St. Michael's Catholic Church in Auburn, Alabama
The St. Cecilia Schola will sing at a Pontifical Mass, Saturday, February 27, 2010, at the Birmingham Cathedral, as part of the Highest Call conference taking place that day. The schola will sing Gregorian propers and polyphony by Josquin, Byrd, and others. The Mass begins at 12:30pm.
If you are within driving distance and would like to hear the full schola sing at Mass, here is our remaining Advent and Christmas schedule:
All Masses are in the OF, with fully chanted Latin ordinary, and chanted and polyphonic propers and motets. Masses are celebrated at the newly dedicated St. Michael’s Catholic Church at 1100 North College Street in Auburn, AL.
Last night we held our last rehearsal in the old building, and celebrated with a funny treat. We had cupcakes with little martians on this. It is part of an inside joke. We love the old St. Michaels dearly, especially its wonderful acoustic and the great memories. However, everyone knows that it looks a bit funny (built in 1965). There was long-standing disagreement on whether it looked more like a cupcake or an alien ship. So we had cupcakes with little aliens on them!
The schola is singing at the dedication of the new Church building, Sunday at 10:00am. In particular, we are singing the offertory with the motet Sancte Deus by Thomas Tallis. We are also singing the Communion proper for the occasion from the Graduale Romanum, with Psalm verses.
The new building looks extremely beautiful. We are so proud of it, and especially grateful for the leadership of Monsignor William Skoneki who saw this project through from start to finish. Masterful job!
The St. Cecilia Schola is saddended by the loss of one of our members. Soprano Debbie Czerkawski, beautiful in voice and in countenance, died peacefully on July 3rd following a brief illness. We miss her terribly. Requiescat in pace.
The Schola in Birmingham, Alabama, at the Cathedral with Bishop Baker
The St. Ceclia Schola is honred with an invitation to sing at the Highest Call meeting–Mass and Benediction–on March 25, 2009, in Birmingham, Alabama.
The St. Cecilia Schola will sing for Gaudete Sunday this lovely setting of the Introit text by Richard Rice.
The St. Cecilia Schola will be providing the music for the ground breaking ceremony with ArchBishop Rodi at the construction site of the new Chuch on College Ave., 4:00pm on Saturday, September 13, 2008. We have invited all singers in the area to come join us on two English Psalms as well as a hymn and perhaps others pieces. We will meet at the current parish on Magnolia at 2:30pm for a rehearsal and then go to the site to sing.
Contact us if you are interested or just show up!
The St. Cecilia Schola has openings in its bass, tenor, and alto sections. Write us if you are interested, or call 334.703.0884
This fall we will begin a cycle of motets by William Byrd, pieces based on Mass propers published in 1604. They were circulated privately given the politics of the time. They are all masterful, and fit perfectly with the voicing of the schola. Our first piece is Confirma hoc Deus.
Our parish, St. Michaels of Auburn, Alabama, is in the process of building a new church facility, and during the planning stages, the issue of acoustics came up. It has been conventional in the last several decades to build acoustics under the assumption that the music will be projected by microphones and speakers, so spaces have tended to be dead to all forms of music except that kind that sounds good in a studio setting. To this end, many parish churches have carpet and acoustic tiling that deaden the space.
Of course this is a serious problem for sacred music, such as chant and polyphony, which depend heavily on a live acoustic. In many parishes around the country, this has become a major problem in bringing to life the heritage of Catholic music. It is also a problem for community participation in hymns and ordinary parts of the Mass.
Our Pastor, Monsignor Skoneki, working with a committee, has very wisely seen that the conventions here are not in keeping with progressing standards in church acoustics. He has instead decided to go forward with a different model of using a tile floor that is friendly to the sound and feel of a sacred space, to create an environment especially friendly to sacred music and participation in song by the community.
This is a wonderful decision, but it is also a costly one, adding an additional $110,000 to the total price of the building. If you agree that this is an essential step to take, please consider supporting this building project. You can write the pastor to arrange giving plans. His email is on the parish site. Thank you for your support of sacred music!
The transition to sacred music in most parishes needs to come slowly and simply, with easy settings that are quick to teach and learn, mostly in English. The idea here is to prepare the way for more complex settings in Latin later on. At the outset, however, vernacular plainsong can be wonderful, especially for parishes that are looking for periods of quiet reflection, using voice only settings that require no instruments.
This setting of Ambrosian chant was adapted for use at the 2008 Sacred Music Colloquium in Chicago. Feel free to print and use in your parish.
