T
here was a music festival for the revival of sacred music at H---- Parish tonight. Our schola sang a simple chant to open up the evening, and we were subsequently blown out of the water by a quartet of singers from T---- College. It was remarkable to hear such absolutely exquisite singing from a small group of college students, and gives me a tremendous desire to learn to sing in harmony. Several other singing groups presented various pieces, and then we all practiced music together for the Mass that was to follow the festival (which Elena and I were unable to attend). Sheet music was distributed, and my lack of training became readily apparent very quickly.
I technically learned the basics of how to read music when I was younger, but that was a good long time ago now. For the last several years, virtually all the music I've been reading has been in square notation, native to Gregorian chant. It has it's own peculiarities, but at the end of the day it is much simpler and easier to read than modern notation, obviously at the expense of sophistication of tempo and ability to transcribe harmony. I can sight-read square notation all day, even relatively complex pieces; but put me in front of a simple hymn that's in any key other C or G, and I'll be struggling over it the whole way through.
The pieces that we were singing at the festival were not simple hymns. They were complex, multilayered, harmonic, and full of incidentals. I was singing the bass part, and thus couldn't even take advantage of a standard melody to help me through. Let's just say I sang more quietly than is my wont. But, I have learned that there is a substantical hole that needs filling in my musical education. I love singing, and I love that I get to sing every week. It's the instrument that I use most these days, and I should strive to make the most of it, and follow through on being tolerably proficient in its ways. Time to break out some sheet music and memorize some key signatures, I guess...