Since Easter, one of the local parishes on the South Side of Pittsburgh unfortunately closed. While this situation is certainly an unhappy one, the Monastery, located up on the South Side Slopes, has become a new home for many of those church-goers. We have enjoyed being as welcoming as we can even though we are not a parish and I must say, those who have joined us seem to be quite happy. On the smaller scale, it has often meant longer processions in the liturgies.
For example, I was afforded more time to explore the chant proper. I have lamented before that I felt there was a sameness to some of the improvisations I was posting so I opted not to post liturgical improvisations for a while. Now that life since DMA comps has returned to some normalcy, I decided that it was time to post.
Tournemire. I have had him on my mind quite a bit lately. I gave a lecture on his music about a year ago and my fascination with his music and his potential manipulation of harmonic spectre. That means I have spent a lot of time with his music and it has certainly had a great effect on my approach to liturgical improvisation. I often feel quite blessed that the Monastery and its people are so welcoming of these kinds of improvisations. Perhaps, this sort of meditation is what I feel being monastic is.