It took me a while to grow into a love of Gregorian chant.  As a 30-something, I grew up on Michael Jackson, Madonna etc.  A decade ago I found Tower of Power and got into that funky beat.  When I made my own Catholic music CD (note to any music directors visiting, I did not write the songs with liturgical use in mind and hope no one ever does try to use it in the Mass), I incorporated all my influences, heavy on Andrew Lloyd Weber and even some Queen, maybe a little of the country music upbringing I had - I always liked Dolly Parton.

So of course, without any formal appreciation for music, my knowledge limited to the experience of popular music, and no previous exposure to Gregorian chant, I was not an instant fan.  I didn't understand how the music was organized, or that it had a pulse to it, and just how intricately beautiful it is.  People who truly understand will describe Gregorian chant as surely what the music of Heaven must be like. 

One of the things I'm coming to understand and appreciate is the rhythm of the chant.  At first I was merely trying to make sense out of the neumes with their various dots, squiggles, and lines.  But it was only in singing some of the Propers of the Mass, truly striving to sing them as they were intended and to do well in rendering them, that the rhythm started to emerge for me.

Without being an expert in interpreting chant, the best thing you and I can do is listen to good recordings of Gregorian chant.  One of the most beautiful CDs I came across was Chanticleer's Mysteria.  If you want to hear some gorgeous Holy Week and Easter Gregorian chant, this CD is your ticket.  There are also four antiphons n honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The quality of the singing and the recording are superb. 

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It seems like just yesterday the schola was working on the William Byrd polyphony piece Emendemus in melius and the Gregorian chant Qui meditibur for Ash Wednesday.  But Lent has flown by and now we are about to begin Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday this weekend. 

It has been interesting to discuss the various special liturgies coming up with our pastor.  One thing he pointed out about Palm Sunday, which may have been lost on me in past years when I was not so involved in the proceedings, is that in the course of the Mass that day, there is a day-and-night change of mood.  At the beginning of Mass, the atmosphere is triumphant as Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem with the singing of hosannas.  But once the procession arrives at the main altar, the mood changes from triumphant to somber: we begin to meditate on Christ's Passion. 

The schola cantorum has been preparing pieces for both parts of the Mass. 

Long before I even knew how many people would volunteer to sing with me, I had my heart set on Thomas Weelke's Hosanna to the Son of David.   Only six-part harmony, no problem, right?  Fortunately most if not all the schola members are enthusiastic about this piece and have worked hard on their own time learning it.  It also is a little easier than our first outing with polyphony (Emendemus).  The first time I discussed music selections with our pastor, he presented the idea of the schola members walking with the procession from the sacristry to the place where the blessing of palms and the first gospel reading will take place (in a gathering room attached to the vestibule of the church).  It sounded like a great idea, until I considered that trying to sing a six-part harmony piece and walk at the same time might not be the best thing to attempt.  However, at our last rehearsal, we walked around the church a couple of times while singing, and practiced repeating the song without a break (as we will probably need to sing it about three times during the procession), and it went very well. 

We will lead the procession all the way to the gathering room, then as we lead the procession back into the church again, we will sing a short antiphon in English from the missalette (The children of Jerusalem...) which will give the organist the signal and the time to get to the organ and begin the congregation hymn All Glory, Laud and Honor.

The schola's other piece, the offertory chant Improperium Expectavit, will be sung from the choir loft.  We were having some trouble staying together on it, but at our last practice we figured out that if I move my hand (i.e. conduct if you want to call it that) to the rhythm of the individual notes as we go, it helps everyone move along at the same time and gives us a much more unified sound.  In stark contrast to Hosanna, Improperium is a sad psalm predicting how Christ would suffer.  It means, "My heart awaited reproach and misery, and I longed for one who would grieve together with me, but there was none.  I looked for one to comfort me, but found no one.  For my food they gave me gall, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink"  (Psalm 68: 21, 22). 

Before we know it Palm Sunday 2007 will be history and we will be on our journey through the Paschal Triduum. 

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Though we can't do everything, our schola is taking on the challenge of doing a handful of chants and a few polyphony or a cappella harmony pieces during Holy Week and Easter.  One of the Gregorian chants we are doing is the offertory psalm for Palm Sunday, Improperium expectavit.  Before this, the schola had chanted Qui meditabitur, the communion chant for Ash Wednesday.  And then there was the introit Sister and I chanted on Sunday (Laetare Jerusalem).  Parishioners have been receptive to these, except some people have mentioned they wish they knew what they meant, since they don't understand Latin.

So that was one problem I was facing in planning to do the offertory chant for Palm Sunday.

The other problem is that by itself, the chant seems kind of short.  The version I have didn't include a Gloria Patri or a verse-refrain format like the introit had, and maybe offetorios don't (one of the many topics I'm interested to learn more about at the Church Music Association colloquium).  It wouldn't hurt to have a little bit longer piece for offertory on that day. 

I feel that especially for this psalm, it's important people understand the translation because it connects directly to the Reproaches we'll be singing on Good Friday.  So I set the English to a very simple minor chant mode, and am having the men in the schola sing that.  As they hold the last note, the ladies will come in with the Gregorian chant.  The men will join in on the second phrase. 

By the way, I found a nice clean recording of Improperium expectavit on this CD (without being a chant neume-reading expert, it has been a Godsend to find these chants on recordings):

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One of the classical music pieces I'm looking forward to for Easter is Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus, which we're using at Communion.  The children's choir is going to join the schola in singing this.  Plus, we may have a string quartet accompanying, or some string players with soft organ music.  I was happy to find the string quartet's parts to Ave Verum in the Choral Public Domain Library.

Not a lot of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's sacred music is actually appropriate for use in the Catholic Mass; even in its day the magisterium discouraged use of opera in church music.  But Ave Verum Corpus is another matter, it is definately appropriate for liturgical use, and the opportunity to use the extra instruments at Easter after the minimalist music during Lent, is something I am really looking forward too.  I know it will be uplifting for the congregation to hear the sounds of a string quartet and children's voices (with the schola singing harmonies). 

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I'm a babe in Gregorian chant-land.  There is much to learn, and I am going to immerse myself in it this summer at the Church Music Association's sacred music colloquium at Catholic University in Washington D.C.

Besides learning about singing Gregorian chant and polyphony, and the use of these esteemed forms of traditional Catholic music in the liturgy, I'm looking forward to learning about the Ward Method of teaching children to sing. 

And God-willing I'll bring all this great knowledge back to my parish and hopefully pass it along to our schola members and others.  It's all about having the right tools to sing good Catholic music.

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Happy first day of spring!  It's duck weather here today, but the last of the snow is disappearing and spring is definitely making its appearance.

For the Catholic Church, a new springtime is upon us.  Vatican II called for a renewal of so many aspects of the Church, but the one people think of most is the liturgy.  Anyone who has taken the time to read the document on the liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium has seen how far astray the interpretation of the renewal of the liturgy went.  If you haven't read it, to just put it in a nutshell (if that's possible): Vatican II did not call for the turning around of the altar, or the removal of the communion rail, or the stripping of our churches of statues or beautiful murals, nor the banishing of Latin from the entire Mass.  Vatican II did call for a full active and conscious participation in the Mass - but that did not mean everyone was supposed to be up and moving around doing things, rather it was most importantly inviting the faithful to make an interior offering of themselves along with the offering of the priest.  And they should also be singing the parts of the Mass they are supposed to be singing (like the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei).  Vatican II explicitly stated that Gregorian chant should have pride of place in the liturgy, and that the Latin language should be preserved. 

So why has it been so wintry in the Church since Vatican II, which was calling for a new springtime?  Well, historically it's always taken awhile for the shake-out following a major council to sort itself out.  And nothing happens quickly in the Church.  But there are signs of spring... it began as Pope John Paul II ushered in the new millennium.  I believe our schola and the growing numbers of parish musicians who are feeling called to delve deeper into what the Catholic Church intends for liturgical music are signs that the new springtime of the liturgy is finally arriving.  The result will be  restoration of the sacred as the sound of Gregorian chant invokes a holy atmosphere and people fall silent in meditation, then lift up their voices in a common language around the world to pray together.  It is humbling to be a part of this, because it really feels like the Holy Spirit is at work even in our own little efforts at the parish.

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It was 8:30 PM on Friday night before the 4th Sunday of Lent, also known as Laetare Sunday. 

I guess it's due to the missalette companies mentioning it that most regular church-going Catholics know about Gaudete and Laetare Sunday.  Both names are taken from the introits, or entrance antiphons, of those days.  On both days rose-colored vestments can be worn by the priest (if they are man enough to do so ) and both words mean "rejoice."  They both give us a little reprieve from the penitential nature of the liturgical seasons (Advent and Lent, respectively).  And for the most part, the introit chant has been completely ignored even on Gaudete and Laetare Sundays. 

But on this particular Friday night, inspired by our pastor's bulletin letter, I called Father and asked him if he would like the introit chanted for Sunday morning.  He said that would be cool, so I called my cantoring partner, Sr. Michele, and we arranged to get together Saturday morning for a crash course.

I found the chant in a borrowed Gregorian Missal.  I found an mp3 of it on the Brazilian monk's site... always very helpful!   So Sister and I were able to pull it off Sunday morning, chanting the introit right before Mass actually started.  Of course if we were doing things by the book, the priest would process in during the introit chant, but we are pretty firmly entrenched in the habit of using an opening hymn.  It isn't such a bad thing either.

It was the first time that I tried a Gregorian chant from the Propers without the whole schola, and I'm glad it was possible for us cantors to do it... the schola won't always be there, but cantors always are, so at the very least, we may look forward to Laetare or Gaudete Sunday in hopes of hearing the introit from which those words are taken!

Darcy

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I feel like all my senses have been elevated a little closer to heaven since I stumbled upon the world of authentic Catholic sacred music.  Gregorian chant used to be as foreign to me as sumo wrestling, and the "entrance antiphon" and "communion antiphon" printed in the missalette for daily Mass were just something I took for granted as a weekday Mass thing.  Little did I know the true meaning of "introit" or "communio."  Barely could I have imagined wanting to sing Gregorian chant myself, much less get a schola started at my parish.

But it's been hard to ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit (like I'd want to ignore Him),especially with Pope Benedict XVI reminding us about Vatican II's insistence that Gregorian chant be given pride of place in the liturgy (see paragraph 116).  

Wading through the dense information provided by the Church Music Association I was able to glean enough to realize two things:  The entire Mass is meant to be sung, and their are official chants that are meant to be sung at Mass.  And neither of these things were cancelled out by Vatican II.  Rather, Vatican II explicitly sought to preserve them, but it was ignored.

I started this blog to write about what I learn about sacred music, and to share some of the bizarre and fun experiences I've had now as the director of our parish's Gregorian Chant schola. 

I'll also be visiting the world of Renaissance Sacred Music, since polyphony is a direct outgrowth of Gregorian chant and the repertoire is rich with beautiful music that remains suitable for the Catholic Mass. 

And all this can be yours for free - just keep coming back to visit my blog!

Here's to sacra musica pro novo millenio!

Darcy

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