MaestroTek, Ltd Pastoral Music Page
Pastoral Music
Current Activities
Summer highlights: The NPM Convention!
That's the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, and
our chance to hobnob with the composers, hear and try new works
and approaches to liturgical music, and just have FUN being
treated to the pleasure of each others' creativity.
We have concerts, publishers' showcases, seminars, workshops,
liturgy and daily prayer, all featuring inspirational music and musicians.
These are great, and if you've never been and want to know about
NPM and future events, go to their website at: www.npm.org
Church Affiliations
I currently am a Pastoral Musician playing instruments (usually bass or guitar)with the choir at
Our Lady of the Assumption parish in Beloit, WI.
Before that I was Director of Music Ministry for three years at St. Patrick Parish in Washington, IL.
I previously directed two choirs, one contemporary and one traditional, at
St. Mark Catholic Church in the campus neighborhood of Bradley University in Peoria, IL.
Some notes about when I was at St. Mark's:
Our contemporary group was a small ensemble; ten Voices, Piano/Flute, Guitar,
Vibes and Trumpet/French Horn (instr1/instr2 indicates they were
played by the same player). Our ensemble did the same service
each week, at 11:00a.m. Sunday mornings. We took to holding
our rehearsals two hours before services, at 9:00a.m. Sunday mornings.
We have found that this approach provided a number of advantages:
- Everyone who came to that morning's rehearsal was there for liturgy,
and everyone at liturgy was there for the last rehearsal.
- We gained some members because it's an easier commitment for many
without having to give up a weeknight.
- Voices were warmed up properly by the time service starts.
- Material was better remembered since the most recent practice was
half an hour before church instead of several days ago.
- Balance was better achieved since the final rehearsal of that day's
music was done with the actual people that would be doing it, also
allowing for reassignment of parts to accomodate absenses.
- I staggered arrival times for singers and musicians, so we had
the first part of rehearsal to work with voice parts at a pace for
our non-music-reading members, and then added in practice later of final
arrangements with our sight-reading musicians.
We had a lot of fun working this way, and have even been able to take
on more challenging material than we were used to doing, and in less time.
For the summer, we gave the choir a break, and lead the sung parts
of the liturgy with just a cantor and instrument, sometimes supplemented
by other choir members who happened in to sing along.
Our arrangements were simpler and we focused more on the spirit of the sung
prayer rather than the technicalities.
Some experiences, influences and repertoire
I have been doing church music since I joined the choir in 4th grade,
when we sang Latin Masses of both the great and lesser known composers,
as well as Gregorian chant. I began playing guitar for church in the late
'60s, along with many others who tried the simple folk melodies of the early
participative liturgies of the post-Vatican II RC church. The music of the
St. Louis Jesuits' and others like them were a big part of our tradition for
many years, into the early '80s. I led music for a Newman Center at UICC in
Chicago, I sang and played with Ed Gutfreund at a Campus Ministry Conference
in Miami, and provided the music when we brought the first Cursillo weekend
to Birmingham, Alabama. Then came John Michael Talbott, whose music was like
gold to anyone who really plays the guitar and sings in a high-baritone
to tenor range. In '83 I began leading a contemporary choir at Mary, Seat of
Wisdom Church in Park Ridge, IL, which I did for 13 years. During that time
I also sang in the choirs of some of Chicago's Epischopal Churches. I
attended my first NPM convention in '84. I love the music from Taize, which
we use in our choir, and have played classical guitar with Bob Batastini
several times for Taize sung prayer. Of course, Haugen, Haas, Joncas and Hurd
have been a big part of our musical lives, along with those from
St. Thomas More. More recently I began enjoying the songs of Michael Card,
and would love to see some of his material and talent turned toward
congregational singing. So, we've done a bit of everything from Chant on up to
Gospel and other contemporary material, believing that in all these styles
there is valid and special value as sung worship, so long as
the quality is sufficient to enhance and not distract from prayer.
- Joseph Kriz
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