We are to have a blessing for the 'awakening ' of our organ in two weeks. Does anyone have a suggestion for a hymn or chant that is simple enough for a general (unauditioned, one part, no harmony) Gregorian chant parish group to learn in two short rehearsals? Something to do with Psalm 150 perhaps?
Honestly, it’s not Gregorian Chant, but a real beefy and voluptuous organ heavy Arrangement of All Creatures of Our God and King would be an excellent choice. It’s well known, fairly simple as long as they don’t get caught up on the dotted whole note towards the end, and the congregation will probably actually join you.
Thanks SponsaChristi, we'll have the regular church choir sing a couple of those, this is for the chant group, a more recent addition to our musical forces. Our very active PP is keen to reintroduce music and singing and he found an organ from another church closing. And organised two-year organ scholarships for four young people! How fortunate we are.
Tomjaw, that's a lovely idea but my group would need a simpler one. Currently I'm leaning toward the simple repetitive Ubi Caritas, and Te Laudamus is just a bit longer.
Thanks @Richard Mix, that's one to remember if we do two-part pieces. The first part is unison and the rest may as well be for my purposes ;) Thank you for contributing this to CPDL! As you prepared the scores, I should alert you that the .mxl file ran out of lyrics after the 'salvum fac' but I can easily write them in. Not as complex as I'd expect from Liszt - the tune must be from the chant, yes? I've heard and sung a lot of Te Deum settings and I couldn't rely on memory to identify it, I'll have to look it up.
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