Richard Rice’s hidden masterpiece for the ordinary form, the Simple Choral Gradual, is back online. We hope to have it in print later this summer, if all goes well. This needs no pitch: have a look and try it out.
6 Replies to “Simple Choral Gradual: It’s Back (loud cheers)”
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I am a fierce proponent of Richard's SCG as a worthy and necessary option for implementing the processional propers into regular rotation at least for one of a parish's choral Masses.
I want to get one thing put to rest: to resist the collection as a sort of "Gebrauchsmusick" as some have inferred here and elsewhere only rebounds to the ignorance of the critic.
SCG provides novice and intermediate choirs a solid practicum of solid homophonic SATB repertoire that is systematically consistent.
It thereby serves also as pedagogical aid towards choirs being able to negotiate fauxbourdon and Anglican choral propers via developing a sense of choral declamation. Though one could try to say the same for Gelineau or Alstott's R/A, the cadential formulae Richard employs is much more effective in building choral confidence.
SGC also has the elements of humility, prudence and simple elegance that serves the liturgy first, as does chant or psalm tone settings.
So, bravo to Richard for re-associating them with MusicSacra/CMAA as another valuable option to potpourri.
I hope you can get the printing errors in the previous edition fixed before re-issuing it. My copy is something of a mess, with little computer-generated boxes defacing the music on quite a few pages.
I've been shipping music downloads using PDF for a long time, and I find that occasionally there are font problems that do this…and the first way to determine if there is a problem with the download itself is to make sure that you have the latest version of Adobe Reader. Once you have done that, if the problem remains then do this:
Go to FILE—>Properties—>Fonts
It will gradually list all the fonts. after the code on teh page says (100%) and disappears, scroll through the fonts looking for error messages. Then hit OK and you then get a font error message.
Be sure to write it down and send it to the author who will be VERY grateful.
IF you are using a MAC with Preview or another program on a computer to open PDFs and have a problem like this, always download the most recent ADOBE READER and check with it as they work hard to keep up with font requirements.
When I get a complaint, I open the file with adobe reader to make sure that it is ok and resend it and this always solves the problem. It appears that sometimes the transfer of a file can cause some errors I know that I have had sleepless nights worrying about this, the quicker you report the problem, the better in case it is a corrupted PDf that is being sent by mistake.
That is helpful when it comes to PDFs, but in the case of my copy of SCG, the font problems are in the hard copy I bought from Lulu. Of course that's no criticism of Richard Rice or his fine work, but it is something to be aware of if CMAA is publishing a new hard-copy edition.
The SCG was one of the first examples of the "New Music" that I integrated into our liturgies nearly 4 years ago now. Since we now sing the Entrance and Communion Antiphons at every Mass, we sing the SCG version at the Choir Mass and the SEP setting at cantored Masses.
I became aware of the print problems with Lulu, which was not at all helpful resolving the issue, and which is why I took the book off their site. JT's print should correct the problem. Anyone who bought a hard copy from Lulu can get a free copy of the new CMAA print on me.
RRice