Most Pure Heart of Mary Schola Cantorum

I have been blessed to work for the past almost seven years for Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Topeka, KS.  When I arrived in 2008 I took over the adult choir and began a children’s choir.  In 2011 we founded the Most Pure Heart of Mary Schola Cantorum, an after school music program for children modeled after the European choir school, for the formation of future musicians for the parish and for the Church in general.  In 2013 the adult choir was grafted into the program, and today there are more than 30 adults and 45 children (an several student organists) in the Schola Cantorum.  My favorite hours each week are the various rehearsals with the adults (a wonderful family of musicians), the children and the men who sing the Communio and verses during choral Masses.  I look forward to sharing with the readers how this program came about and to encourage others to do the same (If I can do it, so can you!).  In the mean time, please visit Schola Cantorum website (www.mphm.com/schola-cantorum) and like it on Facebook.

*The first video is of the adults singing Palestrina’s Alma Redemptoris Mater.  The second is of the senior choristers singing Boris Ord’s Adam lay ybounden.

 

 

2 thoughts on “Most Pure Heart of Mary Schola Cantorum

    1. Kevin, it is always good to hear from you. Regarding the choir robes, there is one vesture for the boys and another for the girls. Because we are a Marian parish, we chose a Marian blue and white for our color scheme. The boys wear a cassock and surplice (the traditional choir vesture harkening back to the days when clerics formed the choir). There is not a traditional choir vesture for women (some might say it would be a habit:-) so we had to search around. The girls at Salisbury Cathedral http://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/worship-music-choirs/cathedral-choir wear a white robe with a quasi scapular. We decided to do the same (basically because I thought it was the best out of all the possibilities I had seen). As for the black cassock, that is what happens when the new robes for a very large group of Probationers don’t arrive in time. That was a necessity rather than a conscious decision. The Choristers wear both the cassock and surplice or the white robe and blue scapular. Probationers wear only the cassock or the white robe. They receive their surplice or scapular during the Investiture Ceremony each spring. The cassocks were purchased from Croft Design and the white robes come from I. Donnely’s in Kansas City. The surplice extras from the parish, while several ladies from the parish sew the blue scapulars. I hope this answers your question.

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