How would you handle the Simplex within a season?
  • Andrew Motyka
    Posts: 944
    Looking through the Graduale Simplex, one can see that the longer seasons are not addressed week by week, but instead by groups (Advent I and II, Easter I and II, etc.).

    I don't think there's an official way to handle this, but how would you handle the distribution of the groups? In Advent, for example, would you prefer to sing Advent I on the 1st Sunday of Advent, then Advent II on the 2nd, and back to Advent I for the 3rd? Or would you prefer to sing Advent I for the first two weeks, II for the second two, etc.?

    I am fairly sure there is no "right answer" for this one. I am just curious what the consensus out there is.
  • ProfKwasniewskiProfKwasniewski
    Posts: 242
    Here at the College we have seasonal booklets with the Latin antiphons on one page and the English equivalents (done by Fr. Weber) on the facing page. We then simply cycle through the antiphons in order, e.g., for the first week of Lent, we put up a sign that says "Latin Antiphons Mass I," for week 2, "Mass II," etc. In Ordinary Time, we go through to Mass VIII and then start over with Mass I. It works rather well: the congregation gets used to the antiphons for a given week, but since each week changes, they don't get tired of them, either.
    Thanked by 1Aristotle Esguerra
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,185
    Dr. Paul Ford has a PDF of suggested uses for all except Ordinary Time here, keyed to his By Flowing Waters.

    I think the usage depends on who is intended to sing (choir, congregation, etc.) and the abilities of the intended singers to pick up these melodies. I will be using only one or two of my SATB adaptations as standalone choral pieces with one of my choirs throughout the entirety of Lent and Easter. With my other, advanced choir, we will use some of them as choral prelude music throughout Lent. (Both choirs sing out of the SEP according to the prescribed order, for what it's worth.)
  • ProfKwasniewskiProfKwasniewski
    Posts: 242
    PS. I should note that I'm speaking of daily Mass (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday; Wednesday is an EF Low Mass). On Sundays and Holy Days, we use either the SEP or the Graduale Romanum.
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