ICHAEL Praetorius (d. 1621) was a German organist and composer. A female high school sophomore—from St. Monica Academy—sent me a video she produced:
The young lady wrote:
HIS PAST JUNE, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the FSSP.la Sacred Music Symposium. I want to take the time to thank you for the morning lecture series you gave on creating multi-track recordings. In hopes of promoting correct liturgical music and preserving the Catholic traditions of Advent, I, together with my college-age sister, selected four Advent pieces for an Advent caroling party hosted by our family. One of the pieces, the obscure two-voice Praetorius hymn “Vergente mundi vespere,” was quite difficult to find rehearsal resources for. The public-domain PDF file took my sister quite a bit of research to find, and I could find no recordings of the hymn being sung. As such, I resolved to create my own rehearsal video, armed with the knowledge I gained from your classes at the Symposium.
I now understand how much work it is to record and produce such a video! The short piece, under a minute in length, took me many hours to sightread and record correctly. It is nowhere near perfect, but I am pleased with the result—one that would definitely never have been attained were it not for your expert guidance during the Symposium in the ways of creating multi-track recordings!
Thank you for your tireless work in promoting beautiful sacred music and preserving our Catholic culture.
This bright young lady, whose writing is every bit as excellent as her singing, makes reference to a special music conference hosted each year by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in Los Angeles [FSSP.la].
