Little Sparks

Send us Fan Mail Throughout music history, we can find numerous Catholic composers who were devoted to their faith. Today, we're chatting about the lives and examples of just three of these composers. We're covering Franz Liszt's inspiring reversion story as he journeyed from living a playboy life to taking minor orders,  Antonin Dvorak's devotion to God through his music and h...

Send us Fan Mail Andddd we've got a special bonus episode today on the Little Sparks podcast! Cecilia's talking about the purpose of Lent (hint: it's not to see who's the best Catholic), exploring definitions of intimacy and how they apply to learning a piece of music as well as to developing a relationship with another person, and suggesting a few practical ways to grow in int...

Send us Fan Mail This week, we're thrilled to be chatting with Patrick O'Connell, a music educator and conductor located in Massachusetts. We had a great conversation about his role as a music educator, balancing a career in music with the vocation of marriage and family life, and being a witness to the faith – even when it's difficult. Patrick's got a lot of great wisdom to sh...

Send us Fan Mail Introducing Season 4's saint feature! In today's episode, we're chatting about Bl. Dina Belanger, a Canadian religious sister who attended a conservatory in New York to study piano prior to entering religious life. The order she entered was a teaching order of religious sisters, and her assignment was to teach music in one of their schools.  Bl. Dina’s story is an a...

Send us Fan Mail Today we're chatting about a musical profession that we've never had a chance to talk about before here: music therapy! Senior music therapy major Amelia Glikin sat down with us to chat about music therapy, and what unfolded along the way was her beautiful story of her return to the Catholic faith, and a moving conversation about how music therapy affirms the dignity of...

Send us Fan Mail It can be easy to see how we can glorify God through music when we’ve finished a performance and hear from audience members about how deeply our music touched their hearts, or when we’re teaching a young child how to play something that’s challenging for them and they finally “get” it.  But what about the hard parts? What do we do when we’re in the throes of crippling performance...

Send us Fan Mail On today's episode of the Little Sparks podcast, we're sitting down to chat with Sarah Barry,  an opera singer and teacher from Louisville, KY.  We’re discussing career discernment, vocal music, and trusting in God’s plan every step of the way. Sarah is a delightful person, and we’re so grateful to have been able to have this conversation with her! What we're listen...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Season 4! We're focusing on the many different careers in music and how we can glorify God through them. To kick things off, we're doing a deep dive into the relationship between beauty and truth, and how musicians, alongside all creatives, are uniquely suited to evangelize in today's culture.  What we're listening to: Cecilia: "reading in a coz...

Send us Fan Mail We are wildly excited to announce that our Season 4 preview episode is here! Tune in to hear the theme of our next season, what we’re each most excited for, and when Season 4 will be launching. You won’t want to miss this!

Send us Fan Mail We can hardly believe we're already at our season 3 finale, but here we are! Today's episode is the very first that we recorded in the same room with each other, and we had an absolute blast discussing our favorite season 3 episodes, plus a little something just for fun. We're sharing our least favorite and most favorite contemporary hymn draft lists (and why each h...

Send us Fan Mail It's time for this season's saint feature! Today we're talking about St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, who is probably the least-known of the Hildegard Collective's patron saints. We're discussing her life, her incredible piano skills (she was French conservatory trained!), and her call to the Carmelite order. We're also discussing what we as musicians ca...

Send us Fan Mail We'll be back on Saturday with a new full episode, but today we're bringing a short bonus episode to you! In this season's bonus episode, Cecilia walks us through how God can't make anything that isn't good because He is all-good, the effects of original sin and how they can play into our self-esteem problems as musicians, and what our outlook on all this...

Send us Fan Mail The Second Vatican Council can be a contentious topic among Catholics, to say the least. And one particular area in which arguments can ensue happens to be in regard to music. Yet how many of us have actually taken the time to read what the Council wrote about music? If you have, props to you! If you haven't – dip your toes into the water by listening to our new podcast episo...

Send us Fan Mail Did you know Pope St. John Paul II gave an address to sacred musicians? Neither did we – that is, until recently! Today we're sitting down to chat about this wonderful address, and what we can take away from it as liturgical musicians today. We discuss our role in the rich history of Catholic contributions to music, the transcendental quality of Gregorian chant, and the relat...

Send us Fan Mail What's the oldest Eucharistic hymn? How important does the Church consider sacred music to be? Is it necessary for the theology in the verses of a hymn to be super clear, or is that not as important since it's music?  If you've ever asked any of these questions, this episode is for you! Even if you've never answered any of these questions – this episode is for...

Send us Fan Mail We're thrilled to have AnnaMaria Cardinalli, author of Music and Meaning in the Mass, join us on the podcast today. AnnaMaria shares with us about her fascinating musical background, how the inspiration to write this book came about, and why music choices matter so much in the Mass. We had a blast chatting with her, and we hope you learn a lot from this episode! What we'...

Send us Fan Mail We're absolutely thrilled to have Veronica Olson, a licensed physical therapist from Wisconsin, on the podcast today to chat about physical therapy. Veronica shares about how she became a physical therapist, the role of physical therapy in injury recovery, and how her faith plays into her work as a therapist. We learned so much from her, and we're so happy to share this...

Send us Fan Mail Today's episode is the second in a three part miniseries exploring musician injuries. Last week, we heard from Cecilia and her journey with carpal tunnel and tendonitis, and now this week we get to hear from Tara. Tara's journey with health as related to her singing has been twofold: one with her mental health, and one with her physical health. She shares about her battl...

Send us Fan Mail Over the next three weeks, we're walking through a short miniseries on musicians' injuries. In today's episode, Cecilia shares her story of receiving carpal tunnel and tendonitis diagnoses in college, searching for help through various physical therapists and an Alexander Technique teacher, and what components helped her to find some level of healing. She also share...

Send us Fan Mail We're kicking off our third season of the Little Sparks podcast with an episode on Ephesians 5 – and no, it's not the part of Ephesians 5 that you're probably thinking about. We're looking at verses 15-20, in which St. Paul essentially says, "Don't get drunk, sing songs instead!" Join us for a chat/ramble on how these verses fit into the larger c...

Send us Fan Mail Today we're sharing our season 3 preview! Tune in to hear what this season is themed around, and some things we're looking forward to. Stick around until the end to find out the launch date!

Send us Fan Mail For our season finale, we're so excited to have composer and singer/songwriter Tony Manfredonia on the podcast! We chatted about his journey into composition and singing/songwriting, the importance of his faith, and how a difficult time in his marriage inspired his upcoming album. This is an episode you do not want to miss! What we're listening to: Tara: Mary Speaks, by...

Send us Fan Mail Today we're excited to bring to you this season's saint feature! We go through the story of St. Cecilia and how her body was found incorrupt, why St. Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians even though she likely never played an instrument, and what we can learn from the example of St. Cecilia, her husband Valerian, and his brother Tibertius. What we're listening t...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Tara and Cecilia are chatting about Aristotle's levels of friendship, taking unconventional career paths, and the beauty of surrendering plans to God. What we're listening to this week: Cecilia: Gregor Aichinger's Regina Coeli Tara: the soundtrack to the documentary Blackfish

Send us Fan Mail Is organ really the best choice of instrument for the Mass? Should guitars be totally banned from the liturgy? What do we do for Mass when we have very limited resources in the way of instruments? If these questions have ever crossed your mind, you'll want to listen to this episode! Today we're discussing one of our favorite books: Music and Meaning in the Mass, by Annam...