Peter's pics.

It is good to make music 
Reigate - October 5th 2002

9.15 on a bright Saturday morning and three of us clambered into the car to set off for the Parish of the Holy Family, Reigate.   We were welcomed by Margaret Hayes, the dynamic driving force behind the event and offered a drink by her capable team.   The day was to focus on a cause which must be high on the list of many liturgical musicians at this time - music for parishes and schools, with an emphasis on the younger members of our worshipping communities.   

Tony Charlier, our leader for the day, introduced the theme and gave a brief breakdown of the day ahead before launching into an extensive repertoire drawn from Bernadette Farrell's "Share the Light", Christopher Walker's "Calling the Children" and "Music for the Children's liturgy of the Word" as well as contributions from Stephen Dean, Paul Inwood, Anne Quigley and others.   We numbered around 20 and Tony made us work hard before letting us go for lunch.   We suspect that numbers were lower than expected because of a second diocesan event, specifically for catechists, had been arranged at DABCEC on the same day.   [The Music Committee is working hard to ensure that other agencies are aware of its events well in advance so that such clashes can be avoided where possible - Ed.]

There was a brief break from the music when Tony invited Peter Olsen to say a few words about the teacher's perspective and to describe some of the work that the committee has been doing to develop this aspect of our ministry.   Peter introduced the gathering to the website and its resources as well as describing the programmes being developed in deaneries such as Guildford and Weybridge.   He also urged shools and parishes alike to consider the Mass as a "Rich Christmas Cake with Marzipan & Icing" - there is a need to develop additional liturgies to supplement our spiritual diet which are, perhaps, not so packed with "ingredients" and so more focused.   Our host parish could teach us a few things there with their monthly Taizé/Iona services.   Crawley Parish, too, is proud of it's monthly Taizé and weekly Sunday Evening Prayer at the chapel of St Bernadette's, Tilgate.   Tony pointed out that Bishop Kieran had commented on the need for parishes to develop non-eucharistic liturgies when he had met with the Music Committee in July '02.

After a conversation-filled lunch-break, during which Fr. Daryl dropped in to see us, and a little browsing through Margaret's extensive personal collection of music (see photo!) some took a moment or two to invest in books and CD's provided by Decani Music for the day.   A new idea for this event was the provision of a CD player (with headphones) so that you could audition the CD's before parting with your money.   A copy of the ABMus website was also running on a computer for people to take a look at the new layout.

Back to singing after lunch as Tony put us through our paces with more of his selection.  We took a second break to form into small groups and discuss successes and challenges we were currently encountering when involving younger ones in Mass.   Points that have remained with me include: the need to invite catechists to become more involved in the planning of music for Masses with children;  appreciating that children are actually more sophisticated than many adults give them credit for and so we should be wary of making their musical diet too simple;  it was also noted that many parishes no longer arranged special "family/children's" Masses on a regular basis, our hosts being a cheering exception to this rule.   We also spoke of the need for school and parish communities to redevelop their links with each other so that a shared repertoire could be developed and enjoyed by all.

The day ended with a short but meaningful Liturgy of the Word which gave us an opportunity to put some of our new repertoire into practice.   

Our thanks go out to Tony for leading us and to Margaret for organising and co-ordinating the event.