The Heart of Our Music: Practical Considerations

Book excerpt: In The Heart of Our Music, master practitioners of the art of liturgical music come together to offer enriching insights, a stirring vision, and practical new ideas that will change the way you think about liturgy and liturgical ministry. These reflections are written with the needs of parish liturgists and liturgical musicians in mind. This volume includes reflections on who sings, the kind of music they sing, the acoustic qualities of our worship spaces, the act of singing itself, the sort of idioms we use, the challenges of multicultural music, how we might better evaluate what we do, and music in the US church today. Contributors and their articles include: "With One Voice: The Voice of the Church, the Body of Christ" by Columba Kelly, OSB; "Vox populi: Voice of People, Voice of Thunder" by Steven C. Warner; "Essentially Vocal Music for the Liturgy" by Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam; "The Spirit Breathes in the Multiplicity of Liturgical Music Styles" by Lynn Trapp; "Reflections on Multicultural Celebrations and the Composition of Their Music" by Jaime Cortez; "Three Judgments, One Evaluation" by John Foley, SJ; and "Composing for the American Church" by Tom Kendzia.