The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music presents:
SCLM Latino Recording Project 1:
15 Selections from El Himnario
Recorded at Christ Church Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills Michigan, February 2012
Description, purpose, and process
The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music has begun a project to record selected songs and hymns from El Himnario and have them widely available as an open-source, free resource. From the results of the recent hymnal revision survey by Church Pension Group, a desperate need was identified for liturgical and musical resources in Latino congregations, especially throughout Province IX. SCLM realized that the majority of congregations in this demographic do not have music-reading song leaders, and primarily learn new music \"by ear.\" Therefore audio recordings would the most useful. In this first phase, 15 pieces were selected from \"Selecciones\", the text-only book of selections from El Himnario. Pieces were chosen in consultation with various people from the Episcopal Latino community, including Anthony Guillen, Missioner for Latino/Hispanic Ministries; Leonardo Panigada from Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis; and Sandra Montes, SCLM member and Director of Music at Iglesia Episcopal San Mateo in Houston Texas. Leonardo was on on-site consultant during the recording sessions. Sandra was an active participant in the entire process and sang on all the songs.
The weekend recording session of the \"SCLM Latino Recording Project 1\" took place at Christ Church Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in February 2012. John Repulski, Director of Music at Christ Church and SCLM member was the producer for this project. The recording ensemble included three singers, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, piano, accordion, and two percussionists. This endeavor has a number of significant objectives:
The pieces were recorded \"live\" to capture the vitality of a live performance and not processed in a recording studio.
These recordings are intended to be informational and teaching resourses, and are not envisioned as entertainment or for personal enjoyment, so flawless perfection is not the goal.
These are representations of a variety of styles from various regions and cultures of the Hispanic community.
To minimize travel costs, musicians on this project were chosen locally from the Metro-Detroit Latino community and are among the finest in the area in this genre.
These are possible interpretations, and are not intended to be definitive. Some of the more well-known pieces were given an alternative arrangement, simply as a result of the spontaneous creativity taking place during the process.
These are also valuable teaching tools to non-Hispanic congregations that are seeking to broaden their worship music vocabulary, providing good examples of authentic interpretations of these hymns.
There were two versions of each piece recorded, one with singing and one without. The version with singing is for learning and reference. The instrumental version is for those places lacking any musical support, and may find it useful as an accompaniment to the congregational singing. Additionally, a video recording was made of the entire recording process which offers a visual representation of the performance.
The SCLM welcomes suggestions on effective ways of circulating these resources to those congregations that might find them useful.
Personnel & Credits
Jonathan Garay, vocals
Sandra Montes, vocals
Elizabeth Mihalo Esqueda, vocals
Louis Resto, piano and accordion
Dennis Schinzell, congas
Mike Racette, drums and other percussion
James Simonson, bass guitar
Steve Jarosz, guitar
John Repulski, producer and musical director
Todd Sagar, recording engineer
Jeremy Salo, cinematographer
Post production sound editing done at Cambridge Recording, Royal Oak Michigan
Videographic editing and DVD preparation done at CLV Productions, Detroit Michigan
Many thanks to:
Christ Church Cranbrook for the use of their sanctuary.
Leonardo Panigada for driving from Indianapolis to consult on this project
Sandra Montes for translating this text into Spanish.
The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, June 2012
