Recordings of your group
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    Dear friends,

    Is this forum interested in hearing what different Schola's are doing around the country?

    If so, here is a recording we made last night at rehearsal:

    Ave Maria

    I am proud of the Schola (the Corpus Christi Cathedral Schola Cantorum) --- we have only had women in our group for about four months.

    I would be interested in hearing what other scholae are up to...
  • soli
    Posts: 95
    That was a gorgeous rendition! Thank you for posting! Our schola has a little podcast item on our blog http://stpeterschola.blogspot.com with a few things from our Midnight Mass rehearsal. We are in a small town of 1500ish people and our schola comprises some young families with their children. We are inspired by the quality of your sacred music!
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    Awesome! Thanks: when I get home, I want to listen to your recordings, as well.

    I neglected to say that I made the choice to allow some very VERY young kids into our group. This has been difficult at times, but I think it is finally paying off.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    Many of the greatest church musicians started out in church music by being very young singers...planting the seed of love for Sacred Music in young children is a challenge to our patience, and the patience of older singers at times, but will give great fruits, fruits that will bear fruit for coming generations.

    It is helpful to remind singers that they are part of a glorious tradition as we sing words and music that have been repeated over and over again for century upon century in the past. And to remind ourselves that we are responsible for the continuation of this tradition.

    Contemporary music exists for a moment. That's its intent. Chant and Polyphony are eternal, the work of musicians who immersed thier lives in learning and understanding the rules of harmony, stretching them and creating harmony in our universe.
  • WJA
    Posts: 237
    >I neglected to say that I made the choice to allow some very VERY young kids into our group. This has been difficult at times, but I think it is finally paying off.<

    Would you mind saying ages, how many, what they sing, and with whom? My group is all men, but I've got a couple of boys (9 and 11) who have good voices and ears and would like to sing with us. We only sing straight chant right now, though, no polyphony, and someone told me that all voices should be in the same octave in plain chant. So I'm not sure what I could have them sing, if they sang with us.

    WJA
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    Hi, WJA,

    I have about 6 kids, and they are like 10 years old (girls and boys) --- they practice at home by listening to mp3's I make --- that's how they learn

    they sing along when we sing polyphony

    hopefully, these are our future!
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 994
    They will be not only our future, but part of the future of all musical performance, composition, and appreciation.

    I'm impressed when I read about young composer/performers such as Christian Forshaw, whose works and projects are influenced by the music he sang as a boy in an Anglican church in North Yorkshire. Then I think about the low quality music that we have dished out week after week in many of our churches. You could go a lifetime in many places as a Catholic and never hear a piece of liturgical music that didn't sound like a pop knock-off.
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    Jeff, of course the advantage with kids is, provided the preparation is done on the director's part, they don't know when "hard" music is hard. Of course, some aptitude helps, but it's true. The bigger problem in my work is "aural concept"; my children's choir hasn't heard a lot of really good rep sung by good groups, and so some of them have trouble believing that "this stuff" is what we should be using in church. This is the awful legacy of 30+ years of poorly written, poorly performed music in the Church (not to mention the neglect of chant and polyphony.) I think you're wise to start them in the group young.
  • WJA
    Posts: 237
    > have about 6 kids, and they are like 10 years old (girls and boys) --- they practice at home by listening to mp3's I make --- that's how they learn <

    >they sing along when we sing polyphony<

    So, just to be clear, the children don't sing plain chant with the rest of the choir? Do they learn the plain chant pieces, even if they don't sing them? Right now, we don't sing any polyphony, so that wouldn't be an option for us.

    WJA
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    I thought I had a real problem with a 12 year old soprano in the adult choir. On all the chant and polyphony, she shows up without her music. I thought it was because she left it at home, a problem we have had with a couple of college-age singers.

    So I always gesture for her to share with someone. She is always attentive, pays very, very close attention and remembers and follows all musical instructions.

    Last night I came to the realization that I did not understand what was going on here and I should have. Way back when she was 10 and singing in my Marian choir, I asked the cantor duo that was headed over to sing the responsorial psalm to make sure they took her along. Well, they didn't. Left her behind. So I took her over myself and one of the said, rather derisively, "Well, does she know the music? " I turned to her and she sang it for them...from memory.

    Last night I realized that she goes home after rehearsal and memorizes all of the music we sing. That's why she does not bring scores to rehearsal with her. When I pass out new music, she reads from it and then it disappears.

    Cool.
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    that is correct WJA
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    WJA, and others too, may I ask you something? Do you ever get a bass who wants to join the men's schola? If you do, do you let them sing an octave low, or refuse them?
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    Jeff et al,
    To borrow from the film "Philadelphia"....
    Can someone explain to me as if I were a four year old, the step by step how-to post sound files to blogs, link them to sites such as this, etc. in the simplest manner?
    Thanks
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 968
    c in cenca
    Posting to the forum is about the easiest... as long as you have the file on your computer, you can simply upload it to the forum as an attachment (see below--- you can browse through your computer files and attach it). It may need to be in mp3 format for the forum (haven't tried wmv or any other).
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    Thanks, Janet....
    I\'ll try it with a choral setting of THERE IS NO ROSE and wait and see (listen.)
    The \"lone\" tenor \"ahead\" of the beat is poor me. Sorry. My lead tenor was taken to the hospital the midnight before the concert, so I had to function as conductor and singer, not always a good thing.
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    Well, I tried. Converted a two minute wave form to mp3 and the download mgr. still rejected the attachment as being larger than 500kb.
    Any other ideas?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,220
    If your converter program gives you control over the bitrate of the mp3 file, you might try reducing that figure to make the file smaller. Also, if you mix the audio from stereo to mono, you can probably save some file size.

    Or you can just post the file on some other web site you have, and give us the URL here.
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    Thanks, Chonak
    C
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    Although we still have a long way to go, here is our attempt at this Sunday's Introit (recorded at practice last night, hence the sneezes, etc.)

    Corpus Christi Cathedral Schola

    I think we are on the right track, but we still have work to do. By the way, we are a mixture of people who have experienced chant and people who have not.
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 968
    How very nice! Thanks so much for sharing this with us...
  • Brian Kiernan
    Posts: 24
    Beautiful. Please keep these coming.
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    I hesitate to put this up, because we are just learning this piece, but here is a recording of us practicing last night:

    practice session for Venite Adoremus Introit

    we are not very familiar with this chant, but I am sure we will have it down by the weekend.
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 968
    We have been learning this one, too... our schola has been all women until just recently, so the sound is quite different... very nice sound. Thanks for sharing..
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    It is fun to challenge them: they have never done this one, but I said, "We're doing it!" and they responded

    In Christ,

    JMO
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