Hello!

God has greatly blessed me by giving me the opportunity, in conjunction with my full-time church position, to also found and direct a group of approximately ten students at the Catholic high school who chant at mass weekly. We began work in September, and I have constantly been amazed by the dedication, devotion, and talent of these students. Some of them had previous experience with playing instruments or singing pop music, but none were previously involved in choirs.

Presently a typical school mass will involve the proper introit and communion chants, chosen from either the Graduale Romanum or the Grad. Simplex, and also the responsorial psalm and alleluia from CCWatershed or a similar English chant-based resource, with the occasional motet as the 45-minute mass time allows, and only one hymn, at the offertory. They sang also the entire Lumen Christi set of Candlemas propers for the Catholic Schools Mass, and acquitted themselves admirably on Ash Wednesday in cooperation with the adult schola at my church. Liturgy of the Hours (primarily from the Mundelein psalter) is no problem, either, and it is such a joy to see them falling in love with the Church’s music.

I have one problem, though, with the (5) men. They will sing the correct notes all day long, and have a great time as they go, but they seem to be perpetually frightened to sing them above mezzo-piano. I’m not looking for bel canto, or for anything strenuous and forced – just a resonant, fairly bright and carrying tone that can be heard in the church at a reasonable distance. They are juniors and seniors, all of whom are decidedly past puberty and do not seem to be struggling with squawks and squeaks.

Information and diagrams about the function of the human anatomy in voice production and attempts to produce kinesthetic awareness of the same in the warmups have not gotten through to them – the girls will sing beautiful top gs and as at full volume, but the boys can scarcely be heard, particularly when singing in the church (800 seats, but a friendly 4-second acoustic). The boys’ sound seems unsupported and generally timid, though they are completely confident about the notes to be sung. I’ve heard them shout or sing comically loudly – I know it’s in there, but something’s in the way.

I am somewhat hampered in that we have only forty minutes a week to prepare music for the mass the following day, and until the schedule is redone with the next academic year, there’s no hope of changing that. Thus there is a lot less time to be spent in teaching theory and vocal technique, except where the music specifically requires particular knowledge. Obviously they should all have private weekly voice lessons, but I can’t do that and keep my sanity with the rest of my duties, and there’s not funding to hire someone else.

I am fresh out of my MM in organ and feel rather out of my depth. Our conducting courses were designed as preparation for working with large choirs of trained adults singing Mahler 2 and Beethoven 9, not for training brand-new chanters from the ground up. Having been raised Protestant, the expectation was that all men sang out loud and proud in church; I sang through the voice change and never expected anyone to not sing with gusto, so I don’t have a personal experience with being frightened of singing in church in a way that can be heard by others.

I would appreciate any advice anyone would care to provide, and also your prayers for their – and my – continued spiritual and musical growth.