Highest praise to Adam Thome of St. Steven's Church in Chandler, Arizona. He has done a splendid job producing the first (and only) online tutorial for singing the readings at Mass. Gratitude galore.
This is way cool and I'm looking forward to reading and listening carefully. I'm curious, though… to what extent can what I read and hear here be applied to singing the Psalms (i.e., the Responsorial Psalms)? Is there another resource I should consult on this? Many, many thanks, Adam and Jeffrey.
I would like, however, to ask why Adam chose Gospel Tone A. It first appeared in Guidetti's "Directorium Chori," (1582, I think). Adam, like Winfred Douglas, has sensibly modified it by directing that the flex always be placed on a weak syllable. This forumula, unfortunately, is still not really an accentual formula. It does nothing to facilitate declamation.
Gospel Tone C, which is usually assumed to be the oldest of the three tones given in the Graduale, is more interesting and contributes more to good declamation, I think.
For reasons which I won't bother to explain, we use Tone B with the alternative oxytonic ending given in the Vatican ed. but not in the 1974 Solesmes ed. This works well enough; but Tone C works better.
Jeffrey - If you're in touch with them you might suggest repair to a couple of minor typos in the chant. (chant-os?) In at least two places - full stop and verbum domini - the text says DO-FA but the accompanying notation is DO-RE. I believe the text is correct. And where is the first reading "more properly" called "the prophecy"? Not in my GIRM or Gregorian Missal.
Felipe: My guess is that, if the omission is deliberate, it is due to the fact that the Verbum Domini/Deo Gratias dialog is intended to be sung in the forma ordinaria.
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