I spent the day cleaning and painting, so I had lot of time to listen to my recordings in iTunes. A lot of them are chant.

I was reminded several times of how differently the Schola at the Saint Meinrad Archabbey sings than the other recordings. The difference in is the expressiveness in accent of the syllables.

This is Fr. Columba Kelly's influence and conducting. They are singing from the Graduale Triplex notation.

BUT, even St. Meinrad singers are still locked into that measured square-note orientation, in which each square note lasts for one or two of whatever the basic measure is. Yes, they start phrases more slowly, speed up a little toward the center, and slow down again towards the end, but it's still measured.

Dom Turco does the same thing. He SAYS that the chant has no relationship to measured notes, but he sings it that way. (We had a fifteen minute conversation on the subject, but I dropped it when we were just getting frustrated.) Great man--Dom Turco. I appreciate his knowledge and enjoy his enthusiasm and love for the music and the prayer.

I did hear, ONCE, on a recording, a monastery schola sing an antiphon in which the last phrase of the antiphon was sung exactly as I would sing it. Probably it was something like do-re-mi--re-do-re-re--do--. That one tiny ending of a phrase, and DID IT SPARKLE.

So, I keep listening for someone else to interpret the Semiology as I do, and as the teachers (Kelly, Turco) teach in their classes.

And I keep hoping for a situation in which I can experience singing Latin and English chant at regular liturgy. I think it would be WONDERFUL at weekday masses. We could sing a little of the chant (Latin antiphon and English psalm), chant the acclamations in English or in Latin, and still sing a familiar hymn or song.

I found this statement on the Gregorian Chant page of the Abbey of Solesmes. It said: "At first hearing, Gregorian chant might seem monotonous. Undoubtedly it disconcerts our modern ears, accustomed to more contrasted music, but often less profound. In reality the Gregorian repertory is a complex world which unites several centuries of musical history. It is in fact a world of astonishing variety which mysteriously approaches nearly delirious enthusiasm as well as the most delicate interior things. It is a paradoxical world where music blooms in silence."

Is there any way to enter that world? I'm married. I have children and responsibilities. There's no monastery in my future, not even seminary. But I am drawn to enter that world.

Also never hear another television crime show as long as I live. That would be ok.

pax,
maggie

Tonight was chant rehearsal at St. Joe. 2nd session. 15 minutes.

First we "warmed up" for a chant sound with ooh(do)-ah(sol-----fa mi re do). Start on D, sing up, then down. Worked for a dark, blended sound. Then sang a series of pitches from Kodaly hand signs, just a few. About six choir member hadn't been there the week before. I told them that we'd be singing things that we couldn't explain, but just sing along, and don't worry if you don't catch it all at once.

We started with Regina Caeli. First we spoke the words. I pointed out the raised inflection on the accent, which we tried. Mentioned that in the past, some people had advocated that there was no stress accent in Latin chant, ONLY the raising of the pitch. (Justine Ward seems to have advocated that.) Some folks still read in a monotone. We didn't work it, just moved on. As I got ready to sing, I remembered that we had warmed up with Kodaly signs, so maybe we should sing the pitches that we worked on so hard the week before. So we did: do re do re mi... After that, we sang thru the song, only stopping to notice the double square notes and make each one a distinct sound.

This was ok, but next time we should sing pitches first, then speak the words. Reading the pitches put equal measured metrics in folks' heads, and we never got back to the more fluid speech-rhythms. Next week will be the week before we sing at mass. I'm going to have more of a conflict than I thought, with Laura's graduation the same weekend, so I think I'll call Debbie about whether she would be comfortable conducting this one.

Spiritus Domini, I gave out a revised sheet to read from. I reminded the new people that they might not get it all, and don't worry. We actually sang only the first line. Worked on dynamics a little and separating those repeated tones. Didn't get enough melody-singing, so that they will be familiar enough with the music.

The new sheet includes a copy of the Graduale Triplex page on the back side of it, so folks will have the square notes if they want to look at them. I also included the address of my Chant Index page, and told them they could download a mp3 of the chant.

Next time, we have to sing more. Just sing it. I'll refrain from working anything except the last three alleluias.

My conducting technique (lack of it) is driving me crazy. The St. Joe choir folks are really polite, and they sing well, but I feel like I should apologize with every gesture. I practice all the time, but it's really awkward to decide what moves should be there. I use a combination of pitch clues and motions that resemble the St. Gall neums. Problem is, some of the neum combinations go too fast to conduct them all, and then I'm switching to a version of conducting toward the syllables, with some references to individual neums, mostly when there is a repeated pitch.

It is better since I figured out that I was conducting "backwards," but I haven't internalized all that that changes, yet.

I think I should take slower tempos on the notes next time. I think I'll rehearse the last three alleluias, then just have us sing thru antiphon and verses.

After my 15-minutes was up, I thanked them and went home, and instead of going to the empty house, pulled in Bernheim Forest and went to the silo. I sing there a lot, but usually very early in the mornings. At that time of evening (7:30 pm) there are people there, but I went ahead anyway and worked on chant. They hung around to listen, and it didn't feel awkward. I think I'll do this every Wednesday night after practice at St. Joe. That will make the trip worthwhile.

OH, and this afternoon at Amy's youth choir practice (the St. Joe Youth Choir), a couple of 8th graders came up to say they needed to have a quick conference about medieval music, and I could tell them that "Christus natus est," which they sang on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, was early music, as is Regina Caeli, which they are also learning to sing. And wouldn't you know, they needed info for a class presentation tomorrow, but none of us had copies of the "Christus factus est" sheet that they'd learned from. We copied the page from Graduale Triplex, but I suspect it's too complex-looking. I wonder what they'll do with it.

Actually, I have the sheet posted on the internet, here. Why didn't I think of that? I could have told them how to download it, but it's not listed in the index yet. Oh well, too late, it's almost midnight. But it's neat to know that this information posted on the net CAN be useful.

And I guess I'd better update that index.

ChantIndex.html

This morning I sang the Exsultet for morning prayer. When I sing it as my morning prayer hymn, I don't usually get back to the rest of the regular morning prayer, but that's probably ok, esp. during Lent and Easter.

Thinking about that, I have some procedural things nagging at me.

One is that so many people have said that the Exsultet is "that long boring thing." How many parishes cut out half of it, usually using those horrible cuts in the missal that take out all the transcendent verses? Wouldn't it be better to move toward a more speech-based rendition, which converts those long, time-consuming "notes" into inflections? It would cut out at least one-fourth of the length, I bet.

I think I'll add that to my list of things to record. I've never heard it recorded that way, but it would be much more palatable to modern listeners, especially in non-acoustic settings.

My second reflection is about something that came up in the conversation at Sarah's First Communion last Saturday: namely that the priest is NOT supposed to sing the Exsultet at the Easter vigil. They said it is supposed to be the deacon, and if not the deacon, then the choir or cantor. I didn't think that was true, so I looked it up, and made a call to Rosemary at the Office of Worship to make sure it hasn't been changed.

The missal says that the Exsultet is sung by the deacon, or if there is no deacon, the priest. If necessary, the Easter proclamation may be sung by one who is not a deacon. In this case, the bracketed words [My dearest friend, standing with me in this holy light, join me in asking God for mercy, that he may give his unworthy minister grace to sing his Easter praises] and [The Lord be with you] would be omitted.

Why I, as cantor, can't ask for grace is way beyond me, but anyway, if parish musicians are getting bent out of shape because the priest wants to sing the Exsultet, they're all wet.
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Last night, the Holy Name Band played a concert at the Chapel of St. Philip (formerly St. Philip Neri Church in Louisville). I always like to go there. St. Philip Neri was closed at the same time St. Clare was supposed to have been closed. St. Philip has continued as a chapel, with regular morning and evening prayer, and a wonderful, well-attended Compline service on Sunday evenings (sung by Evensong).

I mention well-attended because Bob says his attendance at morning and evening prayer has fallen off, though it continues. (Been there, done that.) What does it take?

We were talking about how many people use MAGNIFICAT, and he was wondering why we can't make a connection to those folks. I was looking at an older copy of Magnificat, and thinking, what a nice venue for formal morning prayer with chant? Add two Latin antiphons, for the psalm and for the Canticle. Print them on a small card for those who'd want to pick them up. Be sure to have an extended prayer of the faithful, with personal contact. And probably do this 1/2-hour before mass.

I think I had a breakthru the other night. I'm struggling with "how" to conduct Gregorian Chant. Fr. Columba says that there's a close relationship between the St. Gall neums and the movement of the conductor. I've been taking that as my starting point, and the correlations are there, and possible.

BUT I was conceiving the movements as I see them on the paper. Last night, driving down the interstate, conducting, I realized I'm doing it backwards. The motions have to be oriented so that the CHOIR sees them as they are on paper (not literally, but as a starting point). And, this feels MUCH MORE RIGHT.

I'll try this with St. Joe Choir on Wednesday and see what happens.

I'm also reading Justine Ward's introduction to the Catholic Education Series 4th-year Gregorian Chant. I'm surprised at how insightful this is for conducting, (even though we often say that "historically-informed" chant is a different animal from the Ward method that was taught in Catholic institutions before Vatican II). There's nothing stodgy or metrical about this woman's description of conducting. I wonder how many of the 50's era teachers actually read the material?

It's pouring outside again. This morning I'm going to spend some time getting Fr. Pat's homilies online. I'm using another blog: "A Catholic's Companion." I'm going to start with the Easter season C homilies "The Spirit and the Bride." The blogger format looks promising for this kind of thing.

I feel as if Fr. Pat's homilies comprise a seminal work that deserves to become part of the mind of the new millennium. Here's what I wrote in the introduction of the book. It still seems as true as it did 3 years ago:

------
As a Kentucky diocesan priest, Fr. Pat Creed placed his life in service to the transformative power of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. To this service he has brought energy and intelligence, a commitment to community action, and a wonderful gift for storytelling and preaching. The soft-spoken intensity with which Fr. Creed inspired listeners is difficult to capture in print, even more difficult to capture outside the liturgy within which the homily is an integral part. Within a broad range of challenging topics, listeners are taken, by his surprising scriptural knowledge and pervasive sense of community, to a point in which each person's own life is brought into question. No matter our backgrounds or expectations, we in the assembly always knew he was speaking directly to us, and by the end of the homily, had transformed some aspect of our own lives, changing our patterns according to the Gospel vision of God's love for us. This transformation was the gift we brought, together, to the celebration of Eucharist, week after week throughout the liturgical year.

Even more valuable to us now might be a glimpse of the processes that formed the speaker. While eagerly grasping the Second Vatican Council's renewal of the liturgy and structures of the Church, Fr. Creed maintained his commitment to its traditional forms and practices, privately and publicly adhering to the Divine Office (the Liturgy of the Hours) and the integrity and centrality of priesthood.

Pope John Paul II has recently reminded us that Vatican II's renewal is really just begun, and has called for evaluation of the Church's direction within it. While this evaluation will certainly take place in meetings and conferences worldwide, this documentation of Fr. Creed's homilies is offered as the culminating record of lifelong evaluation of Vatican II, an evaluation that brings millennia-old voices of the people of the psalms and scriptures into weekly dialogue with the present and future People of God--voices transformed and re-stored by the action of the liturgy.

Yours in Christ,
Maggie Hettinger, editor

[Introduction of "A Catholic's Companion" Selected Scripture Readings of the Church Year with Homily Reflections by Rev. C. Patrick Creed Liturgical Cycle C (c)2002 C. Patrick Creed]
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The Holy Father is speaking on Vespers at his Wednesday audiences.

Zenit News Agency - The World Seen From Rome

The above is a web site that carries all the Holy Father's Wednesday messages. (Amy and I heard one of them, last January, from the roof of the Residence Paulo IV)

Last night's "Introduction to Gregorian Chant" session with the St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral Choir went well, I think.

It was informal. Debbie (director of music & choir director) had invited me to choose a couple of pieces that the choir could sing--Marian, perhaps on Mother's Day (5 Easter), and Pentecost.

I brought Regina Caeli and "Spiritus Domini."

For Regina Caeli, I copied the page from Night Prayer (STTM). I checked in Liber Usualis for the accents of the Latin, and marked them in before I made the copies.

I made a handout for Spiritus Domini, including translation, pronunciation, an english translation verse, verses from Psalm 68:4-7, 10-11, and Gloria Patri. I included St. Gall notation for the antiphon and verses, but deliberately did NOT give them the square notation for the antiphon. My objective was to let them experience oral transmission and the St. Gall notation. I think it worked well.

Debbie rehearses with the women of the choir at 6:30, and the men join them at 7:00. She asked me to come at 7, and take as much time as I wanted. I decided to aim for 45 minutes for a good introduction. (I didn't take my watch, and actually used an hour and a quarter. That was a little long, but the content went well. In the future, I might plan to use that amount of time, just prepare folks ahead of time, and take a quick break in the middle.)

Debbie introduced me. FFR: mention Fr. Sorgie, Chant Institute in Rome, Fr. Columba Fr. Columba Kelly, Morning & Evening Prayer.

I told them that my experience with chant centered on new research, "historically-informed," in which the chant is more closely related to speech patterns and earliest notations than the way I had learned as a child in school. I said that what we learned could still be sung in the way we had sung before, if we wanted. The chant repertoire has been sung in many styles over the millennia, and all of them are beautiful & meaningful.

I asked the choir members to tell me their names and to share their past experience with the chant. Most had some previous experience. If they were my age or older, they had sung in school (pre-Vatican II). The choir had sung a chant hymn a couple years back, "Of the Father's Love Begotten" One man said his son's reaction to the chant had been "are you going to be moaning again this week?" I used that to tell them about my finding a pop song in my 19-year-old daughter's iPod that went into Tibetan Chant (Natalie Merchant's "Effigy"). One woman mentioned that she loved the chant, went often to Gethsemane (Trappist monastery just down the road), but she couldn't sing with the monks. She couldn't blend. I said we would work on that. Also that women CAN sing chant.

I asked them to warm up with "Loo-ie" on sol, fa, mi, re, do (54321-) We worked for clear-flute-like tone & blend. Then, 111-123--12345-1853123454321--. Then basic Kodaly handsigns, following, and with drone on "do." These warmups worked well, and should be continued at every session.

We went to Regina Caeli. I asked them what they noticed about the page. We talked thru square notation, *, accent marks on text, do clef and scale, measures and icthus. We then sang pitches. Talked about how what we had just sung had NOTHING to tell us about rhythm. Went to the text, spoke it, with accents, then sang. I asked the accompanist (Frank) to play a drone (Eb-Bb), as I didn't want the piano sound at this point. After singing, I told them that in the Church's liturgy, this song was sung every night during Easter season at the very last of the prayer, and encouraged them to do the same.

FFR: This would be the place for a break.

I touched on 3 different types of chant melodies. Hymns (more or less syllabic), chant tones, (here we sang "the mass is ended, go in peace" and touched on psalm tones) and melismatic, which we would experience next. Text-based, ancient, prayerful. Closely related to the oral tradition.

FFR: put the latin text on the board or on a chart. maybe. maybe not.

Call and response: Spiritus Domini, first line. Then, gave out handout. We sang thru the antiphon, glossing over second and third lines (just follow, we'll look at these more closely later.). Sang a couple of verses and back to the antiphon, stopping occasionally to clarify.

At this point, we talked about the notation. Most folks had figured out what most of it meant.

Looked at the time:Enough.

We closed by agreeing to meet again next week 10-15 minutes. I told them I wouldn't ask them if they liked the chant, yet. I think it was an enjoyable experience. Haven't had feedback.