Chant Café

Submitted by Keith Fraser:

Anyone following the media in the run up to the Holy Father’ s visit to the UK a few weeks ago could be forgiven for believing that the event would go almost unnoticed, except perhaps for the protests. Keith Cardinal O’ Brien talked immediately after the visit of the “ Benedict bounce” in an attempt to articulate the elevated mood of this nation’ s Catholics. Specifically, he was referring to an anticipated increase in vocations but the term captures a mood that has long been an undercurrent that is bubbling to the surface of modern Catholicism, that of an authentic interpretation of the Second Vatican Council (which the Holy Father terms the “ Hermenutic of Continuity) that seeks inspiration for the future in the liturgical heritage of all of the Councils that went before Vatican 2.

I firmly believe that the Holy Spirit chooses the Pope to answer the problems of the age, and in this Pope we have a spiritual leader who as well as being a theologian is also a fine liturgist and musician with an acute sense of the forces prevailing in the church. For many of my generation (my mid 30’ s for those who are wondering) are anticipating a renewal of the Ordinary Form of mass as more and more musicians begin to write truly edifying music with the encouragement of the Holy Father, their creative flow liberated by the new English translations of the mass that capture the reverence and poetry of the Latin and the resurgent interest in the older forms of liturgy, chant and polyphony by my generation and younger. I am enthused at the prospect of being able to share with my children the musical heritage which is their birthright in a way my generation struggled to find.

This movement (if I can call it that) is finding its roots in the USA where bishops and musicians have started to really capitalise on the opportunities to educate and train singers and choir directors over the internet. There are now literally hundreds of instructional videos and resources for Gregorian Chant on YouTube and Vimeo. The Church Music Society of the US has amassed considerable resources on the Musica Sacra website with the entire Liber Usualis book of chant available to download. The newly formed apostolate of artists and musicians of Corpus Christi Watershed have produced audio and video files of chant spanning the centuries as well as fantastic new psalms and choral music that will suit parishes with even the most modest of resources. And the Choral Public Domain Library has literally thousands of freely available editions of sacred music.

Some may think of all of this as a turning back of the clock or a repudiation of Vatican 2. I don’ t think it is, in fact quite the opposite. Anticipating the sweeping changes to come Pope Paul 6th promulgated a new constitution on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concillium in which it said “ The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.” 25 years after The Council Venerable Pope John Paul the Great said “ If music – instrumental and vocal does not possess the sense of prayer, dignity, and beauty, it precludes entry into the sphere of the sacred and religious” and this statement, I think, should define the way in which we view sacred music marking a departure from the folk tunes, unsingable melodies, saccharine harmonies, and poor theology of so much of what has passed for church music before now. We now have great musicians both at home such as James Macmillan and Gabriel Jackson as well as I the US with Leo Nestor and Kevin Allen who understand the place and role of music in the liturgy and how it should raise our hearts and minds to God, truly present in the Eucharist we are privileged to share.

It’ s ironic that when you watch almost any programme on TV where the storyline revolves around a Catholic church that Gregorian chant is heard somewhere as if to make the point to anyone that hasn’ t quite made the connection, yet the singing of chant in many parishes has been lost for a generation. Recognising that this tradition needs to be built up, Corpus Christi Watershed has simplified many of the propers for the mass to make them accessible to choirs or cantors with limited experience of reading chant notation and they are available in both Latin and English, and I would encourage choir directors across the country to take a look at what is available.

On the feast of Christ the King a small choir will come together in my parish in Olney, Buckinghamshire to sing Byrd’ s mass for 4 voices, some of the ancient chant,
and some modern motets and psalm settings, and I would welcome any volunteers with a desire to join us in this small choir to contact me. The parish and I are truly excited by this, and I hope it is a sure sign of things to come.

Notes to the editor:

1 . The Parish in Olney is Our Lady Help of Christians and St Lawrence and
Sunday mass is celebrated at 1030.

2 . The feast of Christ the King is Sunday 21st November

3 . Resource sites available to choir directors are:
www.cpdl.org The Choral public Domain Library
http://www.ccwatershed.org/ Corpus Christi Watershed
http://musicfortheliturgy.org/ database of chant for the liturgy and modern psalm
compositions
http://www.musicasacra.com/ Church Music Society of the US
http://www.chantcafe.com/ Blog with numerous resources

For archival purposes but also there is much that is useful for every purpose in here!

Final Packet for CMAA program in Houston

Everything was exceptionally beautiful tonight. All the choirs, made up mostly of first-time chanters, sang so well.

Here is an image of the choirs in the loft.

A friend of sacred music gets the red hat, and you can congratulate him: congratulateburke.com

The key difference I’ve noticed at the Chant Practicum in Houston, Texas, as compared with past years, is the notable absence of doubt about the chant agenda.

There are nearly 100 people here from many different parishes here, and they have all come to learn chant, so there is of course a selection bias. Even so, one might usually expect to encounter people who have been sent against their will or otherwise have doubts about the need to re-introduce Gregorian chant into the mainstream of Catholic life.

Those doubts just aren’t present here. Everyone is excited to learn and learn as much as possible. Every session has been well attended, and the participants are sitting on the edge of their seats as the instructors lead them in singing a full range of chant, covering rhythm, melody, text, all while having loads of fun!

It is no longer a question of whether we should go this direction but rather how to go this direction, at what pace, in what manner, and a variety of other practical issues. This change is a welcome relief because it means get to the work faster and doing a more complete job of it, without having to deal extensively with fundamental questions about the place of chant in the ritual. William Mahrt did give a foundational lecture that highlighted some detail about the integration of chant in liturgy – making some points I had not heard before. But in general, the ethos here in this cathedral is that chant is Catholic music and that’s that.

Houston has several parishes that are showing the way, and the Cathedral itself has an exemplary program with a professional organist and choirmaster that produce excellent results every week, and reliably so. Sacred music seems to be firmly entrenched here, supported by clergy, professional musicians, and the laity.

This conference is structured a bit differently than others. There is a class for women. There is a class for men. (Actually the division here is not between sexes but between ranges of voices; there are women who sing in a lower range and men who prefer their falsetto range, and they are welcome to join the group of their choice). There is also a class for advanced singers (mixed voices) that discusses details about chant editions and the early manuscripts, and delves into the finer points with longer and more elaborate chants.

My sense is that this division has worked. It will probably be necessary for most chant conferences to go this direction in the future because the Catholic population is ever more filled with people who understand the basics and are ready to move forward.

The mood here is ebullient, the kind of feeling you get from being part of a something wonderful and new and progressive. There is no question that the time for chant has arrived and that everyone knows this. If Summorum opened up the riches of our heritage, the forthcoming Missal seals the deal.

I’m also impressed at the technological sophistication of many attendees here. They are using the internet resources being made available week by week. I’ve many many people who are already using the Bartlett Simple Propers that are being posted here week by week. The common chants from the Graduale are well known. It is possible to talk freely and with the expectation of comprehension about propers and the Mass ordinary and various tones and modes – and to do so without looking out at confused looks. The education we all longed for is happening day by day.

Of course this is one of a long string of conferences going on nearly every week around the country. The original ones were sponsored by the Church Music Association of America, but thanks to the CMAA’s open-source model, and the availability of chant manuscripts, many others are doing this. My in-box now receives more notifications of chant workshops than I can possibly post. I would estimate that there will be 40-50 Gregorian chant workshops around the country taking place this year alone. Ten years ago, there were one or two.

For me, this is a dream coming true. These are exciting times to be a Catholic singer, as we see the ideal spreading with such enthusiasm and excitement. Imagine a future of parishes filled with happy, dedicated singers who are on a mission, a mission from God, as they saying goes. This is what is happening. The desert is starting to bloom, and thanks be to God for that.