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Views from the Choir Loft

Important Resources for Liturgical Reform (6 of 7)

Andrew R. Motyka · August 13, 2014

ET’S SEE: CanticaNOVA, CPDL, the nearly-infinite number of resources offered here on CCW. All these have already been presented by my esteemed colleagues. I liked this “series” idea better when I could go first and take all the good ideas.

In seriousness, though, here are some good resources for the primary tools we each have at our disposal: cantor, choir, and organ.

An often overlooked resource for the parish choir is the Graduale Simplex. This book, which originally was published in 1967, has much simpler settings of chant propers than the Graduale Romanum. One challenge is that, since the first edition was released before we even had a revised order of Mass, it can be difficult to line up and use liturgically. Thankfully, we have several derivative works that make it more accessible in the average parish. First is Paul Ford’s By Flowing Waters. It is a relatively straightforward English adaptation of the chants found in the Simplex, with some accommodations to the tunes to more easily accept the English text. A second, more unknown resource is Aristotle Esguerra’s Choral Simplex, another English language setting, but in SATB harmony. Esguerra’s treatment of the melodies and adaptations for choir shows an elegance and a clear mind for choral singing. I strongly recommend it.

Since most parishes only have one “choir Mass” per weekend, resources for cantors can be helpful, too. I would be far too selfless if I didn’t mention these Communion Antiphons, and selflessness is something I can only aspire to. They are antiphons settings that are free, simple, free, congregational, accompanied, modal, complete, and free.

Lastly, I would like to call to attention a not-specifically-Catholic resource, but one I think needs to be known nonetheless. Just like CPDL (the Choral Public Domain Library) offers thousands of free choral scores online, IMSLP (the International Music Score Literacy Project) offers free choral AND instrumental scores. This is a great resource if you are an organ hack like me who needs to broaden your organ-literature horizons greatly. There are thousands of free scores, searchable by many criteria, including instrumentation, genre, solo type, etc. Care needs to be taken about whether or not each score is actually in the public domain in your country, however. Since IMSLP is based in Canada, where everything falls into the public domain in 50 years, there are some scores that are free on that website that are illegal to download in the US. Watch your dates and you’ll be fine. This is a pretty minor drawback considering the volume of usable scores on the site.

We directors are always on the lookout for free resources for our choirs and music programs in general. Hopefully you can find some use for these, as well as the others in this series.


7-part series:   “Important Resources for Liturgical Reform”

FIRST PART • Richard Clark

SECOND PART • Veronica Brandt

THIRD PART • Fr. David Friel

FOURTH PART • Jeff Ostrowski

FIFTH PART • Jon Naples

SIXTH PART • Andrew Motyka

SEVENTH PART • Peter Kwasniewski

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 Andrew R. Motyka

Andrew Motyka is the Archdiocesan Director of Liturgical Music and Cathedral Music for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    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

Random Quote

“It will not be Rome to tell you what you should do, no: because you have the charism. …you have the Holy Spirit for this. If Rome were to begin to make the decisions it would be a blow to the Holy Spirit, who works in the particular Churches.”

— Pope Francis (27 March 2023)

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • “2025 Booklet for Participants for the Sacred Music Symposium” — (155 pages)
  • Luis Martínez Must Go!
  • Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
  • PDF Download • “Gospel Acclamation” for 29 June (Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles)
  • “Hybrid” Chant Notation?

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