edit: Charles Giffen provides a score as well
CMAA Forum Highlight: Simple Latin Propers
For those of you musicians out there who haven’t already joined and become a member of the CMAA forum, you should! In addition to learning from others, and networking with other musicians, you get to see many of the newest projects in the sacred music world, even before they are “publicly” released. Many of the creators even ask the forum for input.
Just one cool example of this is Richard Rice’s “Simple Latin Propers” for the ordinary form, where the texts from the Graduale Romanum (introit, gradual, alleluia, offertory, and communion, with two verses). He’s been releasing these weekly. By frequenting the forum, you not only can help be another set of eyes on these new works and help refine them, but you also get access to them before they are published into a full book!
Here’s a few he has completed for the future:
- Exaltation of the Holy Cross (this Sunday!)
- Christ the King
There are also some older ones that are past, but you can look through the thread to find them.
For more in the future, follow the thread here
Magnificat Monday: La Rocca
Magnificat by Frank La Rocca on this special occasion of the Blessed Mother’s birthday!
New Women’s Schola in DC
As the Saint Luke ordinariate community moves to downtown Washington DC next month, a new initiative is beginning, to build on our existing tradition of Sacred Music. Named in honor of Saint Benedict and the Benedictine tradition of Gregorian chant, and with a nod of gratitude to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (who founded the ordinariates), the women of The Saint Benet Schola will provide the chant at our 8.30 a.m. Sunday Mass at Immaculate Conception, 8th Street NW. The group will draw on the Anglican plainsong tradition, whilst at the same time emphasizing the universal, Catholic nature of our worship, by singing the ancient chants and texts of the Sacred Liturgy. If you would like to learn more about this exciting project, please speak with the clergy or musicians after Mass, or visit our website for contact details.
Magnificat Monday – Byrd
Magnificat Monday: Willam Byrd – The Great Service:
Unfortunately, the video ends prematurely, so the full text is not included here
Chants Abrégés – Fantastic Resource for Beginning Scholas
As people who have sung with and under me probably know, I’m not a fan of the overuse of psalm tones. Chanting psalms in the office? Great use for them. Singing the gloria patri during the introit? Fantastic. Psalm verses during communion? Wonderful. But replacing a gradual? Please no! Psalm tones are great for supporting psalm verses, but not for primary melodies. It is always such a shame to hear propers reduced to psalm tones, especially in the ordinary form where the graduale simplex could be used, or even many english propers.
Don’t get me wrong, it is better to hear propers sung than not. If you’re struggling to put together a gradual with your choir, you should check out the Chants Abrégés! I don’t currently direct a schola, but last year when I was getting one off the ground, we used it frequently to pull together the gradual, when we weren’t quite ready to pull off the full versions in a reasonable amount of time. As we grew in skill, we moved beyond it, and only used it occasionally when we were faced with more difficult chants and limited time. It also has simplified alleluias as well, though the verses are set to psalm tones.
Now I do have to give you fair warning, other than the music itself, the book is entirely in french. I have found the easiest way to find a chant is to know the name of the chant you want and use the index to find a page number instead of trying to decipher the french headings. Still usable, just one extra step.
Thanks to the CMAA, this book is now back in print! If you are in a schola who has trouble with graduals, check this book out!
a copy for you or your schola