Views from the Choir Loft

Introducing polyphony in a round about way

Veronica Brandt · January 18, 2014 ·

INGING IN PARTS is a beautiful thing to aspire to. Never take it for granted. A choir singing together in harmony must be close to a miracle, considering all the disparate elements that need to come together. So many things can get in the way – anxiety, apathy and embarrassment to name a few.

One short-cut is to learn rounds or canons. One tune for everyone. That doesn’t guarantee that singing in the round is necessarily simple, but one initial step is easier, getting you one step closer to the fun of singing and listening at the same time.

Last year we tackled Da pacem Domine by Melchior Franck. The year before I had attempted Non nobis, Domine, attributed to William Byrd. It proved a bit too much too soon. Da pacem Domine is just that little bit simpler, and repeating the tune All Year Long proved fruitful. There’s one tricky spot where a phrase starts on the up beat. With younger children we would clap and stomp to try show the rhythm. Anything is possible with patience.

Andre van Ryckeghem has collected 73 canons together into this little booklet. Jubilate Deo and Dona nobis pacem are two that we have had fun with.

About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. As editor, she has produced fine publications (as well as valuable reprints) dealing with Gregorian chant, hymnody, Latin, and other subjects. These publications are distinguished on account of their tastefulness. She lives in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her husband Peter and six children.

Could Pope St. Pius X Sing?

“On 12 March 1908, the complete publication of the Roman Gradual was issued by the Vatican Press. On that very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. A witness of the audience says that Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement pro aliquibus locis—it was the Introit of the new Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.” (Catholic Choirmaster, February 1915)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Julius Bas Accompaniment

A very prolific harmonizer of Gregorian chant in the early 20th century was Mr. Julius Bas. He often uses a very strange technique, wherein he employs rests to eliminate the Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices. Consider what he did with “Lumen ad revelationem” here:

* JPEG • Lumen ad revelationem

It seems quite lazy, and I’ve never seen anyone else use such a technique, although Dr. Peter Wagner often switched to parallel octaves when he ran out of ideas… (Yuck!)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Hitting wrong notes

Fr. Valentine Young, OFM, used to say: “The organist can play 1,000 correct notes and one wrong note—and the only thing people will care about is the wrong note.” Last Sunday I hit some wrong notes, and felt bad. Then I remembered a story about Rudolf Serkin and started to chuckle. Charles Rosen (or was it Leon Fleisher?) told the story of Serkin playing a Beethoven Sonata in front of a large audience. The theme is all in octaves; but Serkin hit some wrong notes, and played parallel 7ths instead. This so unnerved him that every time the theme returned, he played the entire thing in parallel 7ths! We must remember that even the greatest hit wrong notes. Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, Sviatoslav Richter, Egon Petri—they all hit wrong notes, which we can hear on recordings. (Josef Hofmann was an exception, but he was super-human so he doesn’t count!)

—Jeff Ostrowski