As we did last year, the choir will be on recess for the summer. This means that from Trinity Sunday until the first Sunday of September, the men’s schola will assist at all High Masses; the only exception will be the parish festival, cele-brating the finding of the relics of St. Stephen.
The most appropriate place for a schola (as opposed to a choir) is literally between the choir stalls, that is, in the chancel – also called the choir or presbyterium. The chancel is often located between the sanctuary and the nave (as you see at the chapel for OLGS) but can also be placed to the side or even behind the main altar (for example, at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament). Most American parishes do not have a proper chancel; in England, however, it is quite common to find them.
Our sanctuary is unusually small even by American standards, and so does not allow for an approximation of a sanctuary-chancel distinction. Last year, then, the schola was placed just outside of the altar rail: the place most proximate to where a chancel might be placed. However, given the exigencies of parish – with many people in the vestibule or parish hall during Mass, and especially so at the High Mass – this year we will have the schola stay in the choir loft, in order to take advantage of the new microphone system installed there.
The purpose and advantage of the summer recess is several-fold: one, to give the members of the choir (and their families) a well-deserved rest from Thursday rehearsals; two, to develop the men of the choir to take a more active and leading role; three, to free up Keven Smith to give Sunday music workshops to the parish (more details to come). The plan is for this recess to take place every year.
