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“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Teaching your own children

Veronica Brandt · January 17, 2015

AN I SHARE WITH YOU THIS CLIP? One son was giggling over it after dinner and when I saw it I knew I had to publish it.

The experience of trying to capture a small child singing is very similar to the Looney Tunes cartoon One Froggy Evening. But get a car full of siblings together to melt the ice and some serendipitous slapstick and I can be the proud parent, though not having much direct input into this little movie.

I have been asked about how to teach children to sing. Let me take these three pieces as a starting point: Gaudete, Twinkle and Jesu Rex Admirabilis.

I can hardly remember when we learned Gaudete, but it is sung with gusto every Christmas, sometimes even managing the four part chorus. Twinkle twinkle little star is hardly a notable achievement, but even singing little folksongs like that is a part of our musical heritage which is also diminishing.

Jesu Rex Admirabilis was a piece tackled last year with a group of Catholic homeschoolers. I taught the top line to the younger children and the middle line to the older children, hoping to recruit some fathers for the bass line, but that fell through, so ended up singing the bass line myself transposed up an octave (or two). We took pretty much all year to bring it together, but it was very worthwhile.

I wonder if I could have taught this to my own children without the homeschooler group. Teaching your own children is a bit like supervising piano practice. Teaching other children is more like a lesson. In a lesson you have a finite time to convey a finite set of ideas. The limits help you to be cheerful and give a sort of detachment from how the class does – you can walk away at the end and try again in a couple of weeks. With your own children on a day to day basis it can be harder to be positive and suppress the urge to keep going until it’s right (or until the child stomps off in frustration vowing never to sing again).

There are more thoughts on this difference in this article by a piano teacher: Teaching my own children to play piano. All up it is a worthwhile undertaking, but important to keep perspective, patience and perseverance.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Catholic Youth Choirs 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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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —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

“For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders”—is that English idiom? “For the Nazis, and all the Germans, except they say Heil Hitler! meet not in the street, holding their lives valuable”—is that English idiom?

— Monsignor Ronald Knox

Recent Posts

  • “How to Conduct 90 Vespers Services Each Year and Live to Tell the Tale.”
  • 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • The Tallis Scholars
  • Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
  • Pope Saint Paul VI to Consilium (14 October 1968)

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