Georgia Public Broadcasting came by yesterday to interview Fr. McDonald, Pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Macon, instructors, and attendees of the 2013 Winter Chant Intensive. The story appears online here.
More than forty two singers – choir members, music directors, and four clergy came from as far away as California and Michigan to spend the week studying chant. Instructors were Arlene Oost-Zinner of the CMAA and Richard Rice of the Washington DC area. David Hughes of Norwalk, Connecticut was originally scheduled to take the men’s course, but a last minute illness prevented his making the trip. Some attendees came with considerable knowledge, and perhaps chant scholas of their own. Others with little or no experience came in answer to the call to do more. The course consisted in approximately 30 hours of instruction (intense!) covering Gregorian notation, modes, repertoire, Psalm pointing, and more. Everyone is exhausted…but in a good way. The week’s rigor was accompanied by a lot of laughter. Aside from the skills acquired, the camaraderie that develops when people are working so hard toward the same goal is one of the greatest rewards. The final Mass of the Intensive, in which students will be singing what they’ve worked on all week – a sung Latin Ordinary and Gregorian Propers for the Solemnity of the Epiphany – will be celebrated at 11:00am this morning. To the best of my knowledge the Mass will be recorded.