I think more information is forthcoming exactly a week from today, on May 14.

Ok, thanks. I'll keep watching for more info.

I'm going to expose my lack-of-liturgical education here, but here goes... I thought a "gradual" meant a book of music for singers, i.e., that it would have everything a singer needs, such as musical notes or neumes, and (if not every single note/neume beneath every single syllable of text then) pointed text?

Ok thanks for clearing that up. Guess I'll wait to see the new info coming out next week to confirm whether this will work for our schola.

I'd love to see our parish get new missals, but the parish just got new "forever" ones (i.e. not the yearly throw-away kind) when the new translation came out, and I don't see them investing in new missals again so soon. For now, our schola is just focusing getting the music in the people's ears (and hearts and souls) before worrying about getting new missals in their hands... So that means our money needs to go towards books with music we can use to sing :-)

I think this is one of the comparison points with the Lumen Christi series.

I think the Jogues is indeed meant as a substantially enriched pew book, with the usual lectionary stuff + often-neglected propers, and better ordinary setting(s) + emphasis on sacred art. I think the assumption is that the choir will have a separate resource for singing propers (e.g. some of his promotional materials still mention SEP).

Lumen Christi *Missal* is the comparable edition: lectionary + missal, minus the art, but plus the proper antiphons (simple setting in case congregation sings) and more ordinary settings. LC has this separate simple gradual we are discussing in the other thread that is the choir resource, with full propers/verses. It could in reality be used in tandem with any pew resource if you did not want/need the congregation to have the music for the propers (that is not a priority for us, for example).

I just got a phone call from someone associated with the publishing company for the St. Augustine Hymnal today. Sounds like they're coming out with some great new products in the near future that are filled with proper antiphons and more traditional music. I had a good conversation with the gentleman who called.

Brick by brick...

Hmm...I was just on their website and I'm inclined to agree with you, meloCharles. Maybe their new stuff will be better...?

Look, Matieux, I didn't mention any names, and I wish no ill towards the company, it's CEO or employees, same as I do for OCP et al. Everybody's a "good guy" per Mt.25 and I believe that.
That doesn't mitigate whether the intent and niche of the product offered offers the very specific clientele CMAA is incorporated to advise, nor its suitability for a sustained life in the worship arts of any parish or cathedral.
As far as I'm concerned, there remains a vacuum for the comprehensive musical worship book in a multi-generational (as in, it's gonna last for 20+ years) format from ANYBODY.
That's a mystery in and of itself, at least to me. YMOVaries.

My experience with St. Augustine in my past job was that their heart seemed like it was in the right place, they said the right things, then I saw the book...

in these latter days

Now that is funny, Salieri! Not because of any eschatological concerns, but the fact that, to me, my "use by _____" date has surely come and gone. It's a cute and curious moment when one realizes the larger social culture has finally passed you by and that isn't particularly bothersome.

I quickly examined the St. Augustine awhile back, and I found traditional texts with completely unfamiliar music. That would have driven my congregation nuts - me too!

I found traditional texts with completely unfamiliar music.

Yes, that would drive me batty too. Unfortunately, neither I, nor most of parish, knows what the "correct" tunes to those traditional texts are supposed to be! It's amazing how in just one generation we can lose our collective memory of music. I suspect that's the case for a lot of parishes.

Fortunately, in as much as possible, our little schola tries to find good (public domain) versions of the hymns and use those instead of what's in the book. Baby steps!

Yes, that would drive me batty too. Unfortunately, neither I, nor most of parish, knows what the "correct" tunes to those traditional texts are supposed to be

Mine does. We never stopped singing those traditional tunes.

I find it hardly likely that in these latter days any book will be around in the pews for 20+ years. Just look at SEP: it was considered the best for propers in English, now we have LC and SEP will start to fall away, in another 10 years LC might end up being hopelessly out of date.

This is an interesting thought, but I would like to perhaps propose it in a slightly different way:

Liturgical music should not be like software—constant changes, out with the old, in with the new, introducing version 7.0, get rid of that old, obsolete operating system. By its nature, the music of the liturgy should be constant, and familiar; it should be stable and lasting.

However, I believe that we are now in a period of cultural formation in regard to the music of the liturgy. The council's wish that "new forms should be inspired by forms already existing" is finally being heeded, and we are working hard to compose, establish, catechize, train, educate, etc. It will probably take a few more years, maybe a decade, for us to get a sense of what will be the lasting contribution. I sense that once this gets established, we will see 50-100 years of stability.

Think of how this happened with the immediate post-conciliar formation: There was about a decade of chaos. Constant change, no one knew what they were supposed to do. Then there was a decade of stabilization and and regularization, and after this, we basically have had the same liturgical music that has been accepted as "normal" for more than 30 years.

The problem, of course, is that the younger generations reject it as the generations who were young when it stabilized are aging and dying off.

So, in this next movement, we should have a stabilization that lasts more than 30 years. It should be a timeless, universal contribution to the Church's tradition. Not a flash in the pan, which 30 years is for the Church. A mere blink of the Church's eye.

15 Years ago, almost none of these resources existed.

What's especially exciting to me is that even 1.5 yrs ago (when I learned about sacred music and started trying to bring it to my parish) we didn't have as much available as we have today!

I'm excited to live in this time of revitalization and the increasing availability of resources means I have a good shot at actually getting other DMs in my parish to (at least) try the antiphons every once in awhile. Not my ultimate goal, no, but "baby steps" has become my motto!