Hildegard Study Days Online via International Chant Academy

In collaboration with the International Chant Academy in the USA, Marsja teaches online interactive sessions on the music of Hildegard von Bingen.

A new form this autumn

This autumn the Hildegard Study Days take a new form. We work intensively with three of Hildegard’s chants, each one more challenging than the previous, and approach each chant from two complementary directions. Every chant is therefore studied twice: first in an A-session, then in a B-session. The skills acquired in one pair of sessions become the foundation for the next.

Six live sessions, three chants, two perspectives — one increasingly deep encounter with Hildegard.

Track A – Noteworthy Notation: manuscript to voice

Sessions on 14 October, 28 October and 11 November.

For singers and teachers who want to become more confident and perceptive readers of Hildegard’s Hufnagel notation. We begin with the manuscript itself. What exactly is written in those neumes on staves? What makes a particular neume difficult — or surprisingly easy — to read and interpret? What can the placement, shape and context of a sign, combined with its assigned text, tell us about what our bodies need to do to express it? And, crucially: what difference does all of this make when we actually sing from the manuscript?

These sessions are highly practical: we look closely at the manuscript, work through difficult or peculiar passages together, and practise until the notation becomes familiar enough to live in the voice. Along the way, Marsja brings insights on modal singing technique from Center Cantus Modalis: methods for comprehending the modality, vocal gesture and the relationship between notation, sound and bodily experience. The goal is not simply to arrive at the “right notes”, but to make the manuscript sound through the singer.

Manuscript copies and the lyrics with a translation are provided beforehand.

Read more about Track A on the ICA’s Hildegard Study Days page.

Track B – Interdisciplinary Interpretation: words to music to meaning

Sessions on 21 October, 4 November and 18 November.

For those especially interested in text, theology, musical meaning and the interpretive possibilities of Hildegard’s chants. The second session devoted to each chant takes us somewhere else: here we explore the chant through an interdisciplinary interpretation of words-in-music.

Before each B-session, participants receive a handout combining manuscript, transcription and translation(s), together with a few questions. You are invited to spend some time with the text and music beforehand — not to find the “correct” interpretation, but to notice what you experience, what associations and questions are raised, and what the music seems to be doing with the words (or perhaps the other way around).

In the live session we bring these individual observations together. We look at language, imagery, musical gesture, modality, theology and the structure of the text, exploring how they interact. In a way, these sessions become a Lectio Divina of Hildegard’s music: a slow, attentive, close reading in which meaning emerges through the encounter between word and sound.

Read more about Track B on the ICA’s Hildegard Study Days page.

Dates and times

Six Wednesdays, 14 October to 18 November 2026, each session 18:30 – 20:30 Amsterdam time. In another time zone? The Hildegard Study Days page has a time zone tool to look up the starting time where you are.

• 14 October 2026 – Track A, chant 1
• 21 October 2026 – Track B, chant 1
• 28 October 2026 – Track A, chant 2
• 4 November 2026 – Track B, chant 2
• 11 November 2026 – Track A, chant 3
• 18 November 2026 – Track B, chant 3

Choose your path

• 3 × A – Notation Track: the three A-sessions only.
• 3 × B – Interpretation Track: the three B-sessions only.
• A + B – One Chant, Deeply: follow one complete chant from manuscript to voice to meaning.
• A B A B A B – Complete Series: follow all three chants through the complete process and experience how the two approaches begin to inform one another.

Two ways to participate

All Hildegard Study Days are fully live via Zoom and are not recorded, to facilitate an environment of trust and collaboration.

• Active participant: receive one-on-one coaching from Marsja and have the opportunity to ask questions. Minimum 2 and maximum 4 active participants per study day.
• Auditor: auditors may ask questions at the end of the session, but do not take part in the one-on-one coaching. Auditor seats become available once a minimum of 2 active participants is reached for that session.

The ICA explains both forms of participation in more detail under “How it works” on the Hildegard Study Days page.

Practical information

• Format: live online via Zoom, not recorded
• Duration: 2 hours per session
• Language: English
• Suitable for: singers, chant practitioners, teachers, musicians and others with a serious interest in Hildegard’s music. You do not need to be an academic or a specialist in medieval notation; curiosity and a willingness to look closely matter more.
• Requirement: successful completion of the Hands On with Hildegard lecture series ($150 USD) and familiarity with the sound of Hildegard’s music.
• Technical: a desktop computer, laptop or tablet (the larger the screen the better) with a video camera — no cell phones — and the Zoom app installed, plus reliable high-speed internet.

Tuition

• Active participants: $125 USD per study day. Receive a $25 USD reduction for each additional study day when registering for more than one at once.
• Auditors: $80 USD per study day.

Payment is handled by the ICA and reserves your seat. Full requirements and tuition details are listed under “requirements & tuition” on the Hildegard Study Days page.

Registration

All details can be found on the Hildegard Study Days page of the International Chant Academy.

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