Are Giant-Sized Propers still in print?
  • E_A_FulhorstE_A_Fulhorst
    Posts: 381
    ... and no, I have never read the X-Men.

    If you don't know what I mean by "Giant-Sized Propers," the Mass I grew up attending used super-huge blown-up versions of the chant propers on a huge easel-sized music stand. What are these called? Are these back in print yet?
  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    I've seen Prof. Mahrt use these with his choir. I'd also love to know where one might find them.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,822
    The local printer charges $2 for black & white poster enlargements. What I haven't been able to source yet is a proper choirbook stand; one would think all those church furnishing catalogues that come in the mail ought to have something suitable...
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,515
    MaryAnn, at your rehearsal when Charles and I visited, one of the choir members had done something like this, if I recall. It was really cool.
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    Yes, I believe it was the young boy soprano or his dad that kindly had them done as Richard Mix describes above. Of course, St. Ann's schola (MACW directs) sings from the loft. But I wonder if an occasional use of this "medieval" method would have a similar effect visually if the choir is located in a transept or an actual "Choir"? Some of us may remember the use of the altar crucifix as a focal point when Fr. Keyes sang the OF at a colloquium ad populum. Might the focus of a smallish choir have a "communal" benefit, or would it more likely prompt confusion and distraction among the PIP?
  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    Kathy, you're right. We were trying it out for a while and it worked well to all use one large score. But it was too time consuming for me or volunteers to make the posters. If I could find them ready to order, I'd be most interested.
    Charles, good point about singing outside the loft. A director would probably need to arrange things carefully and give it a try.
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    My Pastor had a lectern of the kind seen in quires in mediaeval MSS made for the chapel in his house, and it was very simple.

    He purchased a nice Paschal Candle stand of the right height, and commissioned a friend of his who was a woodworker to make the desk to fit on top of it. It's double sided, and turns so you could have a book on each side. It looks very impressive, and you wouldn't think it was a candle-stand with something added to it.
  • David DeavyDavid Deavy
    Posts: 105
    I also had poster size chants made at a local Staples using PDF files from various sources found on this site, but you are right you need something to hold them, I attached them to the wall, for practice but that would not work at Mass. The stand above sounds wonderful.
  • lautzef
    Posts: 69
    Our pastor at Immaculate Conception had a local woodworker build one - actually, I think the man did it for free! But our big choirbook is Cistercian, so we can't use it for regular Sunday mass as the chant is different, and I haven't tried making posters. We use our Libers (Libri, sorry) or I xerox the propers for those who don't have their own books. I think it wouldn't be too hard for someone to make a stand for this type of thing. It needs to be reasonably stout as books and paper are heavy and (especially in old churches like ours) there is sometimes a fairly stiff draft coming through the choirloft.
  • IanWIanW
    Posts: 763
    It's very Romantik, but what about that not insignificant number of singers with sub-optimal eyesight? I for one even find it difficult to share a score with another!
  • Arthur Connick
    Posts: 496
    I use an inkjet printer to print the proper of the Mass in a 19 inch wide format - "near poster size". But we use this for rehearsal only.
  • E_A_FulhorstE_A_Fulhorst
    Posts: 381
    I'm thinking Kickstarter. (I'm always thinking Kickstarter.)
  • Arthur Connick
    Posts: 496
    EAF - Fantastic! Tell us why you're thinking Kickstarter.......
  • E_A_FulhorstE_A_Fulhorst
    Posts: 381
    1. Pooling our money we could make something nicer than the average.

    2. Making a prototype we'd be able to work out the kinks in making something like this, the design of which is really just made for the Ordinary Form. Even the EF would benefit. (The choir could be turned toward the altar and looking upward instead of turned inward or down to the Liber. Sound would improve at least as much as worship.)

    3. If something like this were successful, it could make production through one of the CMAA-affiliated outlets. How great would that be for the revitalization of chant?

    4. If it falls through, it falls through and not very much money was wasted anyway.

    5. Even if if falls through and gets wide attention, what kind of boon would that be for publicity, be it Corpus Christi Watershed or CMAA or what have you?

    6. If it does well, we could conceivably do something more ambitious, like the Liber or the Brevior or some new edition of either. (All public domain, of course.) We could even do a version of the sheets for the Simple English Propers, right?

    We could get publicity from non-CMAA sources like:
    1. Bloggers
    2. FSSP, et al., who you know would just love this. Some parishes might even purchase one.
    3. National Catholic Register

    We'd need financial estimates on:
    1. Typesetting the propers
    2. Printing the sheets
    3. Construction of the folder and the propers' case
    4. Music stand.

    We'd need community support on:
    1. Typesetting the propers. (You'll get paid, don't worry. That's the design, anyway: See above. Keep in mind that the Roman Gradual is already in Gregorio, apparently.)
    2. Putting together the initial proposal.
    3. Delivery of backers' rewards.
    4. Other things I'm just not thinking of, I'm sure.

    The bureaucrat in me has been itching to organize something like this for a while. So a lot of thought has gone into hows and whys.

    Kickstarter is pretty much begging for the CMAA touch.
  • Protasius
    Posts: 468
    RE: Typesetting the propers.
    The Graduale for the Extraordinary Form is already in Gregorio; what does it lack to be used for the Ordinary Form (except the Kyriale I suppose)?
  • RobertRobert
    Posts: 343
    I just make pdfs from the various digital sources and run them off at Kinkos. I bought a portable collapsible easel for about $100. Voila. Keeps people from singing into a book and improves posture. It is a bit of expense in the short term, in the long term it saves on constantly making individual photocopies that singers tend to lose.
  • Carl DCarl D
    Posts: 992
    Is there a significant adjustment for singers who have gotten used to making personal notes in their music? Does the director end up doing something like that on the huge copy?
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