Questions, questions, questions ... answers?

Last Sunday morning, the first of the New Year, I woke up with my head buzzing with questions. But these weren't questions for which I wanted answers, but questions that others have asked or might ask me about why I do what I do with my time and energy. So, as I pondered these questions this week, and continued to create a lengthy list, I decided perhaps the best way to deal with them was to create a blog with each entry answering one of these questions. It is curious to me that all of the questions can be answered quite simply by two overarching reasons, but that for each question these were quickly followed by details of greater and more unrelated specificity. In other words, although the basic premise of each answer is same, the minutia of each answer has its own detail or path.

So here are the list of questions:

• Why do I spend hours typesetting clean, readable editions of old favorites?
• Why am I so fussy about how a text is set to the melody?
• Why must the accents of the text follow the accents of the melody?
• Why do I spend hours in rehearsal preparing for a feast, when I know many other parishes don’t?
• Why is it important to strive for beautiful singing and rendering of the liturgical text, motion, moment?
• Why does it matter, so much to me, that the church calendar line-up with the civil calendar?
• Why do I think that the creation of new compositions of liturgical music is as important as preserving the old favorites?
• Why do I insist that the English we use in church be elevated but understandable?
• Why does it drive me crazy when the rhythm/pitch/tempo of the choir/chanter is out of sync with the clergy who are serving?
• Why don't I care if there are 4, 16 or 40 singers, so long as they have rehearsed?
• Why have I spent hours copying, organizing and creating choir books?
• Why do I "kill trees", in order to copy the order of service for each music stand, for each and every service?
• Why do I bother to work on vocal technique, sightsinging and other "musician things" with amateur singers?
• Why do I bother to create recordings of what we do in the parish?
• OK, really folks the list goes on and on ... but this is enough for now.

The simple two-part answer to ALL of the above:

In whatever I do, whether it be in church or out of church, I strive to do my best for the glory of God. Secondly, it is because I want to help bring children, teens and young adults from the ugliness, and sadness of this world, to the light of Christ and to the historic church.

I realize the the above are simplistic and without detail, context or back-up, but it is my starting point and the starting point for this blog. I promise to post more details about various questions, in no particular order, over the next days, weeks and months. Read if you like; otherwise, feel free to find another blog that might suit your fancy more.