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Views from the Choir Loft

Promoting a Good Choral Culture at Your Parish

Andrew Leung · March 31, 2016

CTL Promoting a Good Choral Culture at Your Parish HE LORD IS RISEN! Alleluia! I hope everyone had a blessed Holy Week. I had a very prayerful Sacred Triduum. All the liturgies at my parish went very smoothly. Some of you might already know, the parish I am assigned to for my pastoral year does not have a regular choir. We have a pretty developed cantor program, but our choir only sings twice per year, once for Christmas and once for the Triduum. I guess we don’t really have a choral culture here.

This Holy Week, I started a new Schola for the parish. It was very successful and we had many compliments from the parishioners and the clergy. There were seven singers in the schola and we learnt two pieces for the liturgies. I would like to share the two live recordings of our singing, even though they are not professional recordings. For a group that sang together in front of people the first time and only having half-hour-rehearsals for four times, I thought we did pretty well.


* *  Mp3 Audio File — Dubois’s Adoramus te, Christe


* *  Mp3 Audio File — Lotti’s Regina Caeli


Nothing is impossible with God! It is possible to introduce a good choral culture to a parish that is not familiar with any choir. The key is to be hopeful and communicate with others, especially with the singers and the pastor. It is important to begin a choir with a small group of core members singing a simpler repertoire. As the music program develops, it will attract more people to join and the choir can work on some more complex pieces.

CTL Promoting a Good Choral Culture at Your Parish Schola NOTHER WAY to promote a good choral culture at a parish is to invite guest artists to perform. Thanks to Msgr. Kurt Kemo, my pastor, Mark Dougherty, our church organist, and Prof. Nicholas Will, the director of the Franciscan University Schola, we are able to have the university’s schola to sing the 4:30pm Mass next Saturday. The Schola Cantorum Franciscana will be singing at the Ordinary Form Mass for the Third Sunday of Easter followed by a concert. The repertoire will include Gregorian Chant, Renaissance Polyphony and a few organ pieces played by the organ students. Inviting guest artists for special Masses or concerts is an excellent way to promote the choral culture. It increases the interest of the singers and help the faithful to appreciate in choral music. If you live around the Steubenville area, please join us for the 4:30 Sung Mass followed by a concert on April 9 at Blessed Sacrament Church, Wintersville, OH.

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 Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung currently serves the music director of Vox Antiqua, conductor of the Cecilian Singers, and music director at Our Lady of China Church.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

Alabama Assessment!

We received this evaluation of Symposium 2022 from an Alabama participant:

“Oh, how the Symposium echoed the words of Cardinal Merry Del Val: …choosing only what is most conformed to Thy glory, which is my final aim. In one short and fast paced week, the faculty and attendees showed me the hand of God and our Lady working in our lives. The wide range of education—from Gregorian Chant, jazz modes in organ improvisation, to ‘staying sane’ while leading a choir—were certainly first-class knowledge from the best teachers of the art. However, the most powerful lesson was learning how to pray as a choir. The sacrifice of putting songs together, taking time to learn the sacred text, meditating on the church teaching through the chants, and gaining the virtues required to persevere in these duties were not only qualities of a choir but of a saint. The sanctification of the lives of the attendees was a beautiful outcome of this event … and that in itself is worth more than a beautifully-sung Solesmes style chant!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
PDF Download • Trinity Sunday (22 pages)

Feel free to download this Organ Accompaniment Booklet for Trinity Sunday (Second Vespers). Notice how the modes progress by number. Psalm 1 is mode 1; Psalm 2 is mode 2; Psalm 3 is mode 3; Psalm 4 is mode 4; Psalm 5 is mode 5. I am told by an expert that other feasts (such as Corpus Christi) are likewise organized by mode, and it’s called a “numerical office.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
10 June 2022 • “Official” rhythm of plainsong

I continue to search for the most beautiful way to present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores. (Technically, the “pure” rhythm of the official edition is what everyone is supposed to use.) You can download my latest attempt, which is the Introit for this coming Sunday: Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Because this is not an ancient feast, the Introit had to be adapted (perhaps around 750AD). Prior Johner says the adaptation is “not an entirely happy one.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“If the right is given to African tribes to include their pagan traditions in the liturgy, I think the same should also be given to the rite of a thousand year-old Christian Church, based on a much older Roman tradition.”

— Professor László Dobszay

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