[paterfamilias]

“...I will ONLY attend the 7:30 am NO music mass. The music at the other masses is gut-wrenchingly banal...”

YES, YES, SADLY, YES.

A year ago, I made the leap to a Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) group; we are permanent guests in a local R.C. parish.

Every Sunday and holydays, we have TL Mass, and twice a month, is is a Gregorian Chant Missa Cantata; processional and recessional hymns are traditional Catholic hymns, sometimes in English, sometimes in Latin. In accordance with the rubrics of the Latin Mass, offertory and communion hymns are always in Latin.

We(I sing in the Schola Cantorum) have done some of the most beautiful medieval hymns that I have ever heard.

I grew up with the TLM, but I had forgotten how reverent, beautiful, and uplifting an experience it is.

Until now.

If you have the opportunity, seek out a TLM in your area.

[AnAmericanMother]

Which medieval composers are you singing? That's pretty unusual (most sing primarily High Renaissance, Palestrina, Victoria, et al.) We sing a few late Medieval/early Renaissance works by, say, Dufay (his "Conditor alme siderum") and a few mid-century folks like Josquin, but even that is a bit unusual. I wish we could sing Ockeghem but he's just too hard! :-(

Not complaining, because we really don't see enough Perotin, Machaut, Landini or Dunstable -- but it is difficult music based on quite different theories from what we moderns are used to, and it is tough for even very experienced choral singers.