Local liturgical musicians gather to enrich their spirituality during workshop on singing the psalms

Friday, Oct. 17, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY – On Oct. 11, musicians from all over the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City gathered at Saint Ambrose Catholic Church to participate in a music workshop sponsored by the Office of Liturgy in which Father Christopher Gray, parochial vicar of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Parish in West Valley City,  presented on Advent spirituality and singing the psalms.

“It’s rare that we gather like this,” said Ruth Dillon, director of the Office of Liturgy, in welcoming the participants. 

After the morning prayer, Fr. Gray started his workshop by saying, “I have nothing practical and nothing useful to use for you today at all,” which brought laughter from the participants and completely broke the ice.

“You have so much power and you have so much to offer, and really what I want to do today is kind of inspire you to realize certain parts of your vocation,” Fr. Gray continued. “St. Alphonsus [Liguori] said that it is a much better thing to offend everyone than to offend God a little, and that’s true for every priest, that’s true for every Christian, and that is certainly true for musicians. Your audience is not the people in the pews. … You are, with your bodies, with your music, with your voices, praising God.”

Father Gray explained that the liturgy “is about bringing us – all of us: the priest, the people, anyone –  closer to God.”

One way to do that is to acknowledge the difference between singing the psalms and reciting them, Fr. Gray said.

“We have to see how the song is structured. … They are written by a strong rhythm and it is always there,” he said. “In English, rhythm is achieved by repetition of the sound or accent of words, and the psalms cover the entire range of human feelings and emotions.”

After this part of Fr. Gray’s presentation, workshop participants practiced singing the psalms with the assistance of a screen on which they could see where the accents of each word were placed.

The workshop continued with a talk about the importance of Advent as preparation for Christmas, not only liturgically but also spiritually.

“I think preparing ourselves to give back to the congregation is very important,” said Dillon. “Many times we rush and we get all the music ready, and we don’t take the time to fill ourselves spiritually,” but by taking that time, “we will better minister to our people,” she said.

“You musicians have a very angelical task,” added Fr. Gray.