Chant at St. Joe

I went to rehearse Spiritus Domini with the St. Joe choir again tonight. Debbie was rehearsing One Spirit, One Church / Come Holy Ghost when I got there. It was a big sound, with organ, handbells and full choir. We'd practiced the same piece with Youth Choir, and the kids also sing it well.

So, when we started, I quipped that we were shifting from many voices and many instruments to one voice. While people were finding their chant music, we sang sol---->slide down to do (on "lu.") I kept it on one pitch, G to C, which is where we will sing the chant. It was a quick way to make the transition to chant sound.

Using our rehearsal sheet with the words and the St.Gall neums, we reviewed the antiphon. It was a mixture of call and response, short phrases, joining to longer, some solfege explanations. We sang it all the way through several times. It was REALLY exciting that we were doing this in church, and, even though folks aren't really comfortable with singing the whole antiphon thru yet, they ARE comfortable enough to sing strongly and clearly on the phrases as we did them. And we could hear those "sound effects" such as the harmonies that tuck under the ringing repeated tones. And the choir is making a beautiful sound.

After a bit of this, I admitted that I knew they were less-than-comfortable not having "real" music, and I passed out the modern-notation version (see last post). I got some relieved-sounding "thank-you"s as they saw the notes. We sang thru the antiphon from this sheet. I don't know why I only had them do it once, and I wish we'd done it twice. My mistake.

Interesting, although they were happier to have the notes, it completely threw off our phrasing, our style, our accenting and word-emphasis, and it really threw off my conducting. We were seeing individual notes. Still, I should have done it twice. Instead, I reacted by saying, "You have this for reference, so you can remind yourself how it goes, but we'll sing from the neums." And I took us immediately back to the other sheet, and we sang again.

Next week's rehearsal, I plan to return to the words of the text and the translation, moving us off the piece of paper as much as possible for the antiphon, singing the psalm verses and Gloria Patri from the sheet. They should be ready for it all to click. We'll then have one more rehearsal before mass on Pentecost. I think we're ok. First time singing melismatic chant. Pretty good, considering we're boot-strapping all the way.

I LOVE that chant.

Spiritus Domini
Spirit of the Lord fills the whole earth.
replevet (replete. fat, bursting with fullness, brimming over, ever re-filled)
orbem (the orb of our Earth Why is "orb" so pregnant-sounding, so live?)
terrarrum. (Tara. Gaea. Sophia.)
Alleluia!!!

et hoc (and THAT)
quod continet omnia
that which contains all things, directs all things, maintains all things, sustains all things,
alpha and omega--THAT
has knowledge of language,

THAT
understands words
(scientiam habet vocis)

THAT prime mover / BIg Bang
....evolution
..........physics
................biology
......................sociology
...........................dynamic Quality
...................................THAT has VOICE.

Alleluia, Alleluia, ALLELUIA!