Choral Gradual now in print

At the Sacred Music Colloquium, there is plenty of time to talk to other directors and singers about what their scholas are using, particular as regards the propers of the Mass. This is a particular challenge in English-language Masses because this is a major area of neglect from mainline publishers. They print the antiphons in the Mass aids and then forget them completely when it comes to music, under the expectation that every parish sings some hymn with a text that is (most likely) unrelated to the Mass.

This tendency has created a major fissure between the music you hear at Mass and the Mass text itself, dividing the attention of congregations and erecting a wall between the sanctuary and the loft at critical points in the Mass: entrance, offertory, and communion. This is not how it should be.

But what is a choir to do about the problem? A resource used ever more frequently is the Simple Choral Gradual by Richard Rice. He offers very easy but very effective choral settings of all the propers for Sunday and major feasts for the entire liturgical year. Once you get the hang of them, they can be worked up very quickly. They can be adjusted according to the sensibility of the parish, and they offer an excellent solution for any schola that is working to transition a parish from the conventions of the day toward a sacred music model. The price is also just right at $19, so that you can buy a copy for each member of your schola.