Getting more people to sing melismatic propers (or in duos or solo)
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,212
    I am in an all-volunteer schola of ten people. Only ten (“only”). We are actively recruiting and I am hoping that some things outside of our control (all positive!) will lead to growth this year. Some have musical training, one has choral and compositional training on top of piano or guitar, a couple played an instrument in school, and the rest were musical blank slates.

    The tracts are now upon us after next weekend. We have long struggled with these. In the past, we had one person sing all of the verses. Then two people or three. Two years ago, we were able to divide in two and alternate properly. Last year, the mix was not right, and we would even have the full schola singing on the last verse, rendering the asterisk redundant.

    I wrote this down and would like some feedback or thoughts. The idea is not mine, and while I think highly of the person who planted the seed, I’ll keep the name for myself, for reasons. Ecce.

    — Let’s say that we divide into groups A and B.

    — Group A starts the tract and sings the first verse. Group A also intones the rest of the propers, sings the gradual verse, the first half of psalm verses.

    — We could have group B take the lead on the Asperges verse, the Kyrie, intone the Sanctus (and if the choir is absent, Marian antiphon and Agnus; here, it has become customary for the women of the choir to intone those two chants alone)

    — That would mean two of the four who currently sing the solo/cantorial parts in each group, two for A and two for B, plusother people, some of whom will never be able to sing solo or in a duo, some of whom who could, which opens up more possibilities than relying on the four of us. Otherwise, we would wind up adding one or two more people to this group of four for the psalm verses, the gradual and alleluia verse etc. And you see why it’s odd for over half of the group to be singing what is supposed to be for a smaller number of singers.

    — That would mean a different rotation of people at least 2x a month for now, instead of the same singers week in and week out.

    — I’m not 100% sure about rotating who directs. It’s a little awkward rotating between our lead volunteer and me (we will be in the different groups established for the tracts, and which will probably be kept for any other divisions, including the ones necessary for Good Friday’s chants) and therefore between Ordinary and Propers, but that might make the most sense: have someone conduct from the group whose turn it is to intone whatever it is.

    Maybe I’m overthinking this! But we have some strong and capable singers, others who need more support, it’s just that at least one of two of the men are needed to get through propers, period, and we want that to evolve positively!
  • OMagnumMysterium
    Posts: 331
    That sounds like a nice idea. We've never done that here, except trying it at practice for the Palm Sunday Tract last year, so I don't know how I'd like it. Maybe try it through Lent, reassess after Easter, and during the Triduum do whatever you have to to keep things together.

    Also, I suppose the shape of your loft and how you all stand when you sing will have an impact on this. If you're having two groups, I'd want to think of them more as two "choirs" and have one on each side of the loft, facing diagonally towards each other and the Altar. With enough singers, I think that could be really beautiful, but if you have a separate mixed choir in edition to these two groups, then things are a little more complicated. At our parish, the organ is in the center (facing away from the Altar), and I wish all the men would stand on one side of the organ, and all the ladies on the other. The director of the mixed choir could then stand in the center, facing the organ, and then the director and organist would be the only ones to have their backs to the Altar. Then when the men's schola sings the Propers, they just form their own little semicircle (or whatever it is that day) on their half, which is basically what they already do. Only downside to this is that it doesn't give as much space for arranging two separate "groups" of men.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,212
    Yeah. So in our current arrangement, we are in a semicircle tucked in the back corner. (In the past, someone would even be behind the organ which has to be where it is to be out of the way and to use the outlet, which cuts off the sound so that you are constantly off from the rest of the group.) The mixed choir is nearby but doesn’t interfere with our placement.

    when things settle down:

    The schola will be on one side of the loft (we’re not in the loft for two more months anyway). Which side is TBD. The mixed choir will be on the other, and the console can move so that we can accommodate things like the Mozart Ave Verum Corpus where the organ is doing more than just accompanying the chant or a hymn.

    Only one person sings in both the mixed choir and in the schola. So that’s not a big deal.

    My thinking is that we just have to split our semicircle in two and not physically separate ourselves more. It would get too difficult to see the conductor for the parts sung by the whole; the columns run to the ceiling, meaning that I get to see the gold-leafed capitals but have several physical obstacles in the loft.
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