Over the years, I've had the unique pleasure of training different cantors for the celebration of the Mass. It's an exciting process for students of all ages-- the great responsibility is often empowering and thrilling. A good director can harness the excitement of prospective cantors and guide it properly to use voice techniques to aid the quality of singing for proper prayer and devotion. The goal of this blog post is to share ways to build up your cantors!

My main goal when coaching someone in cantoring is empowerment. Chances are, if you've established someone as a potential cantor for your parish, they have talent! Praise God! Your job is not to give them this talent, but to show them how to use said talent. That begins with a relationship and empowerment. Your student wants to know that you believe in them, and that you won't let them fail. As an accompanist, I always tell nervous singers, "Don't worry, I won't let you fall! I've got you!" Ministry always begins with a relationship, and so does worship. Students won't be perfect-- they will make mistakes and get nervous, but as long as you provide them a good net to fall back on, mistakes and successes will give them empowerment to grow.

“I believe in person-to-person. Every person is Christ for me and since there is only one Jesus, that person is the only one person in the world for me at that moment.” St. Teresa of Calcutta

Empowering your student's talent, however, requires a clear vision for your ministry and sound.

You and your pastor should be in close conversation of the vision and style for the parish. Music is described carefully by Pope Paul VI in Sacrosactum Concilium (the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy), one of the Papal Constitutions from Vatican II that desribes liturgy. Published in 1963, the letter breaks down the Novus Ordo and liturgical practices to be followed by the entire global Catholic Church. If you read the document, you'll notice primacy given to traditional music, Latin, liturgical music education, organ, and Gregorian Chant.

"Therefore sacred music is to be considered the more holy in proportion as it is more closely connected with the liturgical action, whether it adds delight to prayer, fosters unity of minds, or confers greater solemnity upon the sacred rites. But the Church approves of all forms of true art having the needed qualities, and admits them into divine worship.

Accordingly, the sacred Council, keeping to the norms and precepts of ecclesiastical tradition and discipline, and having regard to the purpose of sacred music, which is the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful, decrees as follows." Paragraph 112, Sacrosanctum Concilium

I've made a blog post about a few ideas on how to encourage the parish towards a full embrace of the words of Sacrosanctum Concilium... You can read it here.

A few key considerations to establish-- scheduling, volunteer/paid status of your cantors, training requirements you may want to have, and their physical set up and requirements. Making specific requirements of your cantors can clear up a lot of discrepencies of expectations.

1. How early should a cantor arrive to a Mass?
2. When/where/how often should they rehearse? Will they meet at the Church or be expected to rehearse on their own and come prepared? (This may be different per person or how long they have been cantoring!)
3. Pay rate or volunteering compensation. I always encourage parishes with volunteers only to have an appreciation dinner, brunch, outing, or something of that nature.
4. How will you deal with scheduling? This may vary, especially between a typical Sunday vs. Christmas Masses.
5. How many cantors will you take at a time to train?
6. Will the cantors meet together to collaborate or discuss things periodically?
7. How will you encourage their spiritual growth?
8. Will cantors be responsible for their physical set up each week, printing music, or will you be doing that for them?

Past these questions, a good director should consider vocal techniques to encourage congregational singing.

My Bachelors of Music Ed K-12 had a focus in Choral Arts, which meant my primary instrument was voice. I had the joy of studying Bel Canto school of classical singing, which I took into my liturgy work! The idea is essentially a whole-voice perspective of healthy singing, with mixed voice and breath energy to propel the voice. Bel Canto also relies on your breath energy and tempo to determine the pace of your vibrato. This can be so helpful for liturgical singing! Many choirs and cantors lack the training to conquer overly or uncoordinated vibrating voices.

I find that overly vibrated voices can create an unattainable ideal for congregations, and a sense of performance instead of communal singing. Whereas, simple singing, like that of psalm tones or simple chants, can be so beautiful in their simplicity.

Incorporate challenges for cantors-- duets, trios, polyphonic music can unlock a new space of growth for cantors. Even Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus sung as a quartet with organ can be astoudningly beautiful yet simple without being overburdened by too many voices.

A good cantor will always be open to constructive guiding and coaching, though it is important to pick your battles! Having conversations often with your cantors allows them to know you're listening to them and their needs, but invite them into the mission of your shared goal with the parish vision for the music ministry!

I hope this helped a little with consideration on cantoring.

God bless you all and your ministries.