Views from the Choir Loft

Motets and Midi practice tracks

Veronica Brandt · February 7, 2015

WISE SAYING MAINTAINS THAT lazy people take the most trouble. This is very true, especially when combined with another law which states that what can go wrong, will go wrong.

My plan was to make practice tracks for Palestrina’s Jesu Rex Admirabilis. It is a perfect piece for small choirs. It is written in three parts, sometimes given as SSA or SAB. There is a little bit of counting in the last part, but the voices mostly stick together.

Most editions give only one or two verses, but Bernard of Clairvaux’s hymn has many, many verses to extend the piece if desired.

So, I thought that there must be practice tracks already available on the internet. So I searched, and cringed, and searched some more.

Then I found a treasure trove of MIDI files made for choir practice. Each part is separated from the rest using the stereo effect. By adjusting the balance of your speakers you can choose how to balance the part you are learning with the parts of the rest of the choir.

The collection is called SingingPractice.co.uk, or Midi file store and it includes Jesu Rex Admirabilis in amongst the music sung in January 2010. Listening through the Soprano track helped my young soprano to hear the timing for a certain held note.

That webpage contains many, many such midi files. Looking for three part pieces I found

André Caplet’s O Salutaris Hostia (sheet music at IMSLPD and midi files here)
O Virgo Splendens from the Red Book of Montserrat (sheet music at CPDL and midi files here) This one is like a melismatic chant round in with bunches of porrectusses all over the place. The midi rendering is alright for note bashing, but you would do well to look for a good recording to get the hang of how it flows. Here is a PDF version of O Virgo Splendens in square notes or neumes. I typed it up about ten years ago for a pilgrimage.

A last note – the midi files do not contain lyrics. The webpage recommends a certain Midi Karaoke player, more for the ease of adjusting tempo and pitch. It’s still best to read the lyrics from the sheet music.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published

Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.

—Jeff Ostrowski

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)

With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Pope Pius XII Hymnal?

Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

“Hybrid” Chant Notation?

Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Antiphons Don’t Match?

A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).

—Corpus Christi Watershed

“From six in the evening, his martyrdom had continued through the ghastly night until nine o’clock in the morning. After fifteen hours of torture rarely if ever surpassed in the bloody annals of the Iroquois, the soul of Gabriel Lalemant was freed from its charred and mutilated prison and summoned to join his comrade Jean de Brébeuf in the radiant splendor of God. March 17th, 1649, was the date; for Brébeuf it had been the sixteenth.”

— ‘Fr. John A. O’Brien, speaking of St. Gabriel Lalemant’