Join the Music Ministry Alive! family as we celebrate our eighteenth year of fostering the growth of young pastoral musicians! Come sing and celebrate with youth from around the country and beyond!

2016 FESTIVAL SING!
Saturday, July 30th at 7:30 PM

$17 advance tickets available at musicministryalive.com
$20 at the door
The O'Shaughnessy Auditorium
St. Catherine University, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

musicministryalive.com

From Jeff Ostrowski at Corpus Christi Watershed:

I am currently working on a hymnal project, which—among other things—entails pouring through thousands of pages from old Catholic hymnals. Some hymns I discover are sentimental and low quality, while others are quite inspiring. Whenever possible, I’ll share these books with our readers. Some of our planned releases will astound you! On the other hand, some books are interesting primarily from a Catholic historian’s point of view.

HERE'S A RARE HYMNAL from 1937 you might enjoy downloading and glancing through:

PDF Download • St. Cecilia Hymnal (1937)

Like all the books we release, this extremely rare hymnal was previously unavailable until we scanned and uploaded it.

- Jeff Ostrowski

From Jeff at Corpus Christi Watershed...

REHEARSAL VIDEOS : 

EQUAL VOICES : YouTube   •   Mp3 Audio 
SOPRANO : YouTube   •   Audio 
ALTO : YouTube   •   Audio 
TENOR : YouTube   •   Audio 
BASS : YouTube   •   Audio

Please see this post at ccwatershed.org

July 12, 2016 - ADVENT 
St. James Music Press 

Greetings!

We know that some of you guys and gals have already planned all your Advent music and are already looking at Easter 2017! (You know who you are...) But for those of you who are looking for a wonderful new Advent service, (or a fresh way to present your Advent Lessons and Carols, here it is.

Darkness to Light: A Liturgy of Advent Lessons and Carols

Throughout history, the Church kept Advent as a season of great solemnity - a time in which to meditate upon the ultimate issues of death, judgement, hell and... 

Im Namen des Vaters und des Sohnes und des Heiligen Geistes. Amen. (30th June 2016)

There is a City far away (17th June 2016)

As I feel Your Presence - A Hymn (16th JUNE 2016)

Here In This Place, Gathered Together: A Hymn

• Length: 0:38 minutes (884.12 KB)
• Format: MP3 Stereo 44kHz 192Kbps (VBR)

"I Long for You / As Morning Breaks" composed by Balhoff, Daigle and Ducote. © 1981 Damean Music. 

Let me tell you about my experience this week with the above song (first published in 1981). 

I lead singing (often with both voice and nylon guitar) at one and sometimes two churches on weekends. We chose this setting by Balhoff, Daigle and Ducote for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Note that the original was written in 4/4 time. Well, my keyboard player at St. Mary's, Larry, had done an adaptation in 3/4 (waltz) time several years ago for a Polka Mass. He sent me his Sibelius score and a practice MP3 he had made "for accordion and piano." I did not like the feel of it. I did a practice recording in my basement studio in order to convince myself that it could be smoothed out with less oom-pa-pa. Here it is. I sang all the parts in this basement studio recording, including soprano Hildegard.

Shortly after I did the recording, I discovered the original 4/4 arrangement online and figured we better do it the way it was intended by the original authors. 

The 4/4 version (true to the original published version), was captured live with my good old Zoom H2 recorder today, 6/18/2016, at St. Mary's Church in St. Paul, MN. Here it is. I play guitar and lead with voice. Larry plays piano.

Which meter do you like better for this psalm – 3/4 or 4/4?

One final note: Larry's 3/4 Polka arrangement was written in F, a full step lower than the original key of G.

From Fabrizio Ferrari at Sheet Music Direct:

With Father's Day just around the corner, we have hand-selected 20 of the very best songs about fatherhood, from Luther Vandross' beautiful tribute to his Dad Dance With My Father, to Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely - celebrating the birth of his first daughter, Aisha.

Give your Dad the gift of music this Father's Day!

Go to www.sheetmusicdirect.com/go/fathers-day-sheet-music

Edgar Villavert Combong sent a message to me about his song. I like it. The song does need better mastering to bring out the voices more. - Richard Schletty

"Please check my You Tube submission entitled, "TO JESUS, THRU MARY", and see if you like it.  This song was used for the Women's Cursillo theme song and has been used in some catholic churches in the San Francisco/Bay Area. The song was recorded by the St. Joseph (Church) Youth Choir, Pinole, California. Thank you."

YouTube description: A special song dedicated to our beloved and blessed Mother Mary. Performed by The St. Joseph Youth Choir, Pinole, California, USA. (2009) Soloists: Kimberly Gayo & Alice Chesire.

TO JESUS, THRU MARY

Words & Music by Edgar Villavert Combong. Copyright 2009

As I journey through life
Climbing its mountains and hills
Or, sail the seas, touch the skies
Living life for a while
Like an eagle I will fly
God’s grace will raise me high

Chorus:
To Jesus, thru Mary
God grants His grace thru... 

The article below is from Jeff Ostrowski at Corpus Christi Watershed. 

Fifty Tips For Training Amateur Choirs

http://www.ccwatershed.org/talk/released/

EARLIER THIS WEEK, I promised to release my 98-minute speech online if we could garner enough pledges to donate $30 to Corpus Christi Watershed. I’m so grateful to everyone who made a pledge, and we met our goal. This talk was delivered live at the 2016 Sacred Music Symposium, and here’s the recording:

98-Minute Mp3 • “FIFTY TIPS FOR TRAINING AMATEUR CHOIRS”

These solutions may not work for everyone; I can only share what I have done. You can use my suggestions or discard them.

My speech is 96 minutes long, and explains the following:

PDF Download • 50 Bullet Points From This Speech

More downloadable goodies (including Cliff Notes for the symposium) at http://www.ccwatershed.org/talk/released/

This is a traditional Ambrosian chant style version, as written by Benoit. See my uptempo, guitar-driven version in 6/8 meter which I posted at this site.

Where Charity and Love Prevail

Text: Ubi Caritas, translated by Omer Westendorf (1961)
Tune: CHRISTIAN LOVE, CM, by Paul Benoit (1961)
© 1961, 1962, World Library Publications, Inc.

Where charity and love prevail,
there God is ever found;
Brought here together by Christ’s love,
by love are we thus bound.

With grateful joy and holy fear
God’s charity we learn;
Let us with heart and... 

This is a 6/8 meter version of a song that is usually sung in a more fluid chant style. See the traditional Ambrosian chant version which I posted at this site.

Where Charity and Love Prevail

Text: Ubi Caritas, translated by Omer Westendorf (1961)
Tune: CHRISTIAN LOVE, CM, by Paul Benoit (1961)
© 1961, 1962, World Library Publications, Inc.

Where charity and love prevail,
there God is ever found;
Brought here together by Christ’s love,
by love are we thus bound.

With grateful joy and holy fear
God’s charity we learn;
Let us with heart and...