Maria Regina Caeli Schola

Files - Nov. 30th - 1st. Sunday of Advent

2009-10-20T19:02:00.000-04:00

1. Qui Manducat - Pdf file

2. Creator alme sidrum - Pdf file

3. Veni, Veni, Emmanuel - Pdf file

New Chant for this Season

2009-08-12T12:41:00.007-04:00

Here are two new pieces we will be working on this coming season.

1) A Chant Hymn - "Ecce Panis Angelorum" - Parish Book of Chant - page 99.

A lower voice version

Another version for the folks who like the tenor sound.

2) Kyrie from Mass XI.

First Practice & First Mass - 2009 - 2010 Season

2009-08-08T08:48:00.001-04:00

I hope everyone has had a good summer.

I would like to have the first practice on August 17, at 7:30 PM at my house. I have spoken with a few of you over the summer and know some may not be able to start until Sept and that is fine.

We are scheduled to sing on the 9:00 A.M. Mass on Sunday September 27th, so that should allow enough time to get voices in prime form. Over the next week I will be updating this blog with some info and the new pieces we will be learning for the September Mass.

DD

What happened in Chicago?

2009-07-01T13:06:00.008-04:00

Many people have asked me how the trip to Chicago went, so here is a report.

I spent 5 days in Chicago at the Church Music Association of America “CMAA” - Summer Chant Intensive at Loyola University – on the Lakeshore Campus.

So what is a chant intensive?

It is a week long event where approximately 50 like minded musician, professional and amateurs, get together and learn about and sing Gregorian chant. The instructor Scott Turkington is one of the premier educators of chant in the Catholic Liturgy in the United States today.

“Scott Turkington director (Stamford Schola Gregoriana) is the living heir to the classical chant method, the author of The Gregorian Chant Masterclass, and a marvelous teacher. Turkington is a student of Theodore Marier, who was, in turn, a protege of Dom Gajard, the successor to Dom Mocquereau, the great chant scholar who, with Dom Pothier, fathered the Liber Usualis and the early scholarly publishing efforts of Monks of Solesmes for the restoration of Gregorian chant at the request of the Vatican. Thus Turkington is a direct intellectual descendant of this tradition, along with his vast experience in chant studies and pedagogy he is a famed leader of the chant revival in the United States.”

We spent time learning the chant basics – chant notation (i.e. podatus, virga, bistropha), Modes, chant rhythm, Solfege, Chironomy (chant conducting), and psalm tone pointing. We used two primary books, “The Parish Book of Chant” which the “Maria Regina Caeli Schola” uses, and the Gregorian Missal which has all the ordinary and proper chants for the Sundays and Solemnities of the Church year for the Mass of 1970 or the Novus Ordo. The Liturgy we prepared for was the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus “Sacratissimi Cordis Jesu”, June 19th. Using the basis knowledge we worked through the following music:

Ordinary – Mass IV (Cunctipotens genitor Deus)

• Kyrie
• Gloria
• Credo I
• Sanctus
• Agnus Dei
• Ita Missa est

Propers for Soleminity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

Introit: Cogitationes Cordis eius
Gradual: Dulcis et rectus Dominus
Alleluia: Tollite iugum meum
Offertory: Improperium exspectavit
Communion: Unus militum

Postlude:

Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!

While our rendition of the chant, I am sure was less than technical perfection, as we learned this week, no chant is ever sang in the same way, each offering adds to the quality and understanding of the underlying text and rhythm. I have recordings of some of the chants I made with my MP3 player, I will post later. The experience was well worth the trip, I learned a lot about the history, interpretation, and pedagogy of chant for a group of singers, which should help us to become better offers of the chant in the future. These learning’s I will be trying to gradually incorporate as we begin the new season but more about that in a later post.

The intensive as the name implies was intense, we had class/rehearsals from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM, most days, with an hour for lunch, and 2 hours at dinner, which left little time to do anything else, but to collapse in bed at night. Meal time allowed for discussion about chant, and what works and doesn’t work for singers and leaders of chant groups and little else. I saw no TV or read no newspaper the entire time it was all music all the time. It is wonderful to spend time with people who are as crazy about chant as I am, I met some interesting people from all walks of life, there were religious from monasteries and abbeys, graduate students from Notre Dame's recently established Sacred Music program, and regular folks like me who want to learn more about chant. Most interesting and hopeful to me, was that this was a young crowd, while I was not the oldest in attendance, more than half of this crowd was in there late 20’s and 30’s which is a good sign for the ongoing health of any group.

My Reflections:

These are my thoughts about the experience and reflect my opinion only. From my discussion with the fellow participants the primary reason driving people here is the love of the chant, with the young age of the participants these people are new to singing and studying chant, there is no sense of trying to recover something from their past. A secondary theme that comes to the surface is the recovery or reestablishment of sacredness in the Mass. Today these young people are looking for the legitimate expression of what it means to be a “Catholic” in the Liturgy, and for them chant is part of the answer. “Save the Liturgy, Save the World” and the expression “Lex orandi, lex credendi” are their motto's, the latter which is Latin, loosely translatable as - (the law of prayer is the law of belief) refers to the relationship between worship and belief, and is an ancient Christian principle which provided a measure for developing the ancient Christian creeds, the canon of scripture and other doctrinal matters based on the prayer texts of the Church, that is, the Church's liturgy.

Chant has always been a subject of academic study, and use in some religious houses over the last 1,200 years, but to the ordinary Roman Catholic over these centuries the use of chant has ebbed and flowed like the waves of the ocean. Chant has almost been lost to the non-consecrated Catholic several times over the centuries, but it seems like now we might be at the beginning of the next wave of interest in the chant. A chant renaissance is brewing among U.S. Catholics. Nearly 200 Schola’s -- choirs that sing chant -- have popped up across the country, many in the past five years, according to the Church Music Association of America.

Sacred music seminars like the CMAA's - Sacred Music Colloquium that once drew 40 to 50 people now lure hundreds of Catholic musical directors, organists and singers, priests-in-training in seminaries across the country are increasingly asking to be educated in the intricacies of Gregorian chant, said CMAA president and sacred-song expert William Mahrt. Meanwhile, religious publishers are stocking -- and selling -- large collections of chant or plainsong books and music. One such publisher, Paraclete Press of Brewster, Mass., has sold more copies of its "Gregorian Melodies" CD in the first five months of 2008 -- 5,000 -- than it did all of last year. "There is such an exciting resurgence around Gregorian chant," said Jim Jordan, a musicologist and Paraclete consultant. "We have the great privilege of watching it be reborn."

But wait, I thought Vatican II did away with Gregorian chant, and that pesky Latin language?

Well maybe not, Pope Benedict's recent apostolic letter Summorum pontificum (July 7, 2007), which allows for a wider celebration of the traditional Latin Mass, now sets the stage for a wider use of Gregorian chant, given its important role in that form of the rite. His apostolic exhortation of March 2007, Sacramentum caritatis, encourages teaching Latin chant in seminaries and singing it in liturgies, with particular emphasis on international gatherings.

This renewal is a Vatican-wide initiative, with an emphasis on the English-speaking world, where the neglect of the treasury of sacred music is widespread and well-known. Cardinal Frances Arinze, head of the Vatican congregation that oversees the sacred liturgy, spoke in Saint Louis in 2007 and urged a remedy. He said that in the average parish, Gregorian chant should be constantly present.

These statements echo authoritative documents of the Church: Gregorian chant, says the General Instruction on the Roman Missal [GIRM], holds "pride of place because it is proper to the Roman liturgy."

This in turn restates the message of the Second Vatican Council, whose Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum concilium (1963), teaches that chant represents the ideal liturgical music, the standard against which all else should be measured (see Nos. 116-117).

Clearly, then, the council fathers never intended for chant to vanish after Vatican II. Quite the opposite. Pope Paul VI, in 1974, issued a book of chants entitled Jubilate Deo along with the pastoral letter Voluntati obsequens. Which states: "Those who are trying to improve the quality of congregational singing cannot refuse to give Gregorian chant the place which is due to it."

Will I see the ordinaries and full Mass propers chanted in all parishes in the near future or in my lifetime, I seriously doubt it. But I believe chant will be moving into the forefront of the Catholic Liturgy. Why do I think this will happen? It goes back to “Lex orandi, lex credendi”theme - if the Eucharist is the “source and summit” of the Catholic faith, then should not the music used in our worship be just as timeless as the Mass itself? If Catholic's believe the Mass is a representation of the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary” or in other words the intersection of Heaven and Earth, on the Altar, every time the Mass is offered? What sounds more heavenly on this earth than Gregorian chant, I think that is something to think about?

DD

Why Train to Sing?

2009-05-19T09:01:00.000-04:00

Great article on the motivation behind starting the Maria Regina Caeli Schola. If you have any interest in learning more about liturgical music the author of this article, Jeffery Tucker, is one of the primary voices articulating the reasons that the recovery of Gregorian Chant "the music of the Catholic Church" is part of the wider effort to re-establish a true sense of Catholic identity.

Why Train to Sing

Also if you enjoy this article and want to learn more he has recently published a book which is a compilation of articles he has published on Liturgical music - entitled Sing like a Catholic

DD

New Mass

2009-05-14T22:54:00.001-04:00

Program for Sunday May 10th

2009-05-01T23:25:00.000-04:00

Gentlemen,

Here is the revise program for Next Sunday.

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Prelude: Regina Caeli – Mode VI – Breaking Bread # 176
Open Hymn: Christ the Lord Is Risen Today - Breaking Bread # 177

Kyrie: Kyrie – Mass XVI - Breaking Bread # 859

Gloria: Gloria – Mass VIII - Missa De Angelis - Breaking Bread # 860

Responsorial Psalm: I will praise you Lord, in the assembly of your people.

Easter Sequence: Victimae paschali laudes Breaking Bread # 34, Page 153.

Offertory Hymn: Ye Son & Daughters – Breaking Bread #181

Holy, Holy: Sanctus – Mass XVI – Breaking Bread # 861

Mystery of Faith: Mortem tuam ........ donec venias

Lamb of God: Agnus Dei – Mass XVI - Breaking Bread # 864

Communion Antiphon: Quod dico vobis

Communion Hymn: Look Beyond – Breaking Bread # 337

Communion Meditation: Salve Regina (Simple) – Mode V

Closing Hymn: Alleluia No 1. – Breaking Bread # 615

Salve Regina - Chant

2009-04-15T13:37:00.000-04:00

Here is the audio file for Salve Regina.

You tube video of the same.

Varieties of Gregorian Chant - NLM

2009-04-13T13:09:00.001-04:00

Friday, April 10, 2009
Varieties of Gregorian Chant
by Jeffrey Tucker

People not entirely familiar with the genre tend to aggregate, in their minds, all chant music of the Roman Rite as one type of "Gregorian Chant," all of which are alike in the same way that various forms of Vivaldi violin concerti are roughly the same stylistically. This is far from being the case. To speak of Gregorian Chant is like speaking of the symphony, which can include Mozart or Mahler. There is a vast variety of chant, each chant carefully crafted to achieve its liturgical and ritual purpose.

An excellent example occurs on Easter morning in the remarkable contrast between two pieces the precede the Gospel reading. The Alleluia chant Pascha Nostrum is one of the most elaborate I've seen the books, a full three lines of notes that cover only five words: Pascha nostrum immolatus est Chistus, that is, Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. It is a chant to be sung by specialists and elicits high level contemplation on the great mystery of what has happened during the Triduum: from death to life to salvation.

Here is the image and here is an audio file.

In marked contrast, have a look at the Sequence, which precedes or follow the Pascha, depending on the use (the ordinary form in the US permits the Alleluia to follow the Sequence, but this is not normative or traditional).

Note that we have one note per syllable here. It is poetry, not prose. It has a striking and memorable melody you can take home with you. To sing them back to back permits us to see just how great the variety is within this thing we called Gregorian music.

Here is the chant and here is an audio.

Chant Video & Post Easter Humor

2009-04-13T12:29:00.001-04:00

1) Look at this Video on Chant from Our Lady of Guadalupe in Lincoln, Nebraska. It contains some of the pieces we are working. It has some of the good commentary on the nature of chant. It is just beautifully crafted video.

2) Now that the Easter Rush is over how about some humor. From our friends at Monty Python.

Regina Caeli - You Tube

2009-04-07T17:23:00.000-04:00

Here is a version of the Regina Caeli we are working on for your review. This is sung by Giovanni Vianini. All of this his files can be found here

Catholic = Universal = Eternal?

2009-04-02T11:38:00.000-04:00

I came across this article on the importance of the recovery of Latin Hymns for Catholics.

Here is an excerpt but check out the whole article, and the wonderful blog - New Liturgical Movement.

Today, we tend to regard them (Hymns) as somehow high-brow music characteristic of “high-Church celebration,” but this is not really correct historically. This music might be regarded as true Catholic folk music. It has pious origins, rooted in the popular expression of our faith, sung by all Catholic people in all times, and their continued presence for one-thousand plus years, some of the dating to the Patristic period, speaks to their quality as music and as true expression of the sense of faith.

These small tunes have a special quality to unite people in a song, a point which might sound like a cliché until we consider precisely what Catholics mean by the term unite. It is a unity of the trivial sort that pertains only to those present in the room at that moment. That sort of unity is rarely achieved in a parish environment in any case, given the characteristic nature of Catholics to avoid being cajoled into group-based activities. There will also be a solid quarter of the congregation that will resist singing no matter how compelling the cantor or familiar the song.

By unity, then, we mean unified across geographic and national lines, and across time, stretching back generations and generations. Our voices are united with people we do not know and could not know. This is a mystical form of unity that leaves the physical space we experience with our sense alone. We can only imagine people one thousand years ago singing the same tunes with the same words at the same Mass during the same season. We do not know and cannot imagine what their lives were like, what they wore, what they ate, how they thought and spoke, their trials and troubles, their joys and fears, but we can, after all, sing the same songs as they did. So our unity with them in song is a magnificent expression of what it means to be Catholic, to broaden our thinking and living outside the boundaries of time and space.

Something to think about?

Ubi Cartius by Maurice Duruflé

2009-04-01T23:39:00.000-04:00

What we practiced tonight.

Chant Schola Name

2009-04-01T23:00:00.000-04:00

My Suggestions:

1) Mater Dei Schola - well because I have a devotion to the Blessed Mother.

2) Schola Guild of St. Gregory the Great - credited with a system of writing down reminders of chant melodies was probably devised by monks around 800 to aid in unifying the church service throughout the Frankish empire. Charlemagne brought cantors from the Papal chapel in Rome to instruct his clerics in the “authentic” liturgy. A program of propaganda spread the idea that the chant used in Rome came directly from Gregory the Great, who had died two centuries earlier and was universally venerated. Pictures were made to depict the dove of the Holy Spirit perched on Gregory's shoulder, singing God's authentic form of chant into his ear. This gave rise to calling the music "Gregorian chant". A more accurate term is plainsong or plainchant.

3) Saint Cecilia Schola - (Latin: Sancta Caecilia) is the patron saint of musicians^[2] and Church music because as she was dying she sang to God.^[3]St. Cecilia was an only child. Her feast day is celebrated in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches on November 22. She is one of the most popular Roman saints. She is one of seven women, excluding the Blessed Virgin, commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. It was long supposed that she was a noble lady of Rome who, with her husband Valerian(us) and his brother Tiburtius, suffered martyrdom, c. 230, under the Emperor Alexander Severus.

4) Saint Pius X Schola -published published his motu proprio Tra le sollecitudini announcing a return to earlier musical styles including Gregorian Chant. He chose Dom Joseph Pothier to supervise the new editions of chant led to the official adoption of the Solesmes edition of Gregorian chant. The Style of Chant we study

5) Benedictius Schola Canturum - Pope Benedict XVI has long been known to be a in favor of the return to Gregorian Chant and the use of Latin in the Liturgy according to the documents of Vatican II.

I am open to other suggestions.

The Guild of St. Gregory the Great?

2009-03-31T13:35:00.000-04:00

Following up on the discussion Monday evening at practice I came across the article that laid out a program for Chant Schola from The Recovering Choir Director:

“Maybe what’s needed for a large-scale renaissance of chanted worship in the Roman Church is to have it tied to some sort of lay organizational structure.

The organization would be modeled like a guild—”The Guild of St. Gregory the Great”, perhaps?—and its objective would be to teach its members the beauty of chant in anticipation for at least one Latin Novus Ordo or Extraordinary Form Mass in every parish. There are 4 level of knowledge detailed below:”

Level 1 - Apprentice chanters would learn:

square notation – From the Parish Book of Chant pages 169-177
chanted dialogues - the famous “Et cum Spiritu tuo”
basic psalm tones – Liber Usualis MIDI
Mass VIII - “De Angelis” Mass of the Angels

Kyrie [ mp3 | gif ] - begins at :25
Gloria [ mp3 | gif ] - We started at Monday’s Practice. - begins at 2:37
Sanctus [ mp3 | gif ] - begins at 5:51
Agnus Dei [ mp3 | gif ] - begins at 8:01
I have attached a YouTube video of Mass VIII which I think is helpful.

Mass XVI: - Weekdays throughout the Year

Kyrie [ mp3 ] - Complete
Sanctus [ mp3 ]
Agnus Dei [ mp3 ]

Mass XVIII: - Sundays of Lent and Advent

Kyrie [ mp3 | gif ]
Sanctus [ mp3 | gif ] - Complete
Agnus Dei [ mp3 | gif ] - Complete

Credo III [ mp3 ]
Lord’s Prayer [ mp3 ]
Seasonal Marian antiphons:

Alma redemptoris mater [ mp3 ]
Ave Regina caelorum [ mp3 ]
Regina Caeli [ mp3 ] – Started at Monday’s Practice
Salve Regina [ mp3 ]

Latin Hymns

Ave Maris Stella - Complete
Veni Creator Spiritus – Started Monday
Jesu dulcis memoria

Ecclesiastical Latin pronunciation. Parish Book of Chant – Page 178-179, and Charlie’s help

Level II - Pages, in addition to mastering Apprentice requirements, would be responsible for:

Mass I:

Kyrie [ mp3 | gif ]
Gloria [ mp3 | gif ]
Sanctus [ mp3 | gif ]
Agnus Dei [ mp3 | gif ]

Mass IX:

Kyrie [ mp3 | gif ]
Gloria [ mp3 | gif ]
Sanctus [ mp3 | gif ]
Agnus Dei [ mp3 | gif ]

Mass XI:

Kyrie (A) [ mp3 | gif ]
Kyrie (B) [ mp3 | gif ]
Gloria [ mp3 | gif ]
Sanctus [ mp3 | gif ]
Agnus Dei [ mp3 | gif ]

Credo I [ mp3 ]
Lord’s Prayer B plus embolism
Solemn psalm tones**
Sequences:

Easter Sunday: Victimae paschali [ mp3 ] - Complete
Pentecost Sunday: Veni Sancte Spiritus [ mp3 | gif ]
Corpus Christi: Lauda Sion [ mp3 | gif ]
Our Lady of Sorrows: Stabat Mater

Text pointing for psalms in Latin and vernacular tongues.

Level 3 - Masters would possess solid sight-reading skills and learn:

three additional Mass settings
the Lord’s Prayer C plus embolism
antiphons, responses and tracts from the Graduale Simplex and/or By Flowing Waters
how to point text for sung readings in Latin and the vernacular.

Masters would also have internalized knowledge gained by being Apprentices and Pages previously.

Level 4 - Guardian chanters would be responsible for:

sight-reading and mastering the antiphons of the Graduale Romanum
chanting at Solemn High Masses of either missal
encouraging and monitoring the establishment and development of parish chant guilds outside of their own.

With this model, developing Apprentices and Pages could provide the Propers, Ordinaries, responses and dialogues for all Masses of the year. In such a case, the antiphon texts would be set to the introit psalm tones, while verses would be set to the basic psalm tones. As guild members progress to more complex and solemn antiphons, the solemnity of the parish liturgy would progress as well, while maintaining a high standard of quality.

We have made good progress on the Level 1 - Apprentice requirements.

Feedback welcome.

Quilisima and Guido - Father of Modern Notation

2009-03-05T08:55:00.000-05:00

Last week during practice of the Ave Maris Stella, the Quilisma can up, what is it and how is it sung. Here is a description and a suggestion on how it is sung.

I also come across an interesting article on the chant and history on modern notation.

Chant History and Modern Notation

Some Humor

2009-02-07T13:42:00.000-05:00

I saw these two items and thought they might be of interest:

For a different prespective on being Catholic.

Second Practice and Homework

2009-02-07T13:41:00.000-05:00

Thanks for a good second practice. Though we got off to a slow start we covered the items I felt we needed to for this week.

So what was the homework assignment. Oh yea - Psalm Tone IV.

I handed out the Psalm tones and asked everyone to look over Psalm Tone IV. The hand out covers each of the Psalm tones but I just want to cover Tone IV.

Psalm Tones set to Gloria Patris

As promised here are the sound files for Tone IV. The links take you to the page and you need scroll down to the Psalm Tone IV.

- MP3 format - MIDI format

We will review these on Monday night @ 7:30PM sharp at my house.

Introduction to Gregorian Chant

2009-02-07T13:40:00.000-05:00

Based on a Block Party conversation held in the late summer of 2008, I mentioned wanting to learn more about Gregorian Chant. I mentioned sending some information, about possibly getting together to determine if we might form a small group called a "Schola". So I have attached the following information for your consideration. I would like you input and comments.

1) I found this article helpful to explain the basics - Gregorian Chant - An Idiot's Guide to Square Notes.

2) Also an article about forming your own Schola - How to Start Your Own Garage Schola.

3) See if you know any of these tunes - 12 Latin Chants Every Catholic Should Know.

4) Here are a few of the Basis Chants mentioned in these articles.

Ave Maris Stella

Victimae Paschali Laudes

I have many of the Music Resouces we would need to get started. Please let me know if you might be interested.