Recent comments
Author: Richard Schletty
Joan, I'll take a look through my old Catholic hymnals. Any idea what hymnal you were using? Or were you singing from an octavo?
Author: Guest Joan (not verified)
Looking for different melody with alto we used to sing in the 1960's in our choir:
Jesus, Jesus come to me
Oh how much I long for thee
Come, thou of all friends the best
Take possession of my breast.
Comfort my poor soul distressed
Come and dwell within my breast,
Oh, how oft I sigh for thee
Jesus, Jesus come to me
Author: Richard Schletty
Thanks for the update, MTR. I hope your album gets a lot of earplay and sales. All for Jesus.
Author: MTR
This is just an Update to the original PDF of the Info & Lyrics to "A Cup of Cold Water". I have made some minor Editorial changes to the Info, and changed some of the Capitalizations to the words in the Lyrics for Aesthetic reasons. MTR
Author: Richard Schletty
Yes, that's exactly why I do this. We have minimal resources at St. Mary's and St. Matthew's where I cantor/play guitar. Sometimes I am asked to lead worship music solo without piano. So I need to keep improving my guitar playing. Thanks, Paul, for affirming the need. Many of the GIA practice recordings were recorded in a "big" way with multiple instruments and often with descant or SATB voices.
Author: Richard Schletty
This is a good prayer for the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit to be given to youth of the world. I might have some suggestions for improving the English phrases. Thank you for sharing.
Author: Paul (not verified)
It is such a good idea to be providing "authentic" recordings of these Psalms as opposed to studio recordings produced by publishers. Gives the weekend liturgical musician an honest example of how these pieces can be successfully performed with small resources.
Author: Richard Schletty
Others should do this, too! TCS is just a grand central station for Catholic-Christian music and song artists.
Author: Richard Schletty
That is an interesting visualization of your music. Looks like a colored water fountain. Nice.
Author: Richard Schletty
Good to know you are getting your excellent album published at iTunes. Thanks for letting us know.
Author: asiansa09
It takes a lot of effort to raise a generation in believe in higher education and pursue it. Therefore, I hope to recite the rosary for our generation to come to realization of higher education is helping the society.
Author: Richard Schletty
Ken, very nice rendition of O Sacred Head Surrounded. I wish I could play like that. Maybe in heaven...
Here is your SoundCloud post embedded. I hope that's OK. I want you to know that this is possible. You grab the embed code, switch to "Source" or "Plain Text Editor" and paste in the embed code.
Author: Ken Whisler
I put this arrangement together last Lent and am very much looking forward to playing it this Lenten season:
https://soundcloud.com/ken-whisler/o-sacred-head-now-wounded
Author: Richard Schletty
That is a very good prayer. Simple and earnest. We all need to pray in order to help us have a clear vision of God's kingdom and help us to avoid evil. I like to pray the Our Father. In our home, we say "Bless us, O Lord" before meals and personalize our meal prayer at the end by thanking God for particular good things that we have seen or experienced this day.
Author: Richard Schletty
Thank you for your prayers. I will join you in prayer.
Author: Richard Schletty
Followup: Have people ever asked for your songs as lead sheets or as a complete scores with guitar chord names and piano arrangement? The reason I ask is because I have resources to help you prepare either. It sometimes helps to have sheet music to supplement and enhance distribution/sales.
Author: Guest (not verified)
Bernadette Farrell writes some very upbeat, socially-conscious songs. Thanks for laying down a bead on this one. Where can I get the chords for the song?
Author: Richard Schletty
Well written and well performed. I recommend that you post here the lyrics you posted in the Forum at https://www.topcatholicsongs.com/node/828
Author: Richard Schletty
I recommend you add your lyrics above to the story which has the audio file and YouTube video:
https://www.topcatholicsongs.com/lift-up-my-spirit-in-you
Good song! Who is the singer? Who plays guitar?
Author: Richard Schletty
MTR, do you have lead sheets with guitar chords for any of the songs from this album? I'd like to try out some with my no-name guitar.
Author: Paul F. Page (not verified)
Such a gentle, personal performance. Posting these to the web provides many others with solid performances to enjoy and to use for study/practice. Much enjoyed.
Author: Richard Schletty
It is good to have the links to your renditions of the Song of Our Lady of Guadalupe in French, Arabic and English. Thank you for your efforts to spread this song and for your vision of peace and joy in the world.
Author: Jeannette of Nazareth (not verified)
Greeting to all, First time I heard this soft beautiful song, it was during a PRO_LIFE Holy Mass in the region of the Capital of Canada. Right away, I simply fell in love with this song. Consequently, three years later, I decided to translate it and sing it in three languages Eng. Fr., & Arabic. Yes I dared in spite of my modest voice. My translation is to be modified and improved in time.
Please find the links of this song uploaded a few days on youtube. It is available now in three...
Author: Guest (not verified)
Little Bella was a bit of a distraction but you finished the psalm!
Author: Sister Julie Ann Sheahan OSF (not verified)
St. Francis felt this pull. The tension allowed God to live within him in the now in real ways. May our lives of prayer inspire us to action with great joy and peace! Thanks, Father Joseph! Bravo!
Author: CMM (not verified)
Paul, you really cover the gamut of music genres and stylings – from sacred traditional to contemporary worship to Pop. Very cool. Very generous of you to offer so much of your work for free.
Author: Lardo (not verified)
This is very well written music. Such beautiful harmonies and orchestral arrangements. The recorded performances are sublime. You are so right to encourage listening to Fr. Marco's works. This elevates the soul.
Author: Richard Schletty
MTR, I sent you an email regarding my modus operandi with FSCC. I sent them links to your Twitter account two days before sending them MP3 files. The MP3s are for their convenience if they wish to post 1 or 2 songs in a feature article. They will need properly "tagged" MP3 files with artist, song title and album title.
Author: MTR
Rather than sending mp3 files, why don't you give them the Bitlink to this Story: bit.ly/MTRsAlbum . Then they can listen all they want for free at the same quality as the mp3s you sent and if they like a Track or the Whole Album, they can either Download the Tracks or Album for Free, or Donate something to help me on my Mission. MTR
P.S. - If you insert the Bitlink in a Tweet, or insert it in an Email with HTML capabilities, you can take it easy on yourself by not troubling to send files.
Author: Cantor Cecil
So glad you have related your story about your connection with Marco Frisini's music. I have shared this article with others.
Author: Richard Schletty
I like your "care-free" mug shot. And knowing that you added those two songs to the original 11, I will send them to Mark K. and Sister J.A. at fscc-calledtobe.org. I had sent the original 11 to them yesterday.
Author: MTR
I decided to add the two Tracks from Ambient Seashore to A Cup of Cold Water. Then I added a Photo of me taken outside of the Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering in the Fall of 1977. I was a First Year Graduate Student in the PhD Program then. Not a Care in the World, working 70 hours a week to keep up with my Studies and my Research, funded by the National Science Foundation. MTR
Author: Richard Schletty
Well, no problem. In trying to sleuth out your problem, I actually discovered a problem with the home page not displaying correctly in Internet Explorer – more than 31 style sheets cannot be loaded in older. versions of IE. I told Drupal to optimize CSS and JavaScript. Now all is well.
Author: MTR
I just downloaded a new Audio CODEC for my Windows Pro (64 bit) build 1607. It has separate volume controls for Mozilla Firefox and for the system as a whole. I had the volume gain set to zero for Mozilla Firefox. That's why I couldn't hear anything. The 256 kbps mp3 I put in there earlier was just fine. I just wasn't familiar with my new CODEC's capabilities. MTR
P.S. - Thanks for trying to diagnose my "Problem"
Author: Richard Schletty
MTR: Your song plays fine on my Mac in Safari, Firefox and Chrome. Please tell me your platform and browser. The player is HTML 5 so relies on Flash only as a fallback method of playing. Is the volume on the player up? Click on the right speaker icon. I just checked the MP3 player in Windows 7. The song played in Windows Chrome. It did not play in Windows Explorer 8 until I updated to latest version of Flash. I will look into this further. I thought this was an MP3 player with wide...
Author: Richard Schletty
A quick method to make a hyperlink is to include www at the beginning of your URL. E.g. www.topcatholicsongs.com. If the URL does not have www, then use the http:// prefix. E.g. http://MichaelResch.Bandcamp.comNow on to the second method which gives you more control over hyperlink creation:It looks like my site maintenance a few days ago resulted in change of "Input Format" from "Full HTML" to "Filtered HTML". The screenshot below shows you the toolbar that you should be seeing. You can click...
Author: MTR
I added a Song to my Blog Post in mp3 format and no sound is coming out of the Music Player. What did I do wrong? MTR
Author: MTR
Richard,I would like to create hyperlinks of my own using the hyperlink tool in Rich Text mode. Unfortunately, I don't have a clue about where the Tool Bar is. Could you explain to me where the Tool Bar is? Thanks. MTR
Author: Cantor Cecil
You guys made this awesome without following the same old song formula.
Author: Cantor Cecil
I can hear lots of layers of voices and instruments building up this song...until...there isn'tany more shallow flow!
Author: Richard Schletty
Came from learning the old spiritual "Deep River."
Author: Richard Schletty
Thanks, MTR, for making them available. I am sending them to Mark Kolter. He may be interested in featuring 2 or 3 songs on the www.fscc-calledtobe.org website.
Author: Richard Schletty
Well, I am not doing custom coding myself. I'm not that geek-smart. I use off-the-Drupal-shelf modules to hodge together the services I want. I did those hyperlinks for you manually using the hyperlink tool in Rich Text mode (it's in the tool bar). I did have a module acitivated for a couple hours which is supposed to automatically create hyperlinks from URLs but it messed up some Forum posts made last year by André van Haren. He did an extensive series of tutorials for Sibelius notation...
Author: MTR
I didn't know that rich-text format allowed the creation of Hyperlinks from typed in Bitlinks. That;s new to me and a very useful feature. Thanks Richard for designing that into the System here at TCS. MTR
Author: Richard Schletty
Folksy sounding arrangement. Nice to hear this styling. You and Bill sound great together. I need a guitar with a timbre and presence like yours! Where can we find the words and chords to this song?
Author: Richard Schletty
Thanks, MTR, for sharing this promo technique. I didn't know you could embed a tweet here!
Author: Richard Schletty
Glad you got the message that I posted my stab at lyrics. Spread the word about TCS. Peace.
Author: Simone.Mehl
Thank you so much Richard, Im so happy! :-) Much appreciated and God bless
Author: MTR
This is an example of what I call a Triple Play Tweet.It Promotes TCS on Twitter to my FollowersIt gives a Link to MTR's Blog to Visitors to TCSIt gives a Link to MTR's Album to Visitors to TCSIt also serves the purpose of giving links to my Blog and Album to my Followers and to general Twitter Accounts who look at the Main Timeline, not just their Home Timeline. The use of the three Hashtags; #Catholic #Folk #SingerSongwriter gives my Followers a chance to find this Tweet by searching...
Author: Richard Schletty
Hello, Simone. The first two verses and the refrain of Mark Mallet's lyrics were posted here (song #8):
http://www.topcatholicsongs.com/Mary/List
I tried to finish the lyrics for you by listening to the full song (purchased from iTunes). But the first line of the third verse is not easy to understand – same trouble you had! I urge you to write to Mark to ask him for the correct lyrics: http://store.markmallett.com/about/
Ode to Mary
© Mark Mallett
When I was born...
Author: Richard Schletty
MTR, were you able to edit your post? Holler if you are not seeing the EDIT link above the blog area. – Admin Richard
Author: Richard Schletty
Thank you, MTR, for mentioning TopCatholicSongs.com in your tweet. I hope this spurs interaction among the registered members of TCS, and brings in new visitors and new music contributions.
Author: MTR
MTS: That's a good point. I will check to see if I can change something on the back end so PDF attachments will open in a new window, as the default behavior. Thanks for sharing your heartfelt music. – Admin Richard Schletty
Author: MTR
I edited the Instructions on displaying the PDF to include Right-clicking the PDF and choosing "open in a new tab" to display the Info and Lyrics in a new tab on the browser so that displaying the PDF would not interfere with the playing of the music on the Embedded Player. MTR
Author: MTR
I just wanted to edit my blog post. not comment on anything. MTR
Author: Richard Schletty
I have already listened to some of your tracks. They are well written and performed with passion. You do well at communicating things of the spirit with grace and emotion. Looking forward to your remastered tracks. I encourage others to listen to your songs. Glad to have you here at TopCatholisSongs.com – Richard Schletty
Author: Richard Schletty
Thank you so much for sharing your engraving skills with us for free. God bless you always, my friend.
Author: Richard Schletty
I like the song. Good job. Can you point me to a guide for learning to read sol-fa? That notation above the lyrics is very cryptic to me.
Author: Richard Schletty
I listened to "Rejoice" on Abigail's preview page and headed right on over to iTunes to add it to my collection of stress-reducing Christian music. Exquisite instrumental arrangements provide a flowing mesh for Abigail's angelic voice. I love the "world sound" of these songs – including Irish instruments and Middle Eastern duduk (flute).
Author: Dhaivid3
Hello Richard. Thank you for the feedback! I don't know about ambitious though :-) . I Praise God for it all.I hesitantly called it 'Small Mass' because I wanted to make it part of a 'set' for a straight-to-the-point Mass - well, straight-to-the-point when compared with the length of some Masses. Not sure how it'll all go but this is the Kyrie for it. It definitely does not seem to be going in the "Small = Absolutely Simple" route! Hmm.I have just uploaded the Sanctus for this Mass on this site...
Author: Richard Schletty
That is a big sound for a "Small Mass!" Great job on 8-part writing. Is this your most ambitious piece so far? The MP3 file ends abruptly at 0:29 (bar 7). Would like to hear more. But I downloaded the score, so I can see the full piece.
Author: Dhaivid3
Hello! Thank you for the feedback as always! Yes, human voices singing this hymn will definitely bring out the required 'flow' that is not captured by the virtual instruments in this rendering.
Author: Dhaivid3
Thank you Richard.Amen. Yes, we pray for them all. Thank you for analysing the Hymn and providing your review here.Thank you too for making available this forum where music - and prayer in the form of music - can be shared.Blessings.
Author: Richard Schletty
A simple and effective prayer, sung in parts, which recognizes that the yield of our labor is through the grace of God, thus we offer thanks with a symbolic return of gifts to our Creator. I like the idea of a gathering from the four corners of the earth. Very visual. "For those not here" could be those who could not attend the gathering, or those who have passed from life – in advanced age or much too soon (including our precious babies killed in utero). "God, keep us all safe so that we may...
Author: baringcom16@gma...
Thanks a lot, Richard! God bless you always.
Author: Richard Schletty
Mark, I noticed the audio file wasn't showing up in the MP3 Player. I resampled it and reuploaded it. Great song. Impressive that it was blessed by JPII! – TCS admin Richard Schletty
Author: Living Waters
Just the act of 'noticing' is something so special. I can think of so many Gospel incidents where that was the center of Christ's mercy, noticing (e.g. Cana!). 'Providential' is the word I think of when considering that so much of our music was salvaged and is available now. Nobody exactly planned it that way, at least not this sinner. And I consider part of that Kingdom algorithm to be your generosity to all of us here - thank you for your response to grace....
Author: Dhaivid3
Yes, it DOES sound as if it is skipping! I did not notice it THAT way before. Ha ha. Only the patient or the 'really ineterested' therefore will wait for the divisions in the sound that come later.Thanks. I always appreciate your feedback and take on board what you say whenever I can.Blessings.Wede
Author: Dhaivid3
Ha ha. Thank you for the always helpful feedback. If you do, may I have a recording of it?Blessings!Wede
Author: Dhaivid3
Sublime. Fabulous. Well done! This arrangement is different from the one we used in our choir (we used the same arranegment as the one I posted earlier on in this post) however it is such a magical song, it is beautiful whatever the arrangement.
Author: Richard Schletty
Sounds like the Led Zeppelin riff for "Good Times, Bad Times" at the beginning. You sure got my attention. A most appropriate exhortation at the outset: "Change!" You are rockin' that Second Luminous Mystery – the Wedding at Cana – where Jesus turns plain water to wine at the behest of his mother, Mary. Good band sound. You have been around the block quite a few times. 40 years! Welcome to Top Catholic Songs.
Author: Richard Schletty
I like this. Seems fairly accessible to a singer. I should give this a go.
Author: Richard Schletty
Some good ideas here. An engaging melody with supportive harmony and light touches of counterpoint. Good job. The first several bars need more dynamics and fluidity/legato. Notes are too even. Part of the problem is the lack of expression in your virtual instrument. I am sure a "real" performance would breath more life into this piece. It would be less "hurdy-gurdy."
Author: Richard Schletty
Indeed! I sang the Josquin des Pres "Ave Maria" with Waltham Abbey Singers in May of 2009. A beautiful piece. How did we do? I sang bass.<a href="http://richardschletty.bandcamp.com/track/ave-maria-josquin-des-pres" data-mce-href="http://richardschletty.bandcamp.com/track/ave-maria-josquin-des-pres">Ave Maria - Josquin des Pres by Richard Schletty</a>
Author: Dhaivid3
Hello Richard!Sorry, only just seeing this comment. Thank you for the kind words and very thoughtful feedback.Not sure I can put a finger on an inspiration for this. I am very keen on working in different languages and have enjoyed my experience in our choir here singing in German (we sing in several languages, but I was very moved by the experiences of learning to pronounce the words and sing in German; the way the songs make you "feel" their meaning as you sing), so I try to write some things...
Author: Richard Schletty
Wede, this is one of your finer themes or musical ideas. Tell me about your inspiration for this. It sounds like something out of the Appalacian Mountains or Irish lowlands (esp. because of the rendering with fiddles/violins). It seems more secular than liturgical. What are your plans for this "Sign of the Cross" or Doxology?
Author: Richard Schletty
Interesting how you start out with 12 notes all at the same pitch and duration. I thought the recording was skipping! But then the song develops nicely after that. Thanks for sharing.
Author: Richard Schletty
I forgot to mention that your comment was being held for moderation. I just noticed it and approved it today. I was supposed to receive notice of comments requiring approval but something must not be set right in the admin area. Learning as I go along. I am going to attend three days of Drupal Camp this week, so hopefully I can sharpen my Drupal admin skills.
Author: baringcom16@gma...
Thanks a lot, Richard! You are such a blessing! I'm looking forward to receive a recording of the song. God bless.
Author: Richard Schletty
Thanks, Edgar. My pianist and I are going to present this song at St. Mary's Church (St. Paul, MN) sometime in the near future. I'll send you a recording.
Author: baringcom16@gma...
Dear Richard,Enclosed is the set of chords that you requested for the above-named song. TO JESUS, THRU MARYWords & Music by:Edgar Villavert CombongCopyright 2009 *Suggestion for Best Guitar Accompaniment: Finger Picking Style Intro: C-Em-F-G (2X) 1st Verse C F ...
Author: Dhaivid3
Hello Richard.Thanks for the feedback and thanks as always for everything.I COMPLETELY agree that it is high! The thing is, I kind of wrote it for male trebles, boy sopranos perhaps (I mean for REALLY high soprano singers). You probably noticed that me and my friend sang it at a lower key! When we sang it, I said I was not prepared to sing it at the pitch it is written in (ha ha) :-) even though SHE was not averse to the idea of going ahead at that pitch at all. There is a resource here on...
Author: Richard Schletty
Nice work on this, Wede. I recommend transposing this down one or two whole steps. Seems quite high for the sopranos. Would love to hear it layered with male voices. Are you going to develop this more?
Author: Richard Schletty
Dan, I hope my song sketch gives you some ideas. There are still some things that could be improved. I tried several different melodies, tempos and stylings. Perhaps there are too many verses. I hope other people feel free to comment. I am open to critique. Maybe we can find another collaborator!Are you hoping to record the song? Do you have a way to record voices and instruments? What music mixing and sequencing programs do you have? Let me know what your goals are. I like music collaboration...
Author: Richard Schletty
Here is my rough audio demo:&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://richardschletty.bandcamp.com/track/through-your-rosary" data-mce-href="http://richardschletty.bandcamp.com/track/through-your-rosary"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Through Your Rosary by Dan Vi Nguyen, Richard Schletty&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;...
Author: asiansa09
Well, you don't put it back to the song lyric, it probably makes no sense in English. Just go with the flow of the song that you feel best for the song.I really the version of the song that you edit, especially "Dear Mother, Virgin Mary."
Author: Richard Schletty
I will put the phrase "Heaven O'i" back into the song. I understand how important it is to you as a cultural expression. I will post a song demo with a lead sheet.You wrote: "I think of the music tone that how we call each other."What do you mean by music tone? I read that in Vietnamese, syllables can have six different tones. Should o'i be said with a rising tone?
Author: asiansa09
First of all, I really appreciate your effort to work on my song lyric.Secondly, you are right about the word "oi" meaning "hi" in my language, Vietnamese. I came from motherland Vietnam, and I think of the music tone that how we call each other. I thankful for correct my song lyric, and that you are welcome to do demo for the song lyric.Can you also post the lead sheet for the song.
Author: Richard Schletty
Dan, do you have a rough idea of a time signature and a melody for your song? It is hard to review the lyrics without setting the words to a tempo and beat.As songwriters, we try to tell a good story with words that are easy to understand. The words must flow and follow a natural speaking style, with stressed and unstressed syllables – this is called prosody.As I read your lyrics, I cannot easily fit them into a meter. Also, some words should be changed so they have better meaning in English. I...
Author: asiansa09
Feel free to give comment and suggestion for improvement on song lyrics.
Author: Richard Schletty
I am looking forward to your recording of these lyrics you wrote which are uncomplicated and to the point: we ask our Holy Mother to intercede for us as we ask God and Jesus to make us holy!I like what you did with your other song, "Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
Author: Richard Schletty
Sorry I missed your post from 3 weeks ago. I see you found a collaborator and uploaded your recording of this song! I commented. I like it. Your lyrics and vocal styling speak clearly and directly to us about the Trinity. Thanks for sharing.
Author: Richard Schletty
This is a direct and well articulated song. A great message. I like it. A good one for Trinity Sunday!
Author: Richard Schletty
A rich, inviting blend of voice and instrumentation lifting to heaven. Thank you for sharing!