Up In The Air

How's this for a coincidence? One of bass Mark Deutschendorf's many hobbies is riding roller coasters, including (shown here) "The Legend" at Holiday World, Indiana which he visited last month, among others. Mark says he had to drive five hours back to St. Louis to catch his Southwest flight home to Reno.

Well, guess who was taking the same flight? Yep, Kathy Reinheimer, on her way back from the Sacred Music Colloquium in St. Louis! All those in favor of sending Mark to the colloquium and Kathy to the roller coasters next summer, please comment!

Mark told this to me and former bass JP DeChambeau at a recent Reno Aces game that featured leadoff hitter Jack Reinheimer. No relation to Kathy, as far as we know.

Ad Orientem Pushback, or This Is Why We Cannot Have Sacred Things

Photo of Fr. Francisco by (who else?) Gwen Linde.

I suppose it was too much to hope that Cdl. Robert Sarah's recommendation to return to ad orientem worship be received with open arms. His Eminence elaborated further earlier this month in a talk called "Towards An Authentic Implementation of Sacrosanctum Concilium".

To be fair, His Eminence was not mandating ad orientem worship, merely explaining that it was not forbidden. Reactions, however, have ranged from indifference to out and out defiance of the Prefect of the CDW. Here are but a few:

Battle Over "Ad Orientem" Mass Heats Up at Vatican

Shocking Developments From Westminster

Showdown in Arkansas over "Ad Orientem"

Letter from USCCB Commitee on Divine Worship on "Ad Orientem"

While RPC does not exist necessarily to promote ad orientem worship, we certainly support anything that makes the Sacrifice of the Mass more sacred than profane.

Kathy at the Colloquium

The CMAA released this group photo of those attending this year's Sacred Music Colloquium outside the Shrine of St. Joseph in St. Louis. If you expand the photo, you'll see Kathy in the center of the front row in the orange/peach top.

Some Summer Reading and Listening

For reading and review:

• Mechanics of the Chant
• Gregorian Chant Notation
• Latin Pronunciation:
• Vowels
• Consonants
• Anything on solfege (way too much to post here)
• What to do with your robe
• How to end up in Kathy's doghouse

For your smartphone, iPod, mp3 player, or 80s-style cassette Walkman:

• Gregorian Chant Class, September 2013 (by Kathy, Fr. Francisco Nahoe, Deacon Joe Bell, and special guest Dr. William Mahrt, video excerpt)
• Why Gregorian chant at Mass?, November 2011 (by Kathy)
• Many other homilies, topics, and talks at Reno Catholic Network

Finally, speaking of pronunciation, and as we head toward the July 4 weekend, always remember:

NO AMERICAN R's!

Sorry, We're Closed (but we'll be back)

And so another season comes to an end for RPC. Let's take a look back at RPC, version MMXV-MMXVI:

• We had numerous new singers in all parts, as well as a few returnees who had left, for which we are grateful.
• We started and ended the season with Fr. Francisco.
• We all got a workout lugging around the new (and huge) choir version of the St. Michael Hymnal....
• ...but not enough of one, as illnesses of various sorts took their toll on us, Kathy included.
• Snow was a factor in our rehearsals well before winter even began (speaking of which, we are grateful for a snowy/watery winter and spring, and pray another will follow).
• An earthquake struck shortly after our last pre-Christmas rehearsal.
• We had one of our busiest seasons from Christmas to Easter in recent memory.
• We sang for the first time at the invitation of Immaculate Conception outside of the now-defunct Eucharistic and Marian Conference, and for the first time ever at St. Michael's in Stead.
• Nancy filled in playing the Cathedral organ for one of our Masses.
• We surprised Fr. Jacob Carazo by singing "Lo Spiritu del Signore" on the 12th anniversary of his ordination, where it was also sung.

Time now for our thankroll:

• To Kathy, without whom there would be no RPC, period.
• To all the singers in all parts.
• To Jennifer, John, and Nancy for accompanying us at the Cathedral.
• To Fr. Larry Morrison and Lorraine, for giving us places to rehearse.
• To Frs. Jacob Carazo, Philip George, Thomas Babu, and Loy Torrente for allowing us to sing for them and their congregations.
• To our benefactors, known and anonymous.
• To God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Our Lady, Queen of Peace; and St. Cecelia for blessing our efforts.

Have a wonderful summer, enjoy having Tuesday nights free, and we'll see you this fall! Kathy is very much looking forward to the annual Sacred Music Colloquium in St. Louis which begins tomorrow.

Here's To The Couple

Congratulations, Desiree and Tim! It was an honor for us to sing for your nuptials, and thank you for asking us. May you have a wonderful life together, and perhaps give birth to a future RPC bass. I tried to take some photos during the wedding, but they didn't really turn out, so the best I can do is this shot by Gwen Linde from the rehearsal.

Some familiar faces in the bridal party: Former RPCer Katie Torvinen was one of the bridesmaids, and Ray Gurries one of the groomsmen. We sang for Ray and his wife Kara's wedding in May 2014.

ETA: Here's a shot from the indispensable Gwen.

The Chant Notation Superhighway

For the last couple decades, all sorts of documents have been digitized to the interwebs. Now comes an effort not just to scan medieval Gregorian chant pieces, but to make them searchable as well. I suppose if you don't know what to do with yourself this summer, this could work.

Smithsonian Magazine: Inside the Effort to Digitize Medieval Monks' Chants (HT: Rob Bateman.)

Reminds me of this classic Xerox commercial: