Your Schola's "Diet"
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,930
    I recall reading somewhere on this thread (I believe it was Mrs. Wilson, although I may be mistaken) someone talking about the 'diet' of their choir, mentioning that plainchant made up about %70 - their 'fruits and vegetables'.

    To carry the analogy further, I ask - what is your schola/choir's 'diet'? Where would polyphony, hymnody, etc, fall on your musical food pyramid? And for those of us who want to bulk up their choir while keeping its body fat down - what regimen would you suggest to get it into shape?
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  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,473
    I'm in favor of a PALEO diet, supplemented with a lot of English poultry and occasionally some Italian venison.
    Thanked by 3StimsonInRehab CHGiffen Ally
  • PaixGioiaAmorPaixGioiaAmor
    Posts: 1,473
    Since we moved to the loft a few years ago and people don't regularly see them, I've not been nearly as concerned about their diet, nor their dress or, in the case of female members, use of makeup.
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  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    I would say it would depend on what diet the choir had up to this point. If it's been a steady diet of contemporary stuff, throwing all plainchant and polyphony at them might not go down too well.

    In my particular circumstances we are currently at about 15% chant, 75% English Hymns, 5% Latin Hymns and 5% polyphony. As we build repertoire and confidence I expect those percentages to shift significantly. I want to end up at 50% chant, 25% Latin Hymns, 20% polyphony and 5% English Hymns. That program will be twenty years or so in the making however. As usual...YMMV.
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  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,930
    Mr. Wood, it seems my priest is a latent vegetarian in this regard - you ask him what he wants at the beginning of Sunday Sung Mass, and he replies, "Asparagus for me, thanks".
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  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,189
    What better way than "Aspargus me" for sprinkling the vegetables ... but at Mass?
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    "Asparagus for me, thanks".
    It would be imprudent to repost here a famed anecdote about Babe Ruth at a White House dinner and said vegetable.
    Stimson, here is our normative, Sunday to Sunday ordo:
    Introit: SEP
    Processional Hymn (strophic, trad.)
    Ordinary (seasonal) at a ratio of about 3 Choral (eg. Nickel/Ostrowski/Mueller) to 1 Chant (ICEL or Latin.)
    Responsorial: Respond & Acclaim
    Gospel Accl.-chanted, various
    Offertory: always TBD because of its "pivot" or bridge position between rites.
    Communio: Rice Choral Communios; if not rehearsed prior, the Rice Simple Choral Propers/SEP Bartlett
    Congregational hymn/song
    Time remaining: choral motet
    Organ postlude, save for Lent/Advent. This Lent "Parce Domine" all Latin from PBC.
  • donr
    Posts: 971
    Here is our current diet.
    Entrance - Antiphon from LCM Antiphon only then a hymn.
    Response Psalm - Respond and Acclaim.
    Gospel Acclimation - Respond and Acclaim
    Offertory - LCM Antiphon only, then a hymn.
    Communion - LCM Antiphon and verse.
    Then a hymn if time permits.
    Mediation - Marian chant of the season.
    Recessional - hymn
    Mass Ordinary - Mass if Christ the Savior
    (Not my choice)
  • Jani
    Posts: 441
    Raw meat, one would think, the way people avoid us when we approach...

    Seriously, at this point we practice the next Sunday's responsorial psalm, then move on to the bulk of the next full mass we plan to sing. After that we practice ordinaries in Latin/Greek.
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    My schola (EF) sings gregorian propers and ordinaries (using Chants abrégés for one or both of the al/grad about 1/3 of the time). After the propers, we typically use ad libitum chants, such as: Ave Verum, Ave Maria, the marian antiphons, attende domine, Adoro Te, Oremus Pro Pontifice, etc.

    I would like to break out into multi-part music and polyphony when 1) we have the voices, and 2) I gain the skill needed to teach and direct it well.
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  • Arthur Connick
    Posts: 496
    Ben, thanks for posting on this. I was reluctant to jump in on this thread, but now you have broken the ice for an EF perspective.

    Our regular choir sings the Gregorian chant from the Graduale Romanum at Mass at all High Masses. In addition we have a choir led by a dedicated lady which sings at funerals. This second group (really an apostolate in its own right, the heart of the sung liturgy in the parish) is important on a practical level because the singers need to be prepared to sing on short notice in the middle of the week.

    The regular choir typically sings a polyphonic motet at the Offertory. But 60-70% of our rehearsal time focuses on chant. Our choral training roughly follows the one outlined in VGL's The Chant.
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  • CGM
    Posts: 696
    Our volunteer choir's usual program:
    - Entrance hymn
    - Resp. Psalm from "Parish Book of Psalms" (simple chant-style)
    - Gosp. Acclamation - antiphon from LC Missal and 4-vc. verse arr. me
    - Offertory motet by me - I'm composing SATB settings in English of all the Offertory texts
    - Communion motet - either a brief Latin motet or English anthem. Prior to the motet, I chant the Latin Communion antiphon by myself.
    The Ordinary varies by season:
    - ICEL chants for Ordinary time
    - various settings of mine for Advent/Christmas, Lent, and Easter

    Our professional choir's usual program:
    - Introit motet (Gregorian proper in Latin, set for SATB choir by me)
    - Resp. Psalm - SATB setting by me
    - Gosp. Acclamation - antiphon from LC Missal and 4-vc. verse arr. me
    - Offertory chant in Latin
    - Offertory motet, usually an elaborate Renaissance polyphonic work in Latin (occasionally English)
    - Communion chant in Latin
    - Communion motet, usually another elaborate Renaissance polyphonic work
    There's a different Ordinary setting each Sunday, grouped seasonally:
    - unison or SATB accompanied settings in English for Ordinary Time
    - unaccompanied Renaissance polyphonic settings in Latin for Advent and Lent
    - larger-scale Latin polyphonic settings for the Christmas season
    - brief Mozart or Haydn SATB+organ Masses for the Easter season

    There's a third Mass with music, and for several months we had a two-man Gregorian schola singing all the propers and season Gregorian settings of the Ordinary. Then the schola was cut for budgetary reasons. Now that Mass is a choir-less version of the volunteer choir Mass.
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  • gregpgregp
    Posts: 632
    Another EF perspective: we sing the Propers from the Liber Brevior, and for the Graduals and Alleluias/Tracts we sing the 'simplified' versions in the bracketed pages at the back.

    We use mostly chanted Ordinaries, although we do sing two polyphonic Masses for 3 voices - the Byrd and my own. We have Kevin Allen's Motets for 3 voices, which we are going through, but more substantial polyphony will have to await more voices and more experience.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,699
    I did the math in regards to our 4 English Sung Masses, counting the music at the procession, Kyrie, Gloria, Psalm, Alleluia, Offertory, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Communion, and Recessional (with potentially multiple pieces at Procession/Offertory/Communion).

    Saturday Vigil:
    27.2% Hymns
    72.7% Chant

    Sunday Morning Televised Mass
    23% Hymns
    69% Chant
    7% Polyphony

    Sunday Morning Solemn Mass
    8% Hymns
    75% Chant
    17% Polyphony

    Sunday Evening Mass
    16.6% Hymns
    66.6% Chant
    16.6% Songs
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    The amount of chant at the Sunday Evening Mass is clearly a sign that you shouldn't be using other "songs." [/purplebold]
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