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Views from the Choir Loft

Of Weddings, Funerals and other Comedies

Dr. Gregory Hamilton · January 18, 2020

VERYONE who has done music in a church probably has a number of wedding or funeral stories. Sometimes when church musicians gather at a coffee shop (or more likely a bar) to shoot the breeze, such stories can come up. Recently I played organ for a funeral at a church I had never been to. Like a good Catholic boy, I arrived 45 min. before the funeral. I spoke to a Deacon about how we could turn on the sound system. The chat went something like this:
“Hello Deacon Jim, do you know how to turn on the sound system?”
“I have no idea”
“How long have you been a deacon here?”
“27 years.”
“…OK”
I thought that it would be a great idea to speak to the priest about whether the Responsorial Psalm would be sung by us, whether the Ordinary parts of the Mass would be sung etc. – this little “details” the neglect of which, can bode confusion. Only… the priest was nowhere to be found. As a matter of fact, at the time the funeral was to begin, there was not a living soul in the church. (and no other as well…) About a half an hour after the “starting time” of the funeral, a few folks started to wander in. Finally about 45 min. later, I got to talk to the priest for a bit. Nobody seemed in the least concerned that the funeral started over an hour later. Oh Well. When you are thinking of eternity, what’s the hurry?

Anyway…a lot of what we do in serving our communities is rather unglamorous. I suppose that all of us would like to be performing in flashy concerts or conducting world-famous choirs or… you fill in the blank. However, the thought for today is: let’s render unto others the gift of our music as we would render to Christ. As St. Mother Theresa said: “do little things with great love.”

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

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Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 20, 2020

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Dr. Gregory Hamilton

About Dr. Gregory Hamilton

Dr. Gregory Hamilton is a composer and performer currently on the faculty of Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas TX.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

20 January 2021 • REMINDER

We have no savings, no endowment, and no major donors. You can help us (please) by subscribing to our mailing list. It’s incredibly easy; just scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address. Thank you!

—Jeff Ostrowski
19 January 2021 • Confusion over feasts

For several months, we have discussed the complicated history of the various Christmas feasts: the Baptism of the Lord, the feast of the Holy Family, the Epiphany, and so forth. During a discussion, someone questioned my assertion that in some places Christmas had been part of the Epiphany. As time went on, of course, the Epiphany came to represent only three “manifestations” (Magi, Cana, Baptism), but this is not something rigid. For example, if you look at this “Capital E” from the feast of the Epiphany circa 1350AD, you can see it portrays not three mysteries but four—including PHAGIPHANIA when Our Lord fed the 5,000. In any event, anyone who wants proof the Epiphany used to include Christmas can read this passage from Dom Prosper Guéranger.

—Jeff Ostrowski
6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

A book published by Anglicans in 1965 has this to say about Abbat Pothier’s Editio Vaticana, the musical edition reproduced by books such as the LIBER USUALIS (Solesmes Abbey): “No performing edition of the music of the Eucharistic Psalmody can afford to ignore the evidence of the current official edition of the Latin Graduale, which is no mere reproduction of a local or partial tradition, but a CENTO resulting from an extended study and comparison of a host of manuscripts gathered from many places. Thus the musical text of the Graduale possesses a measure of authority which cannot lightly be disregarded.” They are absolutely correct.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

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— Proverbs 8

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