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Music Ministry Newsletter
A resource for all serving in parish music ministry
National Association of Pastoral Musicians 
Grand Rapids Diocesan Chapter

January 2015
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Greetings!

Happy New Year!

I hope that your Christmas season was full of friends, family, and beautiful singing. I also hope that you were able to get some well deserved rest after!

Our chapter is hitting the ground running this year and we hope you'll join us! (Don't worry, it's figurative running.)

First off, we have an awesome two day event coming up the first weekend of March. Join us Friday evening for a soup supper and mini-retreat. Then come back Saturday morning for a choral director's workshop on the aging voice.


Third, Nick Palmer from the Cathedral of St. Andrew has put together a short survey to collect information about the songs that we sing. Please take a few minutes and help him out!

As always, questions, comments, want ads, and other contributions are always welcome. Simply reply to this newsletter or send an email at any time.

Mary Harwood
Editor
St. Paul the Apostle, Grand Rapids
From Our Chapter Director...


 

Having just turned 73, I fully realize that my voice isn't what is was when I was half this age. But losing the youthful qualities of one's voice occurs gradually over the years, and as singers we may not be entirely aware of the transition. I have learned that with extra care and 'quality control' I can still produce reasonable results. But I also know, that when I don't think about it, what comes out sounds a lot more like 73, than 37.


As a choir director, I work regularly with folks who are experiencing or approaching this same situation: senior singers. And I know that it's just not good enough to shrug it off with, "Oh well, it is what it is." What it is, is that it's the job of us choral directors to work to get the best possible sound from each of our singers, regardless of their age.
 

Last summer, when I heard the Evergreen Chorale, of Evergreen Commons in Holland, I was amazed at the young sound of this grey-haired ensemble. It's conductor, Cal Langejans, manages to produce wonderful choral results. My St. Francis de Sales colleague, Phil Konczyk, suggested, "we should ask him to present a workshop on working with aging voices."
 

Well, the date is March 7th, from 9 a.m. till noon, at St. Paul the Apostle Parish in G.R. If you are a choral director, quite possibly the only reason why you would not need to attend this event, is that yours is a children's choir! Details below.

 

Chapter Director
marchMarch Events

 

Both events will be held at St. Paul the Apostle, 2750 Burton St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546.


 

Click here for additional details and registration.


 

Friday Evening: March 6

6-9 p.m.

NPM-GR Soup Supper, Members Meeting, and Lenten Retreat

 

We'll begin the evening with a simple soup supper and social time followed by a short chapter business meeting. (The convention core committee will share details of the July event.) At 7:30, Fr. Phil Shangraw and Sr. Mary Ann Barrett will lead us in a Lenten retreat, focusing on our liturgical ministry and ending with sung Night Prayer.

 

Free

 

Saturday Morning: March 7

9-12 p.m.

Choral Directors Workshop: Working with Aging Voices

 

Aging is part of life. As singers get older it can become more and more difficult to consistently produce good vocal sounds, but it's not impossible.  Choral directors are faced with bringing out the best possible sounds from their singers, including seniors. Younger choral directors often find themselves working with singers twice their own age or more. Let this clinician help, no matter which side of 50 you are on these days.  He'll offer techniques that will bring out the best in singers of every age.
 

Clinician, Cal Langejans, is the founder of the Holland Chorale, and served as its conductor from 1960 until 2000. He currently conducts the Evergreen Chorale, an audition only ensemble of 100+ singers ages 50 and above.

 

Check out this YouTube performance at St. Adalbert's from a few years ago.


 

Workshop fee: $25 / NPM Members: $20

conventionConvention Countdown

The 2015 NPM National Convention in Grand Rapids is a rare opportunity!  Not in a generation has the incredible range of shared experience, comprehensive knowledge, inspired wisdom, and uplifting enjoyment taken place in a city this close to Byron Center.  No, it's not Kentwood.  It is, of course, Grand Rapids!  On July 6-10, right in the heart of Grand Rapids' city center, you and over 2,000 of your closest liturgical & musical friends will have the week of a lifetime.

 

The Grand Rapids NPM National Convention includes both familiar and unique features.  Plenum sessions by noted, dynamic, and knowledgeable speakers, Worship Space tour and Organ Crawl, Rockin' Rosa Parks Circle (the Rockin' is familiar, but the locale is unique), and a powerful, prayerful, and uplifting Eucharistic celebration are the familiar parts. 

 

But there are events in this convention that could only happen in Grand Rapids: Picnic at Lyons Square, a hands-on service opportunity, and Wednesday's "Dinner and the Symphony," featuring the renowned Grand Rapids Symphony and chorus, and preceded by your own dinner arranged at one of the many downtown restaurants offering a significant discount for those presenting an NPM Convention badge.

 

If handbells are your passion, you might come early for the National Catholic Handbell Festival.  This is a separate registration, but it includes the Independence Day fireworks show and the opportunity for Sunday Mass of course.

 

Opportunity on so many levels

 

Here is what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for your parish music ministers.  If you're anywhere within a reasonable drive of Grand Rapids, you can have your entire music ministry attend this convention together at a very manageable cost.  Nothing forms a cohesive group as well as a shared experience, especially one of this magnitude and quality.

 

To control expenses even further, there are volunteer opportunities that can offset some of the registration costs.  For every four hours an individual volunteers, one day's registration is free!

 

No matter how you get to the Grand Rapids convention this year, you'll be glad you came.  Make plans now to register early for the best rates, reserve your hotel space if you need it, and invite friends from near and far to meet you there.  It's a reunion, a retreat, a renewal, and overall boost for your spirit and your ministry.

 

Want to Help?

 

Here are two ways you can help make this convention an even bigger success and even more rewarding for you:

 

  1. Volunteer:  An event of this quality and magnitude takes a ton of work.  But if there are a lot of workers, it's only a pound or two of work for each. Volunteer to help, either in advance or on site.  Click here to sign up.  Whatever you can do, it's appreciated in advance!
  2. Contribute:  The Symphony event is NOT funded by the National Office, but by local contributions from businesses and individuals.  Your contribution to this effort is tax-deductible.  Please consider a gift as a part of our local hospitality to the many who will visit our area next summer.  Click here for complete information.

 

Click here for a copy of the Convention Brochure.

2014-15 Chapter Events
  • April 9, 2015, Annual Banquet 
    • Pietro's Italian Restaurant 2780 Birchcrest Dr, SE (just west of 28th & Breton)
  • May 7, 2014, Second Annual Festival of Congregational Song 
    • Cathedral of St. Andrew
  • July 6-10, 2015, 38th Annual Convention of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians 
    • Grand Rapids, MI
symphonySymphony Fundraiser Update

 

NPM Members, it's time to step up! Everyone who reads these words is urged to donate to whatever degree you can to support the Wednesday Night Symphony experience at the 2015 NPM Convention. This is our local gift to our 2,000 convention visitors. We are at 2/3 of our $20,000.

 

This Wednesday Evening experience will be our "night on the town," the 2015 convention's Dinner and Symphony Event. With a 2 � hour window for dinner prior to the concert, leading Grand Rapids restaurants are offering NPM convention attendees a 20% dinner discount!

 

And if you don't know much about our Grand Rapids Symphony, be amazed: check it out.

 

Here's what is collectively being asked of each of us:

  • make a personal donation
  • ask those in your music ministry to contribute
  • determine whether or not your parish can support this effort as part of its outreach (several already have)
  • explore the potential for support from the business community

Remember, gifts of $100 or more include a pair of general admission concert tickets, $500 or more gets you tickets in the reserved section.

 

You can pledge a donation by sending an email to: contactus@npm-gr.org

 

Or simply make out your check to NPM and send it to

            Phil Konczyk, Treasurer

            c/o St. Francis de Sales Parish

            195 West 13th Street

            Holland, MI  49423

 

For more information click here

Membership Information

Over the past year, the two-tiered NPM-Grand Rapids membership program has efficiently evolved.

 

Parish Membership:

  • The parish joins the Chapter at the $150 level, becoming a sponsor/benefactor of the Chapter. Anyone in the  parish who chooses, may register to become a regular voting member of the Chapter at no addition cost*. Moreover, every member of the parish's music ministry: choir members, cantors, instrumentalists, will receive the monthly newsletter, announcements of events, and be eligible for member discounts at Chapter events.

Individual Membership:

  • Pastor, Music Director, or any other member of a parish music ministry is eligible to join as a regular voting member of the NPM-GR Chapter. The annual dues is $20, renewable annually on the anniversary of joining. You will receive our monthly digital newsletter along with all the benefits of full membership.

 

All memberships renew on the 12 month anniversary of their being established. Become a major supporter of the work of our chapter in the Diocese of Grand Rapids.

 

Click here for membership application.

 

*Voting membership is recommended for, but not limited to, pastor, director of music ministries, assistant directors, accompanists, and anyone with a leadership role in the parish music ministry


From the Office of Liturgical Music

Interested in singing for the important liturgical celebrations of the diocesan church during the spring such as the Rites of Election, Chrism Mass and Ordination Mass?


 

Consider singing with the Grand Rapids Diocesan Choir! 


 

Rehearsals are Monday evenings from 7-8:30 p.m. in the Cathedral of St. Andrew. It is a wonderful opportunity to sing with other committed Catholic singers from throughout the diocese. 


 

Please contact Dennis Rybicki for more information. 

surveyMusic Usage Survey

Nick Palmer (Cathedral of St. Andrew) has put together a short survey to get an idea of the repertoire we have in common for English speaking and bilingual communities. Overall results will be shared so that we can see what tunes others around us are singing.

Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey here.

Thank you!
Mentoring Program

 

Parish musicians...

  • Are you new at your job?
  • Are you trained in another area of music, but have no church music experience?
  • Are you an experienced church musician who has never before served in a     Catholic parish?
  • Are you simply struggling with certain issues related to your job?

Friendly, competent, help is at hand. Read more

Gaudium et Spes/Joy and Hope*

  

"Mindful of the Lord's saying: "by this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35), Christians cannot yearn for anything more ardently than to serve the men of the modern world with mounting generosity and success. Therefore, by holding faithfully to the Gospel and benefiting from its resources, by joining with every man who loves and practices justice, Christians have shouldered a gigantic task for fulfillment in this world, a task concerning which they must give a reckoning to Him who will judge every man on the last of days." (Chapter 4, Section 93)

 

*In the past year we have run a series of excerpts from the 2007 document of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship. In this issue we begin a new series of excerpts from the Vatican II document, Gaudium et Spes/Joy and Hope, promulgated in 1965 on the last day of the Council. Click here to read the entire document. This document has been chosen as the inspiration for the 2015 NPM Convention in Grand Rapids, 50 years later, and this series will continue throughout the year. 

Prayer List

Karin Smith, Cathedral of St. Andrew
Deacon Ken Baldwin, St. Francis Xavier 

Is there someone in your music ministry who we should lift in prayer?  Please send the person's name and parish to Mary Harwood.  Names will be listed for one month unless otherwise specified.
Upcoming Events 

 

  • January 25: St. Andrew's Musicians Concert
    • 3 p.m.
    • Cathedral of St. Andrew
  • February 9: Prayer of Peace
    • Ecumenical sung prayer in the style of Taize
    • 7:30 p.m. | second Monday of each month
    • St. Mary's Church, Grand Rapids
    • Singers and instrumentalists are welcome to participate, please contact Larry Barton for info   
  • February 11: Prayer of Peace
    • 7 p.m. | second Wednesday of each month
    • Dominican Chapel at Marywood
Save the Date!

 

It's never too soon to mark your calendar for the NPM National Convention in Grand Rapids MI -- July 6-10, 2015!

Coda: Quote of the Month

"I know of no other means to reach perfection than by love. To love: how perfectly our hearts are made for this! Sometimes I look for another word to use, but, in this land of exile, no other word so well expresses the vibrations of our soul. Hence we must keep to that one word: love."

St. Therese of Lisieux