A Little More Chant, Please

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MusicMan

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So far, my quiet attempts to introduce traditional chant styles in my church have been met with success … or haven’t been met with resistance.

Where can I find something with the simple chant tones in modern notation, with an accompaniment, and with the Gradual texts in English?
 
MusicMan said:
So far, my quiet attempts to introduce traditional chant styles in my church have been met with success … or haven’t been met with resistance.

Where can I find something with the simple chant tones in modern notation, with an accompaniment, and with the Gradual texts in English?
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You might want to contact Fr. Sam Webber, OSB. He is the head of the new Office of Sacred Music for the Archdiocese of St.Louis. I got to meet him when I was at St. Louis and found him to be most helpful. In fact, I got to participate in Morning Prayer (led by Archbishop Ranjith). Fr. Weber wrote the settings for the pslams and they were easy to sing. He has written propers for Ordinary Time and the seasons. He would be a great resource for you.
 
You can look at Psallite, By Flowing Waters, both published by Liturgical Press, Collegeville. Also Fr. Anthony Ruff, also of t. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, recently published a colleciton of responsorial psalms in English chant. You can also contact the National Association of Pastoral Musicians as they have Gregorian Chant Institutes in different parts of the country during hte year and have a complete list of musicial publications.
 
I’m a square-note plainchant guy myself, but I think most people prefer polyphany. Maybe it’s easier to start with plainchant during the Psalms since the cantor can do it him/herself and doesn’t need to thrust the congregation into something they don’t know how to do.

This may be more than you’re interested in doing, but you might try to get together a parish bus-trip to the nearest Benedictine Abbey for a daytime retreat. The congregation will get an “ear” for plainchant and know what it sounds like in a liturgical setting.
 
I very much like the Chabanel Project. I was hoping to use it as a point of departure with both my own understanding and my parish’s. It has worked very well thus far for us. I do know, however, that the tone for the Alleluia verse is going to get old right quick. I was looking for a harmonization of all the tones/modes so that we could sub them. There’s more to life than Tone IV.
 
You might have great success if you tap into the plainsong classics that many of us knew as kids…

Ave Maria, Salve Regina, Jesu Dulcis Memoria. There is an awful lot of us late 50 somethings who grew up with this. We’re not dead yet. You might be surprised at the response you get.
 
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