Via The Chant Café, a public-domain classic instruction book on Gregorian chant available in its entirety online. Explains the neumes, the pronunciation, the modes, reciting tones, chironomy, psalmody, the quilisma, etc. Obviously there’s been more research done since 1910, but for those interested in chant for liturgical use based on the Solemnes traditions, this book […]
License to practice
OneLicense.net is a clearinghouse for churches which want to get licenses to reprint hymns, songs, and anthems in their bulletins or project them on screens. Like Harry Fox for recordings, OneLicense.net allows one-stop shopping as a convenience to publishers and musicians alike. Their latest initiative is the "Practice Track License", which allows you to […]
Performance in church?
Jeffrey Tucker has a post up defending the use of the word "performance" to describe what a church choir does during church service. I'm not sure I agree with his analysis. He seems to think, quoting a 1987 document on liturgical reform (shown at right) that the principal objection to the word "perform" is […]
Genetic determinants of sight-reading
Jocelyn Lavin (on Second Altos Like the Bottom Parts) points us to an article on Science News about why some people are better at sight-reading than others: Any piano player who practices sight-reading for thousands of hours will get pretty good at it, say study coauthors Elizabeth Meinz of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and David […]
Control or not?
The varying approaches to conducting by big-name orchestra leaders: The clips of Leonard Bernstein conducting with his facial muscles are priceless. h/t Thoughtful Gestures.
You know you’re a choir nerd when…
…a friend plans a surprise party for you — consisting of singing Tallis’ Spem in Alium one to a part!