Society of Saint Gregory

The government has today issued revised guidelines. Instead of now limiting singers to a group of six, the guidance says this: Singing, chanting and the use of musical instruments What the leader(s) and performers can and cannot do: [*] For performance during worship (and rehearsals), both indoors a...

In a thread elsewhere, RSCM people are claiming that the wording of the latest guidance is wrong and that it actually means you can have multiple groups of six (e.g. Decani and Cantoris) if properly spaced. One claims to have been having conversations with grovernment contacts and that revised guida...

I'd agree with everything John said. One caveat about humming, even when wearing a mask. Fairly early on (March/April) they did studies on humming as an alternative to singing and found that just as much was produced in the way of aerosol, even when the hummer was masked. Every week or two, someone ...

A damning indictment, including relevations about the behaviour of the headmaster of the choir school, inexcusable treatment of Martin Baker, misleading parents, a toxic atmosphere, and much else. The "strategic review" into music at the Cathedral, announced on January 20. Not a word has been heard ...

As the RSCM guidelines indicate, face visors or face shields are pretty useless. Some interesting data here: https://gizmodo.com/how-face-shields-and-valve-masks-fail-to-stop-infectiou-1844916328 Proper masks are what is required for safety, and in more than a few places, singers have learned to sin...

Greetings to all Society members on this feast of St Gregory. Only nine years till our centenary!

Let's pray for those who are working to find vaccines and treatments, and for a safe return to normality.

The only real prospect of a return to normality is a set of vaccines. It appears that this is less than 12 months away. The vaccine trials are not only making rapid progress, but they are making use of the knowledge of veterinary virologists, who have been dealing with coronaviruses in animals for y...

I note that they say that loud singing produces 30 times more aerosol than normal speaking. Multiply that by a choir of, say, 12, and you have a potentialy lethal situation. Many amateur choir singers are incapable of singing quietly, and most choirs include people who like singing strongly in order...

In a Facebook forum, someone commented that he had been given to understand that the use of recorded music in Catholic liturgy was forbidden by Canon Law. I'm reposting my reply here, in case it is of interest. Canon Law says nothing about recorded music at all. People often say that things are forb...

I think that they mean cleaning those parts of a church organ that the virus can land on! The virus can certainly land on parts of the organ that may not be easily accessible, including windchests and pipework. Whether a viral particle falling down inside a pipe could then be blown out again the ne...

Plenty of cantors in the US are singing, unmasked, behind plexiglass screens. They have mics to ensure that they are heard by those with hearing difficulties. The Salisbury experimental test results will be very useful, but do not go far enough (the same was true of the Munich experiments). I would ...

Some things that struck this reader: there should be no congregational singing at Mass. This appears to have been left deliberately or unintentionally ambiguous. Does this mean that cantors and choirs can now operate? Surely choirs are still hazardous, according to all the science. The role of the c...

Assuming that the government support reduces or comes to an end, rather than making people redundant another solution for the diocese would be to put people on unpaid leave. This would enable them to "rehire" people when the situation improves without having fired them. I'll bet they haven't thought...

Yes, this article has been doing the rounds over the past week. It should be read by all. Some people still don't get it, and maintain that wearing a mask helps to protect others against whatever you are exhaling. It may help to a certain extent with droplets, but not with aerosol, as the article ex...