Chant_Supremacist

Midnight Mass 2025
I'm sorry to hear that. By nature I'm pretty goal-oriented, but this is a situation where you have to try and take satisfaction in the process and effort, to which God, of course, was witness. At St. Ann's, Hamilton. Carols: Silent …

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 23 permalink
Generational Conflict between a young music director versus an aging and diminishing volunteer choir
You may want to schedule a one-on-one with the priest to discuss things in light of the recent drama. It depends on how serious/egregious it really is. Why don't any of the people who join stick around? I don't have too many aging voices…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 23 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
For me, whatever little it matters, that is preferable. In the OP I mentioned using the hymn melody in the postlude and modulating "sensibly," which one could also do in a coda, and I can live with and even enjoy that. I agree about not ov…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 22 permalink
Congregational singing at the Offertory (1962 MR)
@Charles_Weaver In a hypothetical situation where the singer is only capable of psalm tones and hymns, perhaps the best thing is to [sing] Vespers instead of Mass. The people who don't know how to sing mass won't know how to sing Vespers…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 18 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
Kids these days are completely out of control.

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 18 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
I really don't know what you're saying Richard. I'm technically in charge, but it's a collegial relationship. He's very talented, and within the overall parameters I set I'm mostly happy to let him do what he thinks is…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 18 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
When I hear "My organist" I start to wonder if the issue is whether you're 'his boss'. What's the issue exactly? I mean it in the same way you said "my colleague."

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 18 permalink
Congregational singing at the Offertory (1962 MR)
Yeah, I get it of course, and it's not like I warmed up for an hour and a half before our 7am Rorate mass last weekend. I do think it's interesting though. With all the time in the world I would be fine with 2 reps of a chant like In Sple…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 17 permalink
Congregational singing at the Offertory (1962 MR)
The differences are interesting. We do what's feasible, of course, but I think 15 minutes of warmup is totally inadequate. I warm up for an hour and a half on Sunday mornings (not including physical exercises at home) and even then I sometimes …

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 17 permalink
Congregational singing at the Offertory (1962 MR)
About the time it takes, I have in mind the solo cantor with no teacher situation that Palestrina has mentioned. (None of this discussion has been about what to do if you already have a schola with a half dozen competent singers and a highly trained…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 17 permalink
Congregational singing at the Offertory (1962 MR)
It's between "get started giving your parish a sung mass immediately, see dividends and gain real experience quickly, but risk introducing a bad habit you'll later have to kick" vs. "toil behind closed doors for a long time,…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 17 permalink
Congregational singing at the Offertory (1962 MR)
I think for a non-professional cantor to reliably execute all Gregorian propers without simplification or any noticeable mistakes probably does take about a decade of experience. I mean what we do is really quite difficult and can't be mostly a…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 17 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
@Charles_Weaver There is a chain of perfection that is mathematically consistent and has to do with the simplicity of the ratios: unison > octave > octave and fifth > major triad > minor triad > other sonorities like ending on a harm…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 17 permalink
I Saw Three Ships
I have a soft spot for this song. I would enjoy hearing and singing it at church on Christmas day. But it's very childlike in form and content, and all things considered, more suited to before or after the mass. Regarding the recording, I would…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 16 permalink
Hodie: Pronunciation of (arch)ANgeli ?
I think of tension between word stress and musical stress as an artistic opportunity. I like davido's answer but personally I don't solve in favour of the word stress in every case.

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 16 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
@CharlesWeaver Would this metaphysical system result in claiming that ending Veni on a picardy third is "more perfect"? If so, reductio ad absurdum, QED etc.

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 16 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
I appreciate the historical context (really), but I sort of object to putting what Palestrina does in eg. the ending of the prima pars of Sicut Cervus with what my organist sometimes likes to do with minor hymns. I haven't spent time learning t…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 16 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
@Liam You shared a subtlety that I think I overlooked earlier, about omitting the third. Do you think that idea might open a compromise solution here? I have a feeling he won't like it, but it's interesting.

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 16 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
I get it, many organists are fond of doing this thing at least sometimes. You want the option, let's say. It does halfway answer my question of what's going on with my mischievous organist: it's not just him, you're all crazy!

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 16 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
I would love to agree that it's just a matter of taste and leave it there, and I'm not denying that it can be done more or less tastefully. But to take up the Veni example again, changing the final chord to major "because it's Ga…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 15 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
@Marc Cerisier Ending O Come Emmanuel that way "because it's Gaudete Sunday" is exactly the type of thing my organist would do, and I would have been highly disgruntled for about 3 minutes after. Congratulations are in order for comi…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 15 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
Having gone away and listened to the suggested music, I wouldn't say that the ending comes unartfully out of nowhere in the way I'm talking about. Major tonicization happens pretty frequently earlier in the piece, and the last several meas…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 15 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
Did JS Bach and co. really employ it so un-artfully in composed music? Like semi-regularly out of nowhere on the final chord of pieces that haven't suggested it previously? I confess that's strange to me. I guess I'm willing to accep…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 15 permalink
Ending a minor hymn with a major chord
Interesting, I wasn't aware it had a name. Thank you. Of course I've heard pieces modulating at the end many times. I was thinking here of an organist's personal decision to suddenly modulate at the end of a hymn, which I either had…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 15 permalink
Anecdotal evidence of Catholics singing with gusto
Top Parousia arrangements: -Rod and Susan on guitar and tambourine singing Go Make a Difference while everyone else cringes or mumbles along -Four paid non-Catholic singers do a 10 minute renaissance Gloria -Parousia DM (me, obviously) selects a …

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 12 permalink
I have a dumb question about playing the organ
In practice, and this goes for singing too and other instruments, I think people who don’t feel fully confident and comfortable tend to end a little quickly. (Leaving aside pieces where the intention may be to end suddenly and dramatically, though o…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist December 8 permalink
How to determine how many carols to schedule before Christmas Mass
I think timing a verse and multiplying by the desired number of verses, for each carol, then adding 30 seconds between each and then a couple minutes' overall buffer, is enough. It has worked well enough for me. If you haven't done it befo…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist November 20 permalink
Alleluia verses in the Liber Cantualis
B, C, and D are Gregorian chant written in modern notation, so they would be sung in the usual way that Liam described. As far as congregational singing goes they are very difficult compared to A, but I could see using B without the melisma, ie. jus…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist November 17 permalink
All Souls 2025
St. Ann's TLM, Hamilton ON (tonight) Victoria's Missa Pro Defunctis a 4 Communion hymn: Languentibus (chant) All Saints: Gregorian propers Mass 8, Credo 3 Gloriosae Matris Dei (chant) at offertory Sicut Cervus at communion O Grantor of …

Comment by Chant_Supremacist November 3 permalink
We need better (i.e. Catholic) Communion Hymns
are there general principles that can assist in the selection of Offertory music? I'm not proposing these as principles exactly, but: - We always do the Offertory proper first, and if there's time I add a hymn - I would not sing somethi…

Comment by Chant_Supremacist October 30 permalink

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Username: Chant_Supremacist
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