Hi all. I recorded the complete Proper from the Gregorian Missal (475 chants, 25+ hours) that can be downloaded at http://www.ucombo.com/mjcurtis/store. This started as a regional project for the diocese of La Crosse, WI to assist scholas/choirs in learning chant notation and promote its use in the Liturgy. I decided to make it available to the public on the internet for purchase. They are by no means professional quality, but are accurate and aimed to help those who may struggle learning chant notation. Each chant is sung at the written pitch.
This project took over 1000 hours to complete, and I priced the chants as low as possible to at least minimally compensate me for my work. Prices are .75 per chant, 2.99 per mass, or 49.99 for the entire collection (only .10 per chant). My goal is not to profit, so I am willing to bargain if these rates are too high.
My chant interpretation very closely follows the traditional Solemn method. Obviously, there are limitations when singing them by yourself. I did not lengthen the vertical episema of the salicus. I also breathed at every quarter and half bar, which are often carried through depending on the context. The flow is a little quicker than a full schola for breathing purposes.
I'm working on a website to promote the store at www.chanttracks.com. You can find a bio of me there. The store is brand new and may contain mistakes and glitches, so I would love any feedback or criticism. If you have requests of chants to record or existing ones at a different pitch, I am happy to record just about anything. Future projects include recording the Ordinary from the Gregorian Missal and a Christmas album of polyphony.
I hope this is interesting and helpful to you chanters out there. God bless.
Matt
Yes, you can hear 10% of each track starting at the beginning. Go to http://www.ucombo.com/mjcurtis/store and there is an icon next to the track title that looks like a tape. Click that and it should play the sample.
Wow, this is really creative. I think that the artist contacted us last year about pre-purchasing these so we could make them all free, but it wasn't possible. This is a great solution. all success!
Thanks, mjcurtis. it's a lot of work you did. This will come handy for my schola, since I don't have much skills of modern technology. And your singing voice is very nice.
Someone suggested to me that I put everything in a big zip file so the downloader doesn't have to download 500 separate files and organize them himself or herself. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to do that? I think I have a rough idea, but would love some guidance, although this may not be the right forum for that. :)
Matt
Beautifully done. Having recorded 475 chants -- over twenty-five hours worth -- I suggest you take a rest.
Then, when you are ready. would you be interested in chanting through the Parish Book of Chant. I believe there will be an even larger demand for those recordings.
Jeffrey. How can I make it a direct link? The zipped file I created is 15.5 MB, which is too big to attach to an email.
Everyone. Thanks for the kind feedback and great suggestions. The hard thing is that there are so many things to record! My next project is the Ordinary from the Gregorian Missal. I won't have opportunity to record much more before the summer with my school schedule. One thing that I wanted to mention is that I have Countertenor abilities and am able to record for children's groups and women's groups if desired. Range limitations don't come into play until around F5, so I am very flexible. Whatever I complete I will add to the "Complete Gregorian Chant Collection" album at 49.99 for no extra charge and notify those who already purchased the album.
I finally have a better solution to downloading the Complete Gregorian Chant Collection. I am still trying to offer just 1 download, but have been able to split everything into 4 ZIP files. Each is around 500MB, so it will take a long time to download. Anyone who already purchased everything for 49.99 can email me at mjcurtis@viterbo.edu for the links. Anyone now interested in buying with the easier download solution will be emailed within 1 day with the 4 download links.
Are there other sites that present mp3's or audiuo file in organized through the calandar year other than chritus rex. i thought they were some new sites.
Michael, sorry for the very late response. At my church we do not interpret the salicus by lengthening the vertical episema. It would have been difficult for me to change this interpretation as it has been so engraved in my brain. Plus, I was already halfway into recording everything when I learned about this debated rule of interpretation. I hope it hasn't caused too many problems.
Regarding JoguesChant, it is a fantastic site. It is exactly the vision and mission I had for my website but done much better. :) I have VERY limited knowledge of web design nor the time to put everything together. As Jeff Ostrowski may have mentioned to many, most of my recordings will be available to download for free on JoguesChant in addition to a very large portion of the Mass Ordinary and the Extraordinary form. You will have to check back often over the summer as I plan on recording TONS of new stuff. Thanks for everyone's support and to JoguesChant!
We are very blessed to have Matthew helping us (hopefully starting within the next 1-2 months) and I want to thank the CMAA for making this forum possible.
It is only thanks to this forum that I was able to meet Matt, and so many other wonderful people.
By the way, Matt's project is fantastic, and I think now that we are going to combine efforts, we will be able to help restore Gregorian chant to its proper place (no pun intended!).
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