Views from the Choir Loft

A Must Have Resource for Catholic Schools

Lucas Tappan · July 6, 2015 ·

T IS TRUE that we have to keep the end goal of whatever it is we are trying to accomplish in mind. For example, most of us pray and work for the day when beautiful sung liturgies are de rigueur, not simply because we like it that way, but because the Church, in Her concern for us as Her children, teaches us that this is best for the good of the entire Family of God. However, it is going to take a lot of baby steps to accomplish such a goal, and in case you haven’t seen it, I want to blog about a resource for parishes with schools that are just starting out on the way to better liturgy and music during school Masses.

The American Federation of Pueri Cantores and the National Catholic Education Association have teamed up and put together a list (here) of appropriate Mass settings and hymns for use at Catholic school Masses. Small though it is, the list represents a solid foundation of hymns that a child in any Catholic school should know, without trying to throw in questionable material for the sake of political correctness. One large benefit I see coming from such a list is that pastors now have a selection of music from an “official source” to give to their school music teachers in order to open a conversation and plot a course for music at school Masses. Pastors and music directors, this is for you!

About Lucas Tappan

Dr. Lucas Tappan is a conductor and organist whose specialty is working with children. He lives in Kansas with his wife and four children.

Could Pope St. Pius X Sing?

“On 12 March 1908, the complete publication of the Roman Gradual was issued by the Vatican Press. On that very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. A witness of the audience says that Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement pro aliquibus locis—it was the Introit of the new Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.” (Catholic Choirmaster, February 1915)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Julius Bas Accompaniment

A very prolific harmonizer of Gregorian chant in the early 20th century was Mr. Julius Bas. He often uses a very strange technique, wherein he employs rests to eliminate the Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices. Consider what he did with “Lumen ad revelationem” here:

* JPEG • Lumen ad revelationem

It seems quite lazy, and I’ve never seen anyone else use such a technique, although Dr. Peter Wagner often switched to parallel octaves when he ran out of ideas… (Yuck!)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Hitting wrong notes

Fr. Valentine Young, OFM, used to say: “The organist can play 1,000 correct notes and one wrong note—and the only thing people will care about is the wrong note.” Last Sunday I hit some wrong notes, and felt bad. Then I remembered a story about Rudolf Serkin and started to chuckle. Charles Rosen (or was it Leon Fleisher?) told the story of Serkin playing a Beethoven Sonata in front of a large audience. The theme is all in octaves; but Serkin hit some wrong notes, and played parallel 7ths instead. This so unnerved him that every time the theme returned, he played the entire thing in parallel 7ths! We must remember that even the greatest hit wrong notes. Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, Sviatoslav Richter, Egon Petri—they all hit wrong notes, which we can hear on recordings. (Josef Hofmann was an exception, but he was super-human so he doesn’t count!)

—Jeff Ostrowski