I have not widely used the simplex, but I am familiar with it. Here's a few comments:

All in all, this seems to be to be a situation where we must not let, as Fr. Z says, the perfect become the enemy of the good.

Would you rather have the simplex chants, or no propers at all? That's the audience it's primarily designed for: situations where the GR propers are impossible or impractical, such as beginning to intermediate choirs, weekdays where learning another set of GR propers is impractical, or even situations where the pastor is allowing the propers to be sung, but only on condition that the congregation can join in on the antiphon.

The Simplex isn't meant to replace or imitate the GR, it's meant to supplement it, and be a new resource unto itself.

1) the simpler melodies of the Simplex are taken from the Divine Office, and this music isn't fit for Mass
2) the melodies of the Simplex are all of the same genre, and they miss the musical variety of the Gregorian Mass propers
3) the texts used in the Simplex don't match the texts from the Graduale Romanum
4) the Simplex uses seasonal sets of texts, taking away the musical character of particular Sundays
5) the Simplex introduces vocal participation of the faithful at moments when only the choir is supposed to sing

1) chant is fit for Mass; the music is secondary to the words; ergo, the Simplex is fit for Mass.
2) the melodies of the Simplex are NOT all of the same genre, and they INCORPORATE the musical variety of the Gregorian Mass propers—yes, the genres are largely syllabic and neumatic, and only selectively melismatic; and there is more variety in the Simplex in that the Simplex uses more litanic forms to encourage the vocal participation of the faithful.
3) the texts used in the Simplex can’t possibly match the texts from the Graduale Romanum because the latter is three times bigger than the former; but there is admirable continuity between the texts of both.
4) the Simplex uses seasonal sets of texts, taking away the musical character of particular Sundays—yes and no
5) the Simplex RESTORES the vocal participation of the faithful at moments when the choir usurped the singing of the assembly; the choir is supposed to sing only the verses of the processional chants and the chants between the readings.

Very nicely put, Paul Ford!

JennyF and EAF, I am serious about #5 and #1. I am talking about insights gained from my reading of James McKinnon and from decades of working with the Simple Gradual.

If I remember correctly, aren't some of the simpler communion propers, such as Factus est repente actually taken from office responsories? To say that that there is a hard/fast distinction between mass chants and office chants seems to overlook the facts of the matter.

Thank you all for your replies. These are most helpful in writing the introduction for the Klein Graduale as well as articles on the subject.

By the way, a full preview of the (pew) book can be seen here: http://share.snacktools.com/AB7CA9EC5A8/fzt86fq5

Thank you. You did see it right: I used Lilypond to typeset the music.

frogman, I believe that hartleymartin's $2000 was aimed at his following sentence:

A $2,000 per year scholarship amounts to paying a musician $40 per week

The $40/week is what the Episcopal parish where I am director pays the section leaders of the parish choir, who put in three hours a week, all on Sunday morning. All but the soprano position have been filled for years by adults >40 years of age; the last time we hired a soprano, five years ago, we had to increase the amount to $50, but the vestry would only do that for the new person, not increase the existing salaries. Now that our soprano has moved on to pursuing a career in NYC, I'm having a terrible time trying to fill the position.

The organist and I are 1/4-time employees (i.e. 10 hrs/wk, no extra pay for holy days, extra rehearsal et cetera, but stipends for weddings and funerals); we are paid at the bottom of the AGO scale for our experience and qualifications, but it's probably the best job with the best music of Catholic or Anglican parishes in the Catholic diocese (half the state).

My home parish (Catholic) pays $125 per service for the organist to play three masses and direct the choir at one; he also has a full-time job outside of the Church because he certainly can't live on what he makes there (and it is a tiny church, so paying him that much is also a stretch). He makes for three masses about 75% of what my organist and I make for 1 liturgy, although he does get paid separately for every extra mass he plays. My pastor says he would love to have me there as choir director, but he can't afford me; so I do busman's holiday on my six Sundays of vacation a year.

My talk of a $2,000 per year scholarship being $40 per week was intended for certain members of the standing choir such as section leaders. A church with a bit of money to spare might have 1 or 2 choir members in each voice section to form a standing membership. The fact is that churches cannot and should not rely so heavily on volunteers on things as important as liturgy.