Abbey Has Published Gregorian Chant Master Class

BETHLEHEM — The Abbey of Regina Laudis announces the publication of A Gregorian Chant Master Class by Dr Theodore Marier. The book, with its companion CD produced by Travis Pomposello of New York City, was envisioned by Dr Marier as a practical tool for learning how to sing Gregorian chant as an expression of liturgical prayer that is both nuanced and musically vital.

A Gregorian Chant Master Class is intended for parish music directors and their choirs, for college and university choirs, for music students, and for any individual or groups who want to learn to sing Gregorian chant.

Dr Marier (1912-2001), founder of the well known Boston Archdiocesan Choir School and director of music at St Paul’s Church in Cambridge, Mass., for over fifty years, was internationally recognized as one of the world’s great masters in the teaching and performance of Gregorian chant. For over 30 years, Dr Marier was the chant master of the Abbey of Regina Laudis, a women’s contemplative Benedictine monastery situated in Bethlehem. Dr Marier conducted the nuns of the Abbey Choir on the 1997 best-selling CD Women in Chant, and on their second CD, Recordáre, released in 2000.

A Gregorian Chant Master Class is a clear and concise learning tool consisting of ten instructions covering essential musical topics such as legato, uniform ensemble sound, scales and solfége, singing in tune, rhythm, Gregorian notation, style, nuance and expressivity. Each point addressed in the text is accompanied by a sung demonstration on the CD.

Also included are demonstrations of each of the eight psalm tones and a repertory of chants which are especially suitable for use in a parish or college liturgical setting.

Dr Marier narrates the CD with Scott Turkington, who was his assistant at the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School and at the Catholic University of America. Mr Turkington, organist and choirmaster at St John the Evangelist Church in Stamford, conducts two choirs on the CD – the nuns of the Abbey of Regina Laudis and the men of the Stamford Schola Gregoriana – providing sung examples for both male and female choirs.

To order copies of A Gregorian Chant Master Class, Women in Chant or Recordáre, write to Abbey Regina Laudis, 273 Flanders Road, Bethlehem, CT 06751 (Attention: Gregorian Chant). Order forms are also available at www.AbbeyOfReginaLaudis.com. For additional information contact Sister Angele Arbib at 203-266-7727 or send email to WomenInChant@AbbeyOfReginaLaudis.com.