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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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Andrew R. Motyka

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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Quick Thoughts

22 April 2021 • SATB Plainsong?

In an emergency, we pull out random hymns from the Brébeuf hymnal. The Brébeuf choral supplement has every single verse—every single verse—written out, which makes reading SATB a breeze. Last Sunday, we pulled out an Easter hymn which is a mix between plainsong and metrical hymnody…and I think this live recording came out nicely! Please see whether you agree.

—Jeff Ostrowski
22 April 2021 • ICTUS ALERT

My friends, for the record, this coming Sunday has something which is pretty rare. It is an example of Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes adding an ictus marking to their previous (1908) version of the Graduale Romanum. You can examine before and after. Do I feel better, having pointing this out? I absolutely do…

—Jeff Ostrowski
Can You Spare 33 Seconds?

Here’s an audio excerpt (33 seconds) of a setting for Kyrie VIII which was recorded live last Sunday at our parish in Los Angeles. The setting (“Missa de Angelis”) is by composer Richard Rice, and you can download the free PDF if you click here and scroll to the bottom. I think Richard’s composition is marvelous. I missed a few notes on the organ, but I’ll get them right next time.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Never before have men had so many time-saving devices. Yet, never before have they had so little free time. When the world unnecessarily accelerates, the Church must slow down.

— Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

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