South Australians hitting the right notes
Local
Two young musicians from South Australia were the recipients of scholarships last month at a national conference that drew guests from around the world.
Dorothy Nguyen from the Vietnamese Catholic community in Adelaide and Cabra Dominican College student Sally Ryan picked up the awards at the National Music and Liturgy conference at Adelaide’s Hilton Hotel before attendees from as far away as America and Fiji.
Dorothy was awarded $1500 to support her liturgical and/or musical education in a category open to pastoral musicians aged 14 to 35.
Sally, a Year 12 student and pianist who attends Our Lady of Grace Church in Glengowrie, was handed the emerging artist award which meant that not only did she have free access to the three-day conference but was also given the chance to perform on stage.
Sally’s father Ben is also a pastoral musician and an APRIM at St Martin de Porres School and dad and daughter both took part in the event.
Sally joined the Australian Pastoral Musicians Network for a Night of Worship concert in the St Paul of the Cross Church at The Monastery on day one of the conference and also helped lead the music on the piano during morning prayer the following morning.
More than 120 people attended the concert which showcased some of the musicians’ own work to a wider and younger audience.
Dr Clare Schwantes, chair of the National Liturgical Council, complimented musicians and conference contributors, Peter and Lauren Bierer, from the Archdiocese of Adelaide.
The Night of Worship – a first for the conference – was “an uplifting and inspiring occasion”, she said.
“We’ll certainly look to integrate something of this nature into the program for 2027.”
Fr Tom McDonough CP (Parish Priest at Glen Osmond/Parkside and Local Superior of the Passionist Community) said “the songs were spiritually and emotionally warm, engaging and moving”.
“I would love to have more evenings like this, to give composers and performers an opportunity to engage and to offer something to the congregation.”
The highlight of the evening was arguably a solo spot from Gen Bryant who performed a looped recording song, a continuous overdubbing process made famous by singer/guitarist Ed Sheeran.
Earlier that day, more than 400 delegates turned out on the first morning of the conference – with its theme of Pilgrims of Hope, transformed through sacrament and song – held in the ballroom at the CBD’s Hilton.
The conference, which was mostly attended by delegates from across Australia, had a running program of prayer and liturgy, keynote speakers, workshops and exhibits and was designed to nurture and develop liturgical celebrations in Catholic parishes, schools and agencies.
And it began with a bang, as a 13-member group of singers, guitarists and percussion section kicked off with Holy Spirit Land, penned by the chair of the Australian Pastoral Musicians network and prolific songwriter Michael Mangan, who was at the conference.
A foot-tapper, it was followed by another Mangan composition, Hope in the Land, after which Michael’s wife Anne Frawley-Mangan gave a reflection on the Word.
An encompassing three-part blessing followed – for the choirs, musical ensemble and ‘all who minister in the liturgy’ – with the song Hope is Alive from accomplished writer and performer Gen Bryant – drawing the audience into its singalong chorus.
Ricky Manalo, a Paulist priest of Filipino heritage who lives in New York City, then took to the stage as the opening keynote speaker on what was his first visit to Adelaide.
A pioneering voice in Catholic liturgy, music and theology, Fr Manalo talked for 60 minutes on the history – from the Romans, Middle Ages, Baroque period and onwards – and embedded importance of ritual, sound and text within contemporary liturgy.
Repetition within liturgy leads to an instinctive understanding, familiarity and then ease, he said, referencing the wider example of a group of people starting up a chorus of Happy Birthday.
“There will be three or four different keys to start with,” he said. “But by the end of the first phrase, we will have just the one key”.
Similarly, sub-conscious association with singing in church forms the basis of liturgy, he told the engaged audience.
The conference was sponsored by Catholic Education South Australia (CESA) and the Archdiocese of Adelaide.
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