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« The Basilica of the National Shrine's Sound System | Return to the Gregorian Chant and Sacred Music Blog | The Motu Proprio in Real Life »

The Parish Book of Chant - Gregorian Chant in the Pews!

Here is a resource you just might never have seen if it wasn't for Pope Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio. 

The Parish Book of Chant - CMAA

Now if your parish wants to follow the model of St. John Cantius and offer both orders of the Mass, you can do so and you only need one missal!  (This book would also be great even if you aren't offering both ordos, but you are having a Latin Mass according to one form or the other.) Not only do you have the side-by-side Latin/English translation for both forms, but you also get the chants of the Kyriale (the parts the congregation ought to be able to sing in Latin according to Vatican II) and lot of chant hymns, several of which will be familiar to most Catholics (like Regina Caeli and Tantum Ergo) but lots more that they may not know or haven't heard in a long, long time, like Crux Fidelis or Ave Verum. 

No doubt people in the congregation will be daunted by the prospect of singing chant, especially when they see all those square notes (they are included in the standard chant notation in this book, not the modern notation you might find in a typical hymnal).  Well, they'll never get over their fears unless you give them a chance to open a chant book and look at the neumes while they sing.  The Parish Book of Chant puts the possibility of singing Gregorian chant at Mass into the congregation's hands.  There is even a brief tutorial to take the mystery out of the signs, rhythms, etc. 

I understand there is probably a Latin ordinary form Mass in our parish's future, and I can see The Parish Book of Chant being a valuable resource for helping it be a success.  I am also thinking of sending a copy of this home with every attendee of our Gregorian Chant Workshop this fall. 

The Parish Book of Chant was a labor of love from volunteers of the Church Music Association of America.  The world of sacred music is changing... the resources parishes draw on are going to be less from the big-name music publishers and more on offerings from groups like the CMAA.  And this is a very good thing.

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Comments

Darcy,
I can send you the critique paper I wrote on "Liturgy and Music" if you'd like, but I will say I am not the best writer and it was hard to critique a book over 400pp even in the eight pages I wrote. I was also a little pressed for time.
I am guessing you are going to the colloquium this summer? if so, I look forward to putting a face to the name!

I still would love to read it.

Unfortunately I won't make the colloquium. I sure wish I could. I registered and everything, but decided it was too much to handle since we have a little nursing baby, it would be a logistical nightmare for my husband to try to meet me with the baby throughout the colloquium. So instead, I transfered my registration to our parish music director. If you get a chance say hello to Patrick Burkhart from Stevens Point WI. It'll be his first colloquium and I'm looking forward to him sharing in that experience.

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