A tip of the Café hat to reader Ren Aguila for sharing a follow-up on the Cistercian monks of Heiligenkreuz, Austria, who made headlines when they were signed to produce an album of Gregorian Chants and again when the album was released in Europe last month and entered the charts in the top 10 in several countries (and at No. 1 in Austria). They are now coping with a flood of publicity that's interfering with their traditionally contemplative life, and have had to put one monk in charge of public relations.

But as the New York Times reports, there is an interesting sidebar to the story that actually is a story into itself. Despite their seclusion, the monastery is very connected to the outside world via the internet, which had a hand in their rise to success.

This clip on YouTube was the one that captured Universal Music's attention during their search for authentic Gregorian chants, which were demonstrating increased popularity for no discernible reason, although some news sources are mentioning the Halo video game series soundtrack as a possible influence.

Eager to get in on the trend, Universal’s classical music label took out an advertisement in Catholic publications, inviting chant groups to submit their work. Finding another ensemble like the Benedictines was going to be a long shot, the label’s executives figured.

“Not all monks want to enter into a commercial relationship because that’s not what they spend their days doing,” said Tom Lewis, the artist development manager in London for Universal Classics & Jazz.

But the advertisement was spotted by the grandson of a monk from here. He tipped off Father Wallner, who, in addition to his public-relations duties, runs the monastery’s theological academy and its Web site.

“An Austrian monk would never know what Universal Music is,” Father Wallner said. “We were chosen by divine providence to show that it is possible to have a healthy religious life today.”

Divine providence may have less to do with it than one monk’s resourcefulness. Father Wallner sent Mr. Lewis a short e-mail message with a link to a video of chants that the monks had uploaded to YouTube after Pope Benedict XVI visited the monastery last September.

While monks in many monasteries chant, Heiligenkreuz is particularly proud of its singing, which has been honed over years by one of the monks, who used to direct choirs in Germany.

Mr. Lewis was entranced, recalling that the video eclipsed the more than 100 other submissions. “There was a smoothness and softness to the voices that you associate with younger people,” he said.

Universal negotiated a contract with the monks, who proved to be anything but naïve in the ways of business. It helped that the abbot, Gregor Henckel Donnersmark, has an M.B.A. and ran the Spanish outpost of a German shipping company before he entered the monastery in 1977.

Among the clauses he sought: Universal cannot use the chanting in video games or pop music. The monks will never tour or perform on stage. And Heiligenkreuz will earn a royalty based on the sales of the album, which the abbot said worked out to roughly 1 euro per CD sold.

Read the whole thing here.

Sheila Stroup in the New Orleans Times-Picayune :

The Rev. William Terry isn't naive. He knows criminals won't come running when they hear about a gun-exchange program.

But Horns for Guns is about more than turning in guns. It's about putting musical instruments into the hands of young people and teaching them to play. It's about people coming together as a community.

"It reaches across our parochial boundaries and offers kids an alternative to the streets," Father Bill says.

Eileen Guenther, the newest president of the American Guild of Organists, gets spotlighted in a Religion News Service interview this week. Facing declining membership, Guenther explains that organs haven't so much been replaced as the instrument of choice in churches as they have been supplemented by other instruments. The result is a new landscape for church musicians, one that she hopes the guild can help them face:

Q. It seems like one of your greatest challenges would be that many houses of worship don't use organs anymore. Is that the case?

A. That's an interesting question. Lots of places use organ and other instruments as well, and I think a challenge is to reach out to everyone who is involved in music-making in houses of worship, regardless of the instruments they play.

Q. So you want to include instrumentalists who play instruments other than the organ even though you've been an organization of organists?

A. Right. Many of our places of employment want more than just the organ, and we want to be able to support organists, of course, but also encourage them to acquire more skills that will ... meet the long-term needs of the marketplace. It's not a phrase that people use within the church, but it's kind of a reality.

Story here.

Timothy O'Toole has a column in today's Albany Union-Times on the abundance and diversity of church music.

Church music is limitless. Throughout America, sanctuaries resonate with the sound of the classics (Mozart and the 3 B's — Bach, Brahms and Beethoven), Gregorian chant and plainsong, jazz (Duke Ellington's "Come Sunday"), folk (Michael and his boat that never quite makes it to shore), and ethnic melodies from Africa, Asia and South America (best sung in the original language). Even the predictable two-dimensional "praise music," which enlists drums, mikes and electric guitars — in keeping with John Wesley's 1761 instruction "Sing lustily and with good courage."

I am reminded of Harvard psychologist William James' 1902 book, "The Varieties of Religious Experience." Just as there are different ways of experiencing the divine in our daily existence, there are different ways of raising our voices in song, and opening our ears and minds to inspiration.

Most hymnals have work derived from European sources, but America is blessed with an exceptional variety of home-grown music. Drawing from Charles Wesley's English experience, what was once secular can become sacred with a few lyric modifications. In 1882, Salvation Army founder William Booth wondered, "Why should the devil have all the best tunes?" To which we Presbyterians might add, "Why do the Methodists have all the best hymns?" Need gender-neutral lyrics? Call Brian Wren, an Englishman who now lives in New Hampshire and specializes in non-sexist imagery.

We resonate to William Billings' energetic New England hymns; the raucous, nasal sound of Sacred Harp and shape note singers, cousins of Southern harmony, spirituals and gospel; even bluegrass renditions with their own bittersweet quality.

Read it all here.

The Houston Chronicle has a piece on the phenomenon of professional musicians who serve multiple houses of worship--even if the houses of worship are of different faiths.

At Congregation Emanu El and Congregation Beth Israel, the city's two large Reform synagogues, an unexpected combination has proved successful and nurturing for decades. At both, the organist and most of the paid singers are Christians, some of whom also work at big churches.

The same situation sometimes occurs in reverse at churches. A paid Beth Israel singer who is Jewish also sings at St. John the Divine Episcopal Church. More generally, as an acquaintance noted, "Check the orchestras playing in churches at Christmas and Easter, and half may be Jews." They're the musicians who are available at that time.

Ann Frohbieter became organist at Emanu El in 1967. She also plays at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church and previously worked at Grace Presbyterian Church and St. Luke's United Methodist Church.

Tom Crow eased into the position at Beth Israel in 1978 with a strong background in Jewish worship, having attended a temple with his best friend in high school and then playing there during college. He also works at Bethany Christian Church and previously was at St. Mark's Episcopal Church and Memorial Drive Lutheran Church.

...

Both Crow and Frohbieter have had minimal reactions from acquaintances and friends about their crossover jobs.

"I've never really had anybody mention it except some who know me tease me about getting mixed up and playing Avinu Malkeinu (the High Holy Days prayer) during communion some Sunday — that kind of thing," Crow said.

Frohbieter gets the same kind of reaction: "Often the person will say, 'How do you know what to play at each place? Don't you get confused and play the wrong music at the wrong place?' "

It hasn't been a problem, she said.

Professor John Stackhouse thinks that contemporary hymns are insipid and says so in a blog post here. Ben Myers of the Faith and Theology blog takes a different view:

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USAToday reports:

The recession is slamming the arts (no news here) but Christianity Today has a great look at how Christian musicians are hanging in, even one who sometimes gets paid in barter.

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Trinity Cathedral in Miami Florida is finding that classical Anglican music sung in its traditional setting is just the thing for people who are rushing past its doors.

Speaking of the Anglican Chorale, the only group performing such music regularly in Southern Florida, the director points out:

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From organist Robert Ridgell.

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Horace Boyer, editor of the Episcopal Hymnal, Lift Every Voice and Sing, a beloved musician who loved teaching others to sing with passion, enthusiasm and excellence, has died at age 74.

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THOMAS BEVERIDGE (Composer and Conductor): I realized that I could put together a piece that kind of stands on the bridge between the two religions, the Christian religion and the Jewish religion, and takes a look at, simultaneously, at the ritual for the dead.

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Everyone covering popular culture seems to want a piece of the "gospel according to ___" business on any available topic where people are willing to use the name of God. And of course, anytime you cast a net that wide, you find varying levels of success.

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A little something to help you pass Saturday evening with a smile on your face and a tap in your toes.

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In anticipation of All Saints Day, we present The All Saints Rap, written by the youth group at the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour, in Mill Valley, California, where Café contributor the Rev. Richard Helmer is rector. (You may need to give it a moment to download.)

The vocal is by Willie Van Doren, Our Saviour's youth minister. Music by Dow Brain.

At the National Cathedral, the boys' choir prepares to sing Handel's Messiah, spending 15-20 hours in rehearsal, in between football practices, schoolwork and all the other busy-ness of adolescents.

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The Guardian (UK) offers an interesting theological reflection upon Bono and the band U2 and their Christian roots and even their Christian evangelism through their music and advocacy for social justice:

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The music of Bruce Springsteen will accompany a Eucharist to raise funds for Trinity Episcopal Cathedral's food bank according to The Oregonian's OregonLive.com:

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