Chant Workshop in Fort Collins CO
  • Carl DCarl D
    Posts: 992
    After four years of being the schola director at our parish, I finally screwed up my courage this week to put together a chant workshop for all comers. I thank all the wonderful leaders and teachers that I've experienced in two Colloquia, at St Meinrad, at the Abbey of St Walburga, and in Colorado Springs.

    I sent an invitation to everybody in the parish music programs - three e-mail announcements, all of the markedly different. I had an announcement in the parish bulletin for two weeks running. And I made sure that my schola members knew that their attendance was STRONGLY recommended. :-)

    Despite this, I had absolutely no clue whether anybody would show up. I had received three e-mails from people unable to make it, but that was it. So it might have been one person, it might have been 50.... It became difficult when trying to figure out how many copies to make of the handout. I finally settled on 30 copies and crossed my fingers.

    In the end, I got 16 attendees - a fantastic size to work with. And, very interesting, I had more women than men. This is awesome news, because our schola has been 100% male since its inception, and there's a resistance of some women that they "don't want to be the first one." The workshop was NOT an advertisement for the schola, just singing and having fun. And cookies.

    I found out this morning what results we have from our stewardship signup weekend: After two Masses out of four, I had three women and one man sign up for the schola. What a wonderful blessing of the Holy Spirit!

    More details, including what we sang, can be found on my website.
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    Fantastic, Carl! Congrats on the success of the workshop… I'm taking notes here! (And if you need an extra voice for your planned Mass on Nov. 15th at Bl. John XXIII parish, let me know!)
  • AngelaRAngelaR
    Posts: 309
    Carl, great news!!! I'm in the midst of a three evening chant crash course at the cathedral in Peoria, IL, and we're going to have 15 people coming to the next session on Wednesday. People are very interested in chant, and it is so encouraging to have such good numbers. The funny thing is, I'm having the opposite problem with regard to gender; more women are involved in the schola and coming to the course. Perhaps it has to do with me being a female director...

    Did your workshop extend beyond one day? I'm interested in details!

    We are meeting three evenings, two hours each. Last week we concentrated on vocal technique, Latin pronunciation, following arsis and thesis, and doing solfege, and we sang the first verse of Jesu Dulcis Memoria. Homework is to solfege the Ecce Concipiet antiphon for Advent, and this Wednesday we will spend time translating it, doing Lectio Divina, looking at the context of propers in the Mass, and learning how to sing the various neumes present within the antiphon. The last Wednesday we will spend a little time on chironomy and placing the ictus, looking at practical ideas on how to implement chant in the parish (including a look at all the free resources on this website), and probably delve more into the liturgical context (as well as keep singing).
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    Carl, this is a great news. How many Masses does your schola sing, and are they OF? Is there any possibility of inviting people from other parishes in your area?

    (Someday when I feel ready, I might. I need to learn lot more though.)
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 993
    How wonderful, Carl! Notice how everyone is doing something different, something that may be the right approach for their place and time and singers.

    No clones here. Sing on!
  • Carl DCarl D
    Posts: 992
    Thanks, everyone. The workshop was exactly two hours, and was advertised as: "Sing some chant! Learn some Latin! Have fun!" So not much depth, just a low-pressure introduction for people who have some kind of interest.

    Our schola sings one OF Mass a month. We are indeed working on getting the scholas from three parishes together in the community, and plan to sing Mass at 5:15pm on Sunday November 15th at Blessed John XXIII parish. That will be our first chance to have the scholas sing together, something I've wanted to do for over a year now.

    Brick by brick!
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