With over 40 people in attendance, Abbé Schmidt instructed the participants on the history of Gregorian chant, its background, and why the Church places great importance on the practice.
Abbé emphasized, that chant is truly prayer and not just done to sound pleasing. Thus, singing without praying fails to achieve the final objective of chanting. The hands-on workshop also included instruction in plainchant, solfege exercises and the 8 modes that convey the tone a particular chant should take.
This was the first chant workshop at the Oratory. Canon Ueda plans to continue nurturing the musical life of the Oratory with more workshops like this in the future with the end goal of establishing a formal schola.
Comments from participants ~
"We had so much fun at the Chant Workshop! Abbé Raymond taught us so much within 3 days, but at the same time made it so enjoyable for both the older and younger kids! We learned how to identify notes, improve singing the Regina Caeli, chant the Kyrie, and what the 8 modes of chant are. We especially liked doing the solfege exercises. Marielle and Andrew's favorite part was working on the Regina Caeli, and Amelie liked writing the notes on the classroom screen. We hope he can come back very, very soon!"
~ Elsa, Madeleine, and Augustina
Photos by Leo Saguisag
