Chant in Catechesis (Middle School Edition)
  • a1437053a1437053
    Posts: 198
    My wife was cantor at our parish and I was Confirmation Coordinator. A slow, but perceptible, push towards "a more solemn vision" of liturgy and your typical parish trolls resulted in a situation where we had to step aside. Three years later, I now find myself teaching a middle school Catechism class. I wanted to share what was going on in one corner of Southern California.

    Mr. Tucker often writes about this movement's use of technology and the resulting speed with which resources become available. Having grown up immersed online, it surprised me to be surprised when I reflect that three years ago, we didn't have the resources that I now believe can make THE DIFFERENCE. I thought the Parish Book of Chant would make all the difference, but the gap between the ideal and reality (in the minds of the Spirit of Vatican II leadership) is really a chasm that requires baby steps. And time.

    So, here's the musical plan:

    1. Chant the "Amen" to the ICEL Creed III. A link will be provided to the students. Most of them had smartphones!
    2. Chant the "Our Father" by Snow. Perhaps this will encourage our priests to chant this most familiar "Mass Part". I foresee a day when a priest walks into our room and one of the kids asks him to chant the parts just before and after the Snow chant.
    3. Teach the ordinary in small steps.
    4. Teach Fr. Weber's Compline, in small steps.

    I hope this is a good start, given the 10-20 minutes I might be allowed. It fits perfectly with our opening prayers (the Creed and Our Father must be memorized) and our closing prayer (Compline). It is non-threatening because it is in the OCP materials, printed in the very Mass Parts we read (thank you corrected translation!). It is English. There are VIDEOS.

    I can't stress how important the videos are for people like me who can barely sing along.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen JenniferGM
  • a1437053a1437053
    Posts: 198
    The First Class
    As parents and students milled around the classroom door, I walked up to each family to welcome them. I imagine Pope Francis would approve of friendly engagement. Even though I encouraged parents to come, it was clear that parents were well aware that if they accepted, their son or daughter would be the "un-coolest" kid in the class. These are middle school students.

    Instead of opening with rules or objectives or introductions, I started with the "Amen" for ICEL Creed III. It is a difficult two syllables, but it gives me the opportunity to share with them that I am NO MUSICIAN. And I believe it helped ease their anxiety to see a grown man trying to sing. They have grown up watching good and, most hilariously, bad signing competitors. This was a great way to break the ice.

    But after some silliness, I cued up the audio so they heard the last few verses of the Creed, ending with the Amen. And after three or four tries, not one was singing.

    Then I offered Skittles. (1 mini-bag)

    And the middle schoolers, all of them, at least mouthed the two syllables.

    I teach high school seniors in the local public school, so it was second nature to create a singing environment with a low-affective filter (very safe so they take high risks), high motivation (candy), positive peer relationships (cheering), and scaffolded learning (we had heard the same dozen notes at least ten times, albeit sometimes sung WAY off key by me). But as I said, they all earned that bag of skittles. (Which I had to give them anyways because it was the first "getting-to-know-you" ice breaker.) I even heard a few of them pickup the end of the creed, which is much easier plainchant ". . . resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come . . ."

    FAST FORWARD TO THE CLOSE

    And it was time to close our prayer. Eventually I would like them to chant pieces of Fr. Weber's Compline, but to start we just listened to Snow's Our Father a few times. And of course closed with the AMEN. Many sang. A lot were off key. But it was a great start given the 15 minutes I was allowed. I gave them links to the full ICEL Creed and Snow Our Father. Their homework was to practice both.

    UP NEXT

    Creed: For the next few lessons, I plan to work backwards to teach the entire Creed III so we can make it a routine to chant it every single class. Instead of reciting it. I will take the typical sections, but instead of starting with the Father, then the Son, et. al., I will start with Death and hope (visceral topics that are easy to understand, and easier to connect emotionally to), continue with the Church, and the Holy Spirit (which are easy to tie in to any Catechetical program's opening chapters). So I plan to teach the chanted end for 5 minutes, then open with a typical prayer that ends with the Creed mostly recited, until we chant the last part we just practiced.

    Our Father: As class closes, I hope to play the Snow chant a few times for practice. Then end with the same Creed recitation/chant & the full chanted Our Father.

    FUTURE
    Compline: Once we have the Our Father, I will introduce Fr. Weber's Responsory and Gospel Chant. I hope to end with those three for the rest of the year, slowly growing the Compline: adding all the prayers for our weekday, culminating with the psalm.
    Ordinary: Once we have the Creed, I will introduce the Mass parts, starting with the shortest, and ending with the Gloria. This will take place WITHIN the class. Not in opening/closing prayer sets that I have planned for the other chants.

    LAST
    I'm not sure how, but we will be learning some calligraphy and THIS (see attached)...
    DSC_0737.jpg
    986 x 653 - 92K
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Patricia Cecilia
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,500
    A beautiful exposition of the realities of the Reform of the Reform in a local situation. I love the bribe of the Skittles!
  • Jani
    Posts: 441
    Very inspiring, actually...thanks!
  • Musicteacher56
    Posts: 621
    Congratulations on being so in tune with sacred music, especially on the middle school level. I never thought about candy bribes with my own middle schoolers. Thanks for the suggestion! God bless in your gracious endeavors. The young people are our future and it is through them that our sacred music traditions will once again be alive and well in our parishes.
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    This works for my kids K-8:
    When the "formal" session begins, chant the "in Nomine" (In the Name of the Father...) recto tono with all while making the sign of the cross. They all sing Amen, same tone, of course.
    A while down the road, you could add "The Lord be with you" to which they would respond in kind "And also with you" as you're a layman.
  • Carl DCarl D
    Posts: 992
    I'm very impressed and encouraged!
  • a1437053a1437053
    Posts: 198
    Thank you for your comments, I am encouraged to post something for our next class. Melofluent: Your suggestions will be considered!
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