Views from the Choir Loft

Online Advent Calendars 2017

Veronica Brandt · December 9, 2017

HAT WOULD ADVENT BE without Advent Calendars? Having a visual way to communicate how much time is left before Christmas can be useful in a house with children eager for parties and presents. It can also be mildly alarming for the adults as the days fly by.

This year I decided to cobble together an online Advent Calendar for my family. The plan was to have my kids put together material for each day. I underestimated the editorial support needed. You can see the results at advent.brandt.id.au.

For a more thoughtful source of inspiration this Advent, visit the xt3 Advent Calendar.

Xt3 began in the lead up to World Youth Day in Sydney 2008 and continues to be a Good Thing coming from Sydney, Australia. Each day reveals the Gospel reading of the day as well as a daily meditation from their collection of short recordings.

There are a few online services springing up for creating your own online Advent Calendar. Be sure to link to your favorite in the comments on our Facebook page.

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).

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

14 May 2022 • Gorgeous Book

If there is a more beautiful book than Abbat Pothier’s 1888 Processionale Monasticum, I don’t know what it might be. This gorgeous tome was today added to the Saint John Lalande Online Library. I wish I owned a physical copy.

—Jeff Ostrowski

There is a lack of that kind of organization which favors mature judgment. Move on, move on, get it out. Schemata are multiplied without ever arriving at a considered form. The system of discussion is bad … Often the schemata arrive just before the discussions. Sometimes, and in important matters, such as the new anaphoras, the schema was distributed the evening before the discussion was to take place … Father Bugnini has only one interest: press ahead and finish.

— Cardinal Antonelli (Peritus during the Second Vatican Council)