Plainsong and Anglican Chant

I didn't think we were going to be able to make this morning's Schola Cantorum because we had to stop and pick up the materials to set up a polling place for Tuesday's elections, but fortunately the depot opened earlier than usual so we were only late. And fortunately only late, because Fr. McGrath picked this Sunday to teach us the basics of Plainsong and Anglican chants.

After much explanation, which included a bit of terminology such as "tones", "intonation," "reciting note", he led us through the Venite (Hymnal #612, "Tone V, 3" -- which I didn't quite understand) with its three variations (a-c). Interesting, and will be nice when we get there! (But sadly, I looked at the calendar and I will miss the next class because I'll be flying out to Atlanta for the week.)

Next we pleasantly surprised Fr. McGrath: he was planning to teach us a new hymn, #157, so we could help the congregation along with it in the service. It turned out we were all familiar with it already!