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Views from the Choir Loft

How To Properly Train Young Voices To Sing At Mass

Lucas Tappan · February 2, 2015

5382 Choir Boys Singing STILL REMEMBER THE DAY I walked into Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic School on the first day of my sixth grade year. Our family had recently relocated from southern Oklahoma to Illinois. I had never attended a Catholic school before then, and while my family took the Faith very seriously, attending Mass during the week was a new experience for me.

Within the first month of school, our pastor, Fr. James Flach, called all of the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders together and made it known that the parish was in need of new organists and that he would personally pay for organ lessons for any student who wished to play—in the hopes that one would become an organist.  Well… I am that one.

I played the organ during Mass for the first time on the Feast of the Guardian Angels and have been at it ever since. Today I am the one teaching children and hoping that at least of few will follow in the footsteps of a sacred musician. 1

394 Training Youth Singers SOMETIMES I FEEL we forget about the formation of our children in the grand tradition of sacred music. At the same time, I wonder if some of our many wonderful musicians aren’t a little afraid to stand in front of a room full of children for the first time and raise the baton. I can’t claim to be Olivier Latry at the organ or Sir Richard Terry leading a smart group of choristers through Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices, but there are few people who love working and training choristers more than I do. I am honored to begin blogging at Views from the Choir Loft and desire to pass on the little I have learned to those toiling away in their work with young children.

I will be contributing each week on the subject of “HOW TO PROPERLY TRAIN YOUNG VOICES TO SING AT MASS.”


To learn about Dr. Lucas Tappan, our newest contributor, visit his biography page.




NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   That sounds a little grand. Perhaps it would be better to say a musician in the field of sacred music!

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Catholic Youth Choirs Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Lucas Tappan

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).

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Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Re: Low Mass: “It is desirable that in read Masses on Sundays and feast-days, the Gospel and Epistle be read by a lector in the vernacular for the convenience of the faithful.”

— 1958 document, issued under Pope Pius XII

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