Sunday Mass The Extraordinary Music Workshops 2022 ended. The seventh edition was attended by over 300 participants who, under the supervision of 17 teachers, improved their liturgical singing skills. The event was once again held in the Dominican monastery in Krakow, and its organizer since the first edition in 2013 is the Dominican Liturgical Center Foundation.
This year’s edition, which lasted from 15 to 21 August, was diversified with many thematic sections and an interesting program for each of the seven workshop days. This year, once again, many excellent hosts responded to the Foundation’s invitation. For the first time this year, an English-language section was also created. Conferences for participants during the workshop were given by Fr. Grzegorz Strzelczyk.
– In me and my wife there was a desire to participate in something valuable this summer and the Extraordinary Music Workshops really create an opportunity to spend time in this way – says Bartek, who participated in choir workshops and Gregorian chant for the first time. – The entirety of this event is extraordinary, the message carried by the hosts: that what we practice, what we develop, is not an end in itself, but a portal to the sacred – he adds.
– I was looking for something that combines music and sacred, liturgical values, and the workshops are a combination of these two things – notes Dominika, a workshop participant. – I feel that I am among people who also have a certain hunger and we find ourselves on similar levels. I see that what I am looking for, what I need, or what raises my doubts, the same happens with others. It’s good to experience something like that,” he adds.
– During this week we were surrounded by an amazing amount of sounds – says Father Łukasz Miśko, president of the Dominican Liturgical Center Foundation. – But we were also surrounded by the joy of being able to extract so much from ourselves during these workshops: beauty, sound, joy. This community, which is established during the workshops, is always probably the greatest gift of this week – he notes. – Of course, we learn a lot of styles of singing, we ask questions where this music comes from, why we interpret it in this way and not otherwise, but in fact there is a lot of human warmth, goodness and what we want to save in our world. while we experience its fragility.
The program included polyphonic workshops in three advancement groups and thematic workshops in the following sections: basics of conducting, voice emission, Gregorian singing, Byzantine singing, songs of the band “Jericho”. During the whole week, it was also possible to take advantage of voice emission consultations and composition propaedeutics. This year, also as part of the workshop, an English-speaking group was conducted with a separate program, which was a mixture of various thematic sections, as well as its own conferences and some liturgies. The effects of the workshop participants’ work could be heard during the Sunday presentation and the closing Mass.
Unusual Music Workshops is our leading project, designed for singers interested in liturgical music. Through the Workshops, we want to really change the face of the Church in Poland. Realizing how important music is in the liturgy, we care about both its tradition and setting new directions for its development. The workshops are intended to shape new, good models in this important area of the Church’s life. Their idea is to professionally prepare leaders – people who will be able to take responsibility for liturgical music performed in their communities. The aim of the workshop is also to promote contemporary compositions of the highest musical value.
