Fill in the Blank...

Last week (is it ONLY last week?!) I attended the Winter Chant Intensive Workshop organized by Musica Sacra, Church Music Association of America. It's right here in San Diego, so don't really have excuse NOT to attend. :)


When they say intense, they meant it! The time is long (Monday afternoon to Friday afternoon), basically 9am in the morning, to 6pm; with Wednesday & Thursday evening until 8:30pm. Both evenings were for chironomy (conducting) of Chant.

The Workshop used the Solesmes Method, focused on the singing, technicalities, in creating Schola in parishes. We went through the basic -
= Names for the neumes ~ hopefully those names are going to stick around in my head finally!! I never could remembered them when I learnt that as undergrad/ grad/ from voice lessons/ Medieval Workshops...

= Modes ~ I must admit this part was boring... I kept hoping the instructor would talk about the characteristic of the different modes. But he only went through the ranges, finals, dominants.

I think the part I learnt the most, was first, Chironomy, the Conducting of Chant. It's quite interesting. The technique, the movements of the hands imitate those of the sea, like the waves.

THe other thing I learnt most, is HOW to communicate with others, so to 'teach' them how to sing Chant, in a systematic way. For those of you Berkeleyans, who had sung under Prof Kuzma's direction, the systematic Solesmes Method is quite the departure from the "Thomas Binkley" Methold. :D

Maybe I should say that the Binkley way of singing, is more performance oriented. A dramatized way of singing Chant. Like Sequentia vs the Nuns from Einbingen Benedictine Abbey. After the Workshop, I looked through the Chants I sung along with the Dufay Missa. And was amazed. At that time, I think we learnt by oral tradition, it worked on for that level of singing, for that type of ensemble. And working with singers in a parish, or amateur community groups, Solesmes Method would work better, I think.

So I guess that's why I feel that, although I have learnt lots of new things in the Workshop; it was also a big Ah-Ha! moment. Kind of like "Fill-in-the-black/ That's why we sang it like that!"

There were actually two other people from our church attending the Workshop. One of them is the music coordinator. & We are starting a little group to sing the Proper Communion Chant during the 9am Mass. I actually have been doing that for the Chinese Mass (because people have to go to Communion, & I don't need to); but just some common hymns like Adoro Te Devote, Pagne Lingua, Ubi Caritas, Salve Regina, etc.

The week ended with a beautiful, tradition Latin Mass! We sang all the Ordinary & Proper in Latin (The readings were recited in English though). Now I am just wondering... did we record the readings, the Alleluia, the Pater Nostram for the Dufay? None of those made it in the CD...