Dear Parents:
I am happy to announce that there will be not one, but two Children's Scholae this year: one for beginning students, and one for intermediate or advanced students. Rehearsals will be continue to be on Thursday afternoons, which seemed to work well for most families last year. The schedule will be as follows:
Thursdays
3:30 - 4:15 Beginning
4:00 - 5:00 Advanced
As you see, there will be a small overlap between the Beginning and Advanced scholas, so that we can learn some repertoire together, in addition to our separate work. We made great progress this past year, and I look forward to continuing to do so in the coming one. In addition to our continued work in reading chant, I plan for the advanced students to have some experience singing polyphony with the professional schola before the conclusion of academic year.
The fee for families for the year is $200 for the first child, $100 for the second, and every subsequent child free. Checks should be made payable to St. Mary Church. As always, scholarships are available, and financial constraints should prevent no child from learning to sing.
I will compile a list of the dates for sung Masses for the coming year in short order and send that along; we will sing approximately once per month at the 9:30 Sunday Latin Mass. One Mass you may want to mark on your calendars immediately is our first one for the year, on *Monday*, October 12th, at 9:30 a.m. St. Mary's will be having a Solemn Mass on Columbus Day in honor of Our Lady, with a procession after Mass to the statue of Christopher Columbus by the turnpike, and lunch to follow back at the parish.
Our first rehearsal will be *next week*, Thursday, September 24th. In the meantime, to sign up your children for schola -- or if you have any questions -- please write back, and I will respond straight away. If you would please share this information other with other parents who may be interested, I would be most grateful.
I'm looking forward very much to working with your children this year in making a joyful (& beautiful & prayerful) noise unto the Lord!
Yours sincerely in Christ,
David J. Hughes
Organist & Choirmaster
