CMAA Summer Chant Courses, June 27- July 1

Results from our Colloquium survey last summer indicated that our membership is clamoring for more information and training about teaching children. Covering the topics in one-hour breakout sessions at a Colloquium, no matter how valuable, isn’t sufficient time to allow participants to gain the skills needed.

In response, for the first time, we will be offering a beginning course in the Ward method concurrent with our Chant Intensive course.

The five-day course will be taught by Scott Turkington, providing training to allow participants to teach groups of children using these tried and true methods. Read the entire description at the CMAA Summer Chant webpage.

Gain the skills and tools you need to begin teaching the Catholic leaders of tomorrow to sing using Justine Ward’s methods.

(The CMAA Ward course does not have any official Ward accreditation and is not affiliated with the Center for Ward Studies.)

The CMAA has offered Chant Intensive courses since 2008. Each year, new attendees take the knowledge home and use it in their home parishes, increasing their skill level and sharing the information with others. What has been a consistent request from CMAA program attendees has been more information and training on effective chant direction. This summer’s Chant Intensive will do just that.

This course (Monday – Friday) will be taught by Wilko Brouwers, focusing on directing techniques for current and prospective chant directors.

Through the use of,
- General directing exercises
- Individual practice with the choir group (participants choose their own chant pieces), and
- Video analysis
participants in the directing course will gain knowledge and practical experience during the 5-day course. The class will have two sections — for prospective directors and for singers — see the complete description at our Summer Chant Course webpage.

The basics of chant will not be taught in this course, other than as illustrations for the directing course.

Because of the nature of our summer course offerings, we must limit class sizes to allow time for adequate interaction with the instructors.

So… if you have been waiting for the opportunity to study with a master director to gain the skill and confidence to direct your own schola or would like to gain the skills to improve the sound of your choir, please make plans to join us this summer in Pittsburgh.

REGISTER ONLINE NOW