Writing Gregorian Chant

[VAC]

Well you can only do what you can do. But, people can learn. What is true today does not have to be true in one month or six months or a year. The notation is different but it it not hard. It can be picked up (by those who can read music) in a single evening. It’s a question of saddling people with second-best notation indefinitely, or taking some time to get them onto the correct notation.

There’s a reason chant was written the way it was, and still is written that way in the official books of the Church. It is simply the most expressive notation we have for this type of music.

Yes, people can learn if they’re willing and if there’s someone who knows the material well enough to teach. One day we’ll have a building or our own and I won’t be limited to holding practices outside or in a hallway after mass. (Half our group is children, so we’re not allowed to hold practices in anyone’s home because of liabilities)

So while original chant notation may be the best way It’s not the most practical. (Unless you want to come join one of our practices and teach it; we’re right across the Alley )

As a cantor/choir leader, I feel that one of the most important parts of the ‘job’ is to get the crowd to sing, so they are involved.
I respect the opinions of those on this board who want to see the ‘resurrection’ of Gregorian chant, but I’m curious how you’d all expect it to be implemented if most everyone would need to learn/teach it from scratch.

 

[MelanieAnne]

To VAC ~

Since a lot of people (with certain rather “vocal” exceptions here) have given testimony to the fact that chant CAN be sung authentically without learning the “new language” of chant notation…

I can remember when I was one of the few ordinary parishoners who could sing the plainsong hymns during Holy Week. Why? because I was an ex-Episcopalian, now Catholic, who had learned the plainsong hymns (IN STANDARD NOTATION!) back when I was Episcopalian. Most of the others in the congregation didn’t even attempt them. I already KNEW them. I didn’t have to “LEARN” the songs, I already knew them.

But I’ve noticed that’s how it often is at Mass. Most of the congregation does not sing. I sing, and if it is something I don’t know, I read it, learn it and sing it. If it is something I already know, so much the better. It’s not about notation. It’s about the ability to read and adapt.

 

[Sarabande]

We learned how to sing in the standard notation and chant notation in our choir since our sheet music has both. Once the style is learned, then when you see the standard notation, you know how to sing it like in chant notation. It was hard at first, even as a musician because you’re so used to seeing things in standard notation, but it’s fairly simple once you know how to read it. We also just followed the director rather than actually count any beats, especially since people really don’t know what meter they took it in back then. (The French have traditionally sung chant in three).

The latin books for our NO Latin mass has the chant notation. Most people in the congregation don’t know how to read music or let alone know how to read chant notation. But since no longer singing in choir and being with the congregation, I’ve seen that enough has come to this mass for many years to sing along with the choir and read from the books.

 

[VociMike]

As a cantor/choir leader, I feel that one of the most important parts of the ‘job’ is to get the crowd to sing, so they are involved.
I respect the opinions of those on this board who want to see the ‘resurrection’ of Gregorian chant, but I’m curious how you’d all expect it to be implemented if most everyone would need to learn/teach it from scratch.

This is a good question, since it is the situation most parishes will face. I note, to begin, that people hardly ever sing the vernacular Mass Ordinaries that are used in their parish from the printed music. They have learned it by rote from their music leaders, and this is not a bad thing. A Gregorian Ordinary will typically be used for months at a time (even longer in the beginning), giving the people plenty of time to learn it.

BTW, in that talk by William Mahrt that I posted a link to, he says that at his church, which has a large transient population (Stanford university students), they sing six different Ordinaries over the course of the year. That’s very high-end on the achievement scale, but they’re doing it and have been for some 30 years now. Those students don’t come in knowing chant notation, nor do they know the Ordinary in Latin, but they’re still very successful.

So the approach would seem to be, develop a core schola (could be as few as three people) to lead. Maybe even the cantor could lead alone. Give the people the music in chant notation, e.g. the Adoremus hymnal. Those who can read the notation, will. Those who can’t will learn the music by rote (that’s how it was done for a thousand years even for the schola members), and those who cannot read the notation but are interested in learning it will pick it up very quickly by following the music. The key is to recognize that singing the Ordinary does not require of the congregation the same reading skills that are required to sing new hymns each week.

 

[VAC]

This is a good question, since it is the situation most parishes will face. I note, to begin, that people hardly ever sing the vernacular Mass Ordinaries that are used in their parish from the printed music.

What do you mean by ‘mass ordinaries’? Are you talking about the mass parts? the spoken responses? Our congregation sings when the music is familar to them, especially the mass parts. I agree that most churchgoers are not sight reading from the printed music even in parishes with the luxury of a hymnals and a building to keep them in. They learn by ear and much repitition
I’ve never seen the Adoremus hymnal, and had no idea it also contained chant notation. That could be a good teaching tool.

 

[VociMike]

What do you mean by ‘mass ordinaries’? Are you talking about the mass parts? the spoken responses? Our congregation sings when the music is familar to them, especially the mass parts. I agree that most churchgoers are not sight reading from the printed music even in parishes with the luxury of a hymnals and a building to keep them in. They learn by ear and much repitition
I’ve never seen the Adoremus hymnal, and had no idea it also contained chant notation. That could be a good teaching tool.

The Ordinary is the term for those parts of the Mass which do not change, as opposed to the Propers which are the prayers which change each day/week.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinary_of_the_Mass

Yes, the Adoremus hymnal includes six Gregorian Masses (Ordinaries), in chant notation.