I donāt know how Ora feels about this - he is in a schola, and I was in one in the mid '60s in the seminary - but if you want Greogorain chant, it needs to be sun by a trained choir
Operative words:
Trained
Choir
There is no such thin as a community or laity singing Gregorian chant; they might as well mumble it
To those who were not born at least 15 to 20 years before Vatican 2 - I never ever heard Gregorian chant sung by the laity; it was always sung by a choir - and when in grade school, we had a childrenās choir which sang it. For absolutely sure, the congregation never joined in
And if you want to hear an absolutely crack childrenās choir, check out the one at the cathedral in Salt Lake
With the EF (as in, in the 1950ās and early 1960ās), we had then what we simply called High Mass, and Solemn High Mass. The High Mass had a choir, and the Solemn High Mass was not said every rainy Tuesday (once or twice a year at the most). There was one High Mass on Sunday (7, 8:15; 9:30, 10:45 and 12, and the 10:45 was the High Mass). And we most certainly did not have Gregorian chant most of the time, nor even the majority
And I am still inclined to believe that properly sung, Gregorian chant needs to be in a church which has (excuse me - I am not a musician) āhang timeā. Listen to the monks of the Abbey of Solesmes or of Santo Domingo de Silos
But that is just me
I would say that you say it all very well
I, too, remember delightfully well the organist and choir of my youth. Theyāre all dead now, of course, but the music they did was splendidā¦chant, polyphony, et al.
And I must say I remember the choir practices required for them to execute these pieces. They were well rehearsed and even then there was the occasional glitch
And the talent that it required. Relatively few who auditioned were selectedā¦most didnāt have the requisite latent talent, or at least with the constraints and limits of practices and training that the circumstances could coax. I was not adequate, who would go on to become a priest
Like your parish, they sang at the one weekly High Mass, which was attended by those who wanted it. The other Masses were well attended by the people who didnāt want that
The parish was blessed with resources beyond what most parishes in the diocese could do, frankly, to sustain that level of programme. I was never fortunate enough to have an assignment that provided me with that level of resource. And it is much harder today than it was in my youth to have and sustain that level of talent and that level of commitmentā¦at least in my realm
I am in wonderment at people who say how easy it is to achieve a music ministry, as this one and that one will propose. I never found it easy. I found it one of the most challenging aspects of those years I was assigned to parish ministry. Oh yes, everyone could tell me what they liked and what they wanted but became very scarce, thank you very much, when it was a matter of their own involvement and commitment of time, talent OR treasure
I actually am one who believes the directive of the Council Fathers has been well achieved. Chant does have pride of place. I see it in the cathedral choirs. I see it in the monasteries. I especially congratulate the Congregation of Solesmes for its work on chant. For the Church is not exhausted by parishesā¦indeed it rather finds its more sublime expressions in places other than parishes
My life and priesthood have taken me to those institutions where this aspect of SC has been achieved, where the resources are present together with the talent and everything else that has to come together to achieve it. Life and priesthood also took me to serve in places where other aspects of the Councilās liturgical renewal blossomed and found fruition
And to places that could not begin to have the resources to do a fraction of what one might aspire toā¦but where the faith of the people could be more inspiring than the most splendid of cathedral or abbatial churchesā¦even as we made do with the cheapest and simplest of vestments, altar furnishings, and sacred vessels and whose musical instruments were brought from the homes of the parishioners who owned them
We need also remember
Sacrosanctum Concilium said
114. The treasure of sacred music is to be preserved and fostered with great care. Choirs must be diligently promoted, especially in cathedral churches; but bishops and other pastors of souls must be at pains to ensure that, whenever the sacred action is to be celebrated with song, the whole body of the faithful may be able to contribute that active participation which is rightly theirs, as laid down in Art. 28 and 30
Itās no less true that Mass at its most excellent is manifest when the Bishop presides at the Mass in his own cathedral church, with his presbyterate surrounding him. Of course, that fully happens at the Chrism Mass and at the Masses of Ordination
Surely, too, the Bishop is offering Mass throughout the diocese on weekdays as well as weekendsā¦and yet only the smallest fraction of the diocese is ever at any of these Massesā¦the vast majority are at Masses celebrated not in the cathedral and not by the Bishop
Because the reality of what is the most excellent manifestation of the Mass cannot be realistically experienced by most people in the diocese ever. Even when a new Bishop is ordained or enthroned, even then most of the diocese is not present for a once in a generation experience let alone for occasions like the Chrism Mass or Ordination Masses
As a priest, a liturgist, and a theologianā¦I think anyone who doesnāt have the frequent experience of Mass with their Bishop is impoverished. The reality is: I know many people who have not attended Mass with the Bishop in uncounted years and yet they get on with their life in the Church quite happily well
this is something Iām very passionate about! It is indeed used-- but, as others have said, quite minimally. Certainly not in the extent that is asked for, but used nonetheless.