This time during the second week of October holds a lot of personal significance. Today marks the annual commemoration of Christopher Columbus and his voyage on behalf of the Spanish, of whose stock I owe half of my genealogy. Yesterday, the 13th, is the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, the public seal upon the prior apparitions. The 11th is the Feast of Our Lady of La Leche and the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin, a devotion I've held since my last undergraduate semester. And most notably, the 7th is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and the day chosen by my wife and I for our wedding.
So now I can say we've been married for seven years. Similarly, I can say that we have been singing Gregorian chant for about seven years because on November 17, 2017 (I kept the email) we attended our first chant conference. That hour-long introduction under the tutelage of Dr. Michael O'Connor started the storied road which eventually led to where we both are today as co-directors of St. Anthony Mary Claret's choir.
After a handful of additional conferences and hours upon hours of self-study, I went from taking three months to learn Credo III to leading a schola singing full propers every Sunday. In the meantime, I saw our congregation lagging in this musical progress (for more reasons than I care to enumerate) and felt that the typical approach of asking the faithful to sacrifice half a Saturday to learn the basics would not shift the goalposts by much. So I asked and was granted leave to devise a Crash Course in Chant led together with my wife which concluded on September 15th, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.
So am I merely mentioning all of this to sing my own praises? Well, not merely. My intention is primarily to share the fruits of this labor of love with the whole world. I can attest from feedback of the class that everyone, from novice to veteran, learned at least one substantially concrete concept which will aid in their singing, whether that be what a Mass setting is to the sole accidental in Gregorian chant. Time will tell how effective the course as a whole was, but this is already an encouraging sign.
So it's my hope that within this 61-page booklet one can find at least a dozen useful pages, no matter what level of proficiency they approach it with (I especially recommend the Resources section at the end). And like the majority of the sources that was used to compile it, the above PDF is freely offered for the edification of all under Creative Commons. This means that there is no restriction on distribution or manipulation, just the request that the original creator be referenced.
I'll close with two further considerations. The first is a lengthy and thought-provoking article on the so-called "pride of place" of Gregorian chant in the liturgy, which incidentally came out today. And the second is a quote from Dom Dominic Johner which acts as a rejoinder (pun intended) to said article, the Last Word from the 1940 translation of The Chants of the Vatican Gradual:
We, on the other hand, realize only too frequently that we have not yet reached our goal, that we are not yet in our true fatherland. We feel the difficulties and trials of our vocation. In like manner we know that polyphonic music is appreciated much more at a high Mass than plainsong, no matter how much effort is spent in its preparation and rendition. Hardly ever is there a word of praise or a mark of distinction for the singers of Gregorian chant; perhaps it will even be a matter of suffering persecution for the sake of justice and for that which the Church loves and desires. If this be the case, then the heavenly choir and its singing should be our model; then will we immerse our heart in this atmosphere of joy and relieve it, set it free, and revivify it.
Sancti Gregorii Papæ Confessoris et Ecclesiæ Doctoris, ora pro nobis.