ABOUT the NEW YORK GREGORIAN CHANT PROJECT

BUILDING the GREGORIAN CHANT PROJECT CHOIR

The goals of the New York Gregorian Chant Project Choir are to sing a wide repertoire of Gregorian chant at a high level of interpretation and insight, to foster in our singers a deep love of this music and knowledge of its history and the liturgical tradition in which it arose, and to create a vibrant sense of community, cultivating in all our singers agility, responsiveness, sensitivity, confidence, and passion.

We are gradually working towards developing a monastic-style choir of 35 women's/high voices and 20+ men's/low voices. With a choir of that size, the chant will "ring" like the voices of monks and nuns in a monastery, even during very gentle passages. All of this is with a commitment to excellence and an eye to sharing this music with a wide public by singing in recordings, events such as concerts and workshops, and liturgical rites which are the first home of these sacred chants.

To join the Gregorian Chant Project Choir, you need a good ear, choir singing experience (but not necessarily experience with chant), and the ability to focus deeply and follow instructions. And, of course, you must participate consistently.

We use the Liber cantualis book for basic repertoire plus booklets specially prepared for our rehearsals. Singers are responsible for the costs of these materials. Rehearsals are held most Sunday afternoons, 2:30pm-4:55pm (see details at end). We also have occasional weeknight rehearsals for those who can attend.

Please email us in advance to sign up to visit a rehearsal or find out about our public events: info@ChantProject.org or click here to fill out our contact form.

TRAINING and PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

We will teach you how to read the 12th-century "square" music notation, and how to pronounce the Latin texts — both are easier than you might expect! We'll also teach you the correct accentuation and rhythm of sung Latin and introduce the first-millennium staffless neumes, the earliest extensive system of Western musical notation. As well, we will teach you the elements of style, and go over exercises to sharpen your choral skills, such as sightreading, ear training, and voice building.

By strengthening the musicianship of all our singers, the choir can operate at a level necessary to do justice to this sublime music. Gregorian chant, as prayer floating on melody, requires a fluidity and lyricism quite unlike other types of choral music. There is more to it than singing smoothly with a nice voice! First and foremost is an intelligible rendering of the Latin text; then bringing the melodic and textual interplay to life with an informed sense of style and grace.

Through all of this we make a determined effort to perfect the Latin "tonic accents" ("tonic" means tone) which animate the language but are generally wrongly placed or overlooked in most recordings and choral performances.

SCHOLA / STUDY GROUP

We ask all singers to begin by joining our main Gregorian Chant Project Choir, in order to become proficient with the notation and stylistic elements needed to interpret this repertoire with a high level of skill.

For those with substantial training in music (such as piano, instrumental or voice lessons, or college-level music studies) and good sight-singing and vocal skills, we are developing our Schola/Study Group - a smaller, auditioned ensemble of singers - which rehearses on Monday evenings.

These singers have the responsibility of performing the most virtuosic chants and studying their musical, liturgical, and historical backgrounds. Schola singers also lead certain segments of our Gregorian Chant Project Choir rehearsals. This is experience that will keep you challenged and motivated, and which you may also find to be a valuable type of professional development.

Our Schola/Study Group is training to sing from the Graduale triplex, and other documents prepared for our sessions.

CHANTIT – A NEW MIXED-VOICE / SATB CHOIR

We will soon be opening auditions for Chantit, a new mixed-voice choir that will sing Gregorian chant with renaissance polyphony and modern compositions — in four or more parts — that are related to the Gregorian chants we are working on.

While most choirs approach music from previous eras by looking back at it with the mind of today’s culture, or sometimes by researching early performance practices, the New York Gregorian Chant Project will offer the opportunity to sing renaissance polyphony from a medieval context looking forward, which is in perfect sync with the way the music actually developed. The great renaissance composers were versed in the lessons of Latin prosody, and the aesthetics of Gregorian chant contributed to the musical culture in which they lived.

 

We are also gradually establishing links with researchers, performers, videographers, and artists in other disciplines including theatre and dance, theological, liturgical, and biblical studies, musicology, architecture, painting and stained glass, calligraphy, and history — and with other choirs and musical ensembles.

We are always happy to make the acquaintance of people from all walks of life who are interested in medieval chant.

Please add your name to our mailing list. (Perhaps even consider becoming a sponsor!) info@ChantProject.org or click here to fill out our contact form.

We have a place for everyone — we invite you to join us!

LED by LAWRENCE HARRIS

Lawrence Harris has been a visiting professor of Gregorian chant at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and Duquesne University, Pittsburgh. He has led chant seminars with many choirs and organizations including CRCCM, the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians.

These opportunities to sing Gregorian chant and to receive a high level of instruction are open to students, singers from church and community choirs, and members of the public — all of whom are welcome to join us in studying and singing this ancient, contemplative, and deeply spiritual musical heritage, considered to be the foundational music of Western culture and civilization.

WE APPRECIATE YOUR HELP IN PUBLICIZING THESE NEW CHOIRS!

Please tell your musical friends and colleagues about the New York Gregorian Chant Project and invite them to visit a rehearsal or attend one of our public events. We especially encourage you to spread the word on social media, and to invite young people and students for whom this might be a wonderful new musical horizon.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Lawrence Harris is happy to answer your questions. You can reach him by email at info@ChantProject.org or click here to fill out our contact form.

(If you prefer a phone conversation, please tell us your phone number.)

ABOUT MEDIEVAL CHANT

If you are curious about the origins of medieval chant, its roots go back to the earliest centuries of Christianity. But the most important era of development was the 7th through 9th centuries, especially in the Frankish empire of Charlemagne where the core repertoire and most masterful compositions of Gregorian chant emerged.

By the time of the construction of the great Gothic cathedrals of the 12th century and onwards, the high art of the Carolingian cantors and their Gregorian chant were in decline. To a large extent chant was replaced by various types of part-singing down through the centuries — though new chants continued to be composed and monasteries in particular held on to some traditions of chanting their daily prayers.

In the nineteenth century there was great interest in restoring the medieval chant melodies, which had been corrupted by simplifications and other influences. Much of the research for this renewal took place at the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes, in France. There was a wide resurgence of singing Gregorian chant in the first half of the twentieth century. And in the 1960s, a Solesmes monk-musicologist and his students published research which "decoded" the meaning of a multitude of medieval musical signs (called "neumes"), which has given modern singers much more insight into the expressive nuances of interpretation of Gregorian chant. Research and debate about performance practices continue to this day.

"Open House Rehearsals" for new and prospective singers

Please contact us for rehearsal dates:
info@ChantProject.org or click here to fill out our contact form.

Rehearsals are held most Sundays in the art gallery space at St. John’s-in-the-Village Church, 11th St. at Waverly Place, Manhattan, seconds from 7th Ave. and the subway stations at 14th St. Enter through right-hand door at 224 Waverly Place, in the short block between 7th Avenue and 11th Street.

Please aim to arrive at 2:15pm so we are all set to start singing at 2:30 sharp!
We will need your contact info when you arrive but there are no other strings attached.
Just keep an open mind and roll with it! Join in singing to the extent you feel comfortable.
Afterwards, please come up and chat with the Director about your visit.

Gregorian chant rehearsals start at 2:30pm; brief stretch break midway; includes short segments of musicianship exercises and part singing (SATB). Over at 4:55pm, followed by refreshments.

We also have occasional weeknight rehearsals for those who can attend. If you aren’t free on Sundays, consider checking out one of our evening rehearsals — or be part of the audience for our public events!

We hope you will discover a lasting home for your voice in the New York Gregorian Chant Project!

"Come Sing Chant!" Public Events — Join our audience!

Please Check Back for Upcoming Events
or Add Your Name to Our Mailing List by Clicking Here

Join Lawrence Harris and singers from the New York Gregorian Chant Project for 90 minutes of listening, learning, and singing a selection of beautiful and engaging Gregorian chants.

St. John’s-in-the-Village Church, 11th St. at Waverly Place, Manhattan
seconds from 7th Ave. and the subway stations at 14th St.

Please check in now and then as we develop this website!