Good News for Midwestern Church Musicians

Nah--I don't call them "ministers of music," sorry.

The Church Music Association of America has announced that its next Colloquium for study of Catholic Church music will be held in CHICAGO, instead of D.C.

June 16-21, 2008 (Monday noon through Saturday evening) Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois

Gregorian Chant has been called the most beautiful music this side of Heaven. But as Pope Benedict XVI and the Second Vatican Council have emphasized, it is also integral to Catholic liturgical life and should be heard and experienced with wide participation in every parish. The Church Music Association of America is working to bring about this ideal with its Sacred Music Colloquium.

...The primary focus of the Colloquium is instruction in chant and the Catholic sacred music tradition, participation in chant and polyphonic choirs, nightly lectures and performances, along with daily celebrations of liturgies in both English and Latin.

Attendance is open to anyone interested in improving the quality of music in Catholic worship. Professional musicians will appreciate the rigor, while enthusiastic volunteer singers will enjoy the opportunity to study under an expert faculty. If you have never sung chant before, the colloquium will open a new world of beautiful sacred music to you, so you too are encouraged to attend.

Attendees also benefit from camaraderie with like-minded musicians who share their love of the liturgy of the Church. Growing awareness and appreciation of chant and its solemnity has generated particular excitement about the conference this year.

The cost is reasonable (this is almost a full week of instruction, demonstration, and implementation)

$675 for single room/full program including meals, and materials,
$575 for double room/full program, including meals and materials
$360 tuition only, including materials (you can pay per meal as you choose)

A deposit to reserve your spot is $75, with full payment due by May 15, 2008. Register first and then make your deposit. .... You can also mail this registration form that includes your check or credit card number to: CMAA Colloquium Registration, 920 Sanders St., Auburn, AL, 36830.

“The greatest need of liturgy today is the restoration of the sense of the sacred,” writes CMAA President William Mahrt of Stanford University. “Music has a principal role, since it expresses that sense of the sacred and sustains it through time.”

Musicians from SE Wisconsin and NE Illinois are well-positioned to 'commute' the event.

Info, including a full schedule and the registration form (PDF), can be found here.

These are outstanding 'working' seminars. I've attended a couple of them in the past and the music, the instructors, and the other attendees are worth FAR more than the posted prices.

Get this into your budget!