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Views from the Choir Loft

Practising from back to front

Veronica Brandt · August 28, 2015

trolley of possibilities OST OF OUR LATIN MASSES here in Australia are Low Masses with hymns. We average one Missa Cantata a month. Most of the singers struggle to read music, so I make recordings.

At the moment I’m preparing for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost—which has some particularly memorable moments in the music for the propers.

When it came to the communion antiphon I used the technique of working backwards through the piece to cement it into my head. I hope you enjoy this recording – the little accompanying voice is my 2 year old daughter.

An example of practising a piece from the end to the beginning – with a small child on my lap (the communion antiphon Domine memorabor, from the 16th Sunday after Pentecost

Read along with the score.

Listening to it now also brings home how much easier it is to sing along with someone. If you have one person who can sing a piece, the rest can lean on that person. Of course it sounds better when everyone knows what they are doing – but by being the person who learns the piece you are supporting the other singers.

Someone pointed out to me the problem with admiring talent. The real key to making beautiful music is practice. Talking about talent tends to excuse ourselves for not putting in the time and effort. I’d much rather be praised for working hard than for merely being talented.

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 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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Quick Thoughts

19 May 2022 • “Trochee Trouble”

I’m still trying to decide how to visually present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores, using what is (technically) the official rhythm of the Church. You can download my latest attempt, for this coming Sunday. Notice the “trochee trouble” as well as the old issue of neumes before the quilisma.

—Jeff Ostrowski
16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?

This year’s upcoming Sacred Music Symposium will demonstrate several ways to sing the CREDO at Mass. This is because—for many parishes—to sing a full-length polyphonic CREDO by Victoria or Palestrina is out of the question. Therefore, we show options that are halfway between plainsong and polyphony. You can hear my choir rehearsing a section that sounds like harmonized plainsong.

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition

As readers know, my choir has been singing from the “pure” Editio Vaticana. That is to say, the official rhythm which—technically—is the only rhythm allowed by the Church. I haven’t figured out how I want the scores to look, so in the meantime we’ve been using temporary scores that look like this. Stay tuned!

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“I left music college swearing never to write another note again … It was during the mid-1980s when esoteric and cerebral avant-garde music was still considered the right kind of music to be writing.”

— James MacMillan

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