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Dear Professor Thompson,

I asked my pastor about this Inter-Eparchial Music Commission. He knows nothing about it. I will take your word that such an organization exists and that you are part of it. Can you provide a list of the cantors who are part of this group? Can you explain the procedure this organization has in place to get input from cantors around the country?

What do you mean by �getting things into people�s hands�? Are you referring to the texts or to proposed musical settings for cantors to provide feedback?

I know that you are a fairly new cantor in our church and that you have had jobs in music in Roman Catholic Churches. If you were good in leading music at the RC Mass that doesn�t mean you are good at leading the Byzantine Liturgy.

I have not seen much of your work but everyone is saying that it is almost identical to the music published by Professor Jerry Jumba.

Basil

Basil,

Professor Thompson is not new to our chant. He is quite familiar with it, much more so than many parish cantors I have heard. And he does quite a fine job of leading the Byzantine Liturgy. I have had the pleasure of serving many Liturgies he cantored. If his work is similar to Professor Jumba's it should be no surprise as both used the same sources: Boksay, Malinic, Papp, Petrasevic, and Sokol.

As to involving the cantors how many cantors do you think should be involved? Because every cantor I know thinks they should have been consulted. The only problem is everybody has their own usages and preferences and if they had went that route nothing would have gotten done. Have you been going to the Metropolitan Cantor Institute? If you have then you have already seen much of the musical settings and practiced them. If you have not you shouldn't be complaining.

Fr. Deacon Lance

Dear Father Deacon Lance,

And what is the music of Prof. Jerry called?

Jumba-la-ya?

Ah, the joys of being Slavic!

O.K., I'm off to my dental appointment . . .

God bless,

Alex

Dear Basil,

I know for a fact that the Inter-Eparchial Music Commission exists and that it is chaired by Bishop Andrew of Passaic. I am not part of it nor do I have any official knowledge of this commission, but I do know that Professor Thompson is a member.

I attribute your pastor�s lack of information on this commission to the general lack of information sharing in our Church.

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I agree with both points. They are not mutually exclusive.

Harmony of prostopinije can be a real joy when properly done. If it is not done properly it can be a real trial. In my opinion it is best accomplished by teaching individuals how to harmonize and letting them do so from their place in the congregation. This allows for a measure of spontaneity that adds to the liturgy. But that does not mean that choirs can�t do a wonderful job with harmonized prostopinje. I have had the privilege of hearing some excellent choirs sing harmonized prostopinije.

The three most common mistakes choir masters make are 1) pitching the melody too high (it must always be sung at a normal pitch), 2) forcing a harmony and destroying the melody in the process and 3) not keeping at least half the voices of the choir singing the melody (i.e., 10 voices leading the melody will always be drowned out by 30 additional voices singing harmony).

Admin

I always get a chuckle at Uniontown. There are quite a number of cantors who come each year, and their great joy is to sing harmony. It's their annual Big Chance, since in their parishes, they have to sing melody.

Me, I've never gotten the knack of singing harmony spontaneously, but by golly I can hang onto a melody - and I LOOOOOOOVE sinnging with folks who are singing harmony well.

Cheers in the midst of the Feast,

Sharon

Got this CD on Friday. It's well worth obtaining!