Ten Jesuits recently spent 10 days learning about liturgical music, actually composing pieces as an assignment. They learnt about about the principles of liturgical music and musical composition, teaching music and conducting choirs. They were asked to write songs for liturgical use, which were performed in a recital and used at the Mass at the conclusion of the workshop.
The Liturgical Music Workshop was conducted by Fr Manoling Francisco SJ, with the assistance of Fr Mark Aloysius SJ and Ms Cynthia Sanchez, a professional violinist and member of a group called Musician Friends of the Jesuits in the Philippines. It was held in Manila from December 20 to 30, 2013, and was organised by the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific Scholastics and Brothers-in-Formation Circle in partnership with JesCom Asia Pacific.
The participants, who hailed from Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Timor Leste and Vietnam, found the workshop a good learning experience.
“I learned that I need to be simpler in my service to the people of God. When we were composing our liturgical songs, I had to struggle between my desire to provide prayerful music for the congregation and my desire to perform as an artist,” said Korean Scholastic Soo Young Park. “One of my consolations was the time when we sang together in the Mass using our newly composed songs. I found it so beautiful and meaningful. It was my first time to sing my own music in the Mass… I found the strength to study further in the area of Music, for whatever purpose it will serve in my future ministry as a Jesuit.”
Vietnamese Jesuit Fr Michael Thu Nguyen Huu said that the workshop improved his ability to compose liturgical songs. “Now, music comes out from me easily. I think I can now compose liturgical songs with more beautiful melodies and better techniques. Given this enhanced knowledge, I hope to better serve the liturgical community in the future.”
For Singaporean Scholastic Stanley Goh, the workshop provided “an insight into the ‘other’ side of liturgical music as we shared the joys and difficulties on composing and recording music for liturgy”. He found that the small number of participants facilitated the creative process, saying “it allowed us to share a certain intimacy with our instructors and with each other as we composed and recorded our respective songs. Creativity flowed easily. There was greater collaboration.”
Performances of some of the music composed in the workshop can be viewed on YouTube.
