Holy Thursday begins March 20th this year. I read that this is the earliest date for the beginning of Triduum since 1885! Being the forgetful person that I am, I’ve made it my goal this season to be way ahead of schedule so there is no last minute choir practice or any other choir director duties needed that will take away from the beauty of the most holy week of the liturgical year. Although, I do have about 15 cello parts I need to write for some of the new bi-lingual music we’ll be doing during Holy Week. Wouldn’t it be great if I could just go on line and order the parts I need? The Catholic music publishers are getting better at writing instrumental parts, but it is still hit and miss, especially for an instrument like the cell.
This past Sunday morning I was having coffee at Starbucks with a couple of 
the ladies in the choir and I noticed this wonderful quote on the side of the Starbucks cup. I am a big Starbucks fan, but I normally don’t even look at the quotes. But this one really hit me. When I read it to my friends, that all asked for me to e-mail them a copy of the quote below. It says so much about why music is so important to our liturgy…why it moves us not only to tears, but also to prayer and reflection…maybe even conversion?
In case your interested, you can find all the Starbucks coffee cup quotes at the Starbucks web site.
Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears – it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear. But for many of my neurological patients, music is even more – it can provide access, even when no medication can, to movement, to speech, to life. For them, music is not a luxury, but a necessity.
– Oliver Sacks
Neurologist and author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain.
