How do you "do Summer", liturgically?
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    I know many of us have choirs/scholae that are on hiatus during the summertime. This will often change the calculus, so to speak, of the services we play. Here, it takes on the form of occasional "visits" from staff singers as well as a lot more organ improvisation, even entire small movements of organ works in the service.

    Also, many of us wish to continue the use of proper antiphons, Gregorian ordinaries, etc., even without choral help. Do you do this? Do you split the difference as we do here? Do you do crazy things like set this weekend's entrance antiphon metrically to FOUNDATION (not that anyone would ever do that...certainly not me!)

    Anyhow, just interested this rainy day in your wisdom!
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    Low Mass, no music until Christ the King.
    Thanked by 1Casavant Organist
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Should any ensemble of folks who sing during the curricular year not be able to sight-sing the SEP/LC/Simple Gradual settings during the summer, their director needs to work a skosh harder.
    Along the same lines, I will go to St. James Press and reliably find 2 pt. (S/B) canonic anthems that also can be sight sung after a brief initial rehearsal. If one wonders whether such pieces are thus being prayed in this manner, I assure you....
  • SarahJ
    Posts: 54
    The choir doesn't take a break, it's just usually a little smaller due to individuals on vacation. Everything pretty much stays the same.
  • Casavant Organist
    Posts: 800
    Same at my home parish as SarahJ, at my other parish, the choir technically gets a break but some like to come and help out the cantor. If there is enough, we sing SATB. No sung ordinary or propers.
  • Spriggo
    Posts: 122
    The choirs go on hiatus after Corpus Christi (the children's choirs after Mothers' Day). Just me and a cantor until Labor Day.
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,185
    Nothing changes other than me omitting a preset Communion motet from the printed leaflet, and scheduling no weeknight rehearsals until after Labor Day weekend.

    • EF/TLM: Gregorian schola (core of four, sometimes expands to six) continues to practice Gregorian propers and ordinary (on their own and before Mass) for the 7:30 AM Sunday Missa Cantata.
    • OF/NO: All Masses feature pre- and post-Mass hymns, SEP Introits and Communions.
      • The cantor/organ Masses feature common-meter hymn-tune paraphrases of the Offertoriale Triplex texts, and a hymn after Communion if time permits.
      • The Choir Mass features SEP Offertory; SEP IN–OF–CO verses are harmonized if there is an SATB quorum; Gregorian Communion proper preceding its SEP counterpart; Communion motet from core repertoire (if there is an SATB quorum).

    Consistent repertoire helps a lot.
    Thanked by 1CCooze
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    I guess we're just hopelessly different from everyone else. We continue our usual program and are taking the extra time to tackle some of the more difficult projects we couldn't get to during the school year. Last night we took on Jean Mouton's Ave Maria and the Agnus Dei II from Palestrina's Missa Brevis. The Ave Maria is quite abstruse but wistful and beautiful.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,696
    Our principal Masses (the televised and the 11am Solemn Mass) are handled by two assigned cantors rather than the usual choir. The motet after the Offertory antiphon is switched to a hymn, the motet after the Communion antiphon is switched to a chant hymn/abolished sequence/something from cantus selecti, etc. Everything else stays the same.

    I believe strongly in having a choir season so that it gives a clear point at which people may (feel most comfortable to) join the choir, retire from the choir, etc. Having a non-stop choral year leaves people feeling like they're disappointing the group if they decide it's no longer for them, makes changes in employment status more obvious if they happen mid-year, and leaves new singers feeling like they're joining something already in progress. If every year on Corpus Christi folks head off with a smile and a seemingly very different group gathers in September because of various decisions you and others have made, no questions are asked. It's just a new season.
    Thanked by 7Spriggo Casavant Organist Daniel Bennett Page Adam Wood CCooze CHGiffen Heath
  • fcbfcb
    Posts: 331
    No sung ordinary or propers.

    I'm curious about the lack of a sung ordinary. I would think that this would be one of the easiest things to keep going during the summer. Or does this refer to a choral ordinary?
    Thanked by 2BruceL eft94530
  • Casavant Organist
    Posts: 800
    @fcb This parish never sings propers. Why? I don't really know, and I am not happy about it either.

    I am making my choir do the Introit on the day after Canada Day (I was given assignment to choose hymns for that day). Maybe I will teach them the rest of the propers for that day.
  • irishtenoririshtenor
    Posts: 1,296
    He means the (Kyrie)-Gloria-(Credo)-Sanctus-[Memorial Acclamation]-Agnus Dei. Why aren't those sung?
    Thanked by 1eft94530
  • stulte
    Posts: 355
    No changes for us. Full steam ahead!
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,934
    We don't change mass settings and the Ordinary is sung at every mass - some Propers, too. We change to every-other-week choir rehearsals and sing more of the materials we already know. The cantor-led masses are the same year round.
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    OF parish.
    Three Masses (two cantor and organ, one choir and organ).
    Ordinary always sung at all Masses.
    Communion Proper always sung at all Masses.
    At least two hymns always sung at all Masses.
    Thursday before Corpus Christi Sunday ends the weekday choir rehearsals.
    Sunday 10 am choir rehearsal for 11 am Mass as usual.
    Choir members are present/absent according to their personal plans.
    Thursday before Aug 15 Assumption resumes the weekday choir rehearsals.
    Cantor-led Masses consistent all year.
  • Casavant Organist
    Posts: 800
    @irishtenor Father thinks that if mass is shorter, people will stay longer. I have mentioned this before, but no Gloria even on Sundays. Why? Don't know. Creed is never sung, he likes things super fast even in the regular year.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 1,963
    At St. Martin’s in Louisville we usually sing Mass XI during the summer at the TLM, but we still get a polyphonic Mass every now and then, depending on whether we have a deacon and subdeacon to make it a Solemn High Mass, which usually only happens in the summer, or the desires of the DM. There is still an Offertory and Communion motet, and the organ playing is the same (prelude, postlude, improvisation to mind the gap...). The Marian anthem is the last piece sung. The Novus Ordo Mass with English hymns (and increasingly a proper or two) and Ordinary and an English Mass with Latin propers and Mass VIII are the same. The personnel are more or less the same.
    Thanked by 1BruceL
  • CCoozeCCooze
    Posts: 1,259
    he likes things super fast

    I was in Texas for my brother's wedding this past weekend, and it was the first time I ever saw a clock built into the front pew. I'm assuming that means that the priests there have some sort of time limit or something? Weird.
    Thanked by 1JulieColl
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,160
    At the little church where I serve as cantor, the choir's last Sunday is Corpus Christi, and they resume around mid-September. Also, we merely recite the Gloria in the summer, so our sung parts become:
    Entrance Hymn, Psalm, Alleluia, Offertory Hymn, Holy, Memorial, Lamb, Communion Hymn, Recessional Hymn.
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Father thinks that if mass is shorter, people will stay longer. I have mentioned this before, but no Gloria even on Sundays. Why? Don't know. Creed is never sung, he likes things super fast even in the regular year.


    Nothing stooping to human laziness to worship God in the most fitting way possible!

    [ / purplebold ]
    Thanked by 1Casavant Organist
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,704
    Our EF choir continues all Summer, we are expected to sing every Sunday and Feast Day!

    I think the N.O. choir closes for the summer, but songs are still sung at their main Sunday Mass.
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,916
    We sing every Sunday. I think the closest thing we do to a break is when

    A) we don't have enough men, so we do all Rossini Propers (well, they do them - I'm a stickler for doing as much Gregorian as possible)

    and

    B) when the resident priest offers mass. He's been there forever, used to be a Dominican before he went independent, and has been a mainstay at our chapel for decades. There's two things you can always expect if he's offering - a Low Mass and readings from "The Incredible Catholic Mass" with commentary in place of a sermon. (I've been attending off-and-on for about seven years now, and I still think he's about halfway through the book.)
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    At St. Martin’s in Louisville we usually sing Mass XI during the summer at the TLM, but we still get a polyphonic Mass every now and then, depending on whether we have a deacon and subdeacon to make it a Solemn High Mass, which usually only happens in the summer, or the desires of the DM. There is still an Offertory and Communion motet, and the organ playing is the same (prelude, postlude, improvisation to mind the gap...). The Marian anthem is the last piece sung. The Novus Ordo Mass with English hymns (and increasingly a proper or two) and Ordinary and an English Mass with Latin propers and Mass VIII are the same. The personnel are more or less the same.


    By the way, good luck with a search for a permanent director of music. Such a lovely parish! The job was advertised back in 2008 when I got out of grad school...I was gunning BIG TIME for that (plus, it is equidistant from my home and my wife's), but alas, God had different plans. Hope Paul Weber's good work is continued with the new (permanent) administration!
    Thanked by 1Ben
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    We sing through the summer, with the chanted Ordinary and the Propers, but we rarely do any anthems since people are floating in and out with vacations, etc. Rehearsals are shorter, and are mainly spent getting a bit of a head-start on some more difficult things for the fall (we have Forty Hours right off the bat at the end of September), and usually give them a few weeks rehearsal free in July-August.

    During the last weeks of Aug/first weeks of Sept, I have the priest make announcements about joining the choir, and have an official start date for new people on the Second Sunday in Sept. And, because the continuing people have begun working on some of the harder stuff, any new people will find it easier to fit in, but I do a fair bit of easy/unison stuff at the beginning of the year.

    This is OF, btw.

    Incidentally, I like this:
    improvisation to mind the gap
    Thanked by 1Ben
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 1,963
    Bruce, Mr. Eugene Lavery was hired in the spring to stay on as the permanent DM. Honestly, we’ve had two fantastic musicians back to back. I enjoy working with both of them.
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    I see: it was advertised as a temporary hire. All the better if it's permanent, although of course a job of this standing should ALWAYS be advertised nationwide. There are many very qualified candidates who would love to have it. I'm very happy where I am, but this is a real issue in many searches.
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Matthew,

    Surely, if you count Dr. Morrison, you've had more than 2, back to back?
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 1,963
    Well, not back to back. She was before my time, and I know nothing of the music under her direction. There was at least one in between her and Dr. Weber as well. With Dr. Weber and now Mr. Lavery, we really have something special that just needs a future foundation (kids’s schola/chorister program type stuff).
  • mmeladirectress
    Posts: 1,076
    we keep on singing, and having practice, although people do travel more. Summer is filled with Corpus Christi, and First Masses of new ordinands (joy!), and Assumption... and the next thing you know, it's September and time to work on the Christmas music ...
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    Matthew, that's going to be a tough sell with the location of SMT. I think a more likely path would be a "choral scholar" thing for high schoolers. You pay their stipend into a scholarship fund. I've been trying to get that going here, but without much success.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 1,963
    I agree.
  • JesJes
    Posts: 576
    Is Aus summer is during Christmas so e try to get scratch choirs up during January and let the regular choir have that month off. Otherwise we do low mass with organ! So much fun!
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