Past Events

On Friday, November 22nd, approximately 25 pastoral musicians and family gathered on a frigid night for our first Beer and Hymns event. The evening began with Mass at St. John's Church, with Fr. Juan Sebastian Sanchez presiding and Jonathan Capece, Nathan Reich and Lydia Bove leading the congregation in song. After being spiritually fed, we gathered across the street at The Compass Tavern for dinner, drinks, fellowship and hymn singing. A delicious pasta and chicken dish was served, and several hymns were sung by all. Accompanying our hymns were Jonathan Capece, chapter director and Music Director of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish of Milford, Betsy Fiedler, chapter publicist and Music Director of Holy Family of Nazareth Parish of Leominster with her husband, Steve and Lucia Clemente-Falco, Music Director of Holy Family Parish of Worcester and Asst. Music Director of St. John's Parish of Worcester.

On Sunday, June 9th, musicians from around the Diocese of Worcester gathered at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Milford for our annual chapter meeting, potluck and music showcase. Fr. Peter Joyce, Pastor of St. Mary's Parish, welcomed us and gave the blessing over our meal and meeting. Following a delicious lunch and productive meeting, Fr. Joyce gave us a tour of the parish campus, giving the back history of the parish.

Following the parish tour, a musical showcase was held in the Upper Church.

Choir of St. John Paul II Parish, Southbridge

• Come Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire by Carl Schalk (Handbells/chime and unison chant)
• Come Down to Us, O Holy Spirit by Carmen Scialla (2 part harmony)
• Servant Song by Richard Gilliard, arr by Fr Fran Patrick O’Brien.

Kayla Beckvold, Cantor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, Hopedale

• Christ, Be Our Light by Bernadette Farrell (Piano and vocals)
• Lord, I Lift Your Name on High by Rick Founds (Guitar and vocals)

• Sing of the Lord's Goodness by Ernest Sands (Piano and harmony)
• Companions On the Journey by Carey Landry (Piano and harmony)

Four deacons in the diocese of Worcester and Peter Brockmann, as facilitator gathered online on March 13, 2019 to participate in the first ‘Deacons Can Sing!’ webinar on the three deacon-assigned chants of the Holy Triduum liturgies.

Beginning with a prayer, the facilitator discussed the goal of the webinar: to provide competent training and develop confidence in the singing by the deacons, so that their participation in Triduum could be delivered more meaningfully.

The online group discussed their ministries and Triduum experiences.

Then, using excerpts from the Roman Missal shown on the screen the facilitator sang and then each attendee repeated back the chant a number of times. We tried singing them together a number of times, but these didn’t work out so well with the slight and variable delays in speech and music that occurs naturally in these highly processed forms of real-time communications.

The chants were:

• Veneration of the Cross: “Behold the wood of the Cross…”
• Procession of the Easter Candle: “Christ our light.”
• Easter dismissal: “Go, the mass is ended. Alleluia! Alleluia!”

This session was planned several weeks in advance of Triduum, and was recorded to make it easier for deacons to review their participation a little closer to Triduum. Here’s the link to the recording.

Perhaps future sessions could be scheduled to review the Exsultet?

The NPM Worcester chapter gathered on snowy Saturday, January 19, 2019 for our Choirs-in-the-Round event. Held at the beautiful, St Mary of the Hills Church in Boylston MA, some 26 choir members and parish musicians gathered for prayer, singing and a delicious pot luck repast on one of the first snowy days of the season. Pre-‘polar vortex’, this had been an unusually warm winter up until that day. The meeting began in the parish hall with a call to order and a prayer, led by Betsy Fiedler. A brief introduction game was held where the attendees each spoke of their calling and initiation into their respective music ministries.

A short business meeting was led by Peter Brockmann, past-president of the chapter who reminded us of the upcoming events – Deacons can Sing, a webinar on help Deacons prepare for their deacon-specific chants in Triduum, and our upcoming Parish Musician’s Appreciation BBQ. Regrets were received from our President Brandon Vennink, our Education Director Ray Lei who were on tour through China and our Technology Director Jonathan Capece who was ill with a seasonal cold and a desire to not share. Treasurer Renee Legendre presented the state of the chapter finances. The business meeting closed with a move to a prepared space in the parish hall where Patricia O’Connor with accompaniment by Peter Brockmann, led the choir members in a 45-minute Taizé presentation and meditative musical prayer experience. Music presented included songs by Jacques Berthier, specifically Christe Lux Mundi, Magnificat, Tui Amorim Ignem, Jesus Remember Me, Fief-vous en Lui, The Kingdom of God and München Dimittus. Excellent for centering us in mindful appreciation of our blessings.

Advancing upstairs to the sanctuary, the obligatory group photo was taken in the sanctuary where the choir of St Mary of the Hills, under the leadership of Elenor Olson sang a work incorporating the Sacramentary readings of Christmas time with an anonymous Gloria! Gloria! Gloria! Then the group sang Sing to our God by Kevin Kiel (OCP).

St Joseph’s Church, Fitchburg MA choir sang God of Mercy, Father Ricky Manalo and Bob Hurd (OCP), under the direction of George Janicello.

Holy Family of Nazareth, Leominster MA sang Bread of Life by Curtis Stephan (OCP) and closed our showcase with Hosanna, by Carl Tuttle (OCP) for Palm Sunday, led by Betsy Fiedler.

The potluck lunch was served with much fellowship and social interactions between the parishes and musicians in attendance.

Thanks to Dr Ray (Lei) Yu for being our clinician in the organ for Pianist master class.

Although scheduled for St Rose of Lima, it was decided to move it to Notre Dame church at Saint John Paul II parish Southbridge where our attendee spent several hours with Ray and a pipe organ. What fun that must have been!

 

A rainy fall Saturday morning in central Massachusetts was the backdrop for a gathering of some 25 cantors at Holy Spirit Chapel at Assumption College, Worcester, looking to improve their appreciation of the psalmist role, cantor role, the song-leader technique and methods to animate the assembly.

We began the Cantor school with Amazing Grace. Our clinician, Mary Lynn Pleczkowski, from Pittsburg reviewed the experience as a teaching point by highlighting that the group knew when to come in. Clearly, cantors don’t need to indicate obvious things and should only use ‘modest gestures’, when necessary. Important point.

Mary Lynn also gave us all an effective talk on the basis for cantors at liturgical events like Sunday Mass, weddings, baptisms, funerals, reviewed the liturgical documents (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Sing to the Lord) as they pertain to cantors and psalmists, discussed the fundamentals of quality cantering and psalmody with demonstrations, memorable anecdotes and examples. She reminded us that a good psalmist can help the assembly pray, while a bad execution can hurt the people’s attempt at prayer. So, we all want to be prepared, do a solid musical job.

However, an often forgotten tip is that our facial expression, eye contact (or lack of eye contact) and body language all communicate our understanding of the psalm, sometimes better than we can communicate the understanding of the psalm musically. Our whole body is not just our instrument as singers, but it is a communicator of holy scripture too. Consistency between the sung and the body language is a worthy goal.

The delicious lunch was provided by our chapter executives.

After lunch, the cantor school reconvened with the master class. Ten or so participants presented a psalm of their choice for critique by Mary Lynn and group learning. Finally, the cantor school closed with the singing of Go Make of All Disciples, ELLACOMBE.

After the cantor school, Claire Campbell, a recent graduate of Westminster Choir College, completed both the written and the singing requirements of the NPM Basic Cantor Certification. Congratulations Claire!

Many thanks for the co-sponsorship of the campus ministry of Assumption College; the chapel and Ministry Center were both intimate, spectacularly musical and convenient for our chapter event needs.