Musicam Sacram (1967) – Directed Reading Group

Topic #1 of Spring 2025 Workshop Series

Mondays, February 10 & 17, March 3 – 5:30 – 6:30 p.m., PST

Join Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka as we read the 1967 Instruction from the Sacred Congregation of Rites on the implementation of Sacrosanctum Concilium in the realm of sacred music. In addition to the content of the document, we’ll discuss the background for the document, its current legislative status, and its implications for the practice and understanding of sacred music today. 

Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka

Live via Zoom

NB: This information has been updated since the passing of our beloved faculty member, Dr. William Mahrt, who was originally scheduled to be a co-instructor for these sessions on Musicam Sacram.  

Vocal Technique for Aging Voices

Topic #2 of Spring 2025 Workshop Series

Mondays, March 10, 24, and 31 – 5:30 – 6:30 p.m., PDT

Do you have older choir members in your parish music program who need assistance in tackling vocal technique challenges that arise later in life? 

Are you an older singer looking for technical advice to develop or maintain your sound? 

In this 3-part workshop, singer, voice teacher, and Feldenkrais instructor, Karen R. Clark presents lessons to both older singers and teachers of older singers on how aging voices can improve consistency and stamina in their singing of chant and the choral repertory. In each session, Karen will present brief awareness lessons and offer vocal exercises to bring greater ease to enhance the joy we experience in singing. 

Session 1 – Monday, March 10, 2025 – How to organize “dynamic posture” for singing, exercises for sustainable and balanced muscular engagement

Session 2 – Monday, March 24, 2025 – Breath awareness and pure tone singing

Session 3 – Monday, March 31, 2025 – The speech articulators: jaw, tongue, teeth, and palate, and how these interrelate to shape sounds for optimal tone production

A note from the teacher: “Recently I heard that in some cultures the definition of retirement was not about stopping an activity. Rather, retirement could mean something along the lines of going deeper and learning more. Well, as a singer and voice teacher who is nearly 70, of course, I like this interpretation a lot! And, as a teacher of awareness—in the Feldenkrais Method®—I’ve come to experience how learning can be lifelong. I am eager to share with you what I continue to discover!” 

Karen R. Clark,  www.karenclark.studio

Instructor: Karen R. Clark

Live via Zoom

Clergy Chants of Holy Week - Spanish

Topic #3 of Spring 2025 Workshop Series

Monday, March 31 – 3:00 – 5:00 p.m., PDT

Are you ready for Holy Week? Are you a priest, deacon, or musician who trains clergy and who would benefit from understanding the chants of the clergy? Join us for this well-timed session to head into Holy Week well prepared to sing the sacred liturgies of this most holy time of the year. The chants covered will be in Spanish, according to the settings in the 2018 Misal Romano (USCCB) and the Passion narrative settings in Spanish by José Ballón according to the traditional chant tone, including the concluding planctus tone. Workshop instruction will be given in English, while the chants will be in Spanish.

The chants included in the workshop are:

• The gospels of Palm Sunday (before the procession), Holy Thursday, and Easter Sunday 
• A short review of the “solemn tone” for presidential prayers
• The prefaces of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday (Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper), and Preface I of Easter
• Good Friday petitions
• The Exsultet
• Easter Vigil blessing of water
• Easter dismissal 
• Passion narratives, according to St. Luke and St. John

Instructors: Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka & José Ballón

Live via Zoom

Clergy Chants of Holy Week - English

Topic #4 of Spring 2025 Workshop Series

Monday, April 7 – 4:30 – 6:30 p.m., PDT

Are you ready for Holy Week? Are you a priest, deacon, or musician who trains clergy and who would benefit from understanding the chants of the clergy? Join us for this timely session to head into Holy Week well prepared to sing the sacred liturgies of this most holy time of the year. The chants covered will be in English, according to the settings in the 2011 Roman Missal (ICEL) and the Passion narrative settings in English by Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka according to the traditional chant tone, including the concluding planctus tone. 

The chants included in the workshop are:

• The gospels of Palm Sunday (before the procession), Holy Thursday, and Easter Sunday 
• A short review of the “solemn tone” for presidential prayers
• The prefaces of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday (Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper), and Preface I of Easter
• Good Friday petitions
• The Exsultet
• Easter Vigil blessing of water
• Easter dismissal
• Passion narratives, according to St. Luke and St. John

Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka

Live via Zoom

Pricing:

$20 for 1 topic - live access via Zoom

$70 for all 4 topics in the series - live access via Zoom

$10 per topic add-on for archived access. NB: This is an ADD-ON to the $20 fee for the individual workshop or $70 fee for the series. No access is available without also selecting the live workshop. Your registration will be canceled if only this option is selected. You must select both the topic/series plus each archived access add-on.

Once you're signed up for a workshop series, stay tuned to your email. There, we'll send you the Zoom link to access the sessions a day or so before the workshop begins. 

Please be sure to monitor your Spam folder for emails from Catholic Institute of Sacred Music.

NB: Online access to workshop sessions is via Zoom, not this registration platform. 

For best results, we recommend viewing via laptop or desktop (not phone or tablet) with a steady and strong wifi connection. Please also be sure to download the most up-to-date Zoom client for your computer: https://zoom.us/download

We regret that no refunds are possible.