Small ensembles
  • marymezzomarymezzo
    Posts: 236
    Y'all will have to forgive me for bragging about my tiny schola. The Pope Benedict XVI Schola RULES.

    Although the group has been in existence for an entire year, the membership has been in flux, and the four or five we have now are not the four or five we started out with. Tonight the current group sang its first Mass together, and I am so proud of them.

    They sang beautifully, they listened well to each other, they watched me closely--and they absolutely made my week. Or maybe my month. My heart is full of gratitude.

    We began with a prelude—the introit from the Anglican Use Gradual. For Mass we sang an introit hymn from a book this particular parish uses and then Palestrina's Jesu Rex Admirabilis, the Ave Regina Caelorum chant, the two-part Perosi Ave Maria, and Father Columba Kelly's Communio for the third Sunday of Lent, with verses I pointed. [Correction: in the first version of this post I mistakenly wrote "Father Weber's Communio"]

    My job is to welcome, encourage, teach, and praise them--but they deserve all the credit for singing so well.
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 964
    Mary, what great news... hope to hear more such stories at the colloquium this summer.
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    Sounds wonderful! Just in a year you can sang that much is quite an accomplishment. Please tell us about "the Pope Benedict XVI Schola RULES."
  • marymezzomarymezzo
    Posts: 236
    Ladies, thank you for your kind comments.

    Mia, I formed the Pope Benedict XVI Schola just over a year ago. We meet once a week to learn and sing Gregorian chant, chant in English, and polyphonic pieces to the extent that we can cover the voice parts. Everything we do is unaccompanied.

    At the moment we have two sopranos, me singing alto, and two tenors, once of whom can sing a bass part if it isn't too low. Obviously we need more people but especially a good bass and a good alto so I have the option of conducting only and not singing.

    We went through a dry spell when a lot of people had to be out for various reasons. And two of the people singing with us now are quite new. Fortunately, they replace some good singers we lost last year for family reasons (birth of new babies).

    We are rehearsing at CharlesW's beautiful church and hope soon to begin singing for one of its Masses on a monthly basis.

    And that's the schola in a nutshell.

    Mary
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    Marry, thanks. Can I ask you one more question? Do you have men and women sing chants in unison or octave apart? If it's in unison, what is the usual range? I sometimes have a difficulty in finding ranges for men and women. Either too high for men or too low for women., when we sing in unison. When we seperate in octave, the other way around. (too low for men and too high for women)
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 993
    Congratulations - perserverance is the name of the game.

    Singers will come and go. Think of professional and semi-pro small ensembles. Their membership is constantly changing as people move, get other opportunities. Yes, it's hard on the director, especially with chant because you'll have singers all over the learning curve.

    You're making it happen.
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 964
    I agree with mj... but it seems that once you get a bit of momentum going with a group, it is really not so hard to add new folks. They can lean on those who know all the regular stuff and get up to speed so much more quickly than when you first started with all beginners. I have found that to be the case here... I have a solid core group that have all been with me essentially since last fall... now when newcomers come, it doesn't seem so hard to add them in.

    Maybe it's like Jeffrey's Te Deum example... Read the Heroic Generation (if you missed it first time around) here:

    http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2008/10/heroic-generation.html
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 993
    Janet is right - it's the little group that starts "at the very beginning" that really labors through the music. Interestingly, I'm finding that my new singers who are eager to get up to speed are reinvigorating the earlier members. Why? - because they actually practice with the CDs I gave them. I'm hoping this starts a "looping effect" and the whole ensemble will go up a notch or two.
  • marymezzomarymezzo
    Posts: 236
    Hello--sorry to have been unresponsive . . . have been all wrapped up in preparing the diocesan newspaper's special "new bishop edition." Bishop ordained earlier today--saints be praised!

    Usually the men and women sing octaves apart. As we get more members, I will do more splitting--men on this verse, women on that.

    I like to keep the range fairly low. Of course, the chant must be singable by sopranos and tenors, but my experience has been that chant is easier on the singer when in the lower to mid-range and also easier on the listener.

    Have you ever listened to a chant recording by women that was set quite high and soon began to sound overly cold and shrill? The singers may have a beautiful tone, but if it's too stratospheric, it doesn't wear well.

    Maybe it's just me, but I never think chant sounds right unless it is warmer and lower. I do not like to take the reciting tones higher than an A. That seems comfy for even the sopranos and tenors in my little group.

    Before introducing a chant, I fool around until I find a placement that I think works, and then we test it. If the singers need it to be pitched higher, we take it up. Usually that hasn't been a problem.
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    Thanks, Mary. Yes I heard many women sing in pretty high range. And I read in one of the Gregrian chant books says the higher the better (of course, provided the chanters can handle) I try to extend the range. But it's pretty hard. Hmm, I have to rethink about this.
  • marymezzomarymezzo
    Posts: 236
    Of course, we have to find a happy medium when placing the chant. But if the tessitura is not completely relaxed and easy for the singers, the chant will not be at ease for singers or listeners. These aren't opera arias, for which listeners are sitting on the edge of their seats, just dying to hear the gorgeous high C (or whatever) that is the climax of the piece. I'm not expressing this very well, but I believe the chant must communicate a certain interior peace or placidity that is incompatible with strain of any sort.
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 993
    I don't push my women's schola up too high. First of all, I can't stand the complaining from the altos. Secondly, it starts to sound very strained. The Abbey of Regina Laudis keeps its reciting tone up around an A. I think Stanbrook Abbey is lower. My women - and me too- are happier around an F. That gives us somewhere to go on antiphons without turning into chipmunks. I want a sound that is warm and confident with an ardent quality that will draw both the singer and the listener to the text.

    People sing with me because they want to - I don't see any advantage in straining their voices or making them wish they'd stayed home.
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 993
    "My job is to welcome, encourage, teach, and praise them..."

    marymezzo - I can't think of a better job description for a director. May I use this in an upcoming article? You've said a mouthful.
  • marymezzomarymezzo
    Posts: 236
    MJ--please feel free to use it!

    And I like very much your description of the sound you're looking for: "warm and confident with an ardent quality." I think that's perfect.
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