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Views from the Choir Loft

The Easiest Way To Teach Your Choir Polyphony

Jeff Ostrowski · August 4, 2015

Suppose you want your choir to launch into polyphony when “Asperges” is repeated, like this:


How would you go about teaching the notes and rhythm?

I suggest you use Solfège, the absolute best and easiest way to teach polyphony. How exactly does this work? Click on the links marked “Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass”—you’ll soon understand what I’m getting at:

      “ASPERGES ME” after Zachariis (†1594)   •   PDF Score (Singer)

SOPRANO : YouTube   •   Audio

ALTO : YouTube   •   Audio

TENOR : YouTube   •   Audio

BASS : YouTube   •   Audio

EQUAL VOICES (does not include Solfège) : YouTube   •   Mp3 Audio


Until the piece is sung perfectly in Solfège,1 do not allow your choir to sing the actual text. Solfège makes it so much easier to point out specific notes which need correction, especially in the middle of a melisma.

I RECOMMEND THIS polyphony score for the repeat only. For the rest of the chant, you might want to download this organ accompaniment, which I wrote out earlier this afternoon. Composed by Canon Van Nuffel, it’s as good as any other—and better than most. More resources for the “Asperges Me” are stored at the website honoring Saint Antoine Daniel, one of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   Choir members sometimes ask whether Solfège syllables will be sung during Mass. Explain to them that Solfège is never used at Mass; it’s merely a tool to help choirs learn their pitches and rhythm.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Asperges Me PDF Score Audio Recording Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Jeff Ostrowski

About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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