Society of Saint Gregory

In the Liturgy section there is a useful thread with this title discussing the issue from a liturgical perspective i.e. such things as what to select and where to put it in the service. What I suggest here is that we have something to match it on a purely musical plane. There are several aspects to ...

First, could I say that the concept of a useful summary like this is a really good idea. Next, could I suggest we prepare something similar dealing with the actual performance and arrangement of the music itself. At the very least it would be good to have a thread running on the forum along these li...

I think all this legalistic stuff is very sad. I appreciate that lots of people want to feel that they have 'got things right'; but this surely is not what the Christian faith should be only about. I note that at several points in the Gospels Christ condemns this sort of thinking in the minds of the...

Many thanks.

I see that the notice about plans for the group on the SSG home page promising a detailed programme has remained unchanged for several months now. Can anyone say when things are going to get started?

Yes, I quite agree. The perception by some that the supreme form of church Polyphony is the Renaissance Polyphony practiced by Palestrina et al is very blinkered. Unfortunately, it was precisely that form of polyphony that was upheld alongside plainchant as the supreme form of church music by Pius X...

Could we get back to the original issue - multiculturalism? I think the essence of the issue depends on a recognition that there are many different sorts of culture, each - hopefully -meeting the needs of different segments within a very diverse population. From this perspective then no one 'culture...

Really good to hear this. Multiculturalism enables us to borrow, mix and match music (and other religious things) from a wider variety of traditions; the process of borrowing and adapting is part of one's continuous development technically and spiritually as new 'tools' are added to one's resources;...

I listened to the later part of the service quite by chance, so my impressions are not all that complete or precise. That being said, these are the points that sturck me: [1] As one would expect the singing was the strongest element musically. I thought they did the Duruffle (spelling?) Ubi Caritas ...

Dom Gregory Murray's First People's Mass was first published in 1950 (I am relying on my memory here as I am away from home). This of course was in Latin, but nonetheless a pathbreaking Congregational Mass. English versions of this were later produced, including one for Anglican Holy Communion. His ...

Many thanks for all the replies. Yes, when one writes a long generalised message covering a very broad field, it is easy to shoot holes in it on specific points of detail. I am quite sure there are quite a few communities who came to singing by routes other than hymnody, just as there are many that ...

Here are a few ad hoc reactions: [1] Since the 1960s Catholic congregations have, by and large (a bit of a sweeping generalisation) come to congregational singing through hymnody. If, for all intents and purposes, this is being 'downgraded' (cf derogatory remarks about the 'four hymn sandwich') in f...

You want candidates from literature (also now on film):

Try the Harry Potter characters:

starting with Harry Potter himself (someone spared)

those not spared: Dumbledore, Harry Potter's parents, and - above all (because he is flawed and largely un-recognised) - Snape!

Yes, all these suggestions are very nice, and many are tried, tested and enduring; however I would like them to be paralleled by another approach, which summed up in two words: Creative innovation. Or, to express this in concrete terms, ensure that there is at least one new piece of music during thi...

I think all this sort of stuff, however worthy in itself, evades the central point. Do hymns 'work' in a service such as one might find in a modern suburban parish in present day England? By 'work' I mean 'provide a meaningful religious experience/form of communication with God. A liturgy may be pre...