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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Sacred Choral Program (Living Water College)

Guest Author · March 29, 2013

The following is a guest article by Ms. Nicole Dunn, Assistant Director of Development for Living Water College of the Arts, Canada. They have a stupendous website, which everyone should visit. The link is given at the end of the article.

“Music, great music, stretches the spirit, arouses profound emotions and almost naturally invites us to raise our minds and hearts to God in all situations of human existence, the joyful and the sad. Music can become prayer.” — His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI


IVING WATER COLLEGE OF THE ARTS embodies the thoughts of Pope Benedict in this summer’s Sacred Choral Music Program. As the faithful learn how music can be beautiful, soul-lifting prayer, they naturally aspire to sing better music. Why be satisfied with the ordinary when, in fact, there is a wealth of beautiful church music readily accessible and very learnable? All that is needed is some education.

Living Water College offers this education through a 2 week program, where students immerse themselves in the quiet, pastoral setting of Living Water College, enjoying a significant break from the normal pace of life. “Try something this Summer that will change your life;” says Dcn. Kenneth Noster, President of the college, “it’s comprehensive; a great opportunity to develop skills, while refreshing your mind and spirit amidst some of Alberta’s most beautiful countryside. No matter where you are in your faith, you will grow here.”

One of Canada’s pre-eminent choral directors will provide the training in sacred choral music, using motets, gregorian chant, and the works of great classical composers. Maestro Uwe Leiflander, head of the music department at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy, returns to Living Water with over 3 decades of experience in musical pedagogy and performance as an instrumentalist and choral conductor. Professional musicians and beginners alike can expect to benefit from the course as they immerse themselves in Schubert, Mozart and Bach. Unique to Living Water, the choral program contains an academic component which complements the practical training and informs each singer’s understanding of music. Classes in the liberal arts emphasize both the power and the objective beauty of music.

Participants will find themselves truly engaged in the study of fine art, perhaps reading the ground-breaking works of Aristotle, suggesting that the measure of fine art is in the eye of the beholder. They might then discuss the more cautious Plato, who insisted art couldn’t be judged by just any old “beholder”, but rather only by the one who was eminently refined in his tastes. No doubt they will ultimately discuss the long-held Christian view, affirming that artistic expression becomes “fine art” when it speaks to something quite different in man, not limited to cultural refinement, but found as frequently in the poor, even the illiterate. It is not cultural refinement that makes fine art powerful, but rather moral character. The person who is morally vigilant, striving daily to become holy, will be truly elevated by fine music. It will not only be an aid to personal growth but a source of true joy. Why? Simply because the soul is open to truth and beauty.

Open your soul to truth and beauty this Summer. Expand your mind, build your repertoire of church music, and enter into Mass more profoundly than you may have thought possible.

Alumni relish the friendships they have formed in this peaceful place among the rolling hills of Alberta’s Lakeland, while they grow personally and artistically. They also treasure daily Mass, Liturgy of the Hours, opportunity for spiritual direction, and the opportunity to form a network of like-minded artists.

For more details, please visit:

      * *  LIVINGWATERCOLLEGE.COM [url]      E-mail: admin@livingwatercollege.com

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Quick Thoughts

    Hymn by Cardinal Newman
    During the season of Septuagesima, we will be using this hymn by Cardinal Newman, which employs both Latin and English. (Readers probably know that Cardinal Newman was one of the world's experts when it comes to Lingua Latina.) The final verse contains a beautiful soprano descant. Father Louis Bouyer—famous theologian, close friend of Pope Paul VI, and architect of post-conciliar reforms—wrote thus vis-à-vis the elimination of Septuagesima: “I prefer to say nothing, or very little, about the new calendar, the handiwork of a trio of maniacs who suppressed (with no good reason) Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost and who scattered three quarters of the Saints higgledy-piddledy, all based on notions of their own devising!”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3). I'm not a fan of chant in octaves, but we had such limited time to rehearse, it seemed the best choice. After all, everyone should have an opportunity to learn “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium,” which summarizes Candlemas.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“We know that originally the offertories of the repertoire included a series of verses, just like the introit and the communion, but generally more ornate. Many of these are musical compositions of great beauty. They quickly fell into disuse, and we find them only in the most ancient manuscripts. The only remaining trace of this older arrangement in our present-day liturgy is that of the offertory of the Requiem Mass.”

— Dom Joseph Gajard (1956)

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