If you only have 3 or 4, I would recommend singing unison first. Then, if you have enough people, go to two part (preferably unaccompanied) YMMV. My schola has only four people (counting myself who now has to play the organ), so we never got to step number 2. I pray that you find success, and that more people become interested after hearing your labors for a few Sundays!

"Your mileage may vary"
I've been in somewhat the same situation now for almost 2 months. We have 4 men, 2 women, an organist, and me. The group hasn't done a lot with part music. They do Ordinary chants pretty well, and sing the Introit and the Alleluia (I sing the verse, and the rest of the Propers). None are musicians, though most played an instrument a bit in school.

For part music, we're 2 parts, with one doubled at the octave. One thing which has been successful for us is to take things with flexible voicings, like the St. Gregory or the Traditional Roman Hymnal they have (yes, it's SSPX, but a good resource and a value at $18/copy....that's just a Schola thing; the PiPs use the Campion missal). I'll get folks singing 2 parts, and if they're solid, I'll add another myself. If they aren't solid, we can cut back to two, or to unison. And we do mostly Eucharistic motets for communion, to increase their reusability.

I make them READ. So far, they can only do it with the organ; any attempt at a cappella reading collapses into cacophony within 6 beats. I'm trying to feed them theoretical concepts to improve that (solfege etc). Case: Sunday we're doing the Peeters Tantum ergo. Organ intro ends on dominant, they come on on tonic octaves (in C yet), Only they came in on the dominant. So we had to practice that entrance, and explain why it was that way, in hopes that the next time they'd get it. And I showed our one strong soprano how to get the one G in the piece, and it came out, big and beautiful... she was a little surprised.

We have a large OF parish with a decent sized choir and we sing the SEP propers. We also have a small schola choir which sings only in Latin and tries to sing one of the more intricate Gregorian propers a week. If the parish is large enough, it could support both.

This being said, the schola has been an uphill battle. The group has had up to five members and as few as one cantor. A couple of girls I asked to join my choir have decided to join the schola due to scheduling conflicts and I was delighted.

I would begin with downloading the Parish Book of Chant (or purchasing five to ten copies) and learning some of the easier metrical chants. You might pursue some of the easier Gregorian Chants as well. This is not my forte, but these discussions have occurred often on this forum.

Music Lover,
I just want to encourage you that there are some fairly simple pieces out there you could do that are "polyphonic" in a sense, and you could do with very few voices. I have a 2-pt acapella version of Franck's Panis Angelicus for example, and a 2-pt "O Cor Jesu" that is very nice. Really, you could do either piece with w/ all men, all women, or mixing together. There are also some nice choral hymns in the St. Gregory hymnal that are fairly simple for even inexperienced choir's to learn. 3pt version of "Jesu Rex Admirabilis" by Palestrina also comes to mind (all men are one part, and then there's alto and sop.) We do a fairly wide variety of simple and more complex polyphony/choral music here at my FSSP parish where I direct; from time to time I do searches on CPDL using the "Multicategory search" to find new pieces.

Sorry if this is obvious but invest time in teaching. By the end of the season, make sure they are more confident at reading, and sight singing, and do practice on harmonies, vocal technique etc to strengthen their skills. Probably need to invest more time in this than with an experienced group. Sorry if this is so obvious, but I am amazed the number of choirs who never invest in upskilling.

Teach them to sing softly.

Thanks, Noel and BGP. I decided to have them sing "Alma Redemptoris Mater" (simple tone) right after the Communion antiphon. It's short and simple, but I think it will be a good introduction to chant for them. I think that will be appropriate for the 1st Sunday of Advent, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I still have so much to learn and I want to make sure I choose appropriate music.

I know the feeling! We have 4 people in my schola including my wife and myself. I was trying to play the organ and sing at the same time, but then there was no one to direct the schola. They didn't respond nearly as well. It was probably a combination of the lack of my presence in front of them, and my poor attempts at playing the organ (I'm not an organist). We are beginning to learn sol fege, and I may have recruited two or three more voices (we'll see tomorrow evening). I keep telling myself that good things come from small beginnings. I've known this to be true from several groups that I have had the priviledge to sing with through the years. Do the best you can with what you have now, and when the fruit comes, move from there. It is not a matter of having the biggest or most innovative choir or schola. It is about being faithful to the absolute best offering to the Holy Sacrafice of the Mass that we can make. I have seen my little group become very comfortable with Psalm tones. The next step is to get them comfortable with solfege. Then we will begin reading and singing some of the Gregorian Propers. I'm not giving myself a deadline since I have no idea how long that will take, but I know that it will come if I'm willing to invest myself in the developement of the people I have. Maybe after that happens, others will become interested. In the meantime, we will do the best we can with what we have.

Lastly, we have become a very close knit group of friends. The faith and dedication of my people humble and inspire me. I am looking forward to making new friends in the future who are interested in making the Divine Liturgy the best they can!

I'm directing the Propers, but accompanying the Ordinary. We're doing Mass VIII, and we've been doing it for most of the year (except for Mass XI during Lent). We'll learn Mass XII for Advent this year, and my priest is happy with three Mass settings during the year. He feels that it is better to have organ accompaniment when the congregation is encouraged to sing. I (kinda) agree with him on this. If I had my ideal, I would have the organ only for preludes, interludes, and postludes. I do admit that it helps the congregation sing with more confidence (those who want to sing in the first place).

I forgot to mention that I am also cantor for my schola and I sing with them during their responses. I don't know if you're doing that, but it might help them build some confidence for their parts.

I pray you guys are having success. I use Rice's Simple Choral Gradual a great deal, but not every week. As of now, I am only "allowed" to sing the Communion. I use other versions too, here and there, however, S.C.G. more often than others. IF we have time and I am prepared ahead, we sometimes use his Choral Missal but those are a bit longer and a bit more difficult.

All that to say that the propers from the S.C.G. sound good even with one part not present. Sometimes that's the alto, most times it's the bass line. I sing tenor and it sounds really good with just melody and tenor.

It's amusing to read my description of my schola from 5.5 years ago. I can reassure you that it DOES get better.