A Martyr, A Monk, and Song

Today is the Feast of St. Cecilia. But there is another person in history, the monk who invented the staff and solfege that we should also pay heed to:

http://www.catholicchapterhouse.com/blog/2011/11/22/a-martyr-a-monk-and-some-music/

Without his great effort, or someone later on like him, modern Western music may well have never existed!

Contemporary Christian and Catholic Music

I haven't posted in awhile, but this was just a great article on Contemporary Christian music and Contemporary Catholic music that I could not pass up sending it along! :

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/blackwhiteandgray/2011/11/ccm-contemporary-catholic-music/#comment-253

Spotify

I recently joined Spotify as a free user in the U. S. They are just now rolling out in the States. Apparently, in the next six months, the REAL model (not free) will be pushed even harder. Still not a bad deal. I will have to think about whether this should be a fee based or advertiser based plan. Remember when cable cost, but there were no adertisements. Things do change, don't they? And the music business is the midst of extreme change right now.

I get to witness this from both directions because I'm also an artist on Spotify and rather proud of my 1/10th of a cent spins! :-)
Spotify in US

New Yet Old Drums! Cajon Solo by David Kuckermann

David Kluckermann of  framedrums.net shows his style on this great cajon by Schlagwerk. Imagine this guy doing a drum circle with a group of beginning student players! What an uplifting yet challenging even that would be!

 The cajon is also gaining tremendous traction in percussion for acoustic performance with flamenco, classical and acoustic ensembles.

 

Music Therapies for Cancer

This is still such a new and only dimly explored area of therapy: music therapy for seriously ill patients. I believe that we will find that music plays a significant role also in development and restoration of faculties. What a great potential frontier for both preventative and restorative therapies!

Joining the Choir Invisible

Joining the Choir Invisible

A friend of mine, Matt Gardocki, who is very involved with ministries to Contemporary Catholic Youth and Young Adults sent this to me yesterday. This is  a very powerful explanation of how the Catholic faith expresses itself in the individual and within the Church, ever-present and ever-alive as a community! This is a wonderful article and well worth the read for all  Contemporary Catholics.

Happy New Year - 2011 - The Difference in Cultures

Happy New year 2011 to all! New Year's Eve is a time when most in our culture reflect back on the past year and all of its challenges and outcomes. This is usually with a hope that the new year will bring better and greater opportunities and blessings than the outgoing one.

Often this celebration is accompanied by drinking, dancing, and lots of distraction.

The Contemporary Catholic Church has room for all of this, but its focus is quite different. Each year, on January 1st, the Catholic Church rededicates itself to the care of Mary, the Mother of God and starts the new year with a Mass in honor of her Son.

I've always found the choice of the Psalm (Psalm 67) which is set to a Contemporary Catholic music chant setting below, to be very interesting. In this psalm, we ask that God will bless us in His Mercy. So the focus is God and His Mercy upon us in this new year, a stark contrast to the secular idea of what I'm gaining or missing each year.

Psalm 67 - May God bless us in his mercy