By CHRISTIE L. CHICOINE

When it counted most, nobody sang “Incensier.”

Not only do members of the Archdiocesan Boy Choir have to hit the right notes, they often have to sing in another language. So it was a correction of vocabulary, not music, that stilled their voices during a rehearsal of the hymn “Incendiar” before the group's March 22-April 1 trip to Avila, Spain.

St. Teresa of Avila didn't incense people, director Thomas Windfelder told the boys. “Incendiar” refers to her being a “spark that got everybody else on fire,” Windfelder said.

Upon the choir's return from Spain, the director reported the official hymn of St. Teresa of Avila was delivered unscathed. “It all came out (correctly),” he said. “We got kudos on the pronunciation. We sang other songs in Spanish as well.”

'Follow Me Across the Keyboard'

Knowing other languages — especially Latin — isn't required to join the choir, which was founded in 1969. Raw talent and a good ear are.

“When I play a note on the piano, all they have to be able to do is match that note with their voice,” said Windfelder. If the choirboys “can follow me across the keyboard, then everything else — the pronunciation and singing skills — are incorporated into rehearsal time.”

“Our motto is, ‘Cantate Domino,’ Latin for, ‘Sing to the Lord.’ Our real purpose is music ministry. We’re there to sing to the Lord.”

The choir “is not a competition,” said Windfelder, 51, a member of Immaculate Conception Parish who has been choir director since 1988. Nor does singing in harmony in identical robes mean the boys are all alike.

“We cross the whole line of race, color, economics,” he said.

The diversity of the 88 boys converges in their shared love of singing and being part of the group, Windfelder said.

That love is evident in the general choir's four hours of Saturday practice. Those who sing in the choir's schola rehearse two hours on Tuesday nights. The members are also required to practice at home.

The choirboys primarily span the second through eighth grades, beginning as soon as they're “old enough to read,” Windfelder said. “I have a lot of older guys who are on the verge of voice change. All that experience packed into all those rehearsals over the years comes back. There's a return on that.”

'It's Just Doing It for God That Counts'

Practices and performances are for God, said 11-year-old Michael Zubert of St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother Parish in Stowe. “You have to be devoted to God to do this.”

Although Zubert has mastered his initial fear of singing solo, he said, “When you're asked to sing something by yourself for the first time, it's kind of a shock.”

Any boy interested in joining the choir but has doubts about his abilities should take heart. “It's not if you can sing the best or anything; it's just doing it for God that counts,” he said.

If a boy's worry is the rigorous rehearsal schedule, Zubert says: “It's pretty easy after awhile. You get used to it.”

The songs performed by the Archdiocesan Boy Choir provide teaching moments, Windfelder said. “If we do the song, `Hail True Body of Christ,' which we sing in Latin, `Ave Verum,' we talk about what is the True Body of Christ, what is the True Presence, what is the Eucharist?

“I tell them, when you sing, `Hosanna to the Son of David,' you've got to not just sing it well, you've got to almost compensate for the people who are not even aware of what Holy Week is all about or people who are becoming indifferent to it.

“Naturally, you want the kids to express the emotion of the song,” he added. For them to express the song effectively, they must know what the song is trying to say. “Lots of times the kids learn something or I'm supporting what they've already heard in school or CCD.”

'You Better Make It Fun'

Windfelder described his directing style as “part musicianship, part tap-dancing and comedy and part supplemental religious education. When you want kids to sing in Latin for four hours on a Saturday and be giving up other things, you better make it fun,” he said.

Aware that boys will be boys, Windfelder is attentive during the practice. Otherwise, “they're going to find something else to do as well as sing, such as move a kid's music or water bottle. They are boys to the hilt.”

Reactions from those unfamiliar with the boys' music are often refreshing. “People who have maybe given up on youth and stumble into a performance or a Mass are just moved,” he said.

“We're always happy to accept more kids in the choir,” said boy choir veteran Jeremy Triplett, 13, of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish. “When the rookies first come, they don't sound as good. But after you help them, they get better and stronger in their voices. We don't make fun of them. Everybody was a rookie in the beginning.

“We are happy to profess our faith,” Triplett added. “Sometimes it touches people so much they cry. (When that happens), it makes you feel proud and happy that you're doing your job.”

Windfelder is “probably the best director I've ever seen,” said 10-year-old Matthew Connors of St. Katharine Drexel Parish in Chester. “He doesn't yell at the kids. (If anyone makes a mistake), he says, `That's OK. You just gotta practice at home.'”

After practice, the boys can still be heard singing. “The parents say they sing all the way home in the car... sometimes it's not always in English,” Windfelder said.

The choirboys can sing in five or six languages “at the drop of a hat,” according to the director.

In addition to the Cathedral chapel hall, rehearsals are held in the choirboys' churches, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood and at St. Joseph's University. There is no permanent home for the choir.

`I Don't Have to Drag Them Here'

Among the parents listening to their sons practice recently was Nina Kotarra of Our Mother of Good Counsel Parish in Bryn Mawr.

“They come here without any reservation,” she said of her sons Jake, 13, and Nathaniel, 10. “I don't have to drag them here. It's remarkable.”

Although getting her sons to choir practice can be tough sometimes, she welcomes the challenge. “Every Saturday, if there is anything else going on, this always takes priority in our family. I would have them give up anything for this choir. The good news is, they would too. It's not drudgery for them to come to this.”

Practice itself requires patience. “It’s really shaping them,” Kotarra noted. “They have to stand still and be focused.”

The Boy Choir has three recordings: “Songs of the Cherubim,” “Midnight Mass” and “Golden Rose.” All are for sale on CD and cassette. The self-sustaining choir, founded in 1969, supports itself through the sale of recordings, fund-raising and the generosity of patrons.

“There's something about children singing, there's something about children praying,” Windfelder said. “I think their prayers are heard attentively.”

The Boy Choir sang at the April 26 Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul that preceded the 13th annual Cardinals' Dinner in Philadelphia. In his remarks after the Mass, Cardinal Bevilacqua boasted the Boy Choir “is one of the best there is.”

“You are modest,” Cardinal Bernard Law of the Archdiocese of Boston remarked later in the evening to the Cardinal and those attending the Cardinals' Dinner. “In your heart of hearts you are sure it is the finest.”

The choir will sing Sunday, May 19 at the Carmelite Monastery at 66th Avenue and Old York Road in Philadelphia prior to the 2:30 p.m. benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. A blessing of children, an enrollment or rededication under the patronage of the Infant Jesus of Prague, is also scheduled.

For more information about the Archdiocesan Boy Choir, call Tom Windfelder, director, at 215-425-6995.

Christie L. Chicoine is a staff writer for The Catholic Standard & Times and can be reached at 215-587-2468 or at cchicoin@adphila.org

Article used with permission of The Catholic Standard & Times