1949 Practical Instruction in Plainsong Accompaniment

Corpus Christi Watershed · March 19, 2013

HE FOLLOWING BOOK has been made available for free download courtesy of the Jean de Lalande Library. If you appreciate these efforts, please consider making a donation by using the link at the top of the page.

* * 1949 Practical Instruction in Plainsong Accompaniment (PDF)

Note: This book has more practical examples and is more complete than the 1933 book by Potiron with preface by Desrocquettes.

• Practical instruction in plainsong accompaniment • Henri Potiron, professor at the Gregorian Institute of Paris • Translated to English by Gregory Murray • 240 pages • 1949 – Society of St. John Evangelist – Desclée & Co. – Printers to the Holy See and the Sacred Congregation of Rites – TOURNAI, (Belgium) – Printed in Belgium – Publisher’s no. 792 •

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

19 May 2022 • “Trochee Trouble”

I’m still trying to decide how to visually present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores, using what is (technically) the official rhythm of the Church. You can download my latest attempt, for this coming Sunday. Notice the “trochee trouble” as well as the old issue of neumes before the quilisma.

—Jeff Ostrowski

16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?

This year’s upcoming Sacred Music Symposium will demonstrate several ways to sing the CREDO at Mass. This is because—for many parishes—to sing a full-length polyphonic CREDO by Victoria or Palestrina is out of the question. Therefore, we show options that are halfway between plainsong and polyphony. You can hear my choir rehearsing a section that sounds like harmonized plainsong.

—Jeff Ostrowski

14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition

As readers know, my choir has been singing from the “pure” Editio Vaticana. That is to say, the official rhythm which—technically—is the only rhythm allowed by the Church. I haven’t figured out how I want the scores to look, so in the meantime we’ve been using temporary scores that look like this. Stay tuned!

—Jeff Ostrowski

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