The Recovering Choir Director

As the recent Guinness ads say:

“Brilliant!”

Especially if it is promoted not just as a way to learn music for its own sake, but also as a devotional ritual. This is a way that people who do not consider themselves singers could be persuaded to join in, much as people with so-so speaking voices can easily be persuaded to do readings. We don’t expect all readers to sound like James Earl Jones, why should we expect all singers to sound like (insert your opinion of a good singing voice).

Well, don’t forget that chant was developed in monasteries, where the monks would sing the propers and ordinaries and the chants for the Liturgy of the Hours. They weren’t professional musicians. There aren’t a lot of chants that have a range of more than ten or twelve notes (an octave and a half) and most people can handle that.

I like your proposal. It could work. I think we need more organizations for the laity, and organiziations geared toward music, traditional pieties, and youth (especially children) are what needs to happen. In fact, my Newman-Stein Fellowship small group was talking about this last night.

I’m afraid I can’t place myself in one of your categories yet, though. I can sight-read and master antiphons from the Graduale Romanum, but I only know three Mass settings and one Credo. This is what happens when you learn for a specific parish Mass, instead of taking a more wholistic approach.

What a nifty idea! While my part of the country is dominated by the Haugen/Haas school of liturgical music (if we’re lucky), I think the guild approach might have some application. Especially where there are indult Masses, many of which could use some musical uplift.

I’m going to link to this posting forthwith on my own blog.

OK, I’m in. Where do I sign? But seriously, any suggestions about implementing such a plan on a parish (or wider) scale?

Sign me up!

And anyone want to join this gulid of chanters here at the University of Chicago. We need some help especially since I am a missionary and am often called to the road.

Would be very interested to know if there is anything like this on Long Island. I believe you have a priest at St. Ignatius who might be supportive, he used to chant the Agnus Dei during daily Mass out here in Smithtown.

I don’t believe this particular Chorister’s Guild fulfills many of the hopes we had for such an organization, but I provide the link as a reference, for awareness.

the schola st grégoire has established in france pretty much what you’re talking about. every summer they hold an intensive, week-long session during which participants can begin to learn or perfect (according to their level of degree, of which there are 5) gregorian chant. i’ve often wondered if something similar could exist in the states. why not? it’s up to us to make it happen!
AMDG

Beautiful. Would that you lived in my neighborhood.

My only suggestion is to consider starting with St. Gall neums rather than square notation. This could allow:

* Oral transmission, with all the cognitive and societal richness it engenders

* Focus on the chant as a medium of words of prayer and meaning

* Attention to speech-like directness afforded by Semiology, without reverting to the rhythmic metricness that our prior music-reading experience imposes on square notation.

Maggie, there are actually a lot of us, trying to tend our little gardens out here in the vast liturgical desert that is sacro-pop music.

The archives on your blog are going to make interesting reading!

Mr. Brandt:

The Laon neumes are in black and the St. Gall family are in red.

If you go to the St. Cecilia Schola Cantorum description of the newest “chant resource” (I just hope they have better customer service than the “old” chant resources!), OCP, as referenced in Mr. Esguerra’s May 3 post, you will find a link to information about a very small (fifty-seven-page, nine-dollar) book entitled “Chant Made Simple by Robert M. Fowells, published in 2000 as a clear and practical introduction.” This book includes several examples with commentary on facing pages.

I saw nothing at all “simple” about it as a text introductory to chant; I did not even bother to show it to the professional singer for whom I had bought it but rather read it myself. Then again I am product of neither the Ward Method nor newly informed studies — I guess you could call me a product of the John W. Schaum Note Speller approach — so I suppose Miss Hettinger will likely disagree, as this would be something like a swift introduction to her approach. We all have to agree, on the other hand, that, at least outside the precious few venerable and living revived Western chant traditions, knowledge and understanding of the “chicken scratch” can usefully inform everyone’s interpretation. The only pedagogical question is: which comes first, the square-note or the scratch?

Thanks for your kind comments, all.

Geri, I’d like to know more about your garden.

Mr. Mueller–I found “Chant Made Simple” in a bookstore near the end of a two-week seminar on Gregorian Chant. The seminar was given by Fr. Columba Kelly at St. Meinrad, and our entire group LOVED it, BUT I think we all spent most of that time in a haze of confusion. The subject is just so big, and you simply have to do it a lot and hear it a lot.

Anyway, “Chant Made Simple” was the key that unlocked all of Fr. Kelly’s wonderful information. For six months, at least, I sang from that little book every morning, after I sang morning prayer. (That resulted in most of my recordings). Now I am able to listen to Fr. Columba’s classes, which he graciously allowed us to record, and am always finding new understanding. So it’s a chicken-and-egg question. “Chant Made Simple” is the best concise resource I’ve found. But it doesn’t contain the aural experience that you’ll need.

Mr. Brandt–
I like to use (for responsorial psalm) the WLP Psalms and Ritual Music, which allows the cantors & choir to sing chant-style lectionary material. It is written in standard notation, and is a good entrance point. BUT, even with the simpler chant it contains, it is easily misunderstood by singers, who will conceptualize it in modern rhythms. And, there’s none of the melismatic chant there. I don’t think it can be written in modern notation. (It’s a lot like trying to read popular sheet music. They write some of the music, and it’s helpful, but if you haven’t heard the piece, you won’t get it off of the printed page.)

I have very good results teaching chant to children using neums. It works well with my basic music-teaching program (a mix of music for liturgy, Orff Schulwerk, Kodaly, folk music and popular/modern.)

Adults can be different. The big surprise is to run into people who react negatively to chant in general and neums in particular. In my experience, a few have been actually insulted, and they can be very vocal . Thank goodness they are the minority. For choir members with little pitch-reading skill, neums, and then square-notation give a good introduction to the world of music notation. Even those who have greater standard literacy skills begin to use neums be able to move away from the standard notation that does such a disservice to the text. When they are able to sing from the simple printed words, just making small pencil-mark reminders for themselves, their focus changes. Most come to sing chant well with experience, and It IS a primal experience that brings its own reward.

Miss Hettinger:

Is Father Columba not a well-studied (I would not want to say, erm, “well-versed”) monk? I have had occasion to write him once or twice but have never heard him lecture. Unfortunately for my purposes and tastes, the Benedictines at St. Meinrad (now simply known as the wealthy Benedictines …) are as an abbey only interested in English chant. I have to concede, though, that if anyone can make it work, they can. They will just have to find an approved translation to use!

“Anyway,” as you say, Mr. Brandt’s point is well taken and jibes with your own point of view. That is, that neumes are a natural way of marking the music and that novices may well take to them quickly. However, there are scads of folks like me who (1) learned square notation some years ago with no particular information on neumes and (2) have often needed quick and dirty — i.e., sightread — propers for a Mass that is to begin in thirty minutes. These conditions make correct study (aural training) and practice of neumes more difficult.

I do not mean to say that Chant Made Simple is a bad book in any way; I have no grounds for criticism! It is just not what one is looking for if he wants to start with square notation.

Is no one going to tell me that I need to think outside the square?

In our parish, at “my” Mass, we just sing the vernacular responsorial psalm, response and all, to psalm tones, by the way (II Advent/Lent, V Christmas/Easter, VIII Sundays of the Year).

Mr. Morse:

It is my understanding that Dom Eugene Cardine’s Beginning Studies in Gregorian Chant was supposed to be studied before his Gregorian Semiology. Again, though, I would hardly criticize anyone for studying them in the “wrong” order.

Mr. Mueller & Mr. Morse, and readers,

I hope I didn’t imply anything negative about Fr. Columba or his classes. To me he represents the epitome of the “well-studied” monk, and the chant is a major part of his long and active life. He has my utmost respect. HE studied Dom Cardine, so I feel I can take his interpretation back to the world in which I live, and run with it.

When I took his class, I was under the impression that Gregorian Semiology was not translated. I don’t know why I haven’t checked for it. I’d like to read it now. And “Beginning Studies.”

Just to clarify, the office and liturgy of the monks at St. Meinrad is in English, yet the musicians, at least, still study and sing in Latin as well. I live less than a 2-hr drive from the Abbey, but haven’t been there in over a year. Time to go again.

I’d like to get back on the original thread for a minute here. Looking at the syllabus for the Apostolate, I’m wondering how it could intersect with parish life.

The liturgy that it is promoting is so completely foreign to our parish experience that I’m sure I’m the only one in the parish who can even extrapolate any relevance of the program suggested for the Lay Apostolate.

It seems as if a Lay Apostolate for cantors and musicians would want to take into account the history of our parishes, and the needs of the current liturgy (based as it is on post-Vatican II happenings) that would be seen by the church musican as relevant, necessary and enriching.

I think I understand that this type of approach may be EXACTLY what you’re trying to avoid, but my head is working toward a way to take the concept of apprenticeship, liturgical experience, prayer experience and the fuller tradition of the Catholic church into something that can make an impact on parishes like mine.

My home parish has one Sunday mass, and our music is a mixture of pre-V2, a healthy wallop of 60s Glory & Praise & hymns, a lot of the newer music. (We have not, however, gone to the Karaoke-style Christian music.) We also have HIGH congregational participation in the singing. I have never attended any Catholic liturgy in which there is more singing by the people than the regular Sunday mass at St. Benedict.

And we would like our musicians to be trained in the “Catholic” tradition, which I would hope could open their eyes and give a solid voice to the great body of the chant. But, a life of chant is no longer Catholic. And the notion of a separate strand of Novus Ordo is just not possible in smaller parishes.

I REALLY LIKE the idea of a Lay Apostolate for musicians. For millennia, it seems that music has been the nurturing force of the church, the lifeblood of the religious experience. Today’s music and musicians no longer belong to the mind of the church, but are floating on the edges of what has come before. I would like to facilitate our reengagement with the mind of the church. We need to belong to something nurturing–not get our credibility from a paycheck or a title. So if the Lay Apostolate proposed here could be set up so that it is inviting and relevant to all Catholic parishes, it would be a great thing.

If this is just not what you’re proposing, then pardon my misplaced enthusiasm. Sometimes trying to do too much merely weakens the effort.

If there were two or three people withing a two-hour drive of me who wanted to form the Lay Apostolate above, I’d do whatever it takes to be part. But I’d like to work on the idea of an interface with the parishes.

Mr Morse:

Certainly, both of Dom Eugene Cardine’s books in English translation, Beginning Studies in Gregorian Chant and Gregorian Semiology, are still available. The Gregorian Institute of America is one possible source:

http://www.giamusic.com/scstore/P-chantbooks.html

Miss Hettinger:

I hope I didn’t imply anything negative about Fr. Columba

You certainly did not. You could read my comment thusly: “Isn’t he well-studied?” The meaning is: “I think he is well-studied; you agree, do you not?”

One important difference between the Graduale Simplex in usum Minorum Ecclesiarum and the Graduale Romanum — besides the melodies, generally from the Liturgia Horarum, and texts — is that, paradoxically, the Graduale Simplex is the Roman book, from the Libreria Editrice Vaticana (editio typica altera, 1989). What this means on the practical plane is that there are no Solesmes markings whatsoever, whether the nineteenth-century rhythmic indication of the ictus or the twentieth-century addition of the ancient neumes.

As Father Skeris has pointed out, the anomaly is that the “official” chant editions, including the current Graduale Romanum, are not Roman at all. Apparently, at this point “the Vatican” is content to allow Solesmes to publish pretty much what they will (and conversely to refuse to do so, in the case of composing new melodies for new texts). In comparison, for example, a Roman Missal edited anywhere but Rome is unthinkable. Despite what some Americans seem to believe.

As an Anglican, may I suggest St. Dunstan’s Plainsong Psalter? It would be ideal as an additional text, especially for chanting the Divine Office. I believe the press who puts out the book is Western Orthodox, and the book has gained praise from folks on every side of every “river” in the Church.

The book has multiple settings for all the major bits of the Office, along with all the Marian anthems. The wording of each of the Psalms if the wonderful Coverdale Psalter. And, on top of that, there are extensive helps in learning how to chant and how to read square notation.

A link to this wonderful book can be found here:
http://www.andrewespress.com/dunstan.html

Pax et Bonum,
-John
Aspirant to Holy Orders, Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, IL

P.S. I just realised that you already have this book on your blog. Oh well–more advertising! This book should be in a lot more peoples’ hands.

I love the Mass, but why only the Mass? Why let the patrimony of musical settings for the office languish, or at bestt, be relegated to the occasional concert performance of the Vesper settings of Monteverdi or Mozart?

ns

This is a GREAT idea, and my wife and I are thinking of starting something like this in our Parish in Western Massachusetts. I direct the St Gregory Choir in our small “Polish” parish. We are one of two choirs. Ours sings at the 8AM Mass, and we usually sing 16th motets and some chant pieces. We are gradually building our repertoire. My PLAN has been to have a sung Latin Novus Ordo Mass once every 6 weeks or so. This sort of Society or Guild would fit in very well here, if people will join, and we plan to include spiritual formation as well as musical formation.

I’m a priest in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, and I have been very much concerned about the state of bad church music for some time. I like this idea very much. I’m going to tell a friend of mine, who is a music director in another parish, about this site. I’ll tell a few other priests, as well. I am no musician and have never studied chant, but I am willing to support this idea if it gets implemented.

This appears to be an ongoing thread, so I will risk adding my support. The idea you propose is something I have long sensed a need for. We have Guilds and apostolates for everything else in the Church, while the so-called ‘treasure’ of the Church’s musical tradition is left to the initiative of volunteers and individuals with specialized training. What you propose would have the important advantage of being a collective and organized effort.

Five years later, an excellent model to follow!