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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

How to Get Better at Chant Without Opening Your Mouth

Keven Smith · June 1, 2020

ARLIER today, our Las Vegas correspondent wrote an exceptionally helpful article that provided practical tips for enhancing the quality of your chant. If you haven’t done so already, please read Andrea Leal’s Troubleshooting Your Gregorian Chant.

Read it? Good.

These sentences towards the end of Andrea’s article immediately inspired me to write the “spinoff” article you’re now reading:

This would also be a good moment to remind you that Gregorian chant is first and foremost a prayer. Read the translation so you know what you are praying, and even spend time contemplating it ahead of rehearsal. I often look at my propers while I am cooking dinner, and I also try to look at it for a minute or two before going to sleep at night.

I had to chuckle because I’ll often sing through the propers for the upcoming Sunday as I’m making my famous slow-cooked scrambled eggs for Friday dinner (hint: use tarragon, cream, and the lowest burner setting). I agree wholeheartedly that any time is a good time to fit in some chant study. But as Andrea also mentions, we can’t really know what we’re praying unless we’ve contemplated it first.

If you’re trying to form a deeper connection with the text you’re chanting, I hope these three tips will help:

1. Go to Dom Johner

Dom Dominic Johner published The Chants of the Vatican Gradual in 1928. It remains one of the best resources for understanding the “story” behind each of the propers throughout the liturgical year. Sometimes Dom Johner waxes poetic; other times he’s more technical about the musical contents of each chant. But he’ll always provide perspectives you haven’t considered. My printouts of the propers are riddled with little markings that summarize Dom Johner’s commentary from throughout the year.

Dom Johner wrote in German—but don’t worry. In 1940, translators at St. John’s Abbey published an English version of his book. The good people at Church Music Association of America (CMAA) have made it available as a free PDF document.

2. Go to St. Robert Bellarmine 

Have you ever noticed how many psalms we sing at Mass? For some Masses, every sung proper is taken from a psalm. We always encounter at least a few.

It can be daunting to sing psalms when we’re not fully confident that we understand them (nobody, after all, has a perfect understanding of every line of Scripture). My advice? Just take it one psalm at a time. Remember that we’re only singing a few verses of any given psalm at any given Mass. And while we want to understand verses in their proper context, we don’t need to study all 176 verses of Psalm 118 just to be able to sing a few of those verses.

If you’re feeling scholarly, I highly recommend St. Robert Bellarmine’s A Commentary on the Book of Psalms. The good saint goes verse by verse and provides extensive exegesis for the dedicated reader. You can read this entire book online.

3. Start on Monday

If you’re like me, you appreciate having one day per week where you sing little, if at all. But you also hate to lose a day of preparation for the upcoming Sunday. So why not make Monday your official day to spend time with Dom Johner, St. Robert Bellarmine, and any other sources you like to use to help you understand the propers for your next sung Mass? I’ve found that if I don’t make a point of doing this work on Monday and instead plan to “fit it in” during the week, I end up rushing the task and not enjoying it. Another benefit is that if I get a good grasp of the texts on Monday, they can continue to seep into me all week long and make my Sunday singing that much more prayerful.

Tell yourself you won’t actually sing in this prep session—you’ll simply sit and ponder the text. You can also look over the contours of the Gregorian melodies, noting the high points and peculiarities.

OK, you probably can’t refrain from at least humming! I never can. But I think it’s extremely constructive to have a light vocal day as you focus exclusively on the spiritual side of what we do.

Notice that nothing I’ve recommended in this article involves actually opening your mouth and singing. It’s a singular joy to make music, but as we all know, it’s the behind-the-scenes work that makes our rendition of the music truly special—all to the glory of God and the edification of His faithful.

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

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Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: June 2, 2020

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About Keven Smith

Keven Smith, music director at St. Stephen the First Martyr, lives in Sacramento with his wife and five musical children.—(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    PDF Download • “Offertory” for this Sunday
    This coming Sunday, 12 October 2025, is the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). Its OFFERTORY ANTIPHON (PDF) is gorgeous, and comes from the book of Esther, as did the ENTRANCE CHANT last Sunday. Depending on a variety of factors, various hand-missals (all with Imprimatur) translate this passage differently. For instance, “príncipis” can be rendered: King; Prince; Lion; or Fierce lord. None is “more correct” than another. It depends on what each translator wants to emphasize and which source text is chosen. All these pieces of plainsong are conveniently stored at the blue-ribbon feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Why A “Fugue” Here?
    I believe I know why this plainsong harmonizer created a tiny fugue as the INTRODUCTION to his accompaniment. Take a look (PDF example) and tell me your thoughts about what he did on the feast of the Flight of Our Lord Jesus Christ into Egypt (17 February). And now I must go because “tempus fugit” as they say!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Reminder” — Month of October (2025)
    Those who don’t sign up for our free EMAIL NEWSLETTER miss important notifications. Last week, for example, I sent a message about this job opening for a music director paying $65,000 per year plus benefits (plus weddings & funerals). Notice the job description says: “our vision for sacred music is to move from singing at Mass to truly singing the Mass wherein … especially the propers, ordinaries, and dialogues are given their proper place.” Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    New Bulletin Article • “12 October 2025”
    My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for our parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article (dated 12 October 2025) talks about an ‘irony’ or ‘paradox’ regarding the 1960s switch to a wider use (amplior locus) of vernacular in the liturgy.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
    The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Dom Vitry never claimed chant could not be used successfully with English words. No one need take my word for it. He was a pioneer on the matter of vernacular adaptation, and I need only refer you to the many publications of his own “Fides Jubilans” press. What he said was that adaptation involved some mutilation, and that we were faced with one or the other.

— Monsignor Francis P. Schmitt (1963)

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