We are at the end of one of the most inspiring chant workshops I’ve ever had the privilege of being part of. It was at St. Ann’s in Charlotte, and was attending about some 75 new chanters. Only a few had ever sung this music before. After two days, thanks to Arlene Oost-Zinner’s excellent teaching, we finished the workshop with a full Missa Cantata in the extraordinary form, with a full sung ordinary (Mass IV with Credo I and Gloria XV) and chanted propers (with Chants Abreges for the Gradual and Alleluia), plus two pieces of polyphony (I conducted these). It was an impossible undertaking that somehow worked in every way.
I gave two or three (or more?) talks on various aspects of chant in modern life. I’m again struck by what a strange situation we’ve inherited, living amidst a broken tradition and trying our best to cobble together knowledge from the past as a way of playing a role to assure the survivability of tradition into the future. Of course there will be missteps: we are talking about 2000 years of history and attempting to recreate the musical tradition in two days. But given the task, the results were just fantastic. Everyone learned; certainly I did.
Necessary ingredients here included a great pastor, a wonderful acoustic, happy parishioners, a regularly schedule extraordinary form about one year old, a welcoming environment. The parish itself is a thriving place; truly, we have a Catholic parish in its full glory doing the Mass of the ages and loving it in every way. A workshop like this convinces me that it can be done.
Congratulations to you, Arlene, and the community there in Charlotte. All wonderful to hear! Thanks for sharing this.
I'm curious about the "necessary ingredients" you mention in the last paragraph. Do you still believe (as I think I've read before from you) that in such an environment, there is room for other approaches to the liturgy? That is, is a scenario like this mutually exclusive from a "contemporary" or "youth" Mass, which might also be scheduled among the weekend Masses? Or can they co-exist in the same parish?
I live in neighboring Spartanburg, SC, and would have loved to have attended this!
We had another Latin Mass this morning and I have been thinking of learning Gregorian Chant.
Mark,
Mine is a parish with the following each Sunday: quiet OF Mass, Spanish Mass, choral OF Mass, EF Missa Cantata, Byzantine Divine Liturgy, and youth Mass (complete with guitars). Diverse in liturgy, but exceptional parish in unity of spirit and sociability. Lacking the intramural squabbles that plague so many parishes. (Actually, I think the diversity in liturgy is a key to the peace, making everyone happy with what they've got.)
Great job on the workshop – I really enjoyed it and learned a lot (even though I've been chanting for three years now).
– Tim Troutman
Editor in Chief
Called to Communion
I was amazed that amateur musicians, professional musicians, interested congregation members who were not musicians, seminarians, and priests were in attendance together, and were able to sound like one voice under Arlene's intruction; and the gorgeous sounds of the two polyphony pieces that Jeffrey conducted were such that I will be haunted for days,maybe years by them.This was done with a pitch pipe only. There were no instruments of any kind, except the human voice. It was awe-inspiring. I thank God for you. Ann Nichols, St Anthony Parish, Florence, SC.