SE05 EP08 - Mocquereau’s ”Classical Solesmes” School of Singing Chant: Understanding the Arguments about the Rhythm of Gregorian Chant – with Prof. Charles Weaver

Questions about how to sing Gregorian chant can get a little thorny when people who love the chant and have a lot of experience singing it get together. For a newcomer to chant, these questions can seem irrelevant or overwhelming, especially when it's not clear what people are so passionately discussing. 

In this interview with Prof. Charles Weaver (Juilliard), we break down the basics of one of the main school of chant performance practice, the "classical Solesmes" school established by Dom André Mocquereau. We look at the big questions Mocquereau was trying to answer, the role of the text and accents in the "classical Solesmes" school, and understanding the 2's and 3's within the context of the overall structure of a piece of chant, what Mocquereau calls the "greater rhythm." 

To learn more about Prof. Weaver's work, please visit: https://www.juilliard.edu/music/faculty/weaver-charles

To apply for Prof. Weaver's summer course at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, visit the Institute's website at: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/