and thoroughly unsuitable for liturgy.

But there are some great hymns, like This one.

Good Friday shall be EPIC this year.

Besides ad orientem (Which we always did) and communion at the rail (Which we did the last two years and, with communion at all the masses now given at the rail, will be done this year, the service is going to be celebrated by a bishop. Yup, a pontifical service.

AND,

Instead of doing the gregorian chanted passion, we will be doing Victoria's. It's as if Our Lord heard my longing cries last year and resolved to bring me some consolation. Felice Anrio's gradual Christus Factus est, Victoria reproaches and good motets as usual (Adoramus te Christe, Dubois, O bone Jesu, Palestrina, Ave verum corpus, Byrd, the Royal Banners forward go (Congregational hymn.)

Also for Holy week, we'll be doing a setting of My Song is Love Unknown. I'll probably cry a bit during it, seeing as it reminds me of dad, and the text ought to be enough to make one cry. A lovely soprano descant, a choral verse, a tenor/bass verse, a verse with alternate harmony, it'll all be great. We're doing the Palestrina O Crux Ave too.

So yes, I'm a happy chorister. <3

A Proper Altar.

That there's how you do it. None of that ugly 19th century American neo-gothic white marble wedding-cake style towering reredos stuff. A proper, sober 'English' altar.Needs Moar altar frontal though.

Now watch the so-called architectural traditionalist get in a tizzy because it's 'protestant', 'Anglican', 'anachronistic', 'antiquated',or worse yet, the 'museum religion' thing. Apparently, liturgical things are only okay of they resemble America circa 1850-1910.Everything else is RONG and an Abomination Unto the Lord.[/semi rant]

*Why yes, I did indeed reference Needs More Cowbell.

Tuesday.

O Lord, be mindful of thy servants and grant that our souls, chastened by the mortification of the flesh, may glow in thy sight with desire for thee.

Monday.

CONVERT us, O God our Saviour, and, that our Lenten observance may profit us, instruct our minds in heavenly disciplines. Through Our Lord Jesus thy Son, who livest and reignest with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

*And I hope I'm not the only one who was reminded of the Unde Gnomes by this.

So I've decided,

That instead of doing a really deep spiritual passage as a reflection daily for you guys, I'll just go the easy way and put a good translation of the day's collect and some edifying artwork for you.

That, and I've decided to go back to ritual notes. I'm sure there's someone out there who misses hearing about the liturgical doings of Our Lady of Lourdes,though I can't figure out who or why.

New art.

S.George.

And now,

A musical interlude.

The spirituality of art.

The Assumption of Blessed Mary

One of the many things that bothers me about modern art, and really it's not something new, just something more overt nowadays, is the de-humanisation of art. Just from skimming my channels and groups, the objectification of humanity as a thing or the de-sacralisation of sacred art to make it more base is far too rampant. Even the few artists on Deviant art who do sacred art or religious works do so in a way that points, not to the subject of the painting or to higher ideals, but to the low and base.

It never bother me until I saw how other people see MY work. For many of them, it's impossible to see that my pictures are'nt just colorful pictures, or pictures of women and men. I'm trying, in my slopy and untrained way, to communicate something of divine truths with them.It really all started after I posted my picture of Adam and Eve in the garden. It turned out to be quite popular, but the comments I got on it and the collections it went into were not what I hoped. Certainly, everyone is'nt religious, but I did'nt expect for people to add it into collections named "Cute Couples" or "Bishies", or "Rainbow". It really annoyed me for months, and it still does that when people see my work, all they see is "Pretty Lady" or "Naked person", and not "St.Agnes" or "St.Mary Magdalene". My pictures of the saints, of Christ, and of his Blessed Mother are MORE than just pretty pictures of people. They represent real truths.

You guys should remember the layers of theology that I wove into This Picture, for instance.
But no one ever saw it. And even when I showed it to fellow Catholics on deviantart, I often got shot down by them. They could'nt get past the fact of what they were wearing to understand how beautiful I wanted to make that picture, not just in execution but in motivation. I tried to submit it to one of the Catholic groups, sent with the explanation, and it was declined due to "Inappropriate subject matter". Really! An allegory of Our First Parents is inappropriate!

It got worse when I was editing the tags for something I did a while ago. I decided to re-tag the Tree of Life cross that I drew, so I decided to see under what tags people put pictures of the Crucifixion. There were some very nice results, including copies of painting by Velasquez and the Netherlandish masters. But there was a whole host of irreverent and blasphemous images as well. Unfortunately, with the way DA is, unless they're breaking a real rule there's nothing you can do about them.

OH.MY. GOOOOOOOSH!!!

THIS.

THIS MUSICAL INTERLUDE. THAT'S WHERE I GOT IT FROM.

Some of you may have noticed that every now and then, I post a link to some awesome sort of music with the title "And now, a Musical Interlude" And when I first posted that, I said that none of you would get the reference. (And no one did) I wanted to supply the reference, but could not.

Here it is. That's a big part of my childhood, right there. And that was one of my favourite episodes. (My all-time favourite being the Relax-O-Vision episode.)

So yes, happy tiems. :D

And now,

A Musical interlude.