Author: Arlene Oost-Zinner

This short video of pre-Mass rehearsals at the Winter Chant Intensive includes many shots of St. Joseph’s stunning interior, including the many stained-glass windows which illuminate the entire space. The women’s schola was led by yours truly, and the men’s schola was conducted by Richard Rice.

This video was shot on Friday morning…just an hour before the final Mass, and after a grueling but rewarding week of study and practice. The focus it requires to sing chant shows on the faces of all of the singers. I think the camaraderie that developed among participants and between participants and the instructors is evident as well. Toward the end of the video you hear Fr. Jonathan Venner of Sioux Fall, South Dakota, singing through the lesson, beautifully and prayerfully, for a final time before the Mass.

The upcoming Summer Chant Intensive is scheduled for June 3-7, 2013, at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Details will be posted shortly at MusicaSacra.com

Ward method classes, taught by Dr. Alise Brown, will be offered at the Univeristy of Northern Colorado as follows: Ward I will be offered July 8-12 and 15-17; the dates for Ward II are July 22-26 and 29-31. The cost is $825 for in or out of state tuition for each course, with 3 credit hours available for each. More information can be found here

Dr. Alise Brown is an instructor of music education at UNC. She began her teaching career in Secondary English Education, but discovered that her love of music presented a more fulfilling career path. Dr. Brown received her Master of Music degree in Music Education and her Doctorate of Arts in Music Education from the University of Northern Colorado. She has taught music in private and public schools at all levels.

She holds Orff and Kodaly training, and is fully certified in all levels of the Ward Method. Dr. Brown has been privileged to study under the Gregorian chant specialists Father Robert Skeris, previously of Vatican City, and Scott Turkington.

Dr. Brown specializes in music literacy and expressivity as taught in the Ward Method. Her work with two children’s choirs, ages 4 -12, and directing the Windsor Community Choir rely heavily on these same principles. Dr. Brown also leads workshops and gives in-service presentations to schools and organizations regarding the Ward Method and its tenets.

Teaching in the Music Education Area at UNC since 2001 has been Dr. Brown’s joy. She has also taught music appreciation at Dayspring University in Ft. Collins and at Rivendell College in Boulder. Write to Dr. Brown at alise.brown@unco.edu

This is the complete video of the closing Mass at the Winter Chant Intensive at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Macon, GA, from Friday, January 11. It is the OF Mass for Friday, celebrated ad orientem, with the sung propers from the Solemnity of the Epiphany. Conducing the men’s schola is composer Richard Rice from Alexandria, VA. Arlene Oost-Zinner of the St. Cecilia Schola in Auburn and Director of Programs for the CMAA is conducting the women’s schola. The lesson is being sung by Father Jonathan M. Venner of Sioux Fall, SC; the celebrant is Father Allan J. McDonald of St. Joseph’s in Macon. The hymn at the recessional is Alma Redemptoris Mater. The organist is Nelda Chapman of St. Joseph’s. It is quite something to think that at the beginning of the week, fewer than half of the participants in the chant courses had had any exposure to the chant at all. Yet within a few days they were able to achieve what you hear here. No miracle was needed..just a willingness to learn, and a lot of hard work. Deo Gratias.

I’ve just posted the preliminary schedule for this year’s Colloquium. The dates are June 17-23. Registration is open. Further details should be forthcoming within the week.

Join us!

I was incredibly fortunate this past week to have in my class at the Winter Intensive a music director who relies on Braille resources in her work. I must confess that until recently, it hadn’t occurred to me just how much we rely on the printed page and our eyes when we read music, teach, instruct, and conduct. I did my best to help this very patient student through the week, but I know there was much more I could have done.

How can we convey what we are trying to teach without the student being able to see the printed page, much less the board at the front of the room? I attempted to think about how I could rephrase questions in a way that would allow for details to be more easily visualized. When we were talking about the staff, the clefs, and some beginning Solfege, for example, instead of being able to look at a page in front of her, this student had to rely on what I was saying. Rather than merely asking what pitch we would be beginning on (which everyone else could look at and see), I would say something like…the do clef is on the top line. The first note is on the second line down. Now I am sure I didn’t do enough of this kind of thing…and anything I could even think of doing would fall short of adequately passing on the course material she had come for

Talking was good. Taking time to explain in breaks was good. Asking her to place her hand on mine while I was conducting was good. But it was not nearly enough.

As you can imagine, there are not a lot of resources out there when it comes to Gregorian Chant. I’ve gotten online and googled around, and I have come up with this book from a scholar working in the Netherlands. A quick scan through the book brings you up to date on the extreme challenges involved in transcribing Gregorian notation (not just square notes, but signs, etc.) into Braille. For anyone reading this post who wants to read the book in Braille, have a look at the preface. It includes an address to which you can write in order to obtain a Braille edition.

It frustrates me to think of how many wonderful musicians and faithful servants are out there working in schools and parishes, or would be working in schools and parishes, passing on their knowledge and love of the music of the Church, if more resources were available to make their job more satisfying.

By the end of the week, my student came up with what I think is a great idea…and I’m going to pursue it: puff paint! I’m going to print out a few pages of neumes; I guess I’ll start with the basic ones. I’ll enlarge them and do my best to trace over the neumes with puff paint. Will it work? I am also very lucky to have a schola member here at home who can tell me if what I come up with is helpful at all. Wish me a steady hand!

I think we can safely credit Fr. Allan McDonald of St. Joseph’s in Macon, GA, with the best quote of the day. When speaking of the 20-30% of Catholics who attend Mass regularly today, he asks:

Do they like the spiked kool-aide of contemporary sounds that jar the spirit rather than lift it to God in a meditative, contemplative way? Just wondering?

Father McDonald reports on his blog, Southern Orders, on the events of the final day of the Winter Intensive. Thank you, Father, for your hospitality and that of all of your staff at St. Joseph’s!

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.