Well, this is a treasure, and I'm betting that very few people alive have ever seen this:



This masterful guide by Justine Ward, enormously rare, is now in print again for the first time since 1949.

It is her most advanced guide to understanding and singing Gregorian chant. It covers the management of dynamics, the singing of the Psalms including intonations and rules for adapting syllables to melodic formula, the three styles of chant, the treatment of accents, varieties of notation, forms of composition, the diagramming of chants, centonization, interpretation, chironomy and conducting, expression and accompaniment, as well as the origin, evolution, mutilation, and regeneration of the chant.

If you have only thought of Mrs. Ward in connection with children's pedagogy, this book will amaze you. It is probably the most advanced guide to the practical singing and understanding of the details of Gregorian chant ever written. It certainly embodies the height of classical Solesmes styling. It is a must for anyone who aspires to mastery. The book is softcover, 208 pages.

Now, a couple of things. One is that we changed the name of the book. It was called Gregorian Chant Volume II, but that is just too confusing. The current title better reflects the contents.

If you want to look at the book, you can see or print it here. As you can see, it is an enormously technical volume. It boggles my mind. But Arlene spent weeks reading it in detail and loving every minute of it.

Scott Turkington tells a funny story of having briefly seen a copy in Ted Marier's trunk. He said "hey, what's that??!!" And then Ted said, oh just a book, and closed the trunk! That was it.

Anyway, I excited about it, and more excited to discipline myself to read it in print than online. I can't ever be a master but this book can teach me so much. I'm especially happy that it shows off her capacity as a scholar.