Choral Music Magazine

HAMPTON: As a church choir director, what’s been your general experience with conducting Gregorian chant/plainsong?

ELLISON: In my previous position as director of music at Church of the Advent of Christ the King in San Francisco, I directed chant every Sunday at high mass. In a full chant mass there are five propers, so-called because their texts are "proper" to the day being celebrated. In other words the texts will be different on Easter Day than they are on Christmas Day. The propers I used at Advent were the Introit, which is the chant intended to cover the opening liturgical procession at mass, the Offertory, intended to cover the preparation of the gifts and the incensing of the altar, and the Communion, which is sung while people receive the Sacrament. Twice a month, we also had a Latin Chant Mass, celebrated according to the Anglican Rite. The complete service was sung a cappella to chant. The congregation sang the ordinary of the mass to the Missa de Angelis setting, and the Schola Cantorum sang the propers.

HAMPTON: What's the significance of chant within the liturgical setting?

ELLISON: I think it is multifaceted. It takes one back to the roots of the Roman tradition. Chant has been intimately connected with the liturgy for centuries. The ability to connect liturgical action with the chant intended for it is incredibly powerful combination, speak to people in a deeply visceral way.

HAMPTON: Do you feel the connection of chant in today’s liturgy is a waning?

ELLISON: It has been on the wane since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960's. While chant was never removed completely by the pronouncements of the council, many priests and liturgists acted as if it had been. However, with the recent pronouncement of Pope Benedict XVI--a firm supporter of liturgical tradition using chant--who has now allowed the traditional Tridentine rite to be celebrated without the need for the permission of a bishop, I have reason to hope that the connection between chant and the liturgy will be nurtured more fully than it has been, and that Latin liturgies will become more common. Take the opening of the mass, for instance. The traditional formal opening to mass in the Latin rite is, "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen". If we compare that with the ubiquitous "Good morning," or even the horrendous "How's it going, folks," amplified by an overloud sound system, one can sense the parameters in which this discussion takes place. What the reformers forgot was that they were not at a dinner party, greeting invited guests ("hey folks ...") but at a formal liturgy, where a formal liturgical greeting is the only appropriate choice.

HAMPTON: Do you think church-goers have a desire to get back to singing chant, or is their reaction to the music not so favorable? Should just the choir be expected to sing it?

ELLISON: I think it depends on the religious background of the church-goer. Many Roman Catholics have a desire to connect with their musical past through the medium of chant. This is also true of the younger generation of Catholics who grew up hardly being exposed to chant at all. There is a yearning for mystery, for spirituality, for connection with their roots, all of which can be fulfilled by chant. Many Anglicans, too, feel this. Indeed, it is the Anglican church, for the most part, that has preserved the tradition, particularly the Anglo-catholic movement.

HAMPTON: How might choirs be able to retain and or revitalize the tradition of chant?

ELLISON: The key is thinking small. For a choir to try and sing a complete liturgy in chant when they have no familiarity with it is unwise. This should be a long-term goal. Introducing a small amount of chant is a far more successful approach. Perhaps starting with hymns: Adoro te devote or Pange lingua spring to mind, where everyone, including the congregation can join in. Then having the choir sing a shorter chant alone would start to establish the tradition, and reacquaint people with its power.

HAMPTON: Do you think a stronger understanding and connection with the fundamentals of chant and its performance can enrich and help today’s music evolve?

ELLISON: I think exposure to chant can and will make a difference to the type and level of music used in liturgy, but that it will not happen across the board. Some traditions are just too different to be exposed to or changed by chant. However, I think we will see changes in the quality of music used in the Roman liturgy in the next few years, and that will be in direct relation to the increase in the use of Gregorian chant in the liturgy.

HAMPTON: How about an increase in the use of Gregorian chant and plainsong in music education? Shouldn’t the theory and history of chant be taught in schools along with other theory basics, or is there too close a religious connection?

ELLISON: It depends what level you are talking about. At college level, absolutely! I teach an undergraduate music history class which starts with Gregorian chant and the modes. The modes are the precursors of our modern major and minor scales. There were originally eight modes, two each on D, E, F and G. An easy way of thinking about them is to visualize a scale on the white notes of the piano on each of these notes. None produces either a major or a minor scale unless chromatic alternations are made. Range is also an important issue, which is why there are two modes on each note. Authentic modes have a range of an octave above their final note (D, E, F, or G), while plagal modes have a range of a fifth above and a fourth below the final. Four further modes were added in the mid-sixteenth century, two of which--the Ionian and the Aeolian--were the precursors of our modern major and minor scales. I think this knowledge is essential to all musicians in order to understand their roots, rather in the manner of a musical family tree, if you will. At earlier levels a less-formal approach might be appropriate.

HAMPTON: It seems to make sense that in Elementary school, before you learn the value of a quarter note, you should understand how they developed from neumes, and that before there was the G clef and Every Good Boy Does Fine, there was the C clef and only four lines on the staff, etc.

ELLISON: I think this depends on the age and level of the children concerned, the amount of time allocated to music in the school curriculum, and ultimately the experience and judgment of the teacher. But in an ideal circumstance it would be good to give children an idea of where the system originated.

HAMPTON: How do you feel about the performance and recording of chant by concert choirs?

ELLISON: While my ideal is for chant to be performed in the context for which it was written, I think that any opportunity there is for it to be performed is good. I have included chant myself in many concert programs, something that was definitely appreciated by audiences. However, there is something particularly powerful about hearing the Exsultet sung at the Great Vigil of Easter, or the Improperia sung as the Cross is venerated on Good Friday--an intangible connection between liturgy and music that is hard to put into words. It is just how it is supposed to be.

Paul M. Ellison lectures in music history at San Francisco State University, and is assistant editor of The Beethoven Journal. He also directs the chapel choir of St. Matthew's Episcopal Day School in San Mateo, and was for 17 years director of music and organist at Church of the Advent of Christ the King in San Francisco, where he conducted their professional choir, Schola Adventus.

Photo: Paul Ellison