Changing the Culture: Progress, Not Perfection
Musicians and liturgists are something of a perfectionist lot. We often berate ourselves for lack of perfection and are highly critical when liturgy falls short of rubrics or expectations.
Archives for January 2014
Poverty, Self-Denial, and Peace – Part I
The remedy for disordered desire is mortification and the longing for God, the living God, who calls us to intimate union. How different is Christian redemption from a Buddhist annihilation of self!
Richard Sherman and Self-Confidence
The importance of confidence in performance.
Benedict Brought Peace To The Church With “Summorum Pontificum”
“If the right is given to African tribes to include their pagan traditions in the liturgy, I think the same should also be given to the rite of a thousand year-old Christian Church, based on a much older Roman tradition.” — László Dobszay
Do You Like This Painting or Not?
Help me decide what to think on the feast of St. John Chrysostom.
“Cannot” vs. “Will Not” in Sacred Music
Maybe I should have used the annoying little saying I learned as a kid: “I would if I could, but I can’t, so I won’t.”
Comparing Canons
Does Using Eucharistic Prayer II Really “Save Time”?
Extending a music lesson
Would you like to help people make the connection between the Latin and the English translations?
Now Online! Fr. Josef Jungmann’s Study of the Roman Rite “Missarum Sollemnia”
Freely PDF download of Fr. Jungmann’s masterpiece, “The Mass of the Roman Rite: its origins and development.”
The Economics of Jobs in Sacred Music
Demand within the Church for beautiful sacred music is low leaving a surplus of highly qualified musicians quite capable of offering such beauty. How many Catholic musicians do you know work for other denominations because that is where their skills are valued?
The Art of the Beautiful Lecture Series
Professor Anthony Esolen Presents: “Love & Artistic Genesis”
Ratzinger: “How much filth there is in the church!”
“Have mercy on your church,” Cardinal Ratzinger prayed in 2005. “When we fall, we drag you down to earth, and Satan laughs, for he hopes that you will not be able to rise from that fall; he hopes that being dragged down in the fall of your church, you will remain prostrate and overpowered.”
Lord, Deliver Me From My Persecutors
It is only a matter of time before being a Catholic at all will involve renouncing much that the world considers important and necessary. And soon there will be open persecution. Are we ready?
Dom Joseph Gajard (1885-1972)
The greatest choirmaster of Solesmes and chef d’atelier of the Paléographic Musicale.
Tools for the Day
The Communion Antiphon often reflects back to the Gospel.