Development Courses

The aim of the summer courses was to train teachers and prepare the repertoire of students in the CND houses, in line with the requirements of the programs set out by the university for the acquisition of university diplomas and degrees. The sisters who were musicians and benefited from the sessions throughout the year and during vacations were then given the opportunity to enrich the students’ culture. The programs became clearer and more intense, with exams prepared by the CND’s music authorities.

In July 1934, Dom Georges Mercure, O.S.B., choirmaster at the Benedictine monastery of Saint Benoît-du-Lac, gave a week-long series of lectures on Gregorian chant, in which priests, sisters and a good number of lay people took part. The annals of the École normale de musique (É.N.M.) noted:

Gregorian chant is interiorizing. It does not aim for effect, and, because of this, its beauties are grasped only by delicate souls, just like divine action in the supernatural order.

Its effect is to penetrate souls gently and smoothly. If its execution is truly artistic, despite its humility, calm and gentleness, it will achieve its goal.

The first teaching certificates were awarded to three lay students in June 1927: Eileen Gillis, Charlotte Cadoret and Jeanne Turcotte. The first female music graduates from the Institut Pédagogique’s É.N.M. were also two lay students: Charlotte Cadoret and Juliette Corbeil. S.S.-Cécile-des-Anges obtained her doctorate in music in 1949. She had prepared a 360-page thesis entitled: “The Piano and its Technique.” She defended her thesis before a jury comprising Maître Robert Schmitz, Mr. Clément Morin, P.S.S. and Mr. Claude Champagne.

From 1927 to 1950, several candidates, both religious and lay, completed the examinations required for a teaching certificate, a bachelor’s degree, 1st year, a bachelor’s degree, a master’s in music, a regular license in music (after bachelor’s degree), a licence in interpretation and a doctorate (after license). The names of these people are kept in the Office of the Director General of Music Studies at the Mother House. This Office was opened in 1954, and the Prefects of Music Studies refer to it directly. CND musicians always receive a warm welcome, wherever they teach

Excerpt from: Histoire de la Congrégation de Notre-Dame, volume XI, tome II « Expansion de la CND, vie religieuse 1900-1950; éducation 1900-1950.