Category: Music

Stevie Nicks vs Pope Leo on Freedom
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Stevie Nicks vs Pope Leo on Freedom

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by on Oct 26, 2020 in Featured, Live in Christ, Music, Those in Need, Uncategorized
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In a recent interview with The Guardian, Rocker Stevie Nicks revealed her confusion to think that sex, drugs and rock and roll were greater than her baby. She ended her child’s life in 1979 while dating Don Henley of The Eagles. “There’s just no way that I could have had a child then, working as hard as […]

The Empowering Depth and Dimension of Christmas
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The Empowering Depth and Dimension of Christmas

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by on Dec 07, 2019 in Featured, Live in Christ, Music
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There is more to Christmas than just Christ’s birth. It serves as the beginning of an epic, and Advent is the prologue whereby we prepare for the first spellbinding chapter. There’s a thread running through Christmas that ties into so many other Christological elements, including Christ as Divine Lover, in concert with the poetry of […]

Good Friday, Allegri, and A White Easter
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Good Friday, Allegri, and A White Easter

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by on Mar 30, 2018 in Featured, Live in Christ, Music
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Today is Good Friday. Now I know that I ought to be focused on the passion and death of Jesus Christ, and I am, but I am also a mother. Therefore, I must plan ahead for my family accordingly. And this entails preparing any necessary music that my family will want to sing and listen […]

Beauty From Ashes: <em>I Can Only Imagine</em>, the Backstory
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Beauty From Ashes: I Can Only Imagine, the Backstory

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by on Mar 16, 2018 in Featured, Music, On TV and Movies
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In 2004, I was making my way through the canned goods aisle at my local supermarket when I heard the opening chords of MercyMe’s hit song “I Can Only Imagine” being broadcast over the store’s sound system. I had two conflicting responses: 1) this song doesn’t belong in a grocery store, and 2) I think […]

Sacred Music “Starter’s Kit” Helps Parishes Sing with the Universal Church
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Sacred Music “Starter’s Kit” Helps Parishes Sing with the Universal Church

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by on Jun 13, 2017 in Featured, Music
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Just how far off the mark is the music at your parish? The question seems unfair, yet the vast majority of parishes in the United States engage in liturgical deviations of the musical variety. Everything from folk music to heavy metal has been heard at Mass, despite having no official approval by the Church. Curiously, […]

Exploring the Multifaceted Marvel of Polyphony
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Exploring the Multifaceted Marvel of Polyphony

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by on Jul 21, 2016 in Featured, Music
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We have all heard it, yet most of us would not be able to name it. The term polyphony (from the Greek for “many sounds”) is used to describe music that employs simultaneous yet independent melodies. This can occur in secular or spiritual songs, and the spiritual realm includes both sacred music (typically using a […]

Fourteen Noteworthy CDs Every Catholic Should Hear
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Fourteen Noteworthy CDs Every Catholic Should Hear

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by on Feb 23, 2016 in Featured, Music
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Have you ever delighted in listening to an album with beautiful renditions of songs such as What Child Is This and Silent Night, only to be abruptly taken out of your delightful state by a tacky track such as Jingle Bell Rock? So many CDs have wildly varying songs, possibly because of a desire to […]

God’s Gift to Man: The Transforming Power of Music
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God’s Gift to Man: The Transforming Power of Music

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by on Nov 04, 2015 in Featured, Music
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This article is a reflection on how music has shaped my devotion to the Church. There will be links to my favorite music: liturgical, hymns and other. I’d be grateful if readers would note in comments their favorite music. I won’t say much about the psychology of music or how music affects the brain. A […]

Art and Ideals of a Culture
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Art and Ideals of a Culture

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by on Jul 24, 2015 in Art & Architecture, Featured, Music
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The arts are as important to education as math, science and language. In many ways the arts are a language capable of expressing the inexpressible human heart or the beauty of the world. The arts can express the dignity and worth of man and glorify God; this is art in its highest form. The arts […]

The Arts: Talent and Discipline
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The Arts: Talent and Discipline

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by on Jun 12, 2015 in Art & Architecture, Featured, Music
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The arts can nourish the human heart and soul and help to build character. Whether dance, music, theater, visual or literary arts, students must approach their chosen art-form with commitment, focus and discipline. Talent and Discipline What about talent? Talent is a gift, the source of inspiration and insight and is crucial to achieve excellence. But it’s […]

Answering Some Vital Questions
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Answering Some Vital Questions

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by on Jun 10, 2015 in Featured, Live in Christ, Music, On the Job
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Where do you go when it starts to rain? That and some related “musical questions” have been playing over and over in my mind for the last few months. They have made for some interesting soul-searching. For me, the self-examination began on the road. I have to take three business trips annually, all to Kansas […]

A Child, a Song, and the Weight of Glory
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A Child, a Song, and the Weight of Glory

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by on May 22, 2015 in Featured, Music
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In 2012, twelve year old singer Jackie Evancho delivered an exquisite rendition of Nella Fantasia. It is the vocal version of Ennio Morricone’s Gabriel’s Oboe. Gabriel’s Oboe is from the soundtrack for the 1986 film The Mission: A favorite film, and composition, of mine. Sweet child, I believe that what you were singing about was […]

The Heartache of Cavatina
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The Heartache of Cavatina

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by on Mar 12, 2015 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Live in Christ, Music, MyChurchParish.com
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Most people associate the beautiful song Cavatina (written by Stanley Myers) for classical guitar with the 1978 movie The Deer Hunter. But Cavatina’s heartbreakingly beautiful melody originally appeared in a 1970 a movie called “The Walking Stick”. The Heroine of The Walking Stick was a 26 year old woman named Deborah Dainton who walked with a limp because […]

Is Rock Music Good for You?
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Is Rock Music Good for You?

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by on Oct 11, 2014 in Featured, Music, MyChurchParish.com, Parenting
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We all know that the lyrics of rock music are often morally offensive; however, evidence is appearing which indicates that rock music itself may be harmful regardless of the lyrics.  Although studies of the harmful effects of rock music are hard to find, there is a growing concern that there is something about the beat […]

Why I Keep Returning to the Music of Beethoven
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Why I Keep Returning to the Music of Beethoven

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by on Jun 21, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Music
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In the great treasury of music, I keep finding myself coming back again and again to Beethoven. You may think it’s because he was one of the greatest composers who ever lived despite his deafness. That is true, everybody loves great music and everybody loves an over-comer. But there’s something more that keeps drawing me […]

Chiming in on the Church’s Changeless Chant Challenge
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Chiming in on the Church’s Changeless Chant Challenge

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by on Jun 10, 2014 in Featured, Music
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Normally I attend a parish that has excellent music—the best in town, actually. However, last Christmas Eve I ended up at a Mass that included a strange musical prelude. There were great voices in the choir, but the instruments employed (drums and an electric guitar) were out of place. The pounding and grinding were like […]

The Way to Be as Happy as Pharrell Williams (Actually Happier)
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The Way to Be as Happy as Pharrell Williams (Actually Happier)

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by on May 13, 2014 in Featured, Live in Christ, Music
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The ancients knew we were made for it, we moderns are constantly seeking it: Happiness. It’s often associated with peace, rest, contentment, or completion. It’s the nunc dimittis we all hope to whisper at the end of our day. No matter who you are, where you are, it appears as the Lode Star for all human activity […]

A Study of Transcending Disability
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A Study of Transcending Disability

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by on May 09, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, History, Music, MyChurchParish.com
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I keep a bust of Ludwig van Beethoven on the fireplace mantle in my home. It reminds me of the human capacity to overcome adversity to achieve great things. When I doubt myself in my own acquired disability of multiple sclerosis, I listen to Beethoven — particularly his 9th symphony — written in total deafness, […]

The Love Songs of The Beatles
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The Love Songs of The Beatles

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by on Feb 11, 2014 in Featured, Music
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It’s been 50 years since the Beatles first landed in America and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.  I’m a pretty avid Beatles fan, and like following the continued legacy of the band.  My favorite aspect of the Beatles is the songwriting team of Paul McCartney and John Lennon. The Beatles were a phenomenon many […]

Pete Seeger with Banjo, 1947
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Pete Seeger, Marxist Minstrel

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by on Feb 03, 2014 in Columnists, Featured, Music
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Seeger was a loyal comrade.

Christmas Classics from a Father-Daughter Duo
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Christmas Classics from a Father-Daughter Duo

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by on Dec 14, 2013 in Featured, Music
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Just down the Texas highways from me live Kevin McCormick and his daughter Rachel. A mutual friend introduced us, and I learned that Kevin and Rachel has just completed a Christmas album full of classic hymns and songs. The result is an endlessly listenable arrangement of beautiful Christmas favorites: “The First Noel” to “Silent Night” […]

Lenten Music: Kyrie XVII (B)
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Lenten Music: Kyrie XVII (B)

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by on Mar 21, 2013 in Featured, Music
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One of my passions is Gregorian Chant and since we are in the heart of Lent, it is a good time to look at a chant piece proper to the season: The Kyrie in the Sundays of Advent & Lent (Kyrie in Dominicis Adventus et Quadragesimae): Kyrie XVII. Though there are a few variations of […]

In Paradisum: A Reflection Upon a Chant
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In Paradisum: A Reflection Upon a Chant

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by on Feb 20, 2013 in Featured, Music
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My uncle died a couple of years ago.  At the time of his death, I had cause to go back to a particularly beautiful chant piece for funeral Masses called the “In Paradisum” (IP). The Latin text (with my own rough English translation beneath) is as follows: In Paradisum deducant te Angeli; (May the Angels […]

When There Was Romance
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When There Was Romance

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by on Feb 12, 2013 in Featured, Music, The Social Order
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Hey, pallie, what the heck happened to romance? I use the word “pallie” in deference to the great Dean Martin. A few summers ago, just before the annual Dean Martin Festival in Dino’s home town of Steubenville, Ohio, I decided to compare today’s hits with his. I started with the No. 1 song on Billboard […]