especially to facilitate the formation of large Church Choirs, all the High Masses of the Gradual, and all the Vespers which may occur on Sundays and Holidays, have been given in full. In the seven or eight years, which every child spends at school, there is ample time for learning the entire office of the Church. If therefore the means proposed by the Fathers of the Council be adopted, we mean the teaching of music in schools, as it had been customary and obligatory in all Catholic schools and universities, from the time of St. Benedict, and the great scholars Lanfranc and St. Anselm, down to the reformation, every church will soon possess a numerous and efficient choir, without spending the sums which have now to be sacrificed, wherever good singing is desired.
All the Chants in this Manual are taken from the books lately approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites. The Psalms have been written out according to the principles of the best modern as well as ancient writers on Psalmody.
To obtain perfect chanting, it now only remains to insist on a correct pronunciation of the Latin text. Every psalm should be studied as follows: The teacher reads aloud the first verse, taking one word at a time, and obliging the pupils to repeat it after him. When the entire verse has been spelled out in this manner, the teacher begins it again, taking a whole phrase, or part of a phrase, the pupils repeating the same. He must not pass to another verse until the first has been fully mastered by the whole class. After reading through a few verses, he may vary the exercise by allowing the pupils to sing the words to the melody.
