At the Sacred Music Colloquium, Edward Schaefer taught four classes on semiology in which we went through the Graduale Triplex and other manuscripts to discover subtle shadings that can’t be expressed in staff notation or were otherwise lost on the path from oral transmission of the chant tradition to printed manuscripts.
It was a fascinating class that beautifully demonstrated how having these first millennium manuscripts available to everyone, not just specialists, can enhance both understanding and performance of the chant, as a natural outgrowth of the work began by the Solesmes monastery.
It was particularly gratifying to see this level of exploration because it represents a continuation of a tradition of publishing within the CMAA. Under the editorship of Msgr. Schuler, Sacred Music published fully six large studies in the 1980s on the topic of semiology (including by Fr. Kelly and Dom Cardine). Until very recently, these were the only in-print resources in English on this topic.
Dr. Schaefer also visited other chant groups to help them see some of the shadings behind the chants they would sing at Mass that day.
Here is Kathy Rheinheimer and Ronald Prowse in semiology class.
Charles Cole attended as did Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth of ICEL
Another student was Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, director of the office of worship for the Boston Archdiocese.
And here is Professor Edward Schaefer
Susan Treacy of Ave Maria, and Jennifer Donelson
And one more: Jeffrey Ostrowski of Corpus Christi Watershed
