SE02 EP19 – Where Do I Start? A Pastoral Plan for Changing a Parish Music Program - with Dr. Mary Jane Ballou
Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast
Is there an opportunity for improvement in your parish music program? Has there been a change in personnel, circumstances, or resources that makes growth possible? Perhaps the COVID-19 pandemic has presented possibilities for progress. Maybe you are looking at how to introduce the proper chants into a parish Mass, improve the hymnody used, or build the choral program. How does one make changes in a prudent and positive manner? Dr. Mary Jane Ballou joins us to discuss these and related questions. Dr. Ballou is Music Director at an Ordinariate parish in formation in Jacksonville, Florida. In addition to conducting and performing, Dr. Ballou is a regular contributor to the Sacred Music journal of the Church Music Association of America (CMAA) on the practical aspects of choir/schola training and management, and is a member of the CMAA's group blog, The Chant Café. Dr. Mary Jane Ballou's Website Sacred Music Journal Chant Cafe Blog
About Podcast
Welcome to Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast with your host Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka. We address topics of interest both to priests and liturgical musicians, as well as a general audience of Catholics interested in learning more about the Catholic Church's teachings and treasury of sacred music. Our topics range from discussion of Church documents on sacred music, to the music of certain composers or eras, Gregorian chant, the role of music in Catholic education, and techniques for directing a better choir rehearsal. We'll interview bishops, priests, music directors, composers, teachers, philosophers, and theologians. We'll talk to people who found a home in the Catholic Church because they heard the call of Christ in the Church's sacred music. We'll ask questions about how really great music programs are doing their work. We'll introduce you to Catholics who love their faith and, through sacred music, offer all their efforts for his glory and the sanctification of all who hear them.
We aim for our podcast to be thoughtful, encouraging, and informative. We hope, too, that it will inspire and motivate you to work for the renewal of authentic beauty in sacred music—whether you're a working church musician or an average Catholic in the pews wondering what's going on. With the prayers of our patronesses, Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom and Saint Elisabeth of the Trinity, we hope to help draw souls to Christ through the beauty of the Church's sacred music.
Square Notes is the official podcast of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music. http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/