At all our sung Masses at the Basilica, we have the common objective of offering sacred music that fulfills the vision and standards of the Catholic Church, especially as handed down by the Second Vatican Council.
In recent years and we have enjoyed singing together in large numbers that filled the choir loft, and with separate choirs to support the different Mass times. Because of the current pandemic, we have reconfigured our music program to offer a rotation of cantors and smaller choirs to sing for all our Masses.
We have been committed to health and safety measures during the pandemic, including: wide social distancing; temperature, symptom, and COVID exposure questions prior to entering; use of sanitizer and cleaning of chairs and microphones before and after meeting; and rehearsing outdoors when the weather allows. We also do not share sheet music, and we rehearse as individuals with practice aids provided, so to reduce the amount of group rehearsal time required. (Some of these measures have been phased out now that the vaccine is widely available.)
The information about our established ensembles (Gloria Dei Schola and Hispanic Coro) is included below for historical purposes. Because of the social distancing considerations during the pandemic, and the recent change in Mass schedules, with the addition of the Extraordinary Form, our Basilica choirs are currently unified, rehearsing on Thursday evenings and singing in quartet formations at the varying Masses over the weekend. Our long-term choir configuration is unknown for now, but it will be however God leads our parish.
The historic Basilica pipe organ is the oldest three-manual organ in Chattanooga that is still in use. It is played at most of our sung Masses and frequently in concert. Barger & Nix Organ Company is the steward of our organ, having completed its most recent rebuilding, its full cleaning in 2019. At the conclusion of our sanctuary renovation in 2019, the organ was augmented by the addition of the two final ranks of pipes that had been planned for its design: the trompettes and the clarinet. Read more about the Basilica organ here.
Click here for the written edition of Fr. Carter's keynote address: Re-discovery of the Church's Sacred Tradition: II Kings 22. Here is a report on the 8/15/15 sacred music workshop that was published on Corpus Christi Watershed.
Here are some more photos photos from the Summer Sacred Music Workshop in Jasper, GA on August 15, 2015.
To learn more about the music we sing at the Basilica and why we sing it, please visit our Joy of Tradition page. There you will find articles about the Church's current teachings on sacred music and our rich Catholic heritage of Gregorian chant and polyphony. Terms like the Sung Ordinary and Propers are explained here. And you can watch, listen, and learn the various settings of the Ordinary parts of the Mass that we sing as a congregation.
Please contact our Director of Sacred Music, Maria Rist, at 865-335-0588, or through the Contact button below, to learn more about sacred music at the Basilica or to discuss opportunities to contribute to the ministry.
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