Aural Tradition

It was wonderful to see so many turn out for our Gregorian Chant workshop in Tulsa at Trinity Episcopal Church. But what most gladdened my heart was that, for the first time in a workshop, there was a young family who came with two children under the age of 12.
The boy must have been 9 and sat with his father in the front row on the men’s side; and the girl, 11, sat with her mother on the women’s side. Both eagerly followed along as their parents pointed to the Latin texts (well, maybe the girl not so much). Sometimes the boy would just sit and offer wide-eyed, cherubic smiles, when I looked over to see if he was “getting it”.
The important thing is they were there - and it was obvious that their parents wanted them to be exposed to Gregorian Chant. Right next to the boy sat an elderly man who didn’t need the booklet at all, he mouthed all the Latin texts by heart. What a surreal juxtaposition!
It confirmed for me, in a very real way, that this is an aural tradition that has stood the test of time – passed from generation to generation. There is tremendous power in that, whether one “gets it” or not.