Views from the Choir Loft

Practising from back to front

Veronica Brandt · August 28, 2015

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.

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).

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski

15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski

15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Impelled by the weightiest of reasons, we are fully determined to restore Latin to its position of honor, and to do all We can to promote its study and use. The employment of Latin has recently been contested in many quarters, and many are asking what the mind of the Apostolic See is in this matter. We have therefore decided to issue the timely directives contained in this document, so as to ensure that the ancient and uninterrupted use of Latin be maintained and, where necessary, restored.”

— Pope John XXIII (22 February 1962)