[Magdalen] Song of Mary

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I suppose accompaniment is a good idea if for no other reason than to keep
the choir from going flat, and I suppose that's reason enough. The
unaccompanied choir is simply not ever surpassed. Never happened. I can
well imagine the custom arising of accompaniment for the intonation thing,
and also to keep together in a huge stone space with echo decay measured in
minutes.  You do what you have to do to shore up a bad situation!  And then
it becomes a custom. How anglican.

I note that the University of Redlands has a music department, and offers a
music major.  Pictures suggest it was a good sized choir also. They
certainly maintained pitch!

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Fri, Jan 20, 2017 at 11:35 AM, Scott Knitter <scottknitter at gmail.com>
wrote:

> A choirmaster and I had a little go-round once about how he seemed
> never to accompany Anglican chant. I talked him into accompanying Ps.
> 35 on a recording we did, and he did so very softly and dropped out on
> selected verses...it turned out awesome.
>
> But full organ-playing and the sort of word-painting or mood-setting
> involved is an art form all its own. One rarely hears an unaccompanied
> psalm in BBC-broadcast choral evensongs.
>
> On Fri, Jan 20, 2017 at 10:30 AM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen
> <magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:
> > The only comment on that exquisite version is the lack of  accompaniment,
> > which provides a substantial initial layer of musical interest and is
> > routine for Anglican Chant.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Scott R. Knitter
> Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA
>