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Views from the Choir Loft

Chore wars and maintaining motivation

Veronica Brandt · November 7, 2015

chore wars ASHING DISHES, CLEANING the bathroom, folding clothes, all these things are small but important everyday tasks. There is a temptation to avoid them, begrudge the time and effort they take, but it is acts of service like these that are the real treasures in life.

Today has been busy. Saturday is the day when we catch up with the housework. Sometimes we get everything done by midday and have the rest of the day off. Sometimes it takes a bit longer. I have four sons aged 8 – 14 who do much of the work, which is great as they also generate much of the mess. Today they were particularly eager to complete their work.

You see, this is the first day we have tried out a game called Chore Wars. It is a very silly adventure game based around household chores where people you live and work with can keep track of the everyday tasks. For each adventure, like washing dishes, you get experience points and gold coins as well as the chance to fight monsters and gain treasures, not to mention the system of keeping track of your own balance of strength, dexterity, charisma, intelligence and wisdom.

And as I have been busy adding new adventures to their inventory and keeping an eye on who is doing what, I have been wondering what to write about for the world of liturgical music. Until it struck me.

This play acting actually has some correspondence to a deeper reality.

It is in mundane acts of service like this that we gain grace. We might feel over worked and under appreciated but we have an omniscient, omnipresent, benevolent God who sees all and rewards all in secret. And He is even smarter than the Chore Wars algorithms. And you don’t have to go and keep track of everything you do on a computer. Perhaps it is better if you don’t because those who get their praise in this life : “they have had their reward”.

But that’s not to say a little imaginative play can’t help us maintain political control over our human will.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦
    Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that's Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn't sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I think the tempo was just about right … but what do you think?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Don’t You Agree About These?
    If you want to make Jeff Ostrowski really happy, send him an email with effusive praise about the individual voice recordings for hymn #296. [Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass] They came out dazzlingly sensational, don't you agree?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Choral Vowels? Yes? No?
    Here's a live recording of one of the choral “warm-up” exercises my choir enjoys. It was taken during our rehearsal on 27 January 2023. It’s good to make sure each chord is perfectly in tune and balanced before moving to the next one. That only happens when each singer has the correct vowel. If you like, you can freely download that vocal exercise.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Today the Church has made a big mistake, turning the clock back 500 years with guitars and popular songs. I don’t like it at all. Gregorian Chant is a vital and important tradition of the Church and to waste this—by having guys mix religious words with profane, Western songs—is hugely grave, hugely grave.”

— Maestro Ennio Morricone (10 Sept 2009)

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