Acclamations for Congregation & Choir

[excathedra]

Open the floodgates; yes, but to be inundated, not with musical offerings, but with the support that is needed to run an efficient on-line publishing service. In the end, I can’t appoint people to tasks, and those subscribing to this Forum can’t appoint themselves; that’s what the Trustees are for. If they haven’t got time themselves they should at least be busy “asking for a man who can”.

So why not inform the trustees of this new thinking? I know that they will be keen to help.

The SSG's trustees may be contacted at trustees@ssg.org.uk

[VML]

I only have Noteworthy but would be happy to help if I knew what was required.

This parish is not the only one in urgent need of music for the Common of the Mass. There must be a huge amount of music out there, of varying merit and useability. I don't know how it can be collated, but it's worth a try.

Is it naive to hope that the good stuff would endure, and the less good, or over-complicated, or just banal, would fade away? That is what has happened to much of the seventies dross, isn't it?

[Merseysider]

Music on the website was...always intended as an outlet for CG music.

Which seems a little unfair on a website intended for all SSG members.

It cannot be something which is open to all-comers

Because....?

there is more CG music worthy of consideration

And what about all the music coming from people who are not CG members? Why must it be excluded? What if some of it is better or more useful to parishes?

No offence is intended towards CG members or CGS – I just want to know why we can't encourage the sharing of more music from more people.

It seems sad that the Holy/Communion Song/Psalm written by Sister Ethelstan of St Breda's, Birkenpool, and which is popular throughout the deanery and beyond, cannot be considered for the website because Sister E is not a CG member – even though she is an active member of the SSG – and has been since 1732 (or thereabouts).

[gwyn]

Merseysider said,

. . . she has been an active member since 1732 (or thereabouts)

How much do you reckon she's paid in subscriptions to date then, M?

[contrabordun]

not much - was only a few groats and farthings in the early years

[anne sheila]

Through the centuries, the music that has survived has been the music that was distributed, published or written - made known - some of Mozart, Beethoven and Bach's contemporaries who did not publish (leave a permanent record) may have been just as good but we'll never know will we ????

I am not a paid up member yet, but do want to join. I am very interested in composing (as a beginner - the experience I have had so far is to write short works in the style of Mozart or J.S. Bach as a student with the Open University - using structure, notation and chords/chord resolutions that featured in particular styles).

[admin]

Music on the website was...always intended as an outlet for CG music.

Which seems a little unfair on a website intended for all SSG members.

Actually, at the time it was intended that music for download would only go in a private members' area of the site in order to promote being a member of SSG (ie something more for your subscription) - not composers' group - but this private area fell by the wayside. It is my recollection that the CG needed promotion too; giving an outlet for their music would give added reason to attend their axcellent meetings (read that spelling mistake how you will. I rather like it!), and so the two ideas then got tied together.

We had not considered a forum such as this, but once I had implemented the forum, it became apparent that it was also a simple solution to allow downloading files from here, and this became the mechanism chosen. However, I will not allow anyone to post files to the site. It is my opinion that there needs to be some form of moderation even if only to protect SSG, for example from being considered responsible for allowing breach of copyright through posting here. In this way, it cannot be open to all-comers to post, but I really don't see why there is any reason not to allow all to submit music for consideration, subject to the same agreement that was sent out to composers and authors whose work is currently posted.

Arguably, someone, or some people, need to make an editorial judgment as to what is allowed on the site from the point of view of music and text. Perhaps this is where members of the CG could play an active role? Perhaps it is sufficient to say that the chaff will be sorted from the wheat over time… personally, I'd rather not have to wade through loads of stuff to find one good bit; but I also recognise that my musical taste differs to yours, and my musical resources also differ. What works for this parish won't necessarily work for your community. So formulating some guidelines upon which a choice could be made may well be fraught with difficulties… but, surely, it is the sort of thing that responsible publishers have to do.

One last thought: currently there is no real feedback from the three pieces that are currently available. This might just be the way in which posts are not directly allowed to those areas; or it could be that you just don't want to comment. However, some feedback would be useful: have you liked the pieces, have you tried them in your parish, how did they go down, were there technical problems getting the pieces onto your computer... and so on? PM me, please to let me know.

[admin]

I am not a paid up member yet, but do want to join.

Click here…

[Merseysider]

it was intended that music for download would only go in a private members' area of the site in order to promote being a member of SSG

My apologies for misunderstanding – I had forgotten that this forum was more widely available than just to SSG members.

but I really don't see why there is any reason not to allow all to submit music for consideration

I can understand that it would be necessary to limit music to that coming from SSG members but please, please, please do not limit it to that coming from the CG – a lot of exciting music could be omitted.