• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • About
  • Symposium
  • Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Scogna and Olbash talk Gregorian Chant • “On a Sacred Note”

Richard J. Clark · August 3, 2018

’VE BEEN CATCHING UP with the Catholic TV Network’s series “On a Sacred Note” launched in June. Hosted by Stephanie Scogna (Artistic Director, Boston Art Song Society), the series explores over a millennium of music history through present-day genres and experiences. Scogna tackles subjects from Gregorian Chant to Navigating Vatican II on the parish level.

• WATCH EPISODE 1 with Michael Olbash Director of Music, St. Adelaide Parish, Peabody, Mass: How It Started | Gregorian Chant | Monophony (Scroll down to see an archive of all the shows in the series aired to date.)

Watch another episode with Michael Olbash here as they discuss this hot topic: Vatican II and the Vernacular Novus Ordo Part — Covering musical style changes after the Second Vatican Council.

• The show airs (HD) on Mon. 8:30 A.M., Tue. 8:30 P.M., Fri. 12 A.M., and Sat. 5 P.M. (All Eastern times) Beginning June 4, 2018, there will be a new episode each week.

• In addition to cable, Catholic TV is available on several streaming platforms. Chick here for various ways to watch. You can also get more information at CatholicTV.org.

HESE SHOWS ARE AN EXTRAORDINARY resource for laypersons and musicians alike who wish to learn an overview of the Church’s vast history and treasury of sacred music. It is also a great resource for children and adults to round out their appreciation and understanding of the role of music in prayer, as well as its influence on all of Western music! (My eight-year-old son and I have watched and listened together!)

The shows feature a different compelling topic each week, beginning with simple and easily understandable explanations by host Stephanie Scogna. This is followed up by interviews with various musicians and concludes with superlative musical examples sung by the The Brookline Consort. You can listen to the many of their musical performances from the show on YouTube here.

It’s a musical and prayerful feast!

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Catholic TV, On a Sacred Note Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

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

Random Quote

Why do we never sing “De Spiritu Sancto” (St. Athenogenes) in our churches? There are a dozen translations in English verse. Where could anyone find a better evening hymn than this, coming right down from the catacombs? Our hymnbooks know nothing of such a treasure as this, and give us pages of poor sentiment in doggerel lines by some tenth-rate modern versifier.

— Rev’d Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923)

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • 2022 “Vespers Booklet” (99 Pages)
  • “Playing the Pipe Organ” • By Richard Nixon
  • 16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?
  • Prayer of Abandonment,  Saint Charles de Foucauld
  • Worst Chanting I’ve Ever Heard

Copyright © 2022 Corpus Christi Watershed · Gabriel Lalemant on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.