Huh?.......What?.......Michael, can you help me with one of Meloche's recto tono psalm tones? We need it in Fbb.....that's my sweet spot, because if'n I cain't do it, ain't no one gonna do it.

Melo, use the little wheel on the organ and you'll be OK. That way you don't have to change the score or buy a license to arrange.

maybe she should be transposed to another galaxy? I also have a relative I'd like to pitch!

NOTE: this was a play on words "relative pitch"

Gee, when I first saw this heading, I thought it would be about transposition skills for singers who have to do polyphony at a pitch other than the written one...which I find tricky unless I can figure out some clef kludge.

Well guys, it finally happened. I asked for no transposition and have only been doing this for two weekends and Fr already wants to meet with me about it. It's ridiculous. He says he wants things in a " more singable key" and that we want to "promote more active participation." this sound exactly like the kind of arguments I would get from the cantor who insisted on it for over ten years, most of them before I or Fr even arrived at the parish. Furthermore, I have discovered that there is a choir member who most likely started the whole thing, because she used to sing all the psalms and do the song leading herself, therefore asking for transposition because it felt high for her voice and her voice alone. It is my view that this parish would not have known the difference had she not shown them it was possible, and neither would the one cantor who now so desperately clings to transposing as a way of life and is the one who is up in arms enough about this to go to Fr and complain because she lost the argument with me. Sounds also like I have an issue with individuals not respecting my decisions as director. Fr wouldn't have known the difference and neither would the PIPs. That brings me to the next issue: the decision to transpose was not made for the PIPs to begin with: it was made for one persons voice so that she could more easily sing the psalm, and now it's been done indiscriminately (always, with no thought as to the actual range of the song, but just as general practice) for over ten years.

My request now is this. I potentially have a meeting on Thursday with Fr regarding this and some other more docile issues. Is there anything I can do about this or is Fr just more likely to put the kibosh on my descision, undermining any authority I would have had as director?

@olbash, the. We should sing everything in one key, that of C or D major (only in this case the cantor in question will avoid a d in the staff), because those are really the only keys that are good for the untrained and non-musicians voice. You also have to combine that fact with the consideration that everyone will likely prefer something different, and as we all know, we can't do music by committee.

I have, when asked to transpose something - and I can't do that, to begin with - deviously fooled around with a mishmash of keys to confuse the singer's ear. Then I played something in the original key and said, "let's do this one. It's perfect for you." Most can't tell the difference.

In my theatre design days I once had a(n obnoxious) director complain about the sunrise lighting sequence I programmed, offering a series a ridiculous and unhelpful suggestions. I told her I'd work on it.

The next day: "I tried to incorporate as many of your ideas as possible. It was a little tricky, and I had to blah blah blah......."

Showed her the SAME thing. She loved it.

People mostly just want to feel like they are important.

After speaking with more DMs from around my area and doing some academic research, including textbooks from my musEd coursework, I have come up with the following compromise: 1. Transposition will be used on a case by case basis, considering each song individually, and will be done according to the academic principles learned from both the research and my training in children's voices, 2. According to the research and training, I can safely conclude that the average, untrained voice, which describes most PIPs, is from C3 to C4 (written, as the men will be an octave lower); this roughly corresponds to the basic range we all have as children growing up, 3. Transpositions will be done on a case by case basis according to this range, and efforts will be made to keep the music between these two pitches, with a M2 tolerance on each end, 4. Efforts will be made to encourage the accompanists to transpose at sight or write out the accompaniment in the new key if at sight transposing is either not feasible ( more than a M2 in either direction) or if the skill has not been adequately developed, as opposed to the use of the automatic transposer on the Roland keyboard, 5. When the choir is present for Mass, transposition will not be used, for facility in singing parts.