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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Colloquium Update III

Fr. David Friel · July 5, 2014

FAN FAVORITE at each year’s Colloquium is the breakout session on organ improvisation, entitled “Minding the Gap.” The class is led by the incomparable David Hughes, who is adept not only at improvising himself, but also in helping other organists to improve their approach.

As in previous years, Friday’s session began with David laying out a general framework for how to conceive of an improvisation. He then took volunteers to sit at the console and provide an improvisation based on the introit or offertory chant of the day to fill a certain length of time. After some critique, the volunteers received another chance or two, sometimes with an added assignment. For example, in addition to a required length of forty-five seconds, the organist might be required to modulate to a certain key or develop a certain motif. In one case, the volunteer was limited to using only two chords for his improvisation!

At the close of the one-hour session, Hughes made a few summary statements concerning how to approach the art of improvisation. It was at this point that he made what I think is a brilliant observation. This is not an exact quote, but a very close paraphrase, of what he said: “The goal of improvisation is to exploit, explore, and expand a musical idea.”

Another observation that I was very glad to hear David make is this: when considering how to “mind the gap” with improvisation, one ought not to forget the need for silence. In other words, when we think of the periods after the introit, offertory, and communion chants, they should not be considered simply vacuums to be filled. Occasionally, plain silence will be what is best for a particular moment in a particular liturgy, and sacred musicians need to be comfortable with that.

Colloquium Update I

Colloquium Update II

Colloquium Update IV

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Improvisation, Sacred Music Colloquium Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and teaches liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Hymn by Cardinal Newman
    During the season of Septuagesima, we will be using this hymn by Cardinal Newman, which employs both Latin and English. (Readers probably know that Cardinal Newman was one of the world's experts when it comes to Lingua Latina.) The final verse contains a beautiful soprano descant. Father Louis Bouyer—famous theologian, close friend of Pope Paul VI, and architect of post-conciliar reforms—wrote thus vis-à-vis the elimination of Septuagesima: “I prefer to say nothing, or very little, about the new calendar, the handiwork of a trio of maniacs who suppressed (with no good reason) Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost and who scattered three quarters of the Saints higgledy-piddledy, all based on notions of their own devising!”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3). I'm not a fan of chant in octaves, but we had such limited time to rehearse, it seemed the best choice. After all, everyone should have an opportunity to learn “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium,” which summarizes Candlemas.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“I would hope there is a place [at Mass] for the avant-garde in the same way I think there has to be a place—and we have to be careful with this—a place for Jazz and a place for Evangelical and all of that. […] On theological grounds, I do think we need interaction with the culture at the level of high art or at the level of more commercial pop culture.”

— Fr. Anthony Ruff (22 June 2016)

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