Music is something that can involve us all at Church services, writes Matthew Carlson
Not everyone is called to lead worship at their local church, and unfortunately not all of us are blessed with great musical talent, but the Irish Church Music Association helps make sure that we all can enjoy music during worship. The 49th annual Irish Church Music Summer School kicked off last Wednesday and continued through to Saturday in Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth.
This collection of classes and workshops included parish singers and musical directors from all over Ireland as they looked to improve their musical abilities as well as engage with prayer through worship and liturgy.
This year, the summer school was leading up to the World Meeting of Families and the Pope’s visit to Ireland as the Church prepares liturgy for the historical visit. Last year the theme for the summer school was ‘Joy for the World’. This year they were following that with ‘Faith, Hope and Love’, which will reflect the events of each day of the World Meeting of Families happening August 21-26.
The Summer School began on Wednesday, June 27 and the Evening Prayer that day was based on the liturgy that was celebrated in each cathedral throughout the country which began this historic event. On Wednesday evening, in conjunction with St Patrick’s College in Maynooth, there was an Organ Recital with Sebastian Heindl.
New release
On Thursday night, Our Lady of Victories Gospel Choir (OLV), directed by Ciaran Coll, performed after just having celebrated their 10th year as a group. The group has been performing since 2007 and has recently released a CD. Friday night hosted a Come and Sing along Messiah – directed by Philip Stopford, this included a number of choruses from the Messiah.
Fr Turlough Baxter is the chairman of Irish Church Music Association and was very excited to be involved in the event and to see so many people engaging in liturgy especially because of its relationship to the World Meeting of Families.
“This is the 49th summer school this year and next year we will be celebrating our 50th anniversary. Members of the association are people from different choirs around the country, different parish choirs throughout the country,” he said.
Often people of talent such as this tend to be involved in performance-based singing and music, but Fr Turlough said that that couldn’t be further from the goal of this week. “The reason for the summer school is to give people new music for their parishes for the year and focus on certain things so this year we’re focused on the World Meeting of Families so our theme is Faith, Hope and Love so we’re taking those three things.”
The people attending these workshops are not looking for a spotlight or recognition, but rather knowledge to bring back to their parish and a chance to worship with friends.
Another focus of the summer school is to bring attention to Irish composers who are writing church music for parishes. “We have a lot of good Irish composers – Fr Liam Lawton, Ephrem Feeley, Columba McCann, Bernard Sexton – a good few people that have been composing music that we try to promote,” said Fr Turlough.
Different workshops include organ training, choral singing and even a workshop that helps musicians develop composing skills.
This year, the special guests welcomed at the school were Philip Stopford who is currently the Director of Music in Christ Church, Bronxville, just outside of New York City and John Bell of the Iona Community. Philip began his career as a chorister at Westminster Abbey in London.
He has been playing organ and directing professionally since the early 2000s and currently works with the youth of Christ Church as well as offering other workshops and concert performances around the world.
Mr Bell was born and lives in Scotland where he is a Resource Worker with the Iona Community, which preaches, lectures and conducts seminars across different denominations. He is a hymn writer, author and has a particular passion for congregational song and along with his colleagues has produced over 15 collections of songs and octavos, his work often taking him to Asia, Africa and even Australia.
His work mainly has a focus on tying in issues of social justice with spirituality and music. Together, these two along with other instructors led classes and workshops. The choirs performed a rendition of Philip’s piece Christ is Our Cornerstone that was written for the rededication of St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford five years after a fire destroyed the cathedral in 2009.
Travelling
Ian Callanan was one of the attendants of this year’s event and said he was excited to perform and sing in a time that is filled with composing and travelling. “A lot of the work I do is writing music and going around the country and world and doing clinics so it is fun to have the music in hand and just be singing,” said Ian.
He added that he has been working with liturgical music his entire life and has been composing music for over 25 years. He is an accomplished composer, arranger and score editor.
His work which has been used on TV and radio can be heard in several languages all across Europe. Ian will be conducting his own similar workshop this week focusing on youth. “We’ll have people as young as 13 coming in, but it really varies in ages. Most of the people coming in will be about in their 30s.”
Mr. Callanan’s workshop will also focus on more contemporary liturgical music versus ones that might be more traditionally based, including pianos and guitars. According to Ian, there could be around 50-60 in attendance at his personal workshop, which is a bit less than the summer School programme which had approximately 80 members in one room singing together.
Aoife Daly and Rebecca O’Sullivan are both veterans of the summer school programme and say that they look forward to it each year. Aoife who is 24 years old says she heard about the programme from someone who had done it previously. She has been a regular attendant for a while and plans to keep coming back.
“This is my 10th year coming to this summer school. Of course, you always have new people coming in, but you also get a lot of the same people every year and so you start to get to know people and get to see each other again every time it comes around, it’s brilliant,” said Aoife.
Prayer
Aoife is the junior choir director at her parish as well as a member of the senior choir. One of her favourite things about the summer school is that she gets to communicate with God in a different way. “You know there’s that saying that ‘if you sing, you pray twice,’ it’s that feeling that you’re praying in a different way.”
Rebecca who is 19 and at the school for a fourth year also heard about the programme from someone who had participated in the past. “My favourite thing about the summer school is probably the chance to get to do all the different workshops,” said Rebecca. She continued that as a member of her choir, it is always a fun opportunity to sing more and to improve skills.
“They’ll have workshops that work with youth so you get a chance to meet other young people that are singing in different parishes.”
Fr Turlough said that although this isn’t the only workshop that is done throughout the year, this one is a little special in that it brings people together time and time again. “It’s a great setting here in the college of Maynooth, people come here quite often and have been here every year. We’ve been here in Maynooth for about 30 years coming to the summer schools, but a lot of the people have been people that have been coming over those years so they know each other and they’ve got a friendship between them.
“We also do different workshops in different parts of the country throughout the year.”
Fr Turlough who is himself a graduate from the Center of National Liturgy in Maynooth said that music has always had a special place with him, predating his time as a priest which currently stands at 21 years.
He added that after last Saturday, people will go back to their own parishes and churches with their new knowledge and continue to bless their congregations.
They will take back music and ideas that they can then use to help teach their own choirs as most of them have leadership roles or directorship in their parishes.
Fr Turlough is already preparing for next year as it is the 50th anniversary of the summer school.
This year holds significant due to the visit of Pope Francis in August. The official hymn of the World Meeting of Families is A Joy For All The World by Ephrem Feeley whose other work was sung at the summer school.
The piece draws inspiration from the document Amoris Laetitia – The Joy of Love, written in 2016 by Pope Francis following the Synods on the Family held over the preceding two years.
The fourth chapter of Amoris Laetitia is a reflection of the message in 1 Corinthians 13 about love. “To provide musical and textual symmetry, the introduction is repeated with these words as a coda, though with pared-back accompaniment to highlight their simplicity and elegance. The main focus of Amoris Laetitia is the domestic family and there are also theological parallels between this and God’s family in the Church,” said Mr Feeley.
“The lyrical nature of the melody allows for this piece to be performed by smaller forces too, even a single voice and accompaniment, making it suitable for weddings. The piece also is suitable for general use and could be used as a strong stately entrance or communion processional hymn.”
Although the summer school itself is not preparing for any direct involvement in the World Meeting of Families, Fr Turlough said that the people who attend the workshops will bring new insight to celebrations that are likely to happen at their individual parishes in preparation for the Pope’s coming to Ireland.
Above all though, the goal for the summer school is to help those who help lead worship engage with God and active prayer. “The reason that people come in here isn’t to perform but to develop their skills and enhance the liturgy in their own parishes,” said Fr Turlough.
With the continued training of liturgist in Ireland and the investment in young liturgists in the Church, the future for liturgy in the Church of Ireland is bright.
