Is there an existing schola somewhere in the diocese? Maybe they can be coaxed into singing at the next major liturgy at the cathedral. Nothing could be more "imcremental" than applying the Holy Father's approach -- propose, don't impose -- yet people need to be shown that a chanted Christmas or All Souls Mass won't make the roof fall down.

Where did you find this bishop?

My strategy has been to go slowly, remove some of the extremes from the popular culture, and add replacements that aren't so drastic they will shock anyone. A longer range view helps, but requires patience. Think in terms of five years rather than one.

Dear MA,

What a timely post! I will be meeting with our diocesan director of divine worship to discuss similar issues very soon. We have been working to promote chant in our diocese for almost two years now. I can explain our own tactics, if that can be of any help.

INITIAL PUSH: Bishop Jenky envisions the cathedral as being a nucleus from which faithful around the diocese can experience a good liturgy. We hold many, many special events there during the year, and confirmations are usually held there. Chant at these liturgies provides exposure to the wider Church, and because they are done in junction with the customary four hymns and more modern choral pieces, it is less culturally shocking. People have heard it, musicians are intrigued, and they want to learn more. We started singing the Gregorian introit at every Sunday Mass at the cathedral about three years ago. We often also include the offertory and communion propers. These are all usually sung by a soloist – not ideal, but it serves its purpose. (Now that we have a schola, we also often “dress up” some of our chants, especially chant hymns, with parallel organum and drones – which is easier to digest by those who are used to sensually stimulating music.)

We also ordered in some nice, very inexpensive Latin Mass Hymnals for use at our Saturday Latin Vigil Masses. These include side by side translations for most of the Mass, and were put together by some volunteers out on the East Coast. The cantor for the Latin Vigil Masses sings the introit, and usually the offertory and communion chants for the day. (A less experienced cantor might sing a Latin hymn instead.)

CATHEDRAL CHANT SCHOOL: Almost two years ago, we began the next stage. The Cathedral Chant School is the nucleus where people around the diocese can come to learn chant in depth. The hands on experience is absolutely crucial for musicians who are interested in chant, but are timid about introducing it into their own parishes because of the different notation, musical styling, and language. Our diocesan director of music was not very versed in chant (now she is!), and is already incredibly strapped for time. So, they asked me to step in. I was not previously “on staff” at the cathedral, although I am a cantor and choir member. I have taken on all the responsibilities that concern chant at the cathedral. We have members who drive an hour in one direction to learn and sing with us, and we include both amateurs and professionals, and even a parish director of music and a professional conductor. Not only do we learn to sing the chants, but sessions are also spent exploring the liturgy with visiting priests, learning how to use resources, studying important church documents, practicing elements of conducting, learning how to do Lectio Divina, etc. We have sung for many major events, including a visit by Cardinal George, and the last two priestly ordinations. The Chant School is offered almost for free.

EVENTS: Events help tremendously to promote chant visibility throughout the diocese, if advertised properly. They also help to recruit new schola members. We have now hosted two exclusively Cathedral Chant School events: First Vespers of the Assumption at the cathedral last year, and Ash Wednesday Mass of the Extraordinary Form at a neighboring parish this year.

WORKSHOPS: About twice a year, I offer workshops to prepare other interested newcomers to join the Cathedral Chant School without feeling utterly overwhelmed. We cover the use of solfege, notation, finding online resources, etc. Dr. Jennifer Donelson has also visited twice to offer chant masterclasses. Additionally, I spoke about chant to about forty catechists at our annual Diocesan Institute last year.

FUTURE and EXPANSION TO OTHER PARISHES: Now that our repertoire and confidence is more established, I will soon be ready to start offering workshops at surrounding parishes. Our members are already from many different parishes, so I hope that some of them will be of help in inviting us into those parishes.

I hope this is of help. Like I said, we are still young, and there is lots to learn. I will be watching this thread for ideas as well!

Angela Manney
Cathedral Chant School, Director

Some great practical ideas! Please keep them coming.

Is the bishop not the chief liturgist of the diocese? Does he not hold an iron rod that he can wield at will?

Instead of trying to "bring people along", etc., why doesn't the bishop start MANDATING certain things and not allowing others?

Jeffrey, this isn't the concept I was looking for (the name of which will come to me, I'm sure), but I found this article on confirmation bias interesting and somewhat applicable to your situation. (And by that I mean why people reject things that are verifiably true, though we must admit that we are all subject to the same tendencies).

@eft94530:

There are recordings of the Ordinary Form dialogues at http://musicasacra.com/audio/.

Adam, I agree completely. Let people see how great chant is w/o threatening them. I believe the music has power and trust to the Spirit to do the convincing.

I very much endorse the strategy and chronology that Angela took great pains to provide.
To this I add-

*Avail the DM/Organist of the cathedral (and his rector) with what others have called a mandate from bishop, along with timetables and benchmark assessment points that eventually culminate with the weekly Sunday scheduling of an Ordinary Form Mass wherein virtually everything, save the homily, is chanted, whether in English (or another vernacular) or Latin. I would not advocate within this “mandate” the goal of scheduling an EF Mass, as there are parishes in proximity that offer that form weekly. This articulated mandate, chronology and methodology must also be published in the diocesan newspaper, and all diocesan parish bulletins initially, with updates published over time in the same organs.

*Have diocesan personnel (HR, arggghhh) staff prepare a census of parishes within the diocese that have: 1. Full time DM’s and/or Directors of Liturgy; 2. PT Ministers of Music/Choir Directors; Pastors/Administrators; other interested clergy/laity with experience and interest in chant. Have the diocesan Director of Lit/Worship, or the chair of its Worship Commission (if that’s the case) prepare, review, print and mail/email a document that expresses the bishop’s will to establish an ad hoc commission in which he charges members to assess their own parish practices in relation to the curial legislation, the USCCB document STtL, the bishop’s rightful obligation and authority to lead the Faithful towards greater orthopraxis, the scholarship and catechesis provided in these concerns by the Holy Father in many published books and letters, and any/all pastoral concerns these reorientations would put into action at the parish level.

*If the diocese already has a number of highly experienced DMs/organists and pastors who are prominently known associates of CMAA, NPM and/or certain publishers. They could be convened to meet with the cathedral DM and the bishop himself, for a face to face sharing of their experiences with “re-forming” whole parish liturgical/musical practices, whether towards chant, other traditional forms, or contemporary/multicultural forms. The bishop, if an extremely gifted listener as is the Holy Father, would thus demonstrate his collegiality as a gateway towards engaging the likely diverse philosophies of these prominent DM’s to accept their responsibility to faithfully and completely serve the Church and her faithful through collaborative consultation and actions, rather than conflict and divisive disagreement.

*Have the DM of the cathedral and other DM’s where chant and polyphony is normatively employed at service cull an agreed-upon library of chant repertoires, in both vernacular (most likely English and Spanish) language(s) and Latin, and in both square-neume and modern, stem-less notehead typesets (ie. American Gradual) that will be used in the cathedral program, and eventually in parishes in deaneries that have the musical personnel resources to initiate the regular, systematic use of chanted Propers and ordinaries at Sunday Mass(es.)

*If the diocese engages in producing televised Masses for shut-ins, encourage the management of the production company invite more scholas or chant capable choirs to provide music for those. In a similar vein, cathedral and parishes that use podcasting their services should make concerted efforts to integrate heavily chanted Masses into their podcast rotations on the web.

*If the diocese has a strong tradition of celebrating “multiculturalism,” the bishop should make known his desire to integrate the native culture of chant into diocesan liturgical and devotional events. Orders of Worship should reflect this so that the bishop can exemplify the chant tradition in his cantillation of collects and prayers, in Latin or not.

*The bishop should also entreaty the advice of his fellow ordinaries in the metropolitan as to these efforts, so that he can be regarded by his brothers as leading by example, rather than a pastor who defers responsibility upward.

That’s all I got, for now, MA.

Charles, great ideas. I might pitch some of them tomorrow, when I meet with our diocesan director of divine worship. :)

BTW, we've had the library idea on the back burner for a little while; the issue is finding the money for it.

What would you guys suggest for resources, especially for beginning chanters? I want the Gregorian Missal, and a couple Triplexes. I've heard good things about the Plain and Easy Introduction to Gregorian Chant. And of course, there would be the Parish Book of Chant.

It would also be helpful to get some liturgical materials, and resources on the Latin language. Suggestions?

And I second Adam's comments about making chant appealing; part of this thrust is to make sure the chant is sung WELL. This, of course, requires being very patient with a beginning schola. It can take a very long time just to learn a communion chant. We spent more than a couple hours learning a one-minute communion chant for the ordinations last Saturday. It was very well-received, though. I'd post a recording, but I don't know how to do it!

Practical

invite all interested musicians from each parish that would like to sing in their parish. Provide them each with a copy of the PBC and hold a workshop at the cathedral or somewhere central. Sing chant that is appropriate for the next six months for upcoming liturgies. Pick two or three feasts. Do not teach any rubrics to these people, but just get them singing the simple hymns in imitation. Let them experience the beauty. In six months or so, do another day and have them share their experiences. Sing together music appropriate for the next six months. Little by little those budding schola leaders will begin to emerge. They are the ones who may want to learn more about chant technique.

The key is to find those musicians in each parish who will go back and share the wealth.

Are you kidding, Mike? The Triplex, to me, is like a Leonardo da Vinci Codex! I remember sitting behind one of our fellows (from NYC) at the SD Intensive and observing him transcribing chants from his Triplex, and thinking: that's what genius looks like.

LOL, Michael. I've been writing chants on our whiteboard with the Saint Gall neumes over the square notes to give my students a sense of the fluidity of the chant, and hope to work more with that this year. I'm not planning to teach them how to read it extensively; I'm not fluent myself. It also helps keep more advanced chanters interested (I have a couple in my schola).