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Views from the Choir Loft

Top five resources for teaching chant to children

Veronica Brandt · May 25, 2013

1. Jubilate Deo
This is a handy little booklet to have. For children who ask “Why?” this book shows the bare minimum of music for the Catholic Church all around the world.

2. Words with Wings
A chant instruction program for children. The layout is ideal for a weekly class with 20 lessons mapped out.

3. Gregorian Chant for Church and School or download the pdf
The first half has a whole lot of theory followed by a selection of pieces as an elementary repertoire. The chant is laid out with each syllable evenly spaced which seems odd.

4. A New Book of Old Hymns
This is my book, assembled back in 2003 or thereabouts with gradual improvements since then. The main features are: A) a mixture of hymns, rounds, litanies and some english hymns to fill in the gaps and B) English translations running underneath the Latin or in parallel columns.

5. If you can sing Joy to the World, you can learn to read and sing Gregorian Chant
This has lots of great big diagrams to explain different features of chant notation with colour coding to make it really easy.

Another book that didn’t make the photo, but still has a place in my bag is Catholic’s Latin Instructor for help with translations.

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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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).

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Quick Thoughts

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
14 May 2022 • Gorgeous Book

If there is a more beautiful book than Abbat Pothier’s 1888 Processionale Monasticum, I don’t know what it might be. This gorgeous tome was today added to the Saint John Lalande Online Library. I wish I owned a physical copy.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Both of these appointments—of Cardinal Lercaro and Father Bugnini—to key positions on the Consilium made it possible for voices to be heard that could not be heard during the proceedings of the Council, and likewise silenced others.”

— Alfons Cardinal Stickler, Vatican II ‘peritus’

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