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This past week I’ve been preparing for our new chant year – practices begin on August 22nd, and our first Mass is September 19th. As before, I was able to have a 1-on-1 discussion with almost every member of our schola, and got some great feedback and ideas about what challenges we should take on [...] CMAA Colloquium XX 2010 from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo. In addition, the audio recordings are all available on http://music.dierschow.com/2010Colloquium. Yesterday was a challenge! Up at 3:00AM, to drive to Denver, grab a flight. Then hang around in Milwaukee for 4 hours, and finally on to Pittsburgh. OK, that’s enough whining. Meeting up with all my great Colloquium buddies was wonderful, as expected. I started out tired, but when we got to singing … heaven! [...] Colorado's state flower Summer is my time to reflect and renew my commitments for the coming year. I talked about this some last June, when I was struggling with whether our schola would achieve critical mass. Looking back on the progress, we now have grown to a dozen loyal and talented members, now including [...] If you want the audio recordings from the 2008 or 2009 Sacred Music Colloquiums in Chicago, drop me an email. They’re available on the website at music.dierschow.com/2008Colloquium and music.dierschow.com/2009Colloquium, but the recordings are pretty huge if you want to download ALL of them. I’ll also be making recordings next week of Colloquium XX in Pittsburg, [...] For the third time now, we pulled together all the chant choirs from the parishes in Fort Collins to do a single Mass. Or in this case, two: one at my home parish, and one next Sunday at the most traditional church building in town. I’m glad that this one wasn’t the first time we [...] There was an interesting piece on a local news channel about a teacher at the University of Northern Colorado who uses the Ward Method to successfully teach music. I haven’t met her yet, although I’ve been interested to attend one of her workshops. The reason for mentioning it here is that our chant schola is [...] I absolutely love this time of year. Easter is a chance for a deep spiritual renewal – in so many ways. I’m heavily involved with the RCIA program in our parish, which builds toward the Night of All Nights that we just experienced yesterday. A three hour Mass brings into clear focus how we are [...] I had a chance to sing in a Compline service last night at Blessed John XXIII parish in Fort Collins, Colorado. What really made this special was the addition of a talented local harpist, Alaina Bongers. I managed to capture the recordings, which you can find here on my website. Check it out! It just [...] My wife and I had a chance to go to a local Amy Grant concert Friday night. This was a benefit for Lutheran Family Services, and included a limo ride down to Denver, and a meet-and-greet with Amy after the show. It was a truly fantastic evening, in so many ways. [...] |